66 BUILD AND ENGINE # SURVEY?

[William B.]

I have a 66 vette with an AO Smith body build date B 02 (SEPT 65 02), and engine stamp date F0831(aug 31 1965). Which seems ok but the heads were cast H 30 5, aug 30 1965. This car is a low serial #, I want to restore it and have it judged. Is this correct and does anyone else have similar numbers? Could they have cast the heads one day and assembled the engine the next? Any replys will be appreciated and I realize NCRS does not judge the head date code, but I need to understand.

[Gene M.]

Re: 66 BUILD AND ENGINE # SURVEY?

Bill,
What you have is fine. I have a 64 Corvette 365 horse block cast then machined the next day according to the build stamp. That baby must have still been warm as it was lowered into the chassis...........

[Jack H.]

Re: 66 BUILD AND ENGINE # SURVEY?

While unusual, it's not impossible for certain engine components to have casting dates the day before or even the same day as the engine's final assembly. Casting was done in Saginaw with engine assy in Flint. There's only a 40-mile separation and there were times when the plants worked three shifts leaving time for misc parts to be cast, cool down, be transported and, without FIFO/LIFO inventory control wind up being used the same day on finished engines.

Judging philosophy accepts a 0-6 month spread in date coded parts. The above is part of the reason '0' is included in the time span. Plus, with valve covers affixed, there's virtually no way the casting date on cylinder heads can be verified....

[Craig S.]

Re: 66 BUILD AND ENGINE # SURVEY?

Gene - my 67 L79 is simialar, block cast date was 2/23/67, engine assembly date was 2/24/67. Heads were a week or so earlier. Interesting, it was a May ll car, with an Aprl 28 body from AOS, so the engine was assembled much earlier than the car. I think part of this was it was the KH suffix, with Calif A.I.R. smog stuff, not common, and costly to get the parts back later....Craig

[Dan H.]

Re: 66 BUILD AND ENGINE # SURVEY?

Bill,
I have an AO Smith car built around the same time yours was built. The body build date was August 30, 1965 (A30). The engine was built on the same day (0830). The heads, however, were built on June 8, 1965. Hope this sheds some light on your situation.