vetterestorer

I was wondering about having a engine stamped, a local law official said it was not a good idea. any thoughts??

Kensmith

Stamp it with your name!

53 Blue Flame Brett

Trophy Blue

It's getting very old like me.

Blk63Vette

Well, its YOUR car do what you want with it...My 63 has a "bad" restamp on it...someone took a piece of metal jb welded it on to the pad and restamped it "numbers matching"

I dont care as long as I have a 327 Corvette block in it...Some people feel its "wrong" and "dishonest"...

If you restamp and tell a potiental buyer its been restamped is "OK" in my opinion..But some will disagree...

rgs

Depends on the state. In my state of Iowa, it is a felony to restamp an engine, it is a felony to sell a restamped engine, it is a misdamenor to own a restamped engine regardless if it is in a car or not.

As I posted in another thread, our state attorney general recently went after a seller of an E-bay auction to a resident of Iowa for selling a restamped engine in a car.

wombvette

I think , if you look close enough, you will find that its a Federal offense too. In NC its illegal period, but no one pays any attention to that.

ptwohey

Restamping goes back as far as the assembly line but why take the chance on doing something misleading?
"In my opinion", the reason an engine would be restamped is two fold. One, you had the original engine rebuilt and lost the metal so you had the numbers brought back up and have receipts to show...but why? Secondly, you got a matching numbers block and had it restamped to match the car...but why?
At the cost of restamping and then worry if it is legal or not, just leave it blank or wrong and spend the cash on fuel to enjoy the ride. If it is done to get more money at resale, then shame on the seller.
My '66 has a 327 (restamped) on the shelf and a perfectly numbers matched 427 under the hood. No numbers are on the BB. I enjoy the ride!

1snake

I believe that applies only to modifying the VIN tag. Many states, including Washington, couldn't care less what is stamped on the block of a 40 year old car. On cars older than 10 years, in Wa., they automatically enter 000000 for odometer reading on the title because they don't care.

Jim

kenba

ENOUGH :beatdeadh orse::beat deadhorse:
KEN

DZAUTO

There is, has been, and will continue to be a tremendous amount of discussion, debate, controversy and confrontation about stamping/restamping engine blocks.
I can clearly see, agree and disagree with both sides of the issue.
I can provide examples from now until the cows come home for both sides---------------but I won't. Just a couple.
First, when people are restoring a car------------------NO MATTER WHAT IT IS: Model T, Deusenberg, Corvette, 55 Chevy convertible, etc, etc, etc, and they have to install a reproduction part on the car as part of the restoration, they are demanding exactness and perfection with the reproduction part, such as door handles, exhaust pipes, bumpers, windshields (which can now be date coded per customer requirement). MANY, or maybe most, of these reproduction parts are now so well made, that even the BEST and most knowledgeable judges cannot distinguish them from originals. And that is the goal, to have a replacement part that is as good as or identical to the original factory installed part, sometimes to even include the stamped or cast part number on the repo part, or a perfectly stamped date code with exactly the same ink. RIGHT?
Why is this different from stamping a block that is the same as the original block?

Second, if a car has been in a BAD wreck, for example, rearended by dump truck and then knocked into a brick wall, and the ONLY thing identifiable of the car is the portion where the VIN tag and data plate is affixed (I realize this is a little extreme, but some cars have been rebuilt from almost nothing). So, you take that part of the car with the VIN tag and data plate, obtain a GOOD front clip, repairable rear clip, door from one car, another door from another car, top from a wrecked car, cut off the front half of the frame from the wrecked car and cut off a portion of the rear of the frame that was damaged from being rearended, and put it all back together----------------------WHAT IS THE CORRECT VIN OF THE REBUILT CAR????????????? It now has parts, literally, from 15 cars, and 47 repro parts. Is it legitimately still the same car that was rearended and knocked into the brick wall??????
Well, in every place that I know of, a car that has been this extensively rebuilt from a bad wreck is still that original car that was wrecked.
Now, for that same car that was wrecked, when it was knocked into the brick wall, the engine block was cracked. Sooooooooooooooo, you obtain another block of the same vintage---------------if you're super lucky, you get a block that was even cast on the same day. You take that block to the machine shop, have it machined to accept ALLLLLL the parts that were on the wrecked engine, which includes having the cylinder decks surfaced. Then you stamp it, reasseemble it with all the parts from the cracked block, install it in the chassis, finish rebuilding the wrecked car, fire up the exact same engine (just with a different block) and drive it away. Is that wrong or illegal? Why?
OK, let's turn it around. You pull the engine out of a car, any car, pick a car. The entire engine is junk, severely rusted, both heads are cracked, the carb/manifold have been robbed, the distributor is gone, the oil pan is caved in beyond repair, the crank has previously been turned .030-.030, the water pump and harmonic balancer are missing--------------------------BUT, THE BARE BLOCK IS MACHINEABLE!!!!! So, since this is the same block (BARE BLOCK) that was originally installed in the car, you decide to round up EVERYTHING necessary to put the engine back in running condition. Is it still the same engine?
Lets go one step further. This is the original block that was in the car, and it can be machined into a rebuildable engine, BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT, when the machine shop was finished with the work and you go to pick it up, lo and behold you discover that the machine shop also surfaced the cylinder decks to true it up-----------------the stamped numbers are gone (and this has actually happened to a few people-----some even told the machinist NOT to surface the block)!!!!!!!! Is it legal (or should it be legal) to restamp this block with the same numbers that were originally on it?????????????
Why is this different from stamping a block that is the same as the original block?

ctjackster

I thought you weren't going to provide examples until the cows came home?

wmf62

Jack
i think Tom is on a '9 fin high'; mooooving on....
Bill

magicv8

I agree. It's as good as anything else that happens to a pad that gets milled off every time the block is decked.

If you are installing a restoration engine, it should look as original as possible or what's the point?

emccomas

Google 18USC511

DZAUTO

(up at the top, I did say just a couple-----------so I missed it by one or two )

Since I personally am not a numbers person (but I DO HAVE the highest regard for a perfect Top Flight car), it is a non-issue with me. But if it is done CORRECTLY------------AND NOT PASSED OFF TO A BUYER as the genuine, factory installed engine, then I have ZERO heart burn with a stamped engine. Again, what's the difference in a stamped 548 block in a 57 Fuelie, and a correctly dated Wonder Bar or posi center section?????

AZDoug

Tom said:
This should be a subject in an existentalism philosophy college class.

If a block is restamped in secret,and no one knows or can prove if it is a restamp or not, was it really restamped?

Doug

Dan Hampton

or.....if an original block blows its internals on a NHRA sanctioned drag strip and no one hears it, can that block be...ahhh....oh wait.....I think that has to do with a tree or something.......

magicv8

If a man is talking in the woods and no woman hears him…is he still wrong? - Jenny Weber

Richard454

I just finished printing a really great copy of a $100 bill. My friend thought it was neat- and he wanted one- so I gave him one.

His wife found it in his wallet and tried to buy a pair of shoes w/ it. She was arrested. Now my buddy says I should post bond. I didn't do anything wrong. When I gave it to my buddy- He KNEW it wasn't real.....

DZAuto-
Come on-And not passed off to the buyer? What about the NEXT buyer. It's WRONG no matter how or why it's done!!!