Larry N. Johnson

Strongly considering getting a 65 2 top
Not sure production date as it is 800 miles away.
VIN: 194675S117196
Style: 65467
TRIM: 436BA
BODY: S5579
Paint: 900MM
Oil Gage: 0-80 psi
Tach: 6500 redline
Trans: 3851325 S117196
Rear Sway Bar 9/16"
Rear spring: 7 leaves
Sipepipes (have not checked if factory installed)
Big block engine not the one shipped: casting 3969854, stamps T041CLB and 11C163469 (dealer installed)
Seats: maroon leather - need recovered
Paint: maroon - needs repainted
Wheels: Rally
Battery is on driver's side

Have 3 images but not able to post.

Questions:
1. Is this a 396 factory car?
2. What is the engine?
3. Does the VIN tell anything about production date?

Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance.

65hihp

All the help I can offer comes from the Corvette Black Book ---->
17196 VIN would be built sometime around mid May, 1965

5thvet

Trim code coincides with the maroon seats, paint 900MM coincides with the Milano Maroon exterior. The style 65-467 is a St. Louis convertible body and the S-5579 is the production serial number of body. All that is good.
The casting 3969854 does not match the correct casting for a 65 396 which was 3855962. The pad ID does not match a 65 396. The suffix on the pad in 65 for a 396 was IF. Rally wheels were not offered in 65. Hope that helps.
Don

Powershift

All indications suggest a BB car:

Oil pressure gage
Tach redline
Rear sway bar
Battery on driver side
May production date makes the BB available
Rear spring....the F-40 (seven leaf) was only available on the BB or FI. (either is nice)

Also ask for/check rear end codes. They were also specific to engine size.

Larry

Larry N. Johnson

Thank you very, very much.
This confirms it was a 396 car. (Seller is third owner and knows the history; says there is no doubt it's a 396 car originally.)

Now that pesky engine:
The engine is a replacement by a dealer.
Be nice to know what it is before buying the car.

Maybe someone can decipher the engine casting and stamps...

midyearvette

3968854 1969-72 396/402 4.094 & 4.125 2 & 4 bolt mains with medium cylinder wall thickness

Larry N. Johnson

Midyearvette:

So it is a 396 engine!!

You da man!


Any idea what car GM put those engines into?

Larry N. Johnson

Larry,
Thanks for the comment!
The rear end has F442665 on it; does that mean anything?
LNJ

Nowhere Man

Chevelles and Impalas. were the two biggest

Larry N. Johnson

Now I need the head and intake casting numbers. 70-71 were they still high compression? Or smogged to death?

Powershift

If it's FA42665 it would indicate a 3:70 posi rear end for a 396 engine Corvette that was built (rear end assembly) on April 26, 1965.

Larry

Larry N. Johnson

The second character was read as a 4 when it should have been an A.
So everything is fitting!

Many thanks!!
LNJ

gbvette62

If the engine was installed by a Chevrolet dealer, it was a used engine, not a new crate motor. The stamp pad contains a VIN (and not from a Vette), which indicates that the engine had come from a factory assembled vehicle. So it was not a new, over the counter engine. I would guess that this engine wasn't installed by a GM dealer, as it would be pretty rare (though not impossible) for them to do something like that.

You need to recheck the stamp pad. "T041CLB" tells you what the engine is, but it seems to be missing a digit. "T" is the engine assembly plant, in this case "T" = Tonawanda, NY. "041" is the assembly date of the engine, but this is where the digit appears to be missing. Generally the date is 4 numbers, 2 for the month (01-12) and 2 for the day (01-31). From the "04", I'm guessing that the engine was assembled in April, (no months have 41 days, that I know of) and the day is missing a number to make it the 10th, 15th, 21st or something. The final 3 letters tell you what the engine is. "CLB" is a 71 or 72 LS-3, 402 attached to a Turbo Hydro trans, most likely from a Chevelle, Monte Carlo or El Camino. My Chevrolet parts book lists "CLB" as 72 Camaro also, but the VIN derivative listed eliminates it from coming from a Camaro.

The VIN derivative 11C163469 indicates that this engine is from a 1971 Chevrolet. The first "1" I'm not to sure about, could it possibly be a "7"? If so, this would lead me to believe it came out of a 2 door or convertible body ("37" being 2 doors and "67" being convs in GM VINs). The second "1" (the one before the "C"), is the model year, "1" for 1971. The "C" is the plant where the car was assembled (not the engine) and it is the South Gate, CA plant. I think they built GM A-Bodies (Chevelle, El Camino, Malibu, etc.) in that time frame. South Gate may have built full size cars (Impala, Caprice, etc.) at some point, but GM never built Camaros there. The "1" after the "C" is the control number commonly found at the start of a VIN sequence number for 1971 Chevrolets. This number would be a "5" on a 72 Chevy. The 63469 indicate that the car the engine went in was the 63,469th built at South Gate in 1971.

From all of that, I would say the engine is a 71 LS-3, 402/300hp, originally attached to an automatic trans, in a 71 Chevelle coupe or conv.

71 was the first year for the lower compression ratios. The 71 LS-3 had a 8.5-1 CR and was designed to run on unleaded regular fuel.

Larry N. Johnson

Wow! You really desiphered the codes!!! Thank you very much.

So now my dilemna: buy the car or not?

If I wanted the car to be more original, a different block would be needed as well as (likely) heads and intake. Are real 425 hp L-78 engines available? Any guess as to cost?

If I wanted a "resto-mod", then a 454 might be in order. What would that cost? Were they put into Corvettes?

If I wanted a driver, maybe just tune up the 71 402 as best it can be and maybe change the rear gears to 3.08 to save on gas. It's not going to be a racer anyway.

Of course then we have the color issues. Maroom on maroon would not be my first choice. I needs a paint job. Change? One has to be careful.

The saving part is the fact that it is an original 396 car. So that causes the dilemna.

Buy or not?

Larry N. Johnson

Here are some images:

FASTZ

can not see pictures.'65 396 cars are special to me so I am going to biased.Depending on asking price vs condition I would lean toward buying it,But like I said I am partial to the '65 396 cars

Larry N. Johnson

I can see the pictures on my laptop. Wonder what gives?

I guess that's my dilemna, 396 bias.

Issues:
1. Needs paint
2. Dash needs put back together; all original parts in a box.
3. Maroon leather seats need recovered.
4. Engine is not a "Corvette engine" i.e., not "high performance".
5. Needs front bumpers and grill.
5. Maroon on maroon (not my first choice)

Plusses:
1. Factory 396 car.
2. Orig 4-speed.
3. Straight body
4. Sidepipes (may or may not be factory)
5. Maroon on maroon (rare)

Minor Mods:
1. 6 tail lights
2. Rally wheels

Worth 35?

5thvet

With all that it needs, 35K would be a bit high for me.

Don

1snake

You could easily drop another $20K into and you'd have a nice car with a NOM motor.

Larry, are you getting out of Cobras or just expanding your collection?

Jim

FASTZ

if you pass I would be interested