'65 Stamp Pad

[Don H.]

Re: '65 Stamp Pad

Jack, your animation is amazing. Interesting, verrry interesting.

[Tony S.]

Re: '65 Stamp Pad

There is nothing unusual about an odd-ball last digit in an assembly date code stamping. My 1966 L36 car had the final "L" individually hand stamped.

[James G.]

Re: '65 Stamp Pad

i never realized that 65 chevy SBCs had so many suffixes. actually, looks like the second alpha in the suffix could have been an A all the way thru Z. of course, not all 65 corvette 870 blocks would have been stamped will all the various 2nd alpha suffixes. i have a 65 FI with TI and its HN looks nothing like the OP's stamp pad photo. most grind-outs i've seen that i was convinced were factory grind outs, appear to have the offending suffix ground out with a rotary file, leaving a deep concavity in the suffix area of the machine assembly stamp pad. this pad in question appears to have used a sanding disc to remove the offending suffix. i'm not too crazy about the pad in question. mike

I agree Mike

[James G.]

Re: '65 Stamp Pad

65#11910 fuel F0212HN.jpg65#11910 fuel F0212HN.jpg

[Richard M.]

Re: '65 Stamp Pad

Excellent observation Dave.

There is more to see to try to validate the car as a whole IMO.

I would then like to see more evidence of original K66, particularly:

1. Firewall Ballast Resistor dimple(where normally drilled for a points distributor). I would also need to see the backside of this area to see if the dimple was recreated.

2. Location of TI Module on Radiator support(Pass Side) with accompanying dimensions of the 3 mount holes, along with Ground screw TI harness jumper wire location.

3. Evidence that the TI Module was never mounted on the Driver side Radiator support(no holes). This would have been it's location for L76/L79 with C60.(i.e. Holley, not FI)

3. Routing of TI harness and associated clips, harness ties, etc. I can't recall if 1965 TI harness used the unique clip and hex screw under the female hood latch as later years did.

4. Analysis of TI harness Power wiring to Main harness. i.e. Pink/Blk IGN 12G(iirc) wire terminal from Main harness, which should show evidence of original factory crimp blade terminal to mate to TI harness blade terminal and appearance of plastic terminal housings. In other words, not recently modified appearing as newer. (If all replacement harnesses exist, moot point)

5. Tach Redline, Oil Pressure gauge max, and associated rear panel cluster ID label for SHP.

6. Engine bay evidence of proper factory configured brackets etc for the FI configuration(Air Cleaner), etc.

I'm certainly no expert... that said, has anyone else noticed a possible misaligned 'N' that was originally there?
Hoping this quick animation might work here (5-sec delays for the transition):

[ATTACH=CONFIG]107089[/ATTACH]

Jack, Great detective insight. Your animation is compelling.

Could you do the same, but this time...

When I zoom in, I see what appears to be a horizontal line under the deep N, and 2 vertical lines under the deep N lower tips. Could that have been a H? Or M?

It almost appears there are 2 indistinct characters under the deeply hit N.

Rich

[Edward J.]

Re: '65 Stamp Pad

I thought I would add a sheet from one of Al Greening classes on stamp pads. He puts on a nice presentation.8CA5412F-721E-410A-B4C5-74BC1D5B3764.jpg8CA5412F-721E-410A-B4C5-74BC1D5B3764.jpgsorry about photo could not get it to rotate.His last paragraph says it all. To me.

[Jack M.]

Re: '65 Stamp Pad

As a reminder, we are simply trying to GUESS what happened 56 years ago... just how was this engine stamp pad originally configured?

Depending how the gang stamps were setup for the day, itz common knowledge that assembly dates 'could' contain an after-strike character. At first, I was wondering if the faint after-strike was the letter 'M'. Looking at the images below (a blow up & mirror of a FLINT stamp holder - from JohnZ), the angles of the 'M' are very different than the 'N'. Notice that the underlying 'block' forming the letters are all the same width... resulting in a consistent OVERALL stamp width. But characters can take different shapes on top of that block... some fill the block, while others don't. In my opinion, the angles of the faint/initial after-strike stamp, seem to reflect the letter 'N'... again, just a semi-educated GUESS.

Vin Stamps - Gang Holder Dies (N + M).jpg

Vin Stamps - GangHolderDies800.JPG



This newer animation (5-sec delays) is an enlarged look at the after-strike area... unfortunately, it does lose some detail). We do see something that I didn't mention previously... focus on the YELLOW oval. Here, we can clearly see the angular line of the 'N' from the INITIAL faint after-strike. Logic dictates that this character had to be struck FIRST... if struck second, that lightly hit letter, could NEVER have reached the BOTTOM of the heavy 'N'.

F0513HN-N-ani.gif



If the other marks by the heavy 'N' were a letter 'H', the positioning could not account for the vertical lines at the BOTTOM of the heavy 'N'... the character couldn't reach down far enough. This animation (5-sec delays) illustrates the proportions of the letter 'H'... if aligned to the lower legs, the crossbar would be totally off. Instead, I believe we are simply observing scratches, nicks, and gouges.

F0513HN-H-ani.gif



So why was the second/fat 'N' added... there could be a logical reason (yes, another guess). When the after-strike was being setup, did that person give it an initial 'tap'... then realized it wasn't lined up very well. So he tried to 'fix' it, but made it look much worse. Who knows what their thinking was, or how PO'd they were that day... I'm guessing they just wanted it CLEAR, and nobody envisioned we'd be so critical, a half century later.

[Richard M.]

Re: '65 Stamp Pad

Thanks Jack!

BTW I did a reverse image of John's photo long ago....

GangHolderDies800Mirror.jpg