Author Topic: Not a 1st Gennie "Maro", but a reallly really FIRST generation engine  (Read 5359 times)

opelitis1

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Good morning gennamen!!!  I have a supposed to be Junior Stock  engine and can't figure out the suffix coding...
Engine block 3703524  with suffix code V 1237 and then a I or a 1.. What the heck is this as it has no oil filter provision on the block.  Pretty sure it is from Flint 'cause of the V.  Is this a 265 Vette engine??  I never really gave this much thought as the engine looks great - no ring ridge and was told at purchase it was a neat  Junior Stock drag engine with not very many runs on her... The 3837064 heads were from a later engine...  Crank is numbered 3735236 and supposedly has forged slugs.  Block has a casting date of L20 4... 

CNorton

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In my experience, there's only one version of the small Chevy block that was cast without provision for an oil filter, a 1955 265 cubic incher.  Such a block could have been delivered in a Corvette but it could just as easily have been in a '55 Nomad or a pickup.  It's a little surprising for it to have been built into a Junior Stocker because, by the time Junior Stock came along, racers were aware of the differences between a '55 block and it's successor, the '56 that DID have provision for a canister fllter.  In my 45 years of connection with NHRA Stock Eliminator, I don't remember a time when tech would have insisted on the use of a '55 block in a '55 car.  I know that, by the mid-to-late 1960s when Junior Stock was in it's heyday, everyone I knew that ran a '55 had a '56 passenger car or '57 truck block.

Further, it would not be likely to have had those head castings as a Junior Stocker because that number (whatever they may be) are not on the approved list of castings for use on a 265 even today.  The NHRA accepted head castings for that application in either 1955, 1956, or 1957 would have been 3703523, 3767460, 3795896, or 3884520.  Farmer Dismuke would have rejected those heads summarily.  Still, it's a neat piece and a real conversation piece.

JohnZ

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Good morning gennamen!!!  I have a supposed to be Junior Stock  engine and can't figure out the suffix coding...
Engine block 3703524  with suffix code V 1237 and then a I or a 1.. What the heck is this as it has no oil filter provision on the block.   Block has a casting date of L20 4... 

That's a '55 block, cast December 20, 1954, which was used in ALL '55 V-8 applications; the 236 forged crank was used in 265/283 applications through 1963. The pad stamp must be from a rebuilder, as 55's had a long engine serial number plus the engine code, and the "V" wasn't used by Flint Engine until 1967 - it was "F" prior to that. Photo below is of a '56 pad, which was identical to the '55 pad stamp; where the one in the photo has "F56", a '55 pad would show "F55".
'69 Z/28
Fathom Green
CRG

opelitis1

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Good evening JohnZ and CNorton... Gonna have to call my pal in Toronto demain tomorrow and get some more info on the l'il beast. i.e. 265ci...  The heads are marked CDA with a 51, I guess meaning they were made in Canada in 1956...  I will get the dates from the heads tomorrow...  I guess not having a provision for an oil filter on the block kinda made this an unwanted type engine...
Anyways.... I appreciate hearing from you guys and have you two bards ever thought about putting your memoirs down on paper.  I am sure you two have a load of goodies that could keep many people in stitches and totally engrossed with your past vocations.. Just a thought gennamen!!! Thanks again!!  Ted