(Message Deleted by Poster)

[Jack W.]

Re: Some more questions

as for the notion that a low horse SB would not be the subject of a restamping effort, I would point out that, while the gross dollar resale value enhancement for a SB is not as great as it might be for a 435 hp car, the % enhnacement is similar, (just applied to a lower subject base) and still in the nature of at least a few thousand dollars (compare prices of NOM plain jane C2 SBs to original engine plain jane C2 SBs). And that's enough money to attract someone.

A second reason why you might end up with a restamped low horse SB would be a previous owner's effort to create a restoration engine for his own enjoyment or for judging purposes - the one who commissioned the pad grinding and restamping might not have been interested in improving his car's resale value at all, but perhaps the car then changed hands a time or two, and the honest disclosure of what the deal is gets lost . .

I guess my point is that you cannot simply assume that restamped blocks are a BB-only phenomena

[Jim V.]

I like the way you think...

The light deck would make sense. All deck jobs I've seen leave swirl marks. this pad has pretty distinct front to back grain (almost filed in appearance). Seems like the real issue is the spacing in the eng. code (HE).

Thanks for you thoughts and theories.

JimV

[Jim V.]

great info....Mike

Is what the end of the tool showing loaded numbers or what you are calling slugs? From your photo it is clear the seven digits should maintain equidistant center lines and a common base line. I have seen quite a few engine stampings with engine codes off of the base line and with unequal center lines to the preceding characters. Hummmmmmmmmmmm........

Thanks....great info Mike....!

[Norris W.]

Re: I like the way you think...

One other thing that nobody mentioned, the 2's in the assy code are different from each other. Look at the shape of the top half of em. I guess something like that would be possible, although I've never seen it in lookin' at a lot of original motors over the years, but just like the other guys, the spacing on the H E rules it out as original for me.

[Jim D.]

Re: I like the way you think...

Here's an origainal pad (who would restamp a truck block) that has different 2's

[Michael M.]

Re: I like the way you think...

Looks like 1 may be an upside down 5 and the other a 2. What brand of stamps were used originally? Does anyone know? Mike #36987

[Michael M.]

Re: Some more questions

All stamping had to be done in St Louis? They didn`t know what the engines were going in at the foundry did they?

[Jim V.]

Two wacks for assembly no.

Question on the procedure for the second character of assembly stamp. If the first six were ganged and stamped first, followed by an independent seventh character (E), Wouldn't that explain the unaligned and displaced final E in the HE code. I have seen several SB with the last code out of kilter with the first six ganged portion ot the assembly stamp.

JimV

[Michael H.]

Re: great info....Mike

Jim,

First, I need to go back and correct a dimension I listed in my previous post. I listed the package length at 1.070 and that's incorrect. That would be the dimension for the small VIN characters, not the Flint stamp. The Flint stamp end to end dim should be 1.250" aprox. Sorry. (surprised no one caught that)

The loaded characters in the tool are usually called slugs. The tool makes it pretty clear that the total package dim has to be within a fixed range. There are a few reasons why it can vary slightly but that range is probably around .050" total over the minimum dim. One factor would be the amount of clearance that there is between the character slugs and the opening in the holder. That clearance is usually a max of about .030" to .035". Another factor is the depth of the strike. The deeper the character in the block, the wider the character, which would also increase the total package length. This also increases the top to bottom dim for each character slightly.

Since the individual character slugs are made with the character on the C/L of the slug, that would mean that the center to center dim for all the characters in the block would all be spaced roughly equal, one to the next. That dim just happens to be the exact same as the dim for the character height, or 3/16". Again, this dim is for the larger Flint stamp, not the St. Louis applied VIN stamp.

It all gets pretty confusing and I wish I was better at explaining how/why this is the way it is. Hope this helps.

[Mike M.]

Re: Some more questions

vin #'s, once they began to appear on corvette engine pads, were stamped in st louis. the machine assembly date was stamped at flint for corvette small blocks and tonowanda for the big block vettes. mike

[William Liddle]

Re: I like the way you think...

Geo. T. Schmidt (out of Chicago) was the original supplier for stamp slugs and holders for the factory. I use the same brand in my line of work and Schmidt offers a wide variety of fonts and sizes. We order our stamps by volume and its unusual, but not unheard of, to get a few mixed in that are of different fonts than ordered.

[Gary S.]

Re: I like the way you think...

I just attended Al Grenning's MOST excellent school on stamp pads and such. As I remember, the use of numbers with different fonts is not at all unusual. His comment was something to the effect that some hourly wage UAW guy had to set the tool up and there wasn't anyway that he was worried that the fonts were different. He just reached into the container holding the 2s and grabbed those that he needed.

Again, from his discussion, the only examples of engine codes that I remember as being uneven or hand stamped were typically the BBs and not the SBs. I did not take notes - just relyig on memory.

Gary

[Michael H.]

Re: Two wacks for assembly no.

If the 6th character C/L dim fell in line with the other five characters, I would think it would be possible for the last character to be hand stamped separately and out of phase with the others but it doesn't measure up that way. The first five characters are almost exactly equally spaced but the sixth and seventh are not. There's almost half a character variation in C/L to C/L dim between the 5th and 6th, and again between the 6th and 7th.

I suppose it is remotely possible that some engines were, for some reason, shipped to some of the plants with only the F and date with the suffix to be completed by the car assy plant but it's highly unlikely. A hand stamped last character would be unlikely too but possible.

[don 42616]

Re: Help with Block stamp pad...

All the discussion on Jims possible acquision is VERY educational. But asuming Jim buys the car spends time & money to restore it & someday decides to sell it he will have to try to persuade a buyer its an orginal block.

[Michael H.]

Re: Some more questions

All but that one special Flint built big block. Just happened to be a 67 435 car for sale on ebay a few months ago.