JmpnJckFlsh

Patrick, I'll have to defer to the engine gurus, but I can offer one comment. When I bought my car, the seller said that he had just had the engine rebuilt. That was not a clincher on the deal, but it gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling. Later, an acqaintance who had also looked at the car, said that he thought the engine lacked the punch it should have for a Corvette, and that's why he passed it up (I was a green-as-a-gourd Corvette neophyte.).

When I decided to completely restore the car, I decided I would also rebuild the engine to possibly eliminate the lack of "punch". After pulling the engine, and beginning the tear down, the first bearing cap I pulled had a bearing with copper showing through. As I continued, I found several more bearings that were worn through to the copper. The engine had either NEVER been rebuilt, or it had been rebuilt very poorly, or the car had really been abused. I should have asked the seller if he had ever changed the oil after the rebuild.

Conclusion: Never believe anything the seller says until after they have your money in their pocket...some of them are Olympic Class LIARS!

If you really want to know what condition the engine is in, you can pull a few caps and check the bearing metal thickness. JUST BE SURE that you put the caps back on the location they came from, make sure they are facing the same direction as they originally were, and torque them back to specifications in about three tightenings.

By the way, your engine does look nice and clean inside. It probably has been rebuilt.


[Modified by Chuck Sangerhausen, 7:06 PM 2/1/2002]


[Modified by Chuck Sangerhausen, 7:23 PM 2/1/2002]

SWCDuke

I really can't tell anything from the photos other than it does look fresh - no coked oil on the pistons. You might want to pull the caps one at a time and inspect the bearings and plastigage them to see what the clearance is.

If you pulled the heads check for a ridge at the top and measure the bores to see if there is any taper.

I guess this must be a post '65 model. I think the '65 L-79 had the big baffled and trap doored pan. Also, the big pan included a flat windage tray that was fastened to studs that were extensions of the main cap bolts. Beginning iin '66 I think they put the small pan in the L-79s, so they could offer them with power steering. The small pan was not baffled nor trap doored and did not include the windage tray and unique attaching main cap bolts with their integral studs to hold the windage tray. The later windage trays used on the LT-1s were curved.

Duke




[Modified by SWCDuke, 8:23 PM 2/1/2002]

67HEAVEN

Oh, oh......points deduct! :D Mind you, they'll never see it at a hundred!

JmpnJckFlsh

"They'll never see it at a hundred"? Whut er yew tawkin' about 67, bribing the judges?

They won't see it anyway; anything you can hide under the valve covers is OK. Too bad, if they cain't see it. Now, yew kin fergit about puttin' in one of those lopin' camshafts...they'll spot that fer shure, unless of course, yer supposed to have a lopin' camshaft.

BAmacker

P.S. On the backs of the bearing inserts are part numbers designating whether the crank's been ground, and a date code of manufacture.

The part number will suffix in .010 or 10 if it's been cut .010", and the date code will look like 3-99. Date codes can run a year or two old right out of the box.

Post what the bearing shells say and we'll decipher them for you. The quality of the manufacturer might give a clue on the overall quality.

Good Luck!

clem zahrobsky

the engine as been rebuilt because the balancing pads on the rods have been deburred and they do not do that at the factory. look close and you will see the sharp edges have been ground off. how long ago is hard to tell. also any engine that has been rebuilt will have the cly bored oversized.

JohnZ

Whoever rebuilt it appears to have done it right - as Clem said, they took the time to deburr the big end pads (most likely when it was prepped for balancing), and Clevite 77 are excellent quality bearings. It MAY have been the second rebuild, as cranks are normally cut only .010" unless there's a pretty good gouge on one of the journals. If the heads are going to come off, mike the bores and see how far over standard they went on the bore. If the heads aren't coming off, just run it and enjoy it!