All the wishing , pretending, fudging and trickery isn't going to put humpty dumpty back together . The past is gone forever . These cars of a bygone era can't roll down that ramp again from St Louis.

A Original car rolled out that fateful day with one engine only. No matter what happen to the engine , there was ONLY ONE in it that day, never heard of one shipped to a dealer with another spare in the trunk , just the ONE bolted in and ONE ONLY , what ever its demise might have been , wheather it last 2 days or 20 years , it was the original engine once and forever. SOme people get lucky and find their engine in a RACEBOAT or back of a local garage , but this is like winning the lottery. The way I see matching numbers engine debate , Its a straight forward deal , ah... like for instance "Pregnancy".

EITHER "you IS , or you AN'T "........

All this debate reminds me of the "HANGING CHAD" non sence from our national elections.

As In any expensive hobby it is best to know the subject well before investing a fortune. I have found a real jewel of a car will usually stand on its own feet.

At this point MR LS6 I say life is short dude , you have a beautiful car no matter what propels its wheels... drive your corvette , enjoy the power , beauty , but find happiness .

 

That was rather harsh.

I didn't see any posts by the OP trying to fool anyone else. He was just looking for help and admitted several times that he was new at the game.

 

If Jay Leno bought a Bughatti Royale, and had an exact new fender made for $20,000, and restored the car to 100%, I defy you to tell him it's not original.
If an original LS6 engine cracked a block, and the exact replacement was found, and rebuilt and stamped the same, it's an LS6 RESTORED to it's original glory.
IF, he finds the build sheet, or other proof of pedigree, AND the engine is EXACTLY correct, and he restamps it correctly, tell him it's not RESTORED correctly.
These are dumbass rules that limit the restoration of a car of days gone by.
I AM NOT condoning a clone, I AM condoning restoration technique. If he had to replace the front clip due to damage, and it had the original block, no one would care or say a word.

 

And besides, why not keep looking for the original engine? I have a friend down the street who successfully located the original LS5 for a wrecked '70 A/C convertible he bought. The body was in another state and in pretty poor condition.

If you know how to track these things and are diligent enough it can be done.

cc

 

Not sure why this is turning into yet another futile debate about restoring, I must have missed something.

The OP was trying to establish whether his car is an original LS6 or not. It appears that by virtue of the VIN, it is several months too early in the production year and therefore cannot be a genuine example.

 

There is a unique characteristic to the engine pad assembly stamping. Could you post a clear, sharp focused, close up picture of this pad stamping for me to view?

 

Sorry Mikey ol boy (sniffle)....didn't bloody mean to ruffle your little feathers mate

Just my opinion ol chap......

How about this :..........

LS6 wanted to really find out what his car is all about , quit the Private eye stuff , back door , 007 or what ever. Sounds like a movie Leave that kind to stuff to tracking his ol lady .

How about just loading it up and dragging it to the Biggest Corvette NCRS show on earth , , call PRO TEAM, call MEcom , make sure they are all there...!!! Bloomington or where ever the corvette gods are and let the EXPERTS ( owners compare) it to their cars. I'll bet they could tell . You need a KNOWN car to compare it to or someone WITH the correct knowledge to examine it. Surely .... with that much money invested and your hell-bent on finding out , well I believe it would be worth letting other LS6 owners and alike take a REAL PEAK. Or Like several fellows have told you.......take it apart and find out. Oh at the major shows.... You just might find some of the previous owners there too.

ALl the best mate .....don't forget to post what you find

 

Here are the facts that I know of:
production did not start on LS6 cars until march of 71, most were built in a close time frame. The reason for the late start was that they would not gain emission approval until then, hence serial numbers started around 13,000
All cars had Ti ignition and should have the box in the drivers side front of wheel well, or at least signs that the 3 holes are present
LS6 cars had smog pumps, hence exhaust manifolds should have holes drilled and tapped if AIR is gone, LS5 cars had no smog pump and , hence no holes. Check casting dates of manifolds, over the counter manifolds were drilled and tapped.
LS6 cars had the heavy cast iron 2 groove crank pully, all others had a light stamped steel pulley
LS6 alternator was a 61 amp and had a larger pulley, noticable when you compare it to the regular one
All blocks were 512 castings (LS5 andLS6)LS6 had the big hole tapped above the oil filter
Holley 780 carb had a really rare strap connected to the passenger front side stud that wrapped around and secured the fuel line, LT1 cars had it around the rear and are not the same. If you find one of these let me know!!
6500 redline tach is easy to have redone
No air conditioniong was available
not all cars had M22 transmissions
open element air cleaner
Painted steel valve covers

 

Good information !!! I believe CAR &DRIVER magazine tested the LS6 . Seems that it was a late testing at that , because .....ALL the various car engine options weren't ready for at the first months of the model year as the previous post stated. I believe this test took place in JUNE or JULY .


Hels6Tear her down, look at all the small pieces check the dates. I would go over EVERY item the last chap listed . You may need to get your hands wee bit dirty and take a few parts off , still drop the tank I would.

Like RIPLEY said in Aliens "its the only way to be sure"

Cheers,

 

Hells6,

Unfortunately the above poster doesn't have all the information correct. If you would post a picture of your engine assembly stamping as requested before, I would be glad to give you my opinion as to whether it is a correct stamping.
There are a myriad of other items that are unique to an LS6 optioned Corvette, lets start with the pad stamping first.

 

I don't think there's a stamp to see. Shame.

 

I'm getting confused ,but that's not too hard to do.

 

A restamped block does not an LS6 make....

Or restamped block + no paperwork = ???????
This part of the tale is what worries me. Thats a bad start for a car that has ZERO paper work and the engine isn;t ID 'ed in the VIN number, like the 72 and up ( one reason I like these cars)

Having the correct and original engine is a LS6 s' special pettigree, it is what makes the car special or sets it apart from other cars, not a stupid fender or rear end, but the ENGINE is what makes this car so special , it is the basis of the whole reason for this being a RARE collectable....... regardless of what J leno says... to me thats is what makes the car valuable.

I once found a SMALL 2x3 inch tatered piece of gas tank sticker on a tank . I had THOUGHT the car had no sticker , it was covered over with dirt completely and you couldn't see it with out dropping the tank. I made out the desination and dealer this scrap. It was all I needed. I was very happy indeed.

Well ..maybe you could deck the engine again and restamp it this time and pick better dates. ( HUMOR)

 

Me too. Let's go for a

 

Hells6,

Okay, I had to go back and re-read all your posts to understand completely what's going on here. Since we don't have an original pad stamping, let's continue on. Can you tell me exactly what if any stampings are on the end of the aluminum heads? What are the casting dates? Heads have to be off the cylinder case to read them.

 

EARLY SHARK, please let me know if I have given bad information, most of what i have learned has been from the LS6 expert in Michigan, JIM (cant remember last name)

Question for anybody The 569 intake comes 2 ways, with and without the cylinder numbers on it, I believe that the originals came without the numbers? Anybody know

 

Excellent idea

 

I am going to move this thread to Factory Correct section...

 

Didn't know about the Factory Correct section.

 

You're talking about Jim Wallace, he has owned 5 1971 LS6 Corvettes. Some of the information you spoke of is incorrect, not all.

Yes, the aluminum square port intake manifold originally was used on the 1970 LS6 engine option for the Chevelle model. It wasn't necessary to be a low profile design under these hoods, however the intent for this manifold was for the 1970 Corvette application. The numbered runner design manifold began in June 1971, and is a service replacement unit for Chevelle, Corvette ordered LS6 cars.