Other than the obvious, like its in a corvette. Is there anything in the block or head stampings or serial #s to indicate what vehicle a small block chevy was originally installed in at the factory? It seems every 327 and 350 that's not in its original vehicle is a "vette motor". Whether its in a pickup, station wagon, or sitting on a garage floor awaiting a rebuild, its always out of a corvette. Were corvettes being totalled left and right in the 60s and 70s, but collectors were hoarding the motors? Did the bodies and chassis wear out and get tossed, leaving all these high performance motors behind? I'm a mopar guy and just want to know what to look for so I can tell which 90 percent are bs'ers.
The only way I know for sure is if there is a Corvette wrapped around the engine , if you do find a real engine from a Corvette , it's more than likely due to a tree pulled out in front of the driver.
Watch the person v*e*r*y carefully when he is spinning his tale of Corvette-ness. If his lips move, he's bullshittin' you. Applies to most of what most car guys tell you about their cars. Cosmo
i bought a vette motor out of yard back in the late 80's they said it was out of a 63 vette and they shouldnt sell it. i had the casting numbers of 63 vettes and they were correct. it was a small journal 327 with a steel crank in it, i bought it for my 66 chevelle but sold it later. i wish i had that motor now. it wasnt a fuelly by the way. steel crank is a sure fire way to spot a vette motor.
That's a silly question! Don't you know they're ALL corvette motors! Every SBC I've ever seen for sale was, heheh... Seriously, you'll have to run the #'s...
Check out www.corvette-world.com Alot of chumlees use the "it's a corvette engine" to impress. Nothing but B.S. Always educate yourself by doing research, reading books on the subject. And remember, the guy that always brags is the one that's full of B.S. The ones that know what they are doing or talking about are the ones that say the least. Bottom line, if it sounds too good to be true, than it's a fairy tale.
Forty years plus after the fact, the two or three letter code stamp on the passenger side front is your best bet. Someone mentioned the engine being in a Corvette---that doesn't mean anything either. Again, 30-40-50 years later, a Corvette can have a 350 from a '77 pickup bolted in it. If the engine has a bonefide Corvette code stamp, and is lying on someone's garage floor, the chances of it having been milled down and restamped are slim. By the way, to the poster with the 327--ALL small journal 327s had steel crankshafts, even the 210 hp 2 bbl engines in early Camaros.
Unless you are restoring a certain year corvette, what's the sense? You can build just about any small block to run better than when it came out of the factory. Yea it would be nice to find a high performance vette motor with all the goodies and ready to run, but that would be either super rare or expensive or need a rebuild anyway.
i grew up as a teen in the 60s. Around here, you could buy a running C-1 Corvette for 1K or less. Also saw many: Wrecks, Theft recoveries missing motors. And a very shocking number of Vettes had wrong motors even back then. Oil was not as good, engines that were beat all the time were tossed by 80 to100k miles and replaced with a junkyard motor. The old motor blocks were not collector stuff back then...even the 65-67 ones lost their big blocks during the two gas shortages during the 70s. I was given a 60 Vette long block w/heads for free back then, I thought it was BS until I pulled the pan. It had a factory windage tray bolted to the main caps as I recall. I gave it away, and it later was scrapped. It sometimes pays to check pad letters on old cars and trucks built in the 60s and early 70s...never know what it could be, so it's worth a look.
The 3970010 block was the basis for nearly all Chevy 350 engines from 1969-85, in every vehicle imaginable. They came in both 2 and 4 bolt main versions and, regardless of countless bullshit theories to the contrary, the only sure way to know if they are a 4 bolt main block is to remove the oil pan and look.
Buy yourself a NCRS numbers book and you will know all you ever wanted to know. Or didn't want to know Pat
Sometimes it goes the other way... Looking at a ST10 for my daughter's T/A - found one very close. VIN stamping* say it came out of a 74 Corvette: guy says no, the numbers are wrong. I wasn't going to argue - handed him the cash and we both were happy. *According to my research, only Corvettes were made in St. Louis in 1974.
i ran the number of the block before i bought that 327 and it matched the book as a 63 vette motor. i was also told that Massey Fergueson combines had 327's with steel cranks in them. as far as i am concerened and the certified mechanic that i broke that 327 down in his shop it was a vette motor. it doesnt matter anymore its LONG GONE. I am a Ford man now anyways, so its all good.
I use the alpha-numeric codes listed in either Peter C. Sessler's book, "Ultimate American V-8 Engine Data Book 1949 to 1974" and one other by Pierre Lafontaine titled "Chevrolet Small-Block V-8 ID Guide" for starters... The alpha-numeric codes will decode a whole bunch of data about what the block came out of vehicle-wise!! And remember, HEADS UP!! If there's no alpha-numeric stampings on the little deck pad above the pass. side top water pump bolt like the block has been decked, then you will have to tear it down to see just what it measure's to be to be sure you are getting what you want!! pdq67
What was so special about the corvette motor anyway? Seems like everyone running a junkyard chevy engine claims it was out of a vette like it's something special.
i dont remember those valve covers on the 327 i bought. i dont remember the cooling fins i think they were just stamped raised letering thats it. besides value if a guy is restoring a vette why does it matter if its a vette motor anyways? there's so much after market stuff for the SBC it doesnt matter. bragging rights?
A lot of '60's base motor Corvettes had painted stamped steel valve covers. Surprisingly, these are much rarer than the finned ones you are showing. These were purchased by the thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands) by us SBC fans in the '60's and 70's.
depends on year and model. In the late 60's, I bought a 340 hp Vette motor that a local guy had in a 66 SS Nova. It was pretty peppy
All my motors are camaro .I dont brag about it .Corvette motors just give people bragging rights ,Thats all.
A large percentage of Corvette motors (small block) had 10.5 to 1 compression or higher, four barrel carbs, and more significantly, hi-lift cams (a lot were solid lifter cams). Find that in you junkyard station wagon.
I don't know about v ates but I have a 6 cylinder '54 corvette head and a '54 corvette dual exhaust manifold.
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