Ok. So I know every sbc anybody is selling came out of a corvette, but the one I am looking at supposedly did. It has the right casting number on the block and heads for a 1965 corvette, but weren't the block and heads used on other applications as well? It has a flywheel not a flexplate, with an aluminum manifold. please help me identify this set up!
The casting numbers won't tell you what it was installed in. The stamped numbers/letters on the deck surface (circled in picture below) will, ***uming they are still there, not modified, etc. But that is only the block, the heads could be off anything that used that casting number. So you need to look at the casting date codes, if they are from a week or two before the engine ***embly date (stamped number on the block), then they could be original to the engine. the casting date of the block is L 27 63 which is Dec 27th 1963. The 6 is not always included in the date codes. Months go from A=Jan, B=Feb, to L=December
Jim, Thank you for the help. So there is no real way to prove it came out of a corvette? I can only tell if the heads are original to the block? What about the intake and valve covers?
I think the intake and valve covers were only used in Vettes....so they're most likely Vette parts. The date codes and block stamp are what the vette guys go by when figuring out if an engine is original. It's probably as good as it gets. If there is a stamped number sequence on the block, post it (and the casting dates on the heads and intake) and we can go from there..
Intake will have a date code on it also. Head casting date seems a long way off from the block casting date to me. Does it have the six quart oil pan on it? How about fins cast into the back of the harmonic balancer? Like squirrel said, numbers on the pad are the only way to tell what it was installed in and what hp it was when it was ***embled. Dennis D
Sorry, no. Fins are obvious when you put your fingers back there. They only used them on the high hp motors. D
The block and heads are correct castings for 1965 Corvettes (and other Chevrolet products). The heads are 461 castings so they are good. The real only way of telling what body style it was originally placed in is by looking at the stamp pad as referred to by Jim. The stamp pad is just forward of the right side cylinder head. I believe the first numbers should be 5 plus the VIN and the second set should start with an F then some numbers then two letters starting with H. F is for Flint then the ***embly dates such as F0512 HL. Flint May12 then the suffix HL which is for the 327/365 HP (along with a bunch of other suffix for 365s and other HP engines). All Corvettes have Flint blocks at this time, although some guys have stories that are questionable I am sure. I bought a 327/365 from GM back in 1977 that I still have in my 62 Corvette and have had offers for my engine since it has not been stamped and a few of the Corvette stock purists may want to add the correct numbers. Many times though these engines have been decked which removes the numbers and then the Corvette stories become more common. Hope this helps.Jim
the numbers stamped on the pad in front of the p***enger side head will tell you the exact application it was installed in if the numbers are still there.
The O stamped on the rockers is consistent with the high horse power motors. You might pull a plug and bring a piston up and see if it has four valve notches or domed pistons. Pull a valve cover check for solid or hyd. lifters. Solids will have loosely adjusted rockers. Ron
looks to me like it's been restamped, the numbers and letters are all supposed to be perfectly aligned.
december block casting date, and March ***embly date...not quite what we'd expect to see. And the stamps are normally all in a perfect line, they didn't stamp one character at a time, they did them all at once. Also someone mentioned the date on the head, I didn't notice that earlier, it's a year or two after the block was cast. If you're restoring a 60s Vette, then all that matters....or if you paid big bucks based on it being all original...but if you paid big bucks, you would have had us check it all out before you bought it, right?
Nope, I haven't bought it yet. I was hoping I was going to score when I went to look at it tomorrow. Are the casting dates and ***embly dates way too far apart to be legit?
pull a valve cover, look for a cylinder with both valves closed, pull that plug and look at the piston and see whats in thar'
I agree with Jim, the numbers should be better aligned. They were gang stamped. I would imagine someone was trying to p*** it off as a 327/350Hp Corvette engine. That being said it still may be a good engine, I am not sure though that the owner of a 1965 Vette VIN ending with 14315 would buy it from you. What did you plan on doing with it?
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