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I have all the numbers but cannot for the life of me decode
. It’s a 3970010 block, from Van Nuys, and a “CHC” configuration. I just can’t narrow it down any further than that. Help? Looking to find the year, and hopefully what it most likely came out of. And is it at all desirable? Found it in the crawlspace at my mom’s here in bowling green, ky. Home of the corvette.
CHC 1973 307 tur hydro, Calif NB2 115 2 F B X
CHC 1975 350 m/t, h/p T L82 205 4 Vette
CHC 1976 350 m/t, h/p X L82 210 4 Vette
CHC 1980 350 auto trans. L - - full size
The above info is from NastyZ28.com - worse case it's a boat anchor, best case it's the basis of a cheap engine. I mean if someone wanted the experience of building an engine as a learning process, then you could build a pretty good low budget engine and flog the hell out of it without much worry. Some would argue that you could build a strong, high HP engine from this, and you could. But why go to that expense when you could start with a new aftermarket block?
CHC 1973 307 tur hydro, Calif NB2 115 2 F B X
CHC 1975 350 m/t, h/p T L82 205 4 Vette
CHC 1976 350 m/t, h/p X L82 210 4 Vette
CHC 1980 350 auto trans. L - - full size
The above info is from NastyZ28.com - worse case it's a boat anchor, best case it's the basis of a cheap engine. I mean if someone wanted the experience of building an engine as a learning process, then you could build a pretty good low budget engine and flog the hell out of it without much worry. Some would argue that you could build a strong, high HP engine from this, and you could. But why go to that expense when you could start with a new aftermarket block?
Given the casting date of C138, I'm going to say this block was cast on March 13, 1978. That eliminates any Corvette application for the CHC. It's also the later, more square stamp pad shape that puts it in the later part of the '70s.
The partial VIN (18L579812) does not coincide with any Corvette sequences (Corvettes all had S for St. Louis in the VIN).
1978 Corvettes: 1Z87L8S400001 – 1Z87L8S440274 (Corvette Coupe) 1Z87L8S900001 – 1Z87L8S906502 (Corvette Pace Car)
1979 Corvettes: 1Z8789S400001 – 1Z8789S453807 (Corvette Coupe)
1980 Corvettes: 1Z878AS400001 – 1Z878AS440614 (Corvette Coupe)
The Lime Book shows this for CHC where the last 2-letter abbreviation says CA for Camaro in '78:
CHC 73 307 115 2B,CE,TH CH,NO
CHC 75 350 205 4B,4S CO
CHC 76 350 210 4B,4S CO
CHC 78 350 170 4B,TH350 CA
CHC 88 305 220 AT,TPI CA
Vehicle Identification Number Example: 1Q87L2L100000
First Digit Division: 1=General Motors
Second Digit Series: Q=Camaro (1972-9), P=Camaro (1980), S=Type LT (73-78) or Berlinetta (79-80)
Third & Fourth Digits Body Style: 87=Sport Coupe/Camaro
Fifth Digit Engine: See Engine Codes Below
Sixth Digit Year: 3=73,4=74,5=75,6=76,7=77,8=78,9=79,A=80
Seventh Digit Production Plant: N=Norwood,Ohio, L=Van Nuys
Last Six Digits increase by one with each car built at each plant
I can understand why you want it to be found-Corvette treasure, but it just isn't. The Lime Book's and Ratflinger's CHC listings show it as a non-Corvette application; the casting date and VIN (18L579812) place it squarely as a 1978 Camaro.
Edit: Two last things —
It’s a 3970010 block, from Van Nuys, and a “CHC” configuration.
The V in the V0321CHC indicates the Flint, Michigan, engine plant (Flint used an F in the early days and changed to V in the mid-'60s). The 0321 is the engine assembly date with matches well with the March 13th casting date.
Last edited by barkingrats; Mar 9, 2024 at 12:14 PM.
Unless you have the main caps, its pretty much just so much junk. Main caps aren't interchangeable from one block to another, so for the block to be useful, you'd need to source some caps, machine them, and line bore the block. At that point, you'd have 2X to 3X the value of a used 2 bolt block invested.
Help identify this engine block
