66 CORVETTE DATE CODES ????

[William B.]

I have a 66 vette, with the following. Build date sept 7 1965,engine stamp F0831, heads dated H 30 5, intake H 25 5 and transmission P O 825. I want to restore the car and go for duntov. I belive thease parts to be original but everything looks to close and someone else told me it would not pass judging. Am I too worried or is this ok? Thanks for any suggestions.

[Jack H.]

Re: 66 CORVETTE DATE CODES ????

Who told you the dates are too close to pass judging? I'd question his/her qualifications. NCRS general policy is dated parts must fall in a range of 0-6 months prior. The reason the rule includes ZERO is there were cases of asynchronous arrival of parts.

Now, the dated components of the engine need to preceed the engine's final assy at its place of origin (Flint for SB, Tonawanda for BB). Hence, the cylinder heads needed to have been cast prior to the engine's 8/31 assembly. It's only 40 miles from Saginaw where the heads and block were cast to the Flint engine plant and there are bona fide examples of some engines having parts cast the SAME day as the engine was assembled (item cast on 1st shift, traveling to Flint and making it in time for 3rd shift assy onto an engine).

In the case of the transmission, it left its origin (Muncie, Indiana) and traveled to St. Louis in a 'race' state with the engine + other final assy components of your Corvette (eg. the body, engine bolt-on's like starter, alternator, carb). So, those final assy components need to pre-date the actual assy date of the CAR (calculate from your VIN number) versus dated major sub-assy components like the engine.

[Patrick H.]

Re: 66 CORVETTE DATE CODES ????

Agreed.

Our 66 Corvette was built April 26th, and virtually every part has an April date. My 71 was built June 15th, and virtually every part is the last week of May or the first week of June.

The plant WANTED the dates to be as close as possible so as to avoid having lots of inventory on hand. Even in the "old days" they tried for some form of "Just in Time" manufacturing.

The exceptions on my 71 would be the water pump and alternator, but actually they are exceptions for other 71's too.

Patrick

[Mike M.]

Re: 66 CORVETTE DATE CODES ????

The dates you've got will not be a problem on the judging field. good luck in your quest for the duntov. mike