Odd 427 stamp

[dmleonard]

I have a 427 that I am trying to decode.  I tried a while ago and had basically given up as nobody could figure it out and the general consensus was that it was a marine application.  There was a new thread on a different site that I go to about odd 427 codes which renewed my interest as they said it was not one of the known marine codes.  I bought the engine from from a guy who purchased it from an old racer who claimed it came out of a vette that was wrecked during a drag race in 1972.  After he pulled it from the vette, it just basically sat until about a year ago.    I have no way to verify any of this and I bought it simply because it was a complete standard bore 4 bolt 427.  It is more of a curiosity thing at this point.

It is a 3963512 block, casting date of L 30 8, and has a stamp of T03257BL.  You can tell it is low mileage as everything is standard and it wouldn't need any boring, etc.  All the parts are GM as well.  The crank is a 7115, the rods are 7/16 dimples still with the green paint, and the pistons are floating pin high domes.  Heads are 840's with casting dates of B 18 9 and C 12 9.  The intake is a 3933163 with original patina but it has no date code.  The winters logo is very clear. The distributor is a cast iron vette distributor, but the tag is gone and it was converted to some type of early electronic ignition.   It does have what looks like "7 9 0" cast in it, but the "0" is cut off halfway so it may be a "C". It came with basically everything except the carb, cam, starter, and exhaust manifolds.  The oil pan is the large pan with baffling. If anyone has any information about this, it would be appreciated.  Thanks

I have a pic of the stamp here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmleonard/829916918/

[nuch_ss396]

Well,

Your story almost exactly matches one of mine.  I too bought a 427 standard bore block from a guy who took it out of a Vette.  It was a 3935439 casting though.
The Vette was raced and the seller was sure the block was not original to the car.  Much like you, I could not find the assembly code anywhere.  Then I happened
upon a racing boat guy and he told me that many of the marine engine codes are basically unknown in the real world.  BTW, my 427 had mostly L-88 type internals
like the '7115 crank, major domed pistons and 3/8 rods.  7/16 rods weren't available when this engine was assembled.  I only wanted to block and struck a deal with
the seller. 

I was not able to find any authority on marine racing engines to help me decipher the code.  I doubt they exist because the engines were basically crate type applications
and who would really care what was inside once installed.  Perhaps the manufacturer of the particular boat ( the engine was in ) might have records, but how would you
trace that since the engine was not in a boat when you got it.  Deck it, build it, and run the pants off of it........

BTW, 7/16 rods probably weren't in production use when your engine was assembled either.......

Steve