Projects 1962 Vette needs direction

I had a 60 vette that i thought lacked direction, i made a lot of “plans” but in the end i just added some mag wheels and enjoyed it for what it was. I now have my Dads 57 that he bought in 62, it’s just a working mans hot rod. Not everything has to be a g***er type car. Old vettes are great with just minor tweaks. Whatever you do enjoy your car and think of Dad every time you bang a gear. I do!

 

Bob Lowry- The Corvette had the VIN stamped into the engine in mid 1960 when the VIN tag was relocated from the door jamb to the steering column. Anyways- This is a place where numbers do not match and it doesn't matter! Unless you are going for Top Flight Bloomington Gold standards it won't matter. Drivers rule!

 

The problem with restamping a block to match numbers is that whether or not your State recognizes it as a criminal offense, it IS fraud if you then resell the car at a later date and represent it to be a numbers matching car. It isn't. A "numbers matching" car implies that the engine in it is the engine that it left the factory with, which of course would induce a buyer/collector, who is interested in an unmolested specimen, to pay above what a non-numbers matching car would be worth. That's an intentional misrepresentation that leads to monetary gain. In this context, whether it gets you criminally charged or not, it will get you sued if/when the buyer finds out that the engine is not actually original to the car.

 

Build the car you want, 327 with a 400 crank is still a 383, any block with a 4" bore gets you there.

I wouldn't be concerned at all about any block numbers match if yoire building a modified car.

My Dad was a restoring mid year vettes in the late 70's and early 80's, Frequently judged vette shows. He knew of Blocks being restamped 40 years ago. I don't put much credibility on matching numbers vettes without a full ownership history. Matching numbers isn't my thing.

 

John I see you have not reposted on the topic. Your build and the choice of engine/drivetrain and the direction you want to go with the car is probably of more interest to us than a discussion on restamps. Since you have already posted on a forum for all to see that the engine is not original what advantage is there to a restamped block? Some states have pretty strict laws like Iowa I believe. I am not sure Texas is quite so strict and you may avoid trouble but without a big upside why even go down that road? I would concentrate on the performance end. Your engine/trans combination sounds cool. Depending on how much power you put down you may have to do some thinking on the weak point, like the rear end. Hope you keep us in the loop. Old Vettes that can make a few p***es once in awhile peak my interest and others I would guess.

 

I re-read the original post, for some reason I had thought the engine being used was original to the car, but seems that’s not the case here.
My suggestion is along the lines of what was mentioned before, but stamp or have stamped “My 62 Vette” on the pad

 

I few rare gm block stampings

 

One other thing regarding the T5, GM didn’t put one behind the L98, only the 305’s. So transmission was swapped, or the engine was. Not that it matters, as been mentioned before use a different transmission.

 

Awesome!

 

I've said this before Chevrolet kept increasing SB bearing size as the stroke increased to keep good jourmal overlap. A 3.25 stroke small journal overlap is .525 a large journal 3.48 stroke is .535 a large journal 3.75 stroke overlap is.400 About as small as any V8 factory crank a 3.75 small journal overlap crank is .275 I've seen day driver 283 cast cranks broken Id start with a large journal block

 

Another image comin' at ya.....

 

Like the car. Another question to ask after "Is it legal?" is "Is it ethical?"

 

Are you sure you can turn that crank down to fit in that small journal block and what the heck kinda cl***es do you have at your local track ???
Just enter it in street cl*** and go have fun.

 

It would only be illegal in the case that it was the sole number used to identify the vehicle.

That situation is not very common, and it is certainly appears to be the case here.

As you have mentioned, stamping a VIN or a serial number that IS used solely to identify the vehicle, is a Federal felony.

Before doing a single thing, you need to contact your local DMV, and ask them how you would go about handling an engine replacement.

 

Congratulations on the Vette. Great project. My 2 cents worth is , as Jim Dillon says, 3 inch lift is probably better than the 4 inch. I have a 4 inch lift in my car and it works, but because of the geometry it will turn nice and sharp to the left but not very tight to the right. Kind of a pain to park sometimes. For the engine thing, I can appreciate that you want to fool the NCRS matching number guys with your 383. But speaking from experience, because I've done similar things, I don't think you will get a lot of satisfaction from all the effort and extra money it will cost. I say that because almost no one will notice what you've done, or care. They just don't look that closely. A small block is a small block to most people. A 406 with some retro valve covers and some 327 stickers on them and a vintage intake will out perform the 383 and look appropriate doing it and nobody will be the wiser. I would guess 1 out of 1000 will notice it's not actually a 327. If you have your heart set on restamping your 327 that's fine with me too, but even then it probably won't fool the experts. If you know what too look for, most restamps are detectable. So what do you really get for all your effort? You fool a few people that don't really know what they're looking at. That's not much reward. I'd build the engine to the performance level you want and put 327 decals on it.

 

I wanted to thank everyone for your help. I never thought about misrepresenting the car as a numbers matching car to sell it Because I’m never going to sell it. I will be buried in it. No, I hope to find some one that will appreciate it like I do then just give it to them. Hopefully I’ll get to see them flog the **** out of it running down the strip before I go. I think the machine shop guy was just trying to help me get it in a stock cl***. I’m going to leave it blank. I’ll probably just go with a 400 or 406 sbc with some vortec heads. No T-5 and no tpi.
Everybody has helped me from making 3 mistakes and I appreciate that. A bunch of good guys here!

thanks, John

 

We think alike!

 

I do like the boat flake idea. I’ve just never sprayed it. I was going to do a pearl white with a blue hue. Some extra big flakes wouldn’t hurt.

 

GD that’s beautiful!!!!

 

Metal flake is really fairly easy to spray. Likely easier than pearl. I did mine. I'm sure there's a Youtube vid on it.

 

Drop the front 4 to 6 in, ditch the hood, add a 4 97's carb manifold and whitewall slicks and blue metalic paint, kind of a Gabowski "T" version of a Vette. One of my highschool friends did this to his Vette around 1958, it looked and ran great.

 

Beautiful Vette. Love the color and setup.

 

@427 sleeper, I would like to hear the story of how you found the car and see some more pictures of it.

 

Out of curiosity, what were the plans you and your dad had for the '62 you'd talk about all those years?

 

It's not my car, wish it was, though! You need to ask the other @427Sleeper

 

@427Sleeper, I would like to hear the story of how you found the car and see some more pictures of it.

 

427 sleeper vs. 427Sleeper
Man am I glad we got that cleared up I really like 427 sleepers avatar and his posts. I was wondering why in the world would he change his avatar of a beautiful 56 to a hairy ****. Now I realize it didn’t happen
Nothing against the new guy or your avatar and congratulations on your new ride.

 

Thank Man!!! I think that's the nicest thing ANYONE has ever said about me, Including my own Mother! LOL!!!

 

Hello,

If only we all had the dilemma of having a nice 62 Corvette complete, ready to drive around. Yours looks like it that has a few thing necessary to get it to drive well and stay healthy. As you progress, the numbers on the motor are meaninless. Unless the motor was a taken from a stolen car somewhere, there is no need to put in new numbers. Besides we cannot alter any stamped numbers on a block or car. So, there is that fact for hot rod/drag race car builders. What is the deal with that shop?

It is a good starting point and if you think of going racing, safety first is the most necessary thing. The parts you have listed sounds like a bunch of similar builds. Add in one thing, a full 360 ****tershield for some protection. The rest is a hot rod build of a SBC motor. The 4:11 is fine for the street, but for racing, the 4:56 will work better. Plus, the 4:56 will be a little different running around on the street. it will make the motor sound as if it at its peak in gearing. Which it is… the 4:11 is good for all around driving and a little time accelerating when it is necessary.

Jnaki

We changed from a daily 4:11 to 4:56 for drag racing on Saturdays. it worked out well for our Chevy Impala and our 40 Willys coupe. If it is available, a complete rear set of gears will make the exchange easier.

My brother and I saw a cool looking similar 1962 Corvette on the streets and wanted to get one for ourselves. We had tons of experience in Chevy motors and stuff, so it would be in our ball park. But, at the time, we saw it and had our deep thought discussion as to which direction we were going to go for our next adventure. Strictly street for daily driving after our accident at the drags, or using the Corvette for the recipient of our 671 supercharged 292 c.i. inch blower spec SBC motor as a means to get back in the game.

One direction of strictly a daily driver would work well. But, the thought of our powerful 292 SBC 671 motor in a small bodied Corvette sent shivers down our backs. And the cool thing was, we would not have to build the motor again. It was sitting in our backyard garage on a rolling engine stand ready for the next go around. Most all of the other remaining parts from our Willys accident were sold and given away. The last thing was the motor.
old Friday Art
The 671 would be covered up to keep the look of the Corvette relatively stock appearing. But, for the supposed times and speeds that we knew we could achieve, a parachute would be necessary. But, not for daily trips to the local high school parking lot. HA!
We all like a nice rear end !!!
with or without a parachute…
high school parking lot... here we come...

 

I can't opine about it much because I can't drive the damn things! Love em, had a few local early Vettes that ran at the "Dirty D" (Detroit Dragway for the uninitiated). I guess mine whould need to be modded to get my lanky and large *** in it. Engine? Why aren't talkin MK IV big block? Poor things are getting kicked to the curb in favor of those L bastids. A little heavy but work around it, not unheard of. It'll scare you at 1st, torque that goes from 0 to 60 in "OH ****!!" without too much effort. Small roller, cast aside drag aluminum heads (lots of those showing up), simple big 4bbl, now tell me THAT wouldn't be fun. You'd have to exchange that nutcraker posi for a 9" unless you subscribe to the new version of performance called the burnout and just run junk tires. Can't wait for that **** to end. Ok, enuff for now, gonna try to watch this.