crw41

This is an update of an earlier post. I was trying to figure out what motor was in my car. On the stamp pad (see below) the VIN is correct, but the engine ID# T0901HE would be incorrect (Tonawanda)




The HE suffix would make it a 327/300 motor. But the T woiuld mean it can't be a corvette small block.

I referenced the casting number (3782870):



The block dates 1962-1965 and was casted in the Flint, MI plant. It was used for passenger(Chevelle) and truck (?) applications, but not corvette.

The casting date is E194, thus this is probably a 1964 Chevelle block. This car was not expensive and is generally very good.

However, it is a little puzzeling when you consider that:

1. The car was flipped to me in the high twenties (earning the flipper @ $8,000). He did tout the car as a numbers matching vehicle.
2. I contacted the 2nd owner back who had the car for 14 years and sold it to the guy who flipped it. This gseller was thrilled because he had bought it for $11,000 in 1989 and sold it for $18,000.

The only thing that makes sense to me is that the guy I bought it from had re-stamped it. I would just wonder why if he is going to go to the trouble of re-doing the VIN, you would think that he would do the engine ID No. also.

In the future, when I sell it I am going to say that is has the correct type (327/300) of motor (NOM) in it and leave it at that.

JohnZ

Just proves (again) that not all re-stampers have deep thought processes; Flint block, Tonawanda stamp showing engine assembly 4 months after casting date, with a VIN for a car built 16 months after the casting date

66hemi

It would have been milled and restamped with all of the characters, V.I.N. and engine I.D. or you would see grinder marks if he only replaced the V.I.N. unless the engine was a warranty replacement or over the counter engine that would not have a V.I.N. HOWEVER, that theory goes out the window since it is a small block with a Tonowanda stamping.
My guess is the guy that stamped it THOUGHT he knew what he was doing but really needed to do a little more reserch before he dropped the hammer.

ctjackster

If the transaction where you bought it from the flipper occurred in the last two years or so, I would suggest the price you paid was indicative of the seller knowing the engine was not original - perhaps "numbers matching" in a tortured sense of that term, but not original. Whether the flipper commissioned the restamp, or if it was so when he acquired it (in another transaction where the price was quite low for an original engine car) is likely going to remain a mystery . . . .

p.s. As for your intentions regarding your sale of the car, I applaud your honesty, of course.

Loren Smith

Maybe the VIN was just stamped in case the cops ever looked at it. Doubt if any law enforcement type would know a Tonawanda block from a Flint block.