Good day. I have deciphered the numbers on the body tag and the engine stamp on my Impala. My research has me believing the engine was built September 25. The year is not indicated but has the suffix code of (S) which to me (the internet) indicates a 250 horse 327 with power-glide but this suffix is only indicative to a 1964 built engine, again the internet. The body was built September 9 of 1965. This seems too far apart to be period correct or maybe the engine was built in 1965 but then it would have been built 16 days after the body was built which still seem to indicate a non matching number vehicle.There is no indication of a V.I.N. The car does have a power-glide and 327 badges and it really doesn't matter to me if the numbers match as this car is begging for a big block or an LS engine and the heads already do not match any of it. It is hard to read but I believe the engine stamp is F00925S. I'm not too sure about the first 0 in that number but the rest I am sure of. An interesting caveat I found in my research was a foundry shutdown in 1965 at the foundry where the Flint sourced their engine blocks. Saginaw I believe. A few Tonawanda blocks made their way into Corvettes that year because of a shortage of blocks from the shutdown. I tried to find more information about the shutdown but have not found any. I do know they were starting to implement some pollution control in early September of 1965. Maybe that had something to do with the shutdown. I'm not sure where I'm going with all of this but I find some of the history interesting. I guess I just want to learn more about this type of stuff and I am hoping it will spark some interesting discussion. Not that it matters but the car is a virtually rust-free SS car and my wife thinks it's SEXY Charles
Charles - 1965 is about the absolute last model year allowable on the HAMB. Seems like you have done your research, and a small block isn't your bag. '65 was the final showing of W engine powered passenger cars. A 348/409 would bolt in, be correct and get high marks from the cool kids. Not possible with an LS
The Vin Tags could have been cut Weeks in Advance off of Paper Work..........Especially if was a long run.
Yes I know I pushed it, I am more interested in the history of manufacturing and not so much the car.
Maybe just an engine swap occurred at some point, makes more sense than a car assembled at the factory with an engine built one year prior or two weeks after. If an engine swap is in the cards, it's gotta be a 409 ! I've owned two '62 409 SS converts. and one '64 409 SS. convert. and there's just nothing like it. Not the fastest revving engine but nothing like the torque and pull, the classic freight train approach to motoring. Just SO different from the other offerings from GM. A world all of it own.
There ya go! A 348 can be stroked to 347 using a 454 crank. Or simply purchase a stroker crank kit. Cheaper and easier to find than an actual 409 block. Love to see a picture of your car.
Not much to look at yet. Kind of a barn find. The guy died and his kids were selling all his stuff. I went to look at a 65 Chevy truck with 1700 original miles. Those were some rough miles. I bought the Impala instead. The open notarized title was sitting on the dash.
That is the casting number. The date code will look like H 23 4 or something similar. First letter A is January, b is February etc. Last number is year, 4 is 1964 or 74 or whatever decade it was made.
When you say there is no indication of a VIN,I take it you mean on the block? That would indicate it's a passenger car engine as only original Corvette engines have the VIN stamped on them in those years.
Yes on the engine. They started putting the VIN on for theft purposes starting with the 'vett I guess.
The date code is on the top of the back of the block, you can see it with the trans installed Sent from my Nexus 5X using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I don't recall saying I believed the internet. That is why I am asking about it here on the internet.
Maybe you can Jim but I crawled around on that engine for a half an hour and all I found was a big 1GM on the drivers side and little 1228 I think on the passenger side. BTW that casting number was from one of the heads now that I think about it. I never did see a casting number for the block only the pad stamp in front of the head behind the alternator that was in my o.p.
Ya I think we all new that was a typo. For $25000 you can get over 600 cubic inch all aluminum turn key engine.
Sorry guys. I type slow and still goof it up. I was referring to a Nov 2009 HRM feature with a 437 cid W engine: 348 bored .045 (not a typo) and the 454 crank, big block rods and custom pistons. They made 650 HP.
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