I was told that below the valve cover that you are able to locate some way to know what head and the year of the head for b-series motors. I figure especially in a situation of parting a swap together, when you need to buy certain parts such as cams, you will need to know the year of the head so that you can order correct parts....

Is there really a way to know what year the head is by just looking at it or does it have to be removed in order to find out this information?

 

There are stamps on the head and block. Look at the first number and that should be the number of years AFTER the release date (year) of that engine. IE - a B16A was first released in 1988 so the stamp under it starting with a 5 would mean it's from 1992, a B16A2 with a serial number starting with a 2 would mean it's from 2000, etc.

As far as which head it is, I'm not 100% sure but above one of the header runners (either far left or 2nd from left), there should be a code starting with a P.

 

No

 

Oh what I wrote must be for the block then, not head.

Doh!

 

and along that same plane where the little circles are just above the 2nd exhaust port will be a part number "pr3" which is b16 or "P72" which is gsr.

 

Thanks, I need to go take a look under the hood then...