How to clean a block

[Tuna Joe]

Originally Posted by Ralph Spears

That VIN stamp does not look like it was stamped with a gang stamper the last 5 numbers look like a heavier stamp, looks like you destroyed your concrete driveway

Ha ha, I’m hoping that mess will clean up Ralph. I got carried away pulling the engine, and completely forgot to put down a large piece of cardboard I have for this exact reason.

Re: vin stamp…
Of course it was stamped with a gang stamp. Were they done any other way?
You’ve been around long enough to know there can be nuances with stampings.
I had the stamping certified by Corvette Validation Services( aka Jonathan Herrick)as original.
The original drivetrain was in the car and the transmission has part of its vin lightly stamped also.
And of course I have the tank build sheet.

Interestingly, I had concerns about the block casting date (3-25-68)being so close to the assembly date (4-18-68), which was also close to the car’s assembly date(4-25-68).
I called Jonathan ( he has the L89 registry and owns Corvette Validation Services and he had several cars in his data base that was very close to my car.

If I remember correctly a couple of L89’s whose vins were close to my car had the same exact Tonawanda assembly date as my car. Apparently these L89’s were batch built.

Re: block cleaning… My plan is to take it to a local machine shop and have it run thru the pressure washer with solvent and hot water. Hoping this will remove the oil and grease and anything else.
Then buy some bulk Evaporust and put the block in plastic with water surrounding it to compress the Evaporust.