I've had 2 PM's asking what happened to the original motor and tranny...the answer is I don't know and am still working back through the history of the car. When I bought it, the fellow I got it from wasn't completely number saavy and he originally thought that the '68 302 that was in it was original. I told him that it wasn't and showed him how to read the VIN etc. He gave me the numbers off of the tranny and the date was great, but he couldn't find the VIN number - I assumed he didn't know where to look and thought it was the original tranny - I was wrong
When we pulled the tranny last week, we found a Chevelle VIN I think 7K108580). I bought the car knowing it didn't have the original engine and started through the old titles. One call lead to another and I found a friend of an old owner who claimed to have the original block but it was scored in cylinder #1 - he wanted $500 for it, so I bought it and sent it directly to my engine builder. This guy is in the booney's so I assumed he wouldn't try a fast one and for $500 I was willing to take a chance. My engine builder called it a "bad restamp" and trashed it. The original top end was on the '68 motor, so I have that here. My engine builder had a mid June 657 motor so I bought that also and had him build me a 302 at 30 over and we brought the compression down to 10.5:1 to run on pump gas. The motor will be done by mid Jan and will have a 12 month warranty. I am buying a perfectly dated rebuilt M21 from Crash with factory assembly date and codes but no VIN.
I was also asked if I am really firm on the price and I absolutely will not budge $1. I love this car and if I can't get my price I will just postpone the resto and go one more summer without a driver. Frankly, if I could find someone that would do a decent paint job at a reasonable price, I would absolutely keep the car, but everyone I talk to only wants to do show quality work and that's not what I need nor what I wish to pay for if it's going to be driven. Feel free to PM or email any other questions
