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Originally Posted by turbo69bird
Well since we are going there on block re- stamps (god help us all lol)
Here’s MY .02 that’s worth about .01 or less-
I have had this discussion a few times w friends, I personally like to see an SR because I know it’s honest. It’s someone saying hey I didn’t have my block but this block is just like it. Others say they are misrepresenting that an SR block was swapped for their factory block by warranty .
I’ve been around the RA thing a while but on the race side of things not the restoration side but a lot of guys in racing re-stamped stuff early on for stock class. To be legal this includes remaking casting numbers letters etc- All makes.
This is almost expected in the corvette / camaro world from what I’ve seen even on the restoration side.
I may have a different perspective if I had a born with car but I don’t, I have an SR that came from the dealer that raced my car, that I can trace back to the beginning . It was bought from Stephens at the same time as the RAV pro stock engine and was part of the Stephens racing parts haul in the early 70s .
So understanding that everyone is jaded by their own cars and experiences let’s move on.
I also know of a few guys who allegedly re-stamped blocks on high end cars. I heard about it from the racing side. But these were restorers . They took an EQUIVALENT blocks and made it match the car. These cars have sold and owners are quite happy, idk if they were told or not told. But I also don’t know that it matters. . Yes they were high end cars, but the block didn’t know what it was going to be when Poured as long as it was the same kind of block (these weren’t necessarily pontiacs BTW) let’s say RA IV for RAIV and date correct or RAII for RAII or RAIII for RAIII who really cares if it was done correctly! This assumes it was done correctly.
My personal car the dealer had a RA II race car the year before and they unloaded my car brought it to Lebanon valley raced it that day to see what it would do (baseline) came back and in thier service department, swapped short blocks w the RAII GTO that was balanced and blueprinted by jack merkel. This was allowed by NHRA because they were both 2506 blocks. So my car ( presumably can’t rule out that they didn’t test other engines) spent all of its life except one day w the blueprinted RAII short block and RAIV top end
So what is really its engine?
Well the factory installed a RAIV WH, but the dealer installed a RAII WY,.
I say who gives a **** as long as it has a 2506 or better between the frame rails .lol.
It’s when some clown decides to make a RAIV out of a 350 HO or something stupid that it matters .
So I have the RAII short block and the RAIV SR short block from Stephens, I also have the RAV pro stock dual quad engine from Stephens, for my car and IM happy. Would I like to find the original WH sure why not have a forth engine for the car. LMAO .
My point is I think we make too big of a deal out of born with/ numbers matching .and if the money didn’t matter between one versus. The other people wouldn’t be as apt to re-stamp blocks.
( But if I had a BORN WITH car , I’d make a big deal out of it too! ;-) )
That’s why I DON’T give out my VIN though, so iIF I do find someone w my original block I know it’s original and not someone re-stamping blocks to match people looking . This IS a new trend in other makes to be aware of . I’m told there are guys making a nice living out of re stamping blocks to match “looking for my original block” threads .
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I think it matters a lot when additional money exchanges hands because it is the original engine. It's also not right for the guys that really have the original engine.... Years ago I looked into selling one of my cars at an auction. I strongly felt it was wrong that my car with its original engine, had to be presented the same as a similar car with an obvious restamp "number matching" engine.
I personally would want to know if the car I'm buying has been rebodied or not. I know some guys don't care, but it would make a difference to me. I recall someone comparing it to whether one's girlfriend used to be a man. Some folks might be bothered by that and some won't.