1970 WS Block??
 

I have acquired a 1970 WS Block with Main caps and standard bore. I am planning to use this motor in my 1969 Firebird project car that I am starting on. Before I take this engine to the machine shop for rebuild, I wanted to see if anyone here has the original car that this engine might belongs to. The date code on the block is C090 and casting # is 9799914. I am not sure of the best way to put this out there w/o revealing the entire serial # so input appreciated. If the car owner of this block can verify this block belongs to their car, I might consider an engine swap of another WS motor or equivalent. Thanks.

Just put out the last two or three digits. I had a YZ with that same date.

Last 2 digits
 

The last 2 of the # are 86 .

Oh...this could get interesting.

The other thing you can do is specify whether it came out of a GTO or a Firebird. The partial VIN would tell you that. I'm assuming it was a Firebird since you posted it in the Firebird tech section, but I thought I would ask.

I don’t have the original engine or transmission for my 70 TA 4 speed car. PHS says it shipped on 3-24-1970. Any guesses of what date range my block would’ve been? I imagine early March would be cutting it too close. Just hoping to learn a few things

Nope I’m STAYING out of this one 🙄

Would also depend on the plant. LA built cars seem to have really early date codes. The block from my 04A Norwood built formula is C100 for reference.

You my friend are a hero. Lol sorry read some other threads and you’ll understand. Of that was an 88 not an 86 I’d lose my mind I swear. Anyways. My opinion. Not that it seems to be worth much anymore is. Post the full 6, only because maybe 3 years from now someone looking for their block finds it by searching it and possibly the can make a deal with you at a later date. Many try looking for their block that way. I’m the end they gotta send you a picture of their vin tag to prove they really have the car. Kinda hard to fake that. Easy to buy a PHS and all but having the actual VIN tag is Definitive. As stated in other posts in the end you only really need to entertain any kinda offer from someone who can prove they have the car. Otherwise build it and use. Good on you though for trying.

Would the last 4 be 0986?

WS VIN
 

Thanks for the kind words Fastassbird: The VIN on the block is:
20N 112586 . I am unsure how to tell if it is a firebird or GTO?? Dave

N is for Norwood so it is for a Formula or Trans Am. Amd no sweat. Glad to see you’re trying to at least reunite it

My guess car was assembled in month of May if formula. Trans am had tighter date codes. My 70 Ra3 auto has block.code as 0a07 and assembled 1st week of March. But why go through all the trouble of trying to reunite things? I don't get it. It's ironic to see this and other topic of same Block. Is this thread strategically put here to influence the author of the other thread that's what I think. Does a person sell the block for more money than it's worth since car will regain value? It sounds like this will slow down anyone's project, maybe it's flipper heaven pipe dream stuff.

Trying to be a good Member
 

Just trying to help fellow enthusiasts out if I can. Nothing more and nothing less.
Dave

I own a 71 gto that was missing the original block. I went to a lot of trouble trying to track the vin stamped original block to my car down. It took about 8 years to get it located and certainly wasn’t anywhere to be found online so it wasn’t an easy task. There aren’t many of our Pontiacs left with original equipment. Luckily in my case, the owner of the block was glad to help me get the block back to the car, unlike the situation other thread. Coming from someone who has hunted and found the original vin stamped block, I can appreciate someone offering something like this up.

Too bad you don’t have the Phs on the block then we would at least know the area that the car came from , And somebody might recognize the car if it still exists but that’s another $85

I mostly look at RAIV but I’ve seen from Nov to Jan. In March cars dint know if that’s correct or original Telli would know best IMO

Sometimes these things don't work out the way you would think.

I bought a 1970 WS engine and the Muncie 4-spd out of a 1970 Lucy Blue Trans Am in the mid-1980s. The buyer went with a 454 and a M-22 after he spun a rod bearing in the original motor. About ten years later and after several new owners, a guy contacts me to see if I still have the motor. I told the guy I didn't want to sell it, but I would trade it for another 1970 WS in the same condition and $200 for the trouble. He didn't like that answer, so he decided that since the motor had the same VIN as his car, he had legal claim to it. He hired a lawyer to write a letter demanding his block stating he was willing to compensate me for what I paid. A friend who was a lawyer said he had no claim unless the car had been stolen. He contacted DMV enforcement and an officer called me, and essentially agreed that he had no claim to the motor. The guy irritated me enough to where I told him the motor wasn't for sale, and don't call me again. I had a few unknown people call me randomly inquiring about a Ram III, but I said I didn't have one. I held onto it for another twenty years before I finally sold it to someone in Texas. If the guy hadn't been such a jerk, he could have gotten both the original motor and tranny (which he wasn't even aware he was missing).

I thought it was $110 now ?
Or
Is that expedited .

Gonna depend on the plant. Van Nuys cars have really early Date codes. Recently saw. Numbers matching 4 speed 03A car with a Dec dated block. My 04A cars block is C100. Interestingly it has a lower vin the. This block being discussed and this block is C090. If your car is a Norwood car I’d say and of Feb start of March is about right

I appreciate the info. My car is a Norwood car and about 5000 VIN’s earlier than the block in this thread. There’s actually another board member here with a TA that’s just a few VIN’s away from mine (like 5-8 IIRC) but I don’t think I got an answer when I asked if he had any of the original drivetrain. I’m just curious more than anything. It’s interesting how these cars were assembled

Yea, the first part of March then. Yours is a little lower then mine and it’s the 10th.

My old 1970 Trans Am was built in the Van Nuys plant during the second week of April 1970 (04B). The original block was dated January 20, 1970 (A200) and the original M20 trans was dated April 2nd (P0D02A). The shipping date was May 11, 1970.

The car that motor came from was offered for sale out of Indiana in 2007, sans drivetrain. The PHS for it was included with the ad - car originally sold in Asheville, NC. The seller noted he had 30 other TAs for sale, and I think they may have been the cars formerly owned by Ed Waller out of Georgia.

Seems like a good chance the car is still out there.

Thats about as plain-jane a TA as you could get!

Yep I’d say that takes the cake for lowest optioned trans am.

Too cool. I got the motor from an owner in GA

I wonder if the 112586 car is one that I owned in the early 1980s. Is CC white?

In 1982, I bought an ultra-low option 1970 Trans Am from a guy that lived outside of Hendersonville, NC. I was living near Charlotte NC at the time, about 90 miles away. Hendersonville is about 20 miles from Asheville. The car was white 4-spd w/ 3.55 gears, black standard interior, console, and tinted windshield only. I especially remember the glass, because I wondered if the windshield had been replaced because it was the only tinted glass on the car. I owned that car before I knew Pontiac would send build sheets out, so I never had a PHS.

That T/A had been rode hard and put up wet before I got it. The original engine had been replaced with a later model T/A engine, but it still had the 12-bolt. It had rust starting in it, and that was 40 years ago.

I didn't have it long. About six months later, I found another 1970 T/A (also with the incorrect engine) that was in better shape and had a much stronger drivetrain. I sold the first T/A at either Autofair or the old Metrolina Car show at the old Charlotte Fairgrounds . I think it went out of state, but I don't remember where it went.

this revelation is really neat.
FYI those seats are deluxe - which should be on PHS if they were original.

The dash doesn't have the grab bar, so the seats are probably redone/replaced.

The CC is for white.

Was a radio standard on the TA?

:confused:

My 1970 Formula was a low option car. It listed Radio-P/B as a $61 option.

I have the original window sticker for my 1970 T/A. The AM radio was also listed as a $61 option.

So I'm guessing it had a radio delete plate installed and no radio. The white 1970 4-spd I owned in 1982 had an aftermarket radio. I don't remember if it had a windshield antenna or aftermarket. That's been a long time ago.

My '70 did not have a radio when new. When I purchased it it had an AM radio installed. Nothing listed on the documents I have shows a radio listed.

Mine had a radio as an option on the PHS. Right now the only station I get is WRA3.

I believe that the radio was always a cost option;
I held off on posting incase anyone might have had something more substanciated to share.

I had come to understand that the early cars always came with a windshield with the embedded arial even if a radio wasn't ordered;
I have been told that the windshield in the mid(?) 1970's changed with the radio option, because cars were being ordered without a radio when people got wind that the arial was already in the car - after that point I believe that a car being ordered without a radio, could have had a radio accomidation package so that an antenna didn't need to be added to a fender (or the quarter panel).

Yep - any radio would have been an extra cost option. With no radio called out on the PHS, the car would have been delivered with a block off plate.

I heard that's a good station. I live on the east coast but my friend lives in Portland and he told me about it.

Random information, but in the late 70's I worked for a company installing aftermarket accessories for new car dealers (radios, cruise control, side molding, vinyl, tops, and pinstripe), Dealers ordered the cars with the Radio Accommodation Package. This would include antenna, wire harness, and in some cases speaker openings or grills in the dash or doors. We installed look alike factory radio/tape players along with correct looking knobs, speaker brackets etc. Usually about 1/2 price of factory radio and dealer would pocket or deal the difference.

Very very cool dpoltzer much respect to you for trying to reunite the engine with the vehicle. You know how we’re obsessed with our Pontiac’s. Many wish they had a numbers matching. You know bragging rights and value. 👍👍

Thanks again for all of the great replies. Since the car that my WS motor once belonged to seems to be long gone, I will rebuild the motor and enjoy it! Dave

Wowser! Momma used to say, “you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.” That fellow could’ve used a lesson in civility and he got it!