I am looking at a 70 455 GS that has "OE36I24" stamped between 1 and 3 cylinders. Does anyone know if this is a factory replacement block? Thanks
I always called them service replacements. I believe 0 = 1970 E = engine The rest I believe is the block ID number.
i am pretty sure chebbies were marked with ce on their blocks. i assume all gm's did the same. of course i could be way off. jim
The 71 455s service unit I have start with a B as I recall. Look on the front of your block just under where the heads mount for a stamped set of letters and numbers. Look in these areas:http://www.trishieldperf.com/new_page_2.htm
Everything on the car is original (except motor it appears) and I would be the 3rd owner. How much would the restored value be affected, factory replacement motor vs period correct motor?
Hard to quantify. If it were a rare car in a #1 condition it would be a lot more than say an off color car in #3 condition.
corvette guys argue about that all the time. hell, it is your car do what you want with it and enjoy it. anyway, a replacement block with the correct dates when the car is built usually means a little deduction. a block not built with in the time of the car being built, means a lot more deduction. that is corvette belief. just the fanatical ones jim
Is there any indication that the "factory replacement block" is actually a service replacement short block? By this I am saying, did the first owner have the short block replaced under warranty some time in the years just following purchase. If there is a paper trail of repair orders etc that might indicte this then the calculation about value is different. And another question becomes what caused the original engine to have the problem and need to be replaced. To me a "factory replacement block" is a bare engine block that you purchase from the dealership parts department. It has a specific part number and is cataloged along with all the other parts for a given model. It is rare for a block to be replaced instead of a short block due to the extra time and expense needed to do the R&R the internals. Please update with more info and opinions, I'll be intersted in knowing what the story is etc.
Pretty sure he has a replacement short block. They carry a part number by year and according to whether thy were stage 1 or non stage 1 short blocks. I have some still in the crate. But to the best of my belief the GM part number from the books does not appear on the engines. Other numbers do apear from which it may be identified.
We own the car, bought it yesterday! Still piecing it together but it has a very interesting history, here's what we know so far; The top of the motor, trans. and rear-end are all original to the car and there is no evidence that the car has ever been apart or bent. We know the car is very, very original and real. We're just trying to figure out the motor story because it has obviously been apart because the VIN isn't on the block. Between 1 and 3 the stamping is "OE36I24" and between 5 and 7 there is nothing, which might point to a factory replacement short block.? The gentleman we got the car from said he bought the car in 2000 from his buddy that was having some financial troubles (both pilots). The car had been stored in the original owners hanger since 83 and was moved to his shop in 2000. With the car we got some documentation that the short block had been a dealer swap (work order showing dealer owned at the time!) Get this, according to the previous owners the dealership had raced it for a couple years and apparently once the motor let go, swapped the short block and then sold it. We are getting in touch with the dealership to see what we can get as far as further documentation. Anyone know of any Street Stock GSX's raced back in the day? Yeah, a GSX! If that weren't interesting enough, in the original owners hanger there is another motor, supposedly a monster drag motor!! Yes, we're looking into that too. What a find!! :grin:
I'll definitely get some photos in the next day or two. This is awesome we (my Dad and I) haven't had a Buick since 2001. I'll see if I can get a couple of other photos from 10 years ago of the Buicks we had then, a survivor Stage 1 GSX 4-gear, the white 70 GS Stage 1 auto Conv. that was on Dream Car Garage (no joke, I was in Toronto and confirmed it was ours, we were close, I took the car to prom in 96 :grin: ) and I had a WE4 which I really, really, really miss..
Sloan only has documentation between VIN 100001 and 193552. Ours is 2XXXXX VIN and I'm out of luck at Sloan. Can anyone help me with this?
I am not sure how you define "bottom in" but yes the short blocks are different and for this reason were assigned differernt Gm part numbers. Cams are included in short blocks.
Wayne Roberts has the documentation for all the 70 GSX's. According to the 70 engine book your motor should be stamped "BOE-----", so you might want to look and see if there is a faint "B" stamped there. They were often struck uneven. Duane
We will need to pull the head off to see if there is a "B". Only thing is there is an "I" not a "1" and between cylinders 5 and 7 there is nothing. I have some photo's I'll post tonight and we are going to go pick up the car in the next week or two so we can really get into it. Thanks guys, I'll keep you all posted.
I believe on these stamps "I" by convention was used to mean the number "1". Someone else to chime in to see if my recollection is correct.
Please register the GSX with the GSX registry if you get a chance. You get some very cool stuff for free and it is confidential. Mark
