Lynn, no first hand experience with this, but I would just use the stamped assembly code on the block as the "vin", since there IS no other, factory applied, method to identify that engine. Is the engine going to be all crated up/ shrink wrapped and palletized and ready for the shipper ? If so, would US customs be that particular about used engine parts to actually open the crate/wrap to inspect ?

I went thru a customs station last month in AZ just North of Tubac and with WI license on the car, we were just waved right thru. I could have had any number of parts with me.

The freight company should have a broker that will take care of the documents. There will be a fee but it should not be too crazy. If the seller takes it across the border to ship it would be very simple (providing it is sold and paid for prior).

Lynn,

I have bought and sold a couple engines into and from the us and simply declared them as goods of a private exchange sold on a "Bill of Sale" and described as engine parts specific to the year and model of the car (i.e. 1955 Chevrolet engine parts). Because these are antique auto parts over 50 years old, the EPA thing never came up nor would I want to have those involved.

You can contact Yellow Freight for a shipping rate from Ontario, and can request them to include a broker handle the paperwork which should be reasonable based off the value of the deal. Just tell them they are 57 Chevrolet assorted engine parts and an intake for your 57 Chevy and list the parts with an original origin of the good old USA and it should be clear and simple.

And there's no duty or anything at the moment. Unless Trump starts a tarriff war? The broker will then cover the amount of the sale under a customs bond which is what CBP requires for the paperwork that accompanies the order crossing through the border.

Thanks.

I got this handled. Very simple really. The US Customs website is REALLY convoluted; makes it look difficult. Probably is if I am importing millions of dollars of goods, but not for a private sale.

I thought Yellow Freight went belly up after they changed the name to YRC. Guess they are back up and running under the old name. I used to use them extensively for terminal to terminal shipping.

Will get on it.

Thanks again.

YRC is not in business. Assets are still being sold.
But, found multiple carriers, so no issues.

Thanks all.

One of the GREAT members on this site has picked up my new dual four engine.
Should ship next week.
Don't know if the new tariff applies to used items that were originally manufactured in the USA. Hopefully not. But if it does, still not that bad.

All cleaned and polished. Really happy with this car.

I have never named a car before. Thought it was dumb. In fact told a guy over on the Studebaker forum that I could not be friends with him after he named his project "buttercup". Yellow 53 Coupe he is retromodding. Incredible workmanship. But I digress.

if I do name it, will call it "The Pile" based on Charley's comment back on page one.

Damn, you have it looking great !
Tariffs, shouldn't apply to private sales of used parts.

Beautiful Lynn, that's the quintessential example of a 57 Chevy in my head. My Dad had one in the same color back in the 60's so I love seeing all your updates.

Looks great Lynn!

Looks great - love the wheels.

Looking great. Cool actually might be the word. Reminds me of the 53 I fixed up for my Dad to replicate the one he had when he met and married my Mom.

My daughter brought over a pair of fuzzy dice last night.

Someone asked (I think one of the Dykstra boys) to see pics of the Z/28 with the rally wheels on it.

Looks killer Lynn!!!!

----Pretty damn good looking pile if you ask me. Are you going to build a 270HP or the 245HP ? Keeping my fingers and toe's crossed that you say 270....Bill S

That's a great picture of your parents with the '53.

What TimG said.
Both pics.

Bill:
Car originally came with a PG. So, no solid lifters available. We are 100% certain it came from the factory with the 245 horse version. That's the great thing about an unmolested AZ car; easy detective work.

My very complete dual four 245 horse engine (all but air cleaner, distributor and manifolds) will be here next week or two. It is out of a Corvette, so FG instead of FD; but I have a line on an FD block. So, will likely disassemble and build it right.

IF Crane was still in business, I would have the perfect hydraulic roller to use for it. Don't know what cam is in the newly built engine I have coming. Will have to wait and see.

Open to suggestions on camshaft.

Factory specs

There are plenty of more efficient and power producing cams in the world now along with roller lifters to go back to what they had in 1957.
Knowing Lynn, he will want a little "rumpity, rump" in the cam, I know I would...:laugh:

Yeah, but with auto trans, not too much.

The Crane hydraulic roller I used in the El Camino and still have in my 49 Studebaker dump truck idled dead smooth; but it was a torque monstor. Used Morel lifters and stock Chevy valvle springs.

I know I have the part number some where.

Bill: you have to consider the source of the "pile" comment.

Have you seen pics of that 67 Camaro Charley commissioned? Everything I have looks like a pile in comparison. Of course, Charley's 57 four door hardtop FI car with PW & PS (the "rustoleum car") looks like a pile compared to that Camaro. He won the "janitor's award" at MCACN a few years back with that 57, which is a really cool car.

All in good fun.

----Ahh,,,Playing cagy on the HP. This is a need to know deal, you know!.....Bill S

Put an '86 GN torque converter with 1,700-2,200 stall and it's all good. I have that in my '38 coupe and no converter creep.
OK, I also have a 200-4R trans. Not clue if it will match to a PG.

I know it seems nuts to even consider a trans swap, but I am seriously considering going with a 4L60E when I install the dual quad engine.

Don't have to cut one thing to do it other than the driveshaft (and i can always pick up a used drive shaft to cut down) and can always save the PG in case someone wants to go back original. That OD trans with a lock up converter would work great with the current 3.55 screw.

200 4R is a direct replacement for the PG/TH350, no driveshaft cutting, just move the crossmember back, which I'm rather certain you need to do for the 4L60 too. The 4L is also based on the old TH400/700 r4 and has the larger case. Are people able to install that in the tri-five tunnel without cutting/modification ? I know the cast iron PG I removed from '54 was quite beefy and may have been larger than the aluminum case ones ??
My 200 is built for 450 hp 500 torque, there isn't anything that little 283 is going to do to hurt one built right.

A rear transmission mount and crossmember would be needed. Don't know about the strength of the front of the transmission case with the front engine mounts being so far forward though.

There is a kit available for mounting the trans to the original location using bell housing bolts, and it takes all the stress off the bell housing.
Yes, the 4L60E fits just fine. There is a LOT of room; way more than there was in the El Camino. And I didn't even need to ding the floor to install that one. Just need a shorter drive shaft.

Would definitely consider a 200 4R, if I found one for a decent price. Because it IS a direct fit on all the 50s 60s and even 70s cars, they are getting scarce and more expensive.

Regardless, any such nonsense is down the road a ways. I need to get back to work on the LT-1. Keep getting distracted.

Agree, they are getting more difficult find.
NOW, get to work on the 'vette...:biggthumpup:
I have been distracted from the Camaro for some time too, but have been making slow progress on prepping the doors and fenders.

You are doing better than me. Mine is just collecting dust!

I've got a dual point dist. from a '59 Vette (I think) if that would work for you. I might know of some parts from a dual 4 engine that I passed on a few years ago.

1110891 dual point distributor was used from 1957 through 1961, as I recall.

They are fairly common, and not that expensive.

Some interesting 57 2x4bbl discussion in the comments on this car.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...t-bel-air-234/

Lots of misinformation in that discussion. Wow, that is a shock, right? Look how much misinformation gets spewed out whenever they auction a 69 Z.

Missing the 997 heads. Set of rebuildable cores will set you back almost $3k.

Colvin's book does not list an "ED" suffix. Horrible pic of the stamp pad. Not sure you could read it anyway with all that paint.

ALL the dual quad motors got deep groove pulleys, not just the solid lifter dual quads. They all got the same 891 dual point distributor with no vac advance.

Three bits of misinformation, all from one guy (Zoomad).

"The second detail is the pulleys. The high hp engines as the 270hp solid lifter dual quad and the 283hp solid lifter FI engines would have been equipped with deep groove pulleys to prevent the belt from getting thrown at higher rpm. The hydraulic cam dual quad and FI engines got the standard depth pulleys like this car has."

ALL DUAL QUADS HAD DEEP GROOVE PULLEYS.

"Another tip off between the solid cam engines and the hydraulic versions is the solid cam engines ran dual point distributors where the hydraulic versions used the standard single point dizzy. I can’t tell by the pics which one this has."

ALL DUAL QUADS HAD DUAL POINT DISTRIBUTORS.

The last thing that differs between the solid lifter engines and the hydraulic versions is the fuel line size. Solid cam engines have 3/8” fuel line from the tank to the pump, carbs or Injection unit. The hydraulic cam engines came with the standard 5/16” fuel line size front to back. I can’t tell by the pics what the fuel line size is.

ALL DUAL QUADS HAD 3/8 FUEL LINE.

All of the above can be gleaned just from the AIM.

In another thread, I showed pics of the vintage American Racing 14 x 7 wheels I picked up for cheap for the 57. They are a dead on match to the wheels I have (at least three of them!) other than the gold spokes.

Figured I would post here in the thread about the 57. I decided to paint all four “good” wheels the same color. Just going from memory, I remember most of the American Racing TT wheels as being gray spokes with a machined lip, other than the 200S, Daisy style wheels that came along in the late 60s. Decided on a Charcoal color. Tedious work to be sure. The most time consuming part is masking.

First couple of pics are the wheels I picked up on FB Marketplace. Guy happened to be coming close to my office for another engagement, so he even delivered. Masked all four, sandblasted and painted Charcoal color. Because the spinner bases were just bare pot metal, I also masked off the threads and blasted them. Painted them silver. A new set of chrome lug nuts in the correct thread size, shank size and depth completed the project. Very pleased with the results. I did not put the spinner on the LF, as I am waiting on a spindle washer from Stefano. I am guessing it will be here Monday or Tuesday. I realize there are some flaws in the machined lips, but I am willing to live with them. I wanted genuine vintage parts that would have been on it in the 60's.

To clean up the machined lip, I used regular old rubbing compound (white with very low abrasive content) followed by regular car wax. I am guessing the ONLY way to stop the very slight oxidation would be clear coat; but I just don't want to go there. Anyone have any secrets to preserving the machined lip appearance without clear coat?

Another FB marketplace score. The engine in the car currently is a 60s 327. I ran across this pair of NOS valve covers. Again, the guy DELIVERED them to my office. He bought them from the dealer in 1965 and they have NEVER been installed on a car. He shipped out to Viet Nam right after the purchase. In the 80s, he got a wild hair and decided to have them powder coated. Bought NOS decals at the same time. They are gorgeous. I almost hate to install them, but will. They were about 1/3 the price of a new set of reproductions.

Only problem with OEM stamped steel valve covers is warpage. Waiting on some high quality spreader bars to install.

I use a Product called White Diamond to clean and preserve aluminum. I have a bottle of aluminum wheel sealer from Alcoa here that I used on the wheels on my Pete. It helped the hard worked for shine to last a lot longer. Buffing and polishing 6 semi wheels was a whole weekends worth of dirty work.