67 327 ci info

[Jon Haydon]

I have owned a 67 conv. since 75. Known the car since 69 and am the only person to ever work on the car. One previous owner. On the serial number pad on the engine is the serial number, matching, and the number V0505 HE. Most of this I can decipher, but the V throws me. Does anyone know what that means.
Also, when I dissasembled the engine some years ago for a valve job, I discovered that there were no head gaskets, just metal to metal. I later put gaskets back on the engine. Also the car had from the factory, a 4150 Holley with dual side feed with chrome fuel line. It has the 300 hp tach, and 300 hp intake. When I originally did the valve job, one of the valve covers had a decal that said, "Built by the Flint racing division" Assuming I could obtain another one I took it off and repainted the covers. Does anyone know of this ever occuring? This is a low mileage car, 37,800+ miles. Tank sticker is gone. The car has been in a gulf coast hurricane, an F5 tornado in Arkansas, stolen and left in the woods for 4 years. When stolen, the original owners manual and original purchase papers were taken out of the car. According to the memory of the original owner, the car had a delivery destination to St. Louis, Mo. factory. Most numbers indicate the car was actually built around late April early May. Car was sold as new in Springfield and data plate was date stamped 6/20/67, obviously after data plate was installed on the car.
If anyone can shed any information on any of the above, or where I might get more info sources, please let me know. When responding, please include the word Corvette in the subject line so it will throught SPAM filters.

[Mike M.]

Re: 67 327 ci info

V in the pad stamping signifys the block is a flint mich critter.mike

[Steven C.]

Re: 67 327 ci info

Per the black book, the "HE" suffix is a 300 hp engine with manual transmission (maybe even 3-speed?).

The 0505 is most likely May 5, 1967 for engine build date.

Doesn't sound like the correct carb -- no idea what the lack of head gaskets and the racing decal meant, especially as this wasn't a hipo car.

Steve

[Duke W.]

Re: 67 327 ci info

Beginning in 1967 "V" replaced "F" in the Flint small block engine code stamping.

There is no way the engine would hold compression or coolant with no head gaskets. The OE gaskets are of the thin steel shim type, not composition. These gaskets are stamped with a pattern that flattens when the head bolts are torqued and provide the required sealing assuming the surfaces are dead level, which they are having been freshly machined by plant tooling.

If they stick to the head or block upon disassembly, it could appear as if there is no gasket.

Code "HE" is a base 300HP engine with manual trans. The original carb. was a Holley Model 4160; 1965 was the last year a Model 4150 was used. Additional details are in the 1967 Judging Guide and Corvette Specifications Guide published by NCRS.

Duke

[Jon Haydon]

Re: 67 327 ci info

Thanks for the info. Do you know of any way to obtain factory build specs on my particular car, like what was on the original build sheet or order. I can piece it together from the equipment that was on the car. Every one I have talked to though, says I have the wrong Carb. It is the only carb that has been on it from the dealership. I know, they could have changed it. But that is what I have. 4 speed muncie I know, but what makes it close ratio or not? As you can tell, this restoration of an original car has left me with more questions than answers and I have a lot to learn.

[John H.]

Re: 67 327 ci info

Jon -

That car left St. Louis as a 300hp with a wide-ratio M20 4-speed; the M21 close-ratio 4-speed wasn't available with the 300hp engine. It also had a Holley 3810, model 4160 carb, single fuel inlet; the only '67 Corvette that ever had a model 4150 dual-inlet carb was the L-88. Do you know if it still has the tank sticker?

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 327 ci info

Duke-----

Holley model 4150 carbs were used after 1965, but, perhaps, you mean that they weren't used on small blocks during the C2 years after 1965. They were used for some big blocks from 1965 right through the 1971 model year. They were also used on LT-1 small blocks during the 1970-72 period.

I totally agree with you regarding the head gaskets. There's ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that an engine could have been functional without head gaskets being installed---no way, at all.

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 327 ci info

Jon-----

Notwithstanding your long history with the car, the Holley 4150 was added somewhere along the way. I really doubt that Chevrolet would have installed that carburetor on a 300 hp 327 either at St. Louis or elsewhere.

I have never seen a valve cover decal that read "Built By the Flint Racing Division". For one thing, I have never heard of any entity within the Flint V-8 engine plant (where your engine was manufactured) being referred to as the "Flint Racing Division". However, 1967-only small blocks did usually have a valve cover sticker applied on the passenger side front end which read "Built By Flint #1 Team". I expect that's what you're referring to.

There's no way I know of to obtain "build records" or any other documentary information on the car.

As Duke Williams and I mentioned in other posts, I can see no way that the engine could have been manufactured without cylinder head gaskets. Even if it had mistakenly been built without them, I can't see the engine getting by the Flint engine "hot test". Plus, even if it would have run without head gaskets (which, I doubt), there would have been coolant leaking all over the place.

[Duke W.]

Re: 67 327 ci info

I should have said that 1965 was the last year that 4150s were used on 327 CID Corvette engines. I realized that after I hit "post message".

Duke

[Gerard F.]

Re: 67 327 ci info

Jon,

I think it was common to put a holley double pumper on a 67 327 replacing the original 3810, a 4160 series. I did it myself to my 67/327/300 in the early 70's, but now I'm back to the 3810. The original 3810's were a PITA with non externally adjustible floats and soon began to leak.

What's the list number and date code on the 4150 you have. That will give you an idea when it was put on. My guess, list 4776.

Jerry Fuccillo
#42179

[Jon Haydon]

Re: 67 327 ci info

To all of you who have responded thanks. You guys surely are right about the gaskets. Being a restorer of 20's and 30's cars, I am used to seeing a thick copper clad head gasket. When I get home tonight, I bet I find a thin flat factory gasket along with my rebuild gasket that I put on over 25 years ago!
The 4150 may be wrong for my car, all of you and the manuals say so, but out on the open road, it sure did run good and fast, with acceleration to spare. In town though, it had a tencency to "load" up. I found the cure was to always drive real fast. Worked for me.
Thanks again to all.

[Gary N.]

Re: 67 327 ci info

Jon, I have a very similar car, all the advice so far is correct as I would have expected from these guys they know their stuff. I found that if I use a vacumm advance for 327/350 it cured acceleration problems. My car may have had the 350hp cam installed. Also you want to get the correct date code on the carb. I have had 3 great experiences with Pony carb for rebuilding and fixing leaky casting plugs. Unless you find a jewel, buying a core and rebuilding may cost as much or more that buying one correct from Chicago Corvettes or someone else, Al the carb guy has a store on eBay if you want to poke around. Good luck, Gary

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 327 ci info

Jon-----

The 4150 has some functional advantages over the 4160. The main one is that you can change secondary jetting without having to change the metering plate. However, the main reason that I like the 4150 better is that there is no fuel transfer tube between primary and secondary fuel bowls. I used to always have trouble with these things leaking. In 1966 I bought a new Chevelle SS 396 with L-34 engine. This car was originally equipped with a Holley 4160. For the most part, the carburetor was ok. However, that fuel transfer tube leak problem convinced me to install a new 4150 carb. That eliminated my fuel leaks. It really didn't otherwise improve performance by any significant amount, though.

[Gerard F.]

Re: 67 327 ci info

Jon,

Yea, when I had the double pumper on my 67/327 it was great at high speeds but I always had trouble with idle and mixture, and the gas mileage really sucked.

But when I put on a restored 3810 with the correct jetting and all settings to spec, the car has never run better except when new. Getting back up to the 20 mpg on a long trip, if I don't get on it too much (which is very tempting).

Jerry Fuccillo
#42179