emanusa1

Hello what is the best way to find an original block for my L71.
date built is 4-14-7. my vin number is 116612. it was in new York when purchased in 1972 according to 2nd owner out of st Louis Missouri plant...lynndale blue roadster.
thanks, Ed
I here people in ncrs have resources.

Vet65te

Ed - There is an 'Orphan' thread here on the CF and also one on the NCRS site where people list parts and documents that belong to other midyears but finding your old engine is close to being that proverbial 'needle in the haystack'. Since most don't pull out a good running engine, there's a good chance something happened to that original engine as the reason it isn't in there anymore. But there's always that possibility that your original engine is now sitting in someone's ski boat so putting out the word on the various sites couldn't hurt. I bought a '69 Vette 427/390 roadster back in '81 and the original engine was long gone, replaced by a non-descript 396. About a year later, I pulled that engine and went looking for a 427. The one I ran across was a 67 435 horse 427 and I recall the VIN stamp was in the 16 or 17K range but it was a JA code for an A.I.R. Corvette. I bought that shortblock (only) in the SF Bay Area so it was probably in a California car to begin with. List your VIN on those particular threads and maybe someone will come forward with your old engine. If not, and if this is the way you want to go, you might run across the next best thing, a '67 427 engine with date codes around your Vette's vintage. Good luck.
Mike T - Prescott AZ

93RubyRedCoupe

Join the NCRS...

vettebuyer6369

Many owners share your interest in that question. There is no set answer other than dogged searching in every manner possible, including NCRS, ads, Internet, Craigslist, etc. You are pretty much looking for a 50 year old needle in a national haystack.

This thread should not be in Cars For Sale, though. Moving it to General Discussion area.

Nowhere Man

Not to get your hopes down but 9 times out of 10 the reason why a BB motor was pulled is because it got blown up. And rather then have machine work done to fix the block. If was scraped and anther block was put back in and you drove it. All the blocks you see for sale I would bet came out of wreaks

emanusa1

one in a million chance. probably tougher then finding the car, since the car exist. but the motor probably not... ya just something close will do. before my cast date which is probably late march early April 67 date 351 block with 4 bolt or should I make one.

93RubyRedCoupe

yeah, I think it's a long shot too - BUT if you don't look you'll never know. Every year or so someone on THIS VERY SITE lists an engine for sale that is an original Vette motor. You never know. ....If you don't surround yourself with Vette guys who are crazy about numbers, you won't have much success. Didn't a guy post a 435 motor on here for sale not a month ago that he took out of a BOAT? Go figure...Stranger things have happened....Good luck. If it was me, in the meantime I would source a 351 block and build it as original, with original parts, etc. That way you can enjoy the car while on the hunt. If you never find your original motor, at least you got to enjoy your car during the search and it's as close you'll get to the having the original motor in the car. Good luck! ARA

vettebuyer6369

Uh, Ara, "every year or so someone lists an engine" ??

A quick peek at the ORPHAN VIN stamped parts available thread at the top of the main page in the sticky selection shows since I started that thread in mid 2013:

Engine VINs listed: (approx)
2013 (1/2 year) 11
2014 54
2015 (1/2 year) 29

Thats (approximately) 94 engines listed here at the forum in less than 2 years!!

One of them, photographed, was 5 digits from mine.

The thread for those that haven't seen it: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...list-here.html

93RubyRedCoupe

Sorry, I was only referring to the parts for sale section...The orphan section is awesome. Some strange stories have been told about finding original engines. I would not throw in the towel just yet. You just got the car. Post your VIN and put out want posts. You never know......ARA

rich5962

Ara, Yup, 29 years ago I bought my '59. The engine was a '61 270HP FI026CU 1102436. I pulled it out for rebuild in the spring of 1995.

In the Spring 1995 NCRS Driveline issue, there it was.....the car.

.....1961 Corvette vin 10867S102436.

The guy who owned the '61 Corvette didn't want the original engine. So I rebuilt it and put it back in the car that summer. Still going.

Rich

emanusa1

I personally believe that at least having the correct JA JE suffix code is close enough near the date would be fine just incase someone wanted to restore it some day cause I may or may not...but will it give the car a bit more of a increase in value also. what do you think

Easy Rhino

I believe that having the same engine as it was built with is makes it more valuable than a mis-matching engine; however, I don't think that the "close to" it makes a tremendous difference.