Projects 1962 Vette needs direction

Im an old fart that has finally got his dream car. When I was kid, my dad and I spent many late nights under the hood of either the BBC powered 65 GTO or the 66 or 67 SS Chevelle that were either pulled out of a field or a s**** yard for $200. In order to get the $200 and collect the parts we we needed to bring the cars back to life we ate a lot of bologna sandwiches. My dad was coolest person I’ve ever known and I was going to be just like him. His dream’s became my dream’s. So we would talk about how we were going to set up our 62 when we make it big but as we got older he would joke and say that he will die the next day after he gets his 62 and he said make sure they bury him in it then he said to me “ you better not steel the engine out of it” he said I know you you’ll think, he’s not going to need that. I lost my best friend in 94. He was 50. He never got his 62 so I guess I got this for us both in a way. Idk???? Any way I’m going to do the 4” I beam spacer trick that I learned from this sight to give it a g***er look then a nice set of fender well headers. I found a shop that will sell me a date correct 327 small journal 3872870 short block that they will put a 400sb crank in it and punch it out to whatever I want. The blocks are decked so the pad is blank. They will stamp all the correct numbers and letters I need to make it a numbers matching car for me and they will do all this for me for $2000 and I don’t even have to bring them a core when I pick it up.

My first question is, Is this legal?

My next question is, If I run this car at my local 1/8th mile strip, can I run it in the stock cl*** or what cl*** should I run it in? Any suggestion would be appreciated.
I have a M-21 4-speed that I pulled out of a 69 Camaro I was planning on running in it or I know where I can get a T-5 out of a 1987 L-98 tuned port trans am.
It has a 4:11 Posi
I was planning on getting a Edelbrock VRS-4150 750 double pump or I have access to a L-98 Tuned port injection but I didn’t know if it would knock me out of the stock cl*** or limit the cl***es I could run in????
Was thinking on a 106 lsa flat tappet cam with 500ish lift 305ish duration and I would like to get the lowest price best flowing aluminum heads with 64-55 combustion chambers to help my flat tops make a little compression. If anyone thinks cast iron head would do better. I’m not apposed to that either.
I’m new to all this and I hope I did it right. I appreciate your patience and any help you can give me.
Thanks, John

 

Welcome to the Hamb Mr. Mooney......Have you lurked here a while as there tons of Vettes to inspire direction?......Stogy reads again and yes you did...goodo...

By the way sorry for the loss of your father...never easy...yes this will be a spirited build indeed...

There are many to answer your Race and in fact all related queries but that a nice one...

 

NO restamping those numbers is ILLEGAL

 

Sleeper this thread has all the inspiration you could possibly need...From a quick glance Cragar 5 Spokes really suit these with Piecrust Slicks and skinnies up front...

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/corvette-hot-rods-picture-thread.545759/

 

What would a shop do in the case of planing...stop the milling before the pad? I'm suspecting yes...
Always good to see you around @loudbang...

 

Congratulations in finally getting a 62. I'm been fortunate to have owned mine for 50 years as of June.
I like the non-NCRS direction you plan on going.

 

They leave it BLANK it is stamping another number on it that is illegal

 

I see, I mean wrecking yards must have sold thousands upon thousands of engines without recording numbers but I could be wrong though as I am ***uming...and if its planed of that is just understood as possible in engine modding...

I'm surprised the shop didn't advise him...

 

if you are not doing a restoration why bother stamping the engine numbers? The only one who cares are restorers
and the scammers who cater to them.

 

I’ve never heard restamping engine numbers was illegal, unethical if done to misrepresent the engine as original ie changing the numbers.
VIN and SN yes. Were ‘62 Vettes id’ed by the engine number?

 

I’ve bought a few wrecking yard engines. Only thing on the receipt was “engine” and the price.
Paid cash back then, if I said no receipt needed, I didn’t have to pay sales tax

 

Yep, '62 was the first year for a Vette. They had a partial VIN stamp...see photo...

 

What is a true numbers matching 427 Shelby Cobra worth when compared to an identical 427 Shelby Cobra with a replacement engine that is obviously not original to the car? I would guess the difference would be in the tens of thousands of dollars. I am not a lawyer but I can't imagine machining incorrect numbers off a replacement engine then re-stamping to give the appearance of a true "numbers matching" car could be viewed as anything but fraud.

The only reason to do such a thing would be to give the appearance of it being an original engine ... when it ain't.


If you aren't intending to misrepresent the car and engine as being original to each other, then why bother doing it?

Isn't misrepresentation pretty much the definition of fraud?

 

@jimdillon

 

You could be right, I haven’t stayed in a HI Express in a long time.
But seems the OP is making a race car and wants to use the original engine. If he Does before and after pics, etc, of the numbers so if in the future he was to sell the vehicle with a “modified original engine”. for bragging rights, he wouldn’t be trying to sell a restored numbers matching Vette, right?
If I was buying a race car Vette, I wouldn’t even be concerned of that type of detail.

 

With the mods you are planning..... No it would not race in a stock cl***.

 

numbers correct doesn’t mean original
Stamp away.
who cares about original on a car that’s modified.
my sons c40 flatbed has a vette engine. Worth more, less or the same?
With all the non vettes running vette engines, those “original” vettes must be BS

 

If you want to know if it's legal or illegal to stamp identifying numbers on the engine, you might want to read the laws of your state. If you can't understand exactly what the laws mean, then hire a lawyer to interpret the laws for you. Don't rely on a bunch of keyboard commandos on the internet, who give you advice without citing any reference to Texas law.

As for "finding direction"....sounds like you have a direction you want to go, which is to build a modern version of a "327", and kind of make believe it's the old 327 that your dad would have built, using what he had available. Seems a bit lost to me, but what do I know? It's not my car.

As for what cl*** to race in, we don't know what cl***es are at the dragstrip you plan to run. Have you researched this? Most strips don't have the same cl***es they had 50 years ago.

But dang, that's a neat car, congrats for finally getting one!

 

It's a hot rod. We don't need no stinking matching numbers!

 

ya want direction????!!.......drop it off at my shop!.....leave the keys under the floor mat.

 

Skip the T-5, you’ll wipe that out drag racing it with that stroked engine. Also don’t bother with the tune port injection.

 

Happy to see you got a 62 Vette. I know you have followed some of the Corvette threads so I know you will do well with it. As to the question of whether it is illegal, I generally do not like to advertise that I am an attorney as some take a dim view of lawyers. I have tried cases on fraud including a collector car case back in the late 70s (an engine that was restamped by the way) and fraud is one area that seems to split hairs. In the case I tried it was clearly fraud but with your deal the ship has kind of sailed in a sense IMO-you are posting what you are doing for all to know. It keeps you in a sense from claiming it is original in the future. You are not hiding anything yet but if you did something with the intent of misleading a future buyer then we all know is not fair or proper-it is more than likely deceitful. If you restamp an engine so that you can say the car is "numbers matching" and pretend in a sense that it is the way it came from the factory then that is probably OK because you have no intent to defraud but are trying to complete a "correct" restoration. I am really skeptical of the whole numbers matching ruse and believe the term should be changed to "born with" parts but that is never going to happen. If we are honest with ourselves we all know of fraudulent claims with cars but it has become so commonplace we accept it and tell ourselves it is not deceitful. You do not need a law degree to know when you are stretching the truth. Whether the guy you are not being totally honest with is really damaged financially is another issue and way too involved to address in this post.

I had a Corvette dealer in the mid 80s try to buy the engine out of my black 62 Corvette since it was a new crate 327/365 and had never been stamped. It is a bit of a long story but the whole deal was so rife with fraud it made me chuckle. I wanted nothing to do with the guy. I have had others ask me it I would sell the engine but I like it and the engine is still in the car.

Your plan sounds good and I like it. There are enough stock examples out there and I like the fact you want to drag race it-kudos. I would reconsider the 4" I-beam though and consider a 3" I-beam ( I made mine since 3" beams are not normal off the shelf stuff). Back in the 60s I helped a buddy go with a 4" I-beam in a 61 Vette and it was a real h***le to straighten out the problems. When you go 4" the angle of the steering from the box to the new location of the cradle is pretty severe. I believe 3" is a better decision. When you add the 3" block you also have to add two to three 2* caster shims and so the car goes higher. Each 2* shim is a 1/4" at the rear so 3" becomes 3 1/2" (kind of) and on my black car I made my own 3" beam and have 2 shims which gives me 5 1/2*. If you want 7* it would require 3 shims so it would be theoretically 3 3/4 ". I learned the hard way on not having enough caster on the drag strip with these old Vettes elevated and they kind of get your attention when you get rolling. I have found that 5 1/2* works good on my black car and I have probably 120 p***es on the car.

As to what cl*** you could hope that your local tracks have a nostalgia or vintage cl***. Even the nostalgia cl*** at Milan Dragway in my area has cl***es more suited to bracket racing. I have had fun at test and tunes running other cars and of course really enjoy the vintage events. I would bet there are some vintage events close to you and you may have a better time in those events than running some guy with a delay box or trans switch. Car looks great and welcome to the club. Can't wait to see what you do with it. If I had to hazard a guess you are going to have a bunch of fun with it.

Here is a side shot of my black car with the 3" blocks/beam to give you an idea.

 

I'd like to see someone re-stamp a SBC using the serial #/vin from the Model A it is installed in. That would be fun to point out at a show/at the track "Yep it's the original engine, check the numbers yourself"

 

Would Dad have worried about the numbers? Now carry on.

 

Friend of mine has a 64/5 vette with a small journal 383 stoker. He enjoys that in front of the 4 speed.
The early Camaro/TA t5s aren’t much stronger than the s10 units. Larger input.
Need a direction? Dropped with chrome steelies with some boat flake paint

 

I have to agree with Squirrel on all three points.
Check with the Texas DMV before you griind off the old stampings and stamp you own.
If you ever went to sell it with the bogus numbers on it and p***ed it off as the original to the car block and the individual who bought it discovered that it wasn't the block you claimed it was you could be hung out to dry for comitting fraud.

As far as I know most of the cl*** racing at most strips went by the wayside in the 80's and most all little guy racing is bracket racing now. Even when Jim aka Squirrel takes his Blown 427 Nova to Dragweek he is running in an ET bracket for the most part and not in an exact cl*** exept the cars in his cl*** all run pretty close to the same ETs. he isn't running his 10 second car against 15 second cars.
Nice starting point for you project, I'm not sure that I would do much that I couldn't undo as far as making a race car out of it though. My buddy built a 62 with a mild 350 and automatic that his daughter ran 12's in running in the high school drags back in the late 80's that gave us a lot of fun that year.

 

That's a damn nice starting point for what you want to do!

 

Congrats on the 62. I’ll be following along to see what all you do with it. I keep saying I need a first generation vette, but not sure when or if that will ever happen. My dad also p***ed along the love for these cars. I grew up with at least one vette always in the garage whether it was my dad’s or one he was working on for someone else.

 

No T5 and no tuned port,