Re: '68 Yenko, Transplant vs. COPO
I've been trying to purchase the engine that Brian mentioned for about five years now. It is definitely a standard bore 396, casting number 3916323. The casting date is B 15 8 and the assembly date/broadcast code is T0223MV. The VIN derivative is 18N412### which appears to be for a mid-April 1968 car. The NICB records as well as information given to the current owner of the block indicate that the car it was installed in was originally delivered to Yenko Chevrolet. It is the real deal; there is nothing about this block that makes me believe it was restamped or altered in any way. I hadn't realized that there were other "MV" 396s out there until Kurt spoke up about the ones he he has found as well as Brian's recent finds. This leads me to believe that "MV" code 396s were being installed in Camaros as late as April 1968. Whatever theory you may have for 427 engines in 1968 has to account for these 396s.
Jim, good to see you here. A couple of questions that I have that perhaps you can comment on as you were involved in the project and with the people. First, federal emissions compliance went into effect for all 50 states for the 1968 model year (hence the emissions testing data that Kevin was kind enough to provide and Marlin to post). Would Cole or Estes jeopardize their professional careers (and pensions/retirement plans - they were both getting close to retirement, right?) by selling cars in the U.S. without emissions compliance. Doing so would certainly risk a run in with the federal government. If not, then the earliest possible date for production would have been 6/21/68 according to Kevin's documents. That's assuming that the tests were satisfactory and GM was ready to immediately start building cars at that point (I doubt that GM moved that quickly). Second, if the purpose of the "MV" code was to identify the engines for warranty issues, then you've created a real problem by using "MV" for both 396s and 427s in the same platform. Which is which?
Joe, I appreciate you digging out that 1967 L-88 carburetor. It adds some support to what I had discovered so far.
Regards,
Stan
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