Next week I'm picking up an acadiane to possibly be a donor car. I know will be faced with the engine and gearboxes from both a dyane and an acadiane, both out of the original vehicle and possibly split. how do I tell which is which at a glance?

I'd like to try and make sure I keep the acadiane engine and box with the van if possible as they are pretty low mileage...

EDIT: If it makes a difference, it is a 1980 acadiane and a 1981 Dyane.

So if i am reading that correctly, the Dyane engine will be an AM2 and the Acadiane an AM2A?

Interesting to see that later acadianes only had 8.5:1 pistons on them too...

Martin,
assuming that those are the original engines you're going to look at, the fourth digit of the engine number could be used to determine the (relative) ages of the engines.

No such luck with the gearboxes, just choose the one with least sideways play on the input shaft, or rig up a handle using an old clutch disc centre and wind each one over, selecting each gear in turn.
Lock one output shaft with a pair of mole grips and use a gloved hand to put some pressure on the 'free' one...

Legend, ken - thanks. Turns out the engine and gearboxes are still together so hopefully shouldnt be too hard to discover which is which.

i imagine that they are original ken. the acadiane hasn't seen the light of day for about 25 years and the dyane was last taxed in 99...

Don't know if you're buying just one, not both, maybe pop a rocker cover off each engine and go for the one where the alloy inside the cover is still discernible as alloy, rather than matt black...

There is an acad and a dyane for sale as a bundle which myself and another person are splitting along with some panels etc. The dyane was originally a donor for the acad and both are at least partially stripped, however the project seems to have been abandoned. The logisitcs of me collecting the car mean that i wont be able to get it until monday, but it seems now that the dyane may have been collected already when i get there, so I've been trying to make sure the right engine gets left behind for me.

To be honest whatever i end up with will be better than nothing!