I bought a 71 mach 1. the vin says it is a 1971 4bl with a 351C engine. As you can see by the picture, it is not a 351C, but a 429 cobra jet. i can't find any valve covers like the ones pictured. I am pretty sure the engine was put in in place of the other one. Also, they painted the engine yellow, and the car too for that matter. it used to be light pewter metallic. Anyway Help!
The 429 badge looks like it is a stick on type badge so I am not sure you can judge that book by it's valve covers. It does appear to be in the 429/460 family by the fact that it has a "wet" intake manifold. The 429 and 460 are identical on the outside so the best bet to know for sure is to research the block casting number to see which one you really do have. The difference between the two is stroke which gives the 460 the 31 more cubic inches.
Engine VIN's only show the year, assy plant and 6 digit unit number, such as 1F111111. You wouldn't get the engine type from it. You would have to look at and decode the casting number in the block just above the starter, but it does look like a 429/460. Back in the '70's, Carroll Shelby started selling all kinds of car accessories- wheels, valve covers, etc. He was always about making money on his name. Those are probably Shelby produced aftermarket valve covers.
The only sure way to distinguish a 429 from a 460 is to check the casting number on the crankshaft. A 429 will have casting # 4UX, and a 460 will have # 2YX. 429 CJ & SCJ cyl. heads (1971 only) will have casting number DOOE-R on them. Most early 429's and 460's used the same block, so the block casting numbers don't identify it's displacement. Any block or cyl. head casting starting with D3 or newer (D4,D5,D6 etc..) is a 460 part as the 429 was dropped in 1974. That's about all I know about the 429-460 as far as identification.
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