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ZL-1 Block Marking Help
I recently picked up a ZL-1 block and am trying to find out more about it. It is a large bore block that has cooling passages and a fuel pump boss. It had a winter's snowflake but was ground off by the original owner so the block would appear to be a cast iron block once painted. There is a stamping on the deck pad and by the oil filter that reads,"Jumbo's Racing Engines Torrance, CA".'Vince and Kim Jamara" is also engraved by the oil filter area. Under the timing cover is stamped SY and SY DJ as shown. The block has no casting date anywhere and has never been ground on or polished so there never was one.
Does anyone have any insight on any of these stampings? The rods were also engraved, "Jumbos". Thanks, Jason |
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Googled up a few things but only this below item for sure from the same group.
Note it has Jumbo Racing, not Jumbo's also the ad refers to F1? http://www.delcampe.net/page/item/id,202...language,E.html Try and you may get lucky asking someone @ Shaver Racing in Torrance CA? http://www.shaverengines.org/index.html [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/dunno.gif[/img] ~ Pete |
Re: ZL-1 Block Marking Help
I believe that is a later 'Yenko' block. They made big-bore and high deck versions. Ive seen them with a snowflake but I believe typically on a Yenko block, it would not have a 'w' for winters..If I recall it would have had a snowflake with an L... going by memory
Interesting as it has screw-in freeze plugs, typical of production blocks, but I have Yenko blocks had them both ways. |
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Neat oil filter too !!
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Those big milling cutter sweeps don't look like they came from the Tonawanda CNC machining center - IMO.
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Thanks for the replies guys. It could be a Yenko block but I also had a winter's block years ago that had large bores just like this one. It is a bummer about the snowflake because the block is cherry otherwise. It was assembled as a shortblock when I got it. I believe the 4.5
inch bore amd 4 inch stroke makes this a 510. It has nice Ross pistons, a 3521(LS7) 454 crank that had been internally balanced, a Summers Bros timing cover with a cam access hole, and Isky roller cam. The story goes that it was in a 70 el camino that the owner hoped to run 10's in. The camino was setup safety wise as a 10 second car and broke into the 9's on the first run. The track asked the owner to go home. The engine was pulled and a smaller engine was put in the camino. This engine was either sold or given to the current owner who was a good friend when the past owner past away. Jason |
Re: ZL-1 Block Marking Help
my belief that it is yenko block is because of the markings, nothing to do with the bore size.
as far as the snowflake missing, that's no big deal. My original block from my ZL-1 had the same thing. Early in lfe it was separated from my car and then eventually ended up in a circle track car. It had the snowflake ground off and was painted all orange so the competitors would not know any better !!! The goood news is JM restored the motor and he also restore teh snowflake. His website has a pic of my block. Fortunately, aluminum can be fixed. I'll take it off your hands if the missing snowflake bothers you too much !! Cool Piece !!! Better yet, YOU SHOULD BUILD SOMETHING OUT OF IT !! |
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OK, that makes sense about the markings helping to ID the block. I was not too worried about the snowflake either but it is a bummer that is is gone. It probably took a few minutes to remove(for the same reason as yours) and will take many hours to replace.
Thanks again, Jason Here are a few pictures of other parts that were on the short block if anyone cares: Factory deep sump pan converted to dry sump: http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...psfc7f9e48.jpg http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps2f7092da.jpg Summers Bros timing cover and GM aluminum waterpump with reduced inlet: http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps282e1e5b.jpg Chrome balancer of some sort: http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps8ae7ec9c.jpg http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps8f5d87a4.jpg Electric water pump drive motor and dry sump oil pump: http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...psdbe2be2e.jpg |
Re: ZL-1 Block Marking Help
Heavy weighted crank:
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...psc1102782.jpg http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps0bbb224d.jpg Pistons and Rods: http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps7a5d823d.jpg http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...ps2ef8fd35.jpg http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...pse7810c79.jpg |
Re: ZL-1 Block Marking Help
Jason, that is a bummer about the snowflake..that is what everyone always wants to see.
I hate to say anything is typical, but here goes. The cast letters on the rear flange and the stamped YS on the front are typical of Yenko blocks I have owned in the past. I have owned yenko blocks with screw-in freeze plugs, and with push-in freeze plugs. Ive owned and them with a snowflake (with the L), with a YENKO letters cast in it, and also with the YENKO crest cast in it. So I hate to say 'typical' when it comes to these blocks !! I have seen legit GM blocks with no date codes in them like this also....Just to check, are they aftermarket main caps? hard to tell by the pics. Any stamped numbers in them? whats with the oil filter? never saw one like that? thats for the dry sump? max |
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Max,
The main caps are aluminum and I assume they are aftermarket. They are simply stamped 1,2,3 and 4 to mark their positions. The other ZL1 block I have has cast "964" caps like cast iron blocks have. The oil filter is a System 1 unit with a removable mesh filter element. These are still available but I'm not sure if the design is the same as this older model. I was told this block was purchased from a Chevy dealer 69 but the original purchaser has passed away so there is no way to verify. Thanks, Jason |
Re: ZL-1 Block Marking Help
Max,
The main caps are aluminum and I assume they are aftermarket. They are simply stamped 1,2,3 and 4 to mark their positions. The other ZL1 block I have has cast "964" caps like cast iron blocks have. The oil filter is a System 1 unit with a removable mesh filter element. These are still available but I'm not sure if the design is the same as this older model. I was told this block was purchased from a Chevy dealer 69 but the original purchaser has passed away so there is no way to verify. Thanks, Jason |
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Here is a link to the System one filter:
System One filter It looks like they are now plastic rather than aluminum. Jason |
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Cool block!
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Thanks Matt.
Here is a picture of the cam end. I have a inquiry to Isky to see what the specs are. http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...pscb505066.jpg Jason |
Jumbo's Racing Engines Block
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I know this is an old thread but I just found it and wanted to add some information.
Back in the very late 1970's and early 1980's my stepfather raced at Terminal Island/Brotherhood, Orange County International Raceway OCIR and at Pomona. He met and teamed up with Vince "Jumbo" Zamora. Jumbo drove a Red El Camino. I believe it was a 1970. I seem to remember it having a custom weight shifting mechanism in the bed. I don't know the details but apparently some shady business dealings occurred and Jumbo cheated or stole from my stepfather. Not sure if it was in the form of money or engines or parts. I now own the car my stepfather raced. It was an all steel full body 1929 model A Ford called "My Mistress". I'm attaching a photo of it in case anyone has interest in the history associated with this story. I know that doesn't have anything to do with your engine but I wanted to shed some history on Jumbo's Racing Engines in Torrance, CA. |
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