Looks good to me, but my stampfu is weak.

 

Typical in my opinion...

 

Factoid,I concur.

 

Factoid - You've piqued our curiosity, any more to tell about what looks to be a '66 L72? Or will you want to wait till this deal plays out and you have it in your possession? I just bought a 66 L72 and the original engine is MIA but I find myself interested in any other L72's that surface. And if you do buy this one, we do expect lotsa pics.
Mike T - Prescott AZ

 

same. I have a ‘66 L72 car without motor. VIN derivative 01568. There was a thread in 2003 on NCRS where a fellow had the engine and was looking for the car. I can’t find that fellow. Car now has a 1969 427 that’s built. Car named the widow maker

 

Quick look at the stamp, based on my limited knowledge about stamps, I’m really not a stamp guy, LOL. It looks like/could pass for, original.

“Widow maker “, a very appropriate name. I remember when I was in high school and I had a 66 nova super sport 327/350, in my small town, one of the quickest around, but there were a couple solid lifter 427 Stingrays, in the area, cruising for action too, but I never challenged them. One of the owners and I had a discussion one night and I said someday I’m going to have one of these, and he cautioned me, he said, kid, you got a quick little car, but it’s nothing like this, this car will kill you, this was back in the late 60s when there wasn’t a lot of grippy tires around, his 427 had 4:56s in the back, I’d seen him run, and he had his hands full trying to keep that thing hooked-up and straight, all the way into third gear.

 

Lines up. Car VIN was 2/5/66 build date, engine assembled 1/21/66. Check your casting numbers and dates. Stamps look okay to me. I just picked up a late built IP this week as well.

 

Jeff, close, but no cigar...



Good luck... GUSTO

 

Thanks all. I want an original car finally. This one is close, in fact other than paint (original color, just a repaint) and carpets it’s really close. It’s also a factory sidepipe car which I said I would never do. I think the ‘66 L72 is as close as I will get to big block nirvana. If it all works out, then plenty of pictures.

 

9:27 AZ time.....kinda fun for me...
https://www.onallcylinders.com/2017/...-an-ls-engine/

 

Please briefly school me on what an L72 is.

 

Solid lifter 427

 

BB Nirvana… Good name and many here will agree. Be great to have you join the L72 admirers.

 

Only the quickest car on the street in 1966!

 

Several years ago I dropped an L99 and 6L80 tranny from a 2012 Camaro into my 1988 Land Rover Defender 90. What a hoot! I’ll share a picture below.

Glenn, I’ve spent the last couple years investigating what I really like in a big block. The following is just my opinion folks, not taking a shot at any other C2 Corvettes, they are all wonderful.

I wanted a solid lifter 427 (just a magic number) with a single four barrel carburetor and no side pipes. I also prefer the 65/66 big block hood. The ‘65 comes with a 396 (L78) which is a very respectable engine rated at the same 425HP, but not the magic number. In ‘67 the hood changed and triple carbs were all the rage. In ‘66 there were two 427 choices. The passenger car 2 bolt mains version with a hydraulic cam rated at 390HP and a significantly beefed up 4 bolt mains version with a mechanical cam rated at 425HP. That is the L72. Interestingly, when it was first introduced it was rated at 450HP and you will see early cars with a 450HP air cleaner sticker. No changes were made, but GM reduced the HP rating simply by lowering the RPM they used for HP. Both, like the L89 and L88 in 1967 were under rated in HP.

The one I’m considering has teak and telescoping wheel, leather interior and even the original soft and hard top. We will see how the inspection goes!








Here is a video of my middle daughter helping me demo the truck right about the time it was finished.

 

Yes the L72 was a solid lifter big block that is often termed a 427ci 425HP engine. But there are others as well. GM designated their engines with codes that people generally refer to today.

C2 Corvette solid lifter big block engines:
- L88 - Maybe the most famous. But only 20 installed in 1967. Over 500 HP and intended primarily for racing. Chevrolet rated the engine at 430HP, lower than the L71 to prevent the general public from running around in a racing engine
- L78 - The first solid lifter big block in a Corvette. 396 cubic inches and only for about the last half of 1965/. Rated at 425HP
- L72 - 1966 only and increased in displacement to 427 ci. The engine could be found in other Chevrolet vehicles. Note that for the first month or so of 66 production the engine had 450HP rating. Chevrolet lowered the engine rating with 425HP stickers after that, but nothing changed in the engine. The general lore is that insurance companies drove GM to lower the HP.
- L71 - 1967 engine that just substituted 3 Holley 2-barrels for the 1 Holley 4-barrel. Rated at 435HP.
- L89 - (sometime referred to as L71/L89) substituted aluminum head for the L71 iron heads.

C3 generation also had solid lifter big blocks:
- L88 - in 1968/69. Note that the open chamber 1969 L88s make more power than the closed chamber 1967/8 design.
- ZL1 - Much the same as the L88 but substituting an all aluminum block for the iron block. Only in 1969 and only 2 officially produced - all 3 are known to exist (and this may never be solved).
- L71 - also in 1969/69. The 1967 L71 is likely more powerful than the 1968/69 due to the low riser manifolds used in 1968/69. 1969, at least in stock form, was also hampered by the 2 inch exhausts where previous solid lifter big blocks used 2 1/2 inch exhausts (So for the street, the 1967 Corvette is likely the pinnacle for "old school" muscle car era in a street Corvette from a HP perspective, although the 66 Corvette can argue that its power delivery was more immediate with the 4-barrel).
- L89 - Both 1968 and 1969 offered the same aluminum heads option as 1967 for the L71
- LS6 - a last hurrah for the solid lifter big block in 1971 (there was no solid lifter big block for 1970). This was the only 454 cubic inch big block with solid lifters and was rated at 425HP (and 325HP with the new Net SAE rating). Do not confuse this engine with the similarly named LS6 that was introduced with the C5 Z06.

 

Mark, I hope it works out for you. We could use a new thread like the Fatboy thread.

 

Mark, I will be back working on Fatboy soon. The wife has a long list of “get her done” projects one the new house I am trying to finish up.

There hopefully won’t be too many worthy projects to document on here. Power brakes will be one assuming this car comes through. I will post a bunch of pictures though!

 

bbb62 - You said there were no solid lifter big block engines in 1970. Is that really correct?

 

The solid lifter, aluminum head, LS-7, 454/465hp was planned/ intended for the 1970 Corvette, but was never put in production. The solid lifter LS-6, 454/450 hp….. was available in the 1970 Chevelle however.

I do remember the 1971 ZR-2 454 Corvettes, they had all the heavy duty/high-performance equipment (including aluminum heads, and radio delete), but unfortunately the compression was dropped way way down