Numbers Matching '63 ......

**Art A.** · February 9, 2003, 01:38 AM

Re: Numbers Matching '63 ......

The only car that engine will match is your car----keep it.

Art

**David H.** · February 9, 2003, 03:16 AM

Re: Numbers Matching '63 ......

Keep the engine with its car.

To sell this engine you have to compete with a wide variety of performance crate motors. Anyone just interested in a higher HP, non numbers matching, engine would compare the cost of a new high performance motor to your sale price PLUS the cost of a rebuild.

If you don't think it's cost effective to rebuild the engine, others will probably view it the same way. Better to store the old motor than sell it.

**Duke W.** · February 9, 2003, 09:24 AM

Re: Numbers Matching '63 ......

Keep the original engine. Sounds like you are doing a lot more than the typical restoration and you will be rewarded more in terms of self-actualization and monetary value if you keep it original. Restoring a deteriorated/modified car to original condition is a lot harder than restoring it with more mods, but is worth the effort.

The sixties vintage SHP engines are in a class of their own. If you want to refresh it, pocket port/port match the heads/manifolds and use the LT-1 cam and original edge orifice type lifters. This will give you about 275 HP at the rear wheels, and you'll retain that "hot mechanical lifter cam" idle quality that can't be matched by a modern engine, even one that makes more power.

Duke

**Peter Ansted** · February 9, 2003, 10:32 AM

Re: Numbers Matching '63 ......

Keep the engine, have it rebuilt by a qualified machinist to original specs. This car is a restorers dream. The frame was not rotted completely through, the fiberglass can be repared rather easily, your sitting on a SHP engine and you have already completed the scariest part - removal of the body.

**Bruce Melvin** · February 9, 2003, 05:00 PM

Re: Numbers Matching '63 ......

The frame was rotted clear through. And those flares are going to be hell to fix, expecially in the front where each flare cuts into three body panels.

The engine does not need to be rebuilt. I check one of the rod bearings and the wear was remarkably little.

Someone who needs a correct motor for '63 could use this motor as is....although given the age of the gasket, I would swap them out.

**Bruce Melvin** · February 9, 2003, 05:02 PM

Re: Numbers Matching '63 ......

I would not be selling it to compete against crate motors. This would be the correct engine for any '63 as the numbers, as I understand them, only indicate that it is correct for the year, not for the car. I would only sell this to someone that had a '63 and their goal was number correctness.

Thanks,

Bruce

**Wayne C.** · February 10, 2003, 04:16 AM

Re: Numbers Matching '63 ......

You apparently don't understand the engine numbers... there is a VIN derivative (last 5 digits of your vehicle's VIN) stamped into the pad on the block (just forward of the passenger-side head), which makes the engine correct (matching numbers) for your car alone, not for any other 63 Corvette. It would be period-correct for another 63 built in the same general time period (within a month or two after the block's casting date) that your car was built, but it would not be numbers matching.

If a buyer intended to restamp the pad to counterfeit the "matching numbers", he can choose from a variety of Chevy block castings from that time period, not just Corvette blocks, which lessens the market value of your block.

**Bruce Melvin** · February 10, 2003, 10:21 AM

Re: Numbers Matching '63 ......

Ok, help me out then. The number on the block is: 5121269 FO6
What do you translate this to mean?

Thanks,

Bruce

**John H.** · February 10, 2003, 01:55 PM

Re: Numbers Matching '63 ......

Bruce -

The 5121269 says it's out of a very late production 1965. The "F06" is a partial number - this code should read F06XXYY, where the X's are a 2-digit number for the day of the month (06=June), and the Y's are a 2-letter code for the engine type. It is not the original engine; '63 and '65 both used the 3782870 block - what is your block casting date (behind the pass. side cylinder head on the rear flange)?

**Bruce Melvin** · February 10, 2003, 02:01 PM

Re: Numbers Matching '63 ......

John,

THe numbers are ?121259 (which matches the serial number on the plate in the car, and F0625RE, which matches the the 340HP claim of the previous owner.

Based on this, I now see, thanks to Harry, that this engine is only correct for this car. So I will keep it and love it.

Thanks,
Bruce

**Art A.** · February 10, 2003, 02:13 PM

Re: Numbers Matching '63 ......

Bruce, Where you are showing the ? mark on your latest post in the
number ?121259-----I think it should be an " S " and if you would have given it the first time we would have been able to help you sooner. Also, when you gave the F06, if you would have given us the complete number (F0625RE)it would have been very helpful.

Live and learn
Art

**Bruce Melvin** · February 10, 2003, 02:26 PM

Re: Numbers Matching '63 ......

I think your right, the question mark was/is and "S". Hard to make out the difference between and "S" or a "5". I was going off an picture I took of this area in '98. In the picture it only show the F06. THis morning, after four years, I actually went out in the garage and waded through the mess. I copied the numbers of the block and posted them. Sorry about that.

Thanks,

Bruce

**John H.** · February 11, 2003, 01:02 PM

Re: Numbers Matching '63 ......

On a '63, the first digit of the VIN derivative on the engine would be a "3", not an "S" - should show "3121259".

**Art A.** · February 11, 2003, 04:18 PM

Re: Numbers Matching '63 ......

Your right John it should be a 3, I was thinking of the transmission-----the "S" will only show up on the tranny---Sorry,I'll go back to sleep now.

Art

Numbers Matching '63 ......

Numbers Matching '63 ......

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