Does anyone know how far back a part can date and still receive full points?

Build Date 4-1-72
Part Date J 11 1 (Oct 11th, 1971 ???)

 

usually a 6 month window is considered acceptable for judging purposes

 

6 months maximum is the short answer (except for window glass) but parts that close to the limit would be very suspect. You're probably better off looking for something closer.

 

Some dated parts are not judged by the ncrs score sheets... what part are you asking about?

 

What is the part?

 

No disrespect, but if dates are your concern, do you have the NCRS judging manual? Have you joined the NCRS? The NCRS has a very good forum for these types of questions.

http://www.ncrs.org/

Greetings from #27810

 

Additionally, if the part in question has a stamped date code rather than cast, the letter 'J' is September, not October.

 

Intake manifold.

 

Mike,

How would you look at this senario.

I have a 1969 L71, basically the car has had a light cosmetic clean up from what I can tell maybe 10-15 years ago.

The engine date codes from what I have read are on the verge of what is acceptable.

Engine casting date: Jan 30 69
Engine build date: April 28 69
Car build date: Aug 5 69

The stamp pad does not look suspect and the emissions decal looks original. The other L71 equipment looks untouched as well. And the overall condition of the car would lead me to believe that nobody would have taken the time to restamp the car. I am gearing up to completely restore the car and I was thinking of having someone authenticate the car before I tear into it. There isn't a NCRS chapter within 1500km of me.

Thoughts?

 

How does this compare to the casting date and assembly date of the engine? Personally, I'd pass on this one and keep looking.

 

Apologies to the OP for the temporary hijacking.

First off, the NCRS does not authenticate cars in any sense of the word. During Flight Judging a group of amateur, unpaid judges with varying degrees of experience and knowledge superficially evaluate a car within a very limited period of time. The sole point is to see whether the car appears to be typical of factory production. Key words are appears and typical. Whether any individual piece is the original put there by GM in St. Louis is not point and is not evaluated.

Engines cast, assembled and installed all within a 2 week period are very typical. An engine cast in Jan, assembled in April and installed in Aug is not. Does this mean an automatic fail? No. Is such a scenario absolutely unheard of? No. Never say never. It is likely that such a situation would be referred to the chief judge who might then ask some of the more experienced eyes to have a second look and render an opinion. Not a comfortable situation, but there again NCRS does not authenticate anything, including engines. This means that dragging your car to an NCRS meet for confirmation that your engine (or car) is original is not the best means to an end.

Is your engine the original from the factory? Dunno. Is it really important to you? Contact Al Grenning who will for a fee give you his professional opinion.

You may want to start new post on this subject, including some hi res pics of your stamp pad.

 

Agree with Mike on all points.

Specifically, regarding your date sequences... January cast to engine build in April is a long time. I believe it is "more typical" for this period to be a couple days to about 2 weeks on the high side. This amount of time would concern me. The cast to build date seems to be on the outer reaches of "acceptable" times as well. But, its the engine dates that catch my attention.

However, as Mike says, never say never on these things. There's always exceptions to these very general rules. And, as stated, some decent digital pictures can reveal a lot if you choose to post them.

 

Back to the OP, a mid Oct 71 intake on a 4-1 build wouldn't hurt my feelings any.

 

I agree to a great degree on the above statements, but mention needs to be made of the exceptions.
GM was under a continous threat of strikes in the 69-70-71 years and strikes did occur. Some were union wide and others were only specific plants. Gm would have certainly tried to stock up on parts in anticipation of these potential strikes and there was not a real just in time part rotation directive, logically yes, but in reality no.

also given a rare engine combination ( L88/LS6/LT1/L89 and perhaps LS5 ) GM would more likely make several at a time and wait weeks before running a new set.

there were also situations where an engine assembly would fail testing and back it would go to be fixed.. and might sit for weeks or more. quality control was an entirely different animal back then. So many made it to the showroom floor and was in for warrantee work within a week.

the gurus have the pad stamp database and experience to be able to tell if this is more likely true for your car, but they will still only tell you that it 'appears' to be OK. All for a 4 figure fee.

I have reviewed the corvette registries to a degree, and watched cars with engine pad stampings, it is the only data available to me. But I did see that during time when plants were running full assembly, that the 2 week standard was confirmed. but that other times many cars built between certian time spans the date spread was 45-50 days and more consistantly. I have done this trying to authenticate my car instead of paying that 4 figure fee.

this is all in the spirit of playing that game. but 6 months is a standard that takes the vast majority into account.

 

Mike,
Engine is 3970014, B28 72 so their about 4 months apart. Comments?

 

4.5 months on an intake? Not so awful.

 

I have a August 70 cast intake on an early January 71 assembled 350/270. It doesn't seem to bother anyone since the car is so ordinary.
It appears the more "WOW' the car is the more people's panties wad up.
Regards,
Alan

I agree the strikes added some date inconsistencies during these years.

 

So engine casting date is Feb, build is April and intake is October of the previous year. Like Vettebuyer says, not so bad but you can probably do better if NCRS is important to you.

 

.....a friend of mine bought an original owner '71 LS5 automatic car with a build date of 12/7/70 and it's original engine was cast April 8, 1970. Many years ago we drove it to an NCRS meet and there was another '71 LS5 car a few hundred VIN #s away from his and it too had the same 8 month span. My friend's car was also given Bloomington Gold Survivor around 2002. Those judges said it was typical "back then" because of strikes and what not.

 

I know someone with an intake dated about 27 days AFTER the engine assy date, but the build date is about 10 weeks later. He insists the engine is all original. Impossible? Could the actual engine assembly have been "held up"?