CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.
64 Vette….Rebuild 2.0
- Thread starter 76zimmer
- Start date
Good read.
How cool is that!
Funny thing is if it was 1969 it would be like pftt he wants that much for that!
Funny thing is if it was 1969 it would be like pftt he wants that much for that!
My dad talked about those days.
He and 3 buddies would race 4 model As to the dump in the 50s. 1st one there was driven home.
In the late 70s=early 80s, I personally sent a couple hundred, what today would be considered a muscle cars, to the shredder.
He and 3 buddies would race 4 model As to the dump in the 50s. 1st one there was driven home.
In the late 70s=early 80s, I personally sent a couple hundred, what today would be considered a muscle cars, to the shredder.
I don't think Ive put this story out there before, about a numbers matching shortblock I found for my car.
About 20 yrs ago I was dating a little minx whose father was an avid Chevy guy, and hotrodder.
My girlfriend was moving into his house as he had just recently remarried and moved out. On the 3 season porch he had a room full of car parts (along with a huge barn full of cars and trucks that would be super awesome to have that collection today!), anyhow in this room was a shortblock on an engine stand wrapped with a blanket. We were fixing up the house prior to her moving in, and I got snooping through the parts in the room. Found this engine and unwrapped it enough to see it was a SBC. Then I looked for the casting number...3782870...a 327, cool. Next I checked for a casting date, D 6 4...April 6 1964,
, my car was built on April 23, 1964. I think the savvy will see where I’m going with this.... next I checked the front pad, no VIN code, but the origin, date and application code shows F04I8R_...Flint April 18 R_ . 5 days before my car was assembled. The restorers say it needs to be at least 3 days before assembly, as the engines were assembled in Flint, and the cars were assembled in St. Louis. The blank after the R likley represents an unknown induction system, ignition system, and/or AC. The 365hp carbureted engine and the 375hp FI engines were identical except for the induction system. This block could be used for either by the R_code (but not for lower hp engines as it has the 11:1 pistons. 327 engines for 64 had several different R_ codes depending on hp, trans, ignition, AC, and camshaft used). So after deciphering the numbers, I figure this is a pretty legit numbers matching engine for my car (not to be confused with the original engine) which increases the value dramatically. The next time I see her dad I ask him if he’d consider selling that shortblock. So we talked about cars, trucks, engines, stories for over an hour, and he finally asks me why I’m interested in that engine, and I tell him its a matching numbers block for my car...he says, “thats a Corvette engine”, to which I replied, I have a 64 Corvette, well another hour later, he asks if I have a decent 350 or something to trade for it. I said the only thing decent I got not being used is a complete 396/325 out of a 68 Camaro....he lights up as much as I did when I found the shortblock! We trade and the engine has been in my basement for 20 yrs. now. It looks like a rebuilt shortblock, as the pistons show overbore, and the rods have been stamped with a punch. I need to freshen it up and preserve it. Still looking for number matching heads. Double hump 461 castings dated February to April 1964.
Corvette restoration experts (NCRS) say not having a VIN stamping and the missing blank after the R code would cost a few points, but I’ll never go that route anyway, and the one and only original engine is who knows where, so this is as close to original as I’ll ever get for the engine.
Some pics...
EDIT...
well someone burst my bubble....lol.
It has been brought to my attention that this engine was probably installed in a Chevrolet full size car originally with a 250-300hp application by the single R code and no VIN. Although the numbers for casting and build would be correct for my car, the single R indicates otherwise. All these years I thought I was onto what I thought was a needle in a haystack find.
About 20 yrs ago I was dating a little minx whose father was an avid Chevy guy, and hotrodder.
My girlfriend was moving into his house as he had just recently remarried and moved out. On the 3 season porch he had a room full of car parts (along with a huge barn full of cars and trucks that would be super awesome to have that collection today!), anyhow in this room was a shortblock on an engine stand wrapped with a blanket. We were fixing up the house prior to her moving in, and I got snooping through the parts in the room. Found this engine and unwrapped it enough to see it was a SBC. Then I looked for the casting number...3782870...a 327, cool. Next I checked for a casting date, D 6 4...April 6 1964,
, my car was built on April 23, 1964. I think the savvy will see where I’m going with this.... next I checked the front pad, no VIN code, but the origin, date and application code shows F04I8R_...Flint April 18 R_ . 5 days before my car was assembled. The restorers say it needs to be at least 3 days before assembly, as the engines were assembled in Flint, and the cars were assembled in St. Louis. The blank after the R likley represents an unknown induction system, ignition system, and/or AC. The 365hp carbureted engine and the 375hp FI engines were identical except for the induction system. This block could be used for either by the R_code (but not for lower hp engines as it has the 11:1 pistons. 327 engines for 64 had several different R_ codes depending on hp, trans, ignition, AC, and camshaft used). So after deciphering the numbers, I figure this is a pretty legit numbers matching engine for my car (not to be confused with the original engine) which increases the value dramatically. The next time I see her dad I ask him if he’d consider selling that shortblock. So we talked about cars, trucks, engines, stories for over an hour, and he finally asks me why I’m interested in that engine, and I tell him its a matching numbers block for my car...he says, “thats a Corvette engine”, to which I replied, I have a 64 Corvette, well another hour later, he asks if I have a decent 350 or something to trade for it. I said the only thing decent I got not being used is a complete 396/325 out of a 68 Camaro....he lights up as much as I did when I found the shortblock! We trade and the engine has been in my basement for 20 yrs. now. It looks like a rebuilt shortblock, as the pistons show overbore, and the rods have been stamped with a punch. I need to freshen it up and preserve it. Still looking for number matching heads. Double hump 461 castings dated February to April 1964.Corvette restoration experts (NCRS) say not having a VIN stamping and the missing blank after the R code would cost a few points, but I’ll never go that route anyway, and the one and only original engine is who knows where, so this is as close to original as I’ll ever get for the engine.
Some pics...
EDIT...
well someone burst my bubble....lol.
It has been brought to my attention that this engine was probably installed in a Chevrolet full size car originally with a 250-300hp application by the single R code and no VIN. Although the numbers for casting and build would be correct for my car, the single R indicates otherwise. All these years I thought I was onto what I thought was a needle in a haystack find.
Last edited:
No more F off then?
Martin
Martin
Yeah, that’s on the block that is in the car. This one is in the basement.
But didn’t the dad of the chick say it was a corvette engine. If he was a car guy you would think he know what it came out of. I guess he could have pulled it out of a vet that someone else swapped though.
No matter what it’s a cool story!
No matter what it’s a cool story!
My grandma always said when she would back out of the garage, "Put it in R for race!"
So doesn't the R just make it faster?
I think that is a cool story Zim, either way. I think the car is cool not numbers matching, who wants bone stock anyway?
So doesn't the R just make it faster?
I think that is a cool story Zim, either way. I think the car is cool not numbers matching, who wants bone stock anyway?
yeah, one thing is he may have been mistaken, as he literally had dozens of engines/blocks sitting around inside, as well as probably 30-40 cars and trucks in the barn and another dozen or so outside....but regardless of the original application, and being it has been bored to fit the bigger 11:1 pistons in it, and having a forged steel crank and rods, those parts were applicable to 327/350,365,375 hp engines, all of which were available in the Vettes. Lower hp 327’s were available in a multitude of models including Vettes of 250 and 300hp. Seemed pretty cool to uncover it at the time. I’ll probably refresh it and put some old double hump heads I have on it, and dress it up like the original 365hp engine would have been and let it sit on the engine stand in the pool table area of the basement.
My grandma always said when she would back out of the garage, "Put it in R for race!"
So doesn't the R just make it faster?
I think that is a cool story Zim, either way. I think the car is cool not numbers matching, who wants bone stock anyway?
its just a hotrod, with the coolest body Chevy ever made!
Last edited:
I’m loving the pool room art idea!
Latest Posts
-
-
-
'99 4 Door Tahoe SAS Build, Taking it back a few years- Latest: Babaganoosh
-
-
