Ram air III WS block found seeing if the car survives
 

I recently picked up a WS block date code E200. VIN on the block is 20L10972X. Can't read the last number. It's standard bore and been in a storage container for years. Tossing this out there to see if the original car survives.


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Pic of vin

Eric,
If I tell you it's mine will you donate it to a good cause. LOL

nice - I hope the car shows up.

too bad there isn't some way to search for the car, since there's twenty possible vins;

226870L109720 <-> 226870L109729
and
228870L109720 <-> 228870L109729

All PHS needs is the 0L109720 <-> 0L109729!

:)

Nothing in my records on that VIN, ...close, but no cigar!

oh yeah!

I keep forgetting that PHS, along with all the older (pre1985?) files are privately owned!

Or you could donate the car to a me as a good cause :)


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You can also wish in one hand and you know what with the other. Hehe.
Hope it finds a good home.

Engine for sale?

If so then please post it in the classifieds with an asking price.

Thanks.

I don't think it is... unless the original car it belongs in shows up.

Not to the general public, no


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I'm not feeling your negativity Russ. Hahaha


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I can see a historical Samaritan potential in reuniting VIN blocks with historical cars. Since no sale price (only to car owner OK) is shown, we don't know if this would be a "brother" deal on passing it on........... so it is hard to judge a thread like this. So kind of in a netherworld and I see how a moderator might comment. Just defending PY and their efforts.

The threads that kind of are veiled sale ads that crack me up are the "Hey y'all, what do you think a numbers SD carb is worth, I found one at a swap meet" followed by 6 or 8 "PM Sent" response posts..... then the thread dies :)

I see nothing in this post that indicates a sale

More of a query post.

Ram air III WS block found seeing if the car survives
 

Obviously if the car survives it would be available for sale to the owner of said car. If no one steps forward, given it's standard bore it will most likely be the one I use in a formula I have. I just figured I would see if the car still survives or not and let that person have the option of reuniting the pair, or maybe they want to sell the car. Being I found the motor in Southern California I was hoping the car might be close to me


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I applaud you for making this effort.
Pretty clear to me, too, that it wasn't a classified ad.

Had one close 10789_

Trade ya for that march one I sold ya awhile back lol :P


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That must have been a long time ago because I can barely remember it.LOL I did sell a few 70's the last couple of years that had WS blocks. Those blocks are getting harder to find. Still need another one :).

It's been a couple maybe 3 years. I still kick myself in the ass for letting that one go, but how was I to know I'd end up actually needing one at some point, least of all one that was literally in the perfect date range. Wish I had the vin written down somewhere. Be nice to know if that block was the right one for my car.


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I'll see if I have a picture of the Vin somewhere. It was either in a blue car or a white car I sold down in kisimee a few years ago. I do know that the Vin on one of the blocks was very hard to read .

When you say Kissimee I'm assuming you mean Florida. I sold a 70 Lucerne blue/parchment interior A/C T/A to I believe to someone in Tampa back in the eighties. I still have the entire drivetrain to that car. I always wondered if that car was still around. I tried posting on here a while back but got no responses.

/\ really, you replaced, and saved the original entire drive train!?

Was numbers a non-issue when you did this?

call me curious.

I did the same thing back in the 1980s.

Let's say I found a running driving early T/A or Formula that had a mechanical issue, such as a rod knock. I would buy it, swap in a garden variety Grand Prix 455 and use it as a driver. Then let's say I found something else I wanted and decided to sell the car. Most buyers back then didn't care about the numbers matching status of the engine. If the new buyer didn't care about the original engine, it went into the basement.

Well hind sight is 20 20. I was in college, I had my 78 T/A, my 72 455HO Formula and a totally rustfree 70 T/A A/C car. I had a storage problem(about 1985) and one had to go. My 78 I bought brand new so that wasn't going anywhere. I always liked my Formula and the 70 was the last acquisition. I stripped the 70 of anything that was T/A specific. I have the sway bars, the gauges the interior, the engine hood scoop to oil pan, the trans and converter and of course the 12 bolt and driveshaft. I even saved the wheels but somehow, don't ask me how but I only have one wheel left. It killed me then to sell it but I really had no choice. Currently, the engine is in my 78. The original engine from my 78 blew and broke block. It came apart like 2 dollar watch. Broke the crank in four pieces. So really the only numbers matching car I have left is my Formula. Of course I would love to have it back, if I knew then what I know now I probably would have tried to do something. Funny thing was I sold the car and about a month or two later I saw it for sale again for the exact price I sold it for but by someone else.

LOL!

I did that with a 74SD formy and a 71 TA back then, lol.

So, here is an update. The car was found completely by accident. Guy sent me a text asking if I had a bunch of one year only 70 parts. I ask him, is this for a Trans Am (thinking spending all this money on a base model formula is not wise) he responds with texting a pic of his vin tag. I look at it yep 887. I think look a little closer...... damn that vin looks familiar [emoji848]. Last 6 109720. Hmmmmm. I ask him do you ha e your original block? He says yes I do. I say are you sure, I only ask because and I send him a picture of the vin stamped in my block. He responds well maybe I don’t, guy I bought it from said the original block was one of the two he gave me. He does some research blah blah blah and comes back with nope it went to such and such a machine shop and they sold it to the guy I bought it from which is less then 20 miles from where the car sits today......


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Doubt I'll find the original block to my blue 70: built in CA, title is from MN, and car was sold to Fabulous Firebirds (MO) by someone in OH. Car had a roll cage for racing.

super cool!!

Congrats!


Would you know if the EUN was the same on the other engine as compared to yours?


:confused:

I've got a couple of SD455 blocks I've acquired over the years. One of the cars was listed in the SD registry, the other two have never been listed. I'd love to know what happened to the bodies, and went as far as posting the last three digits in the SD thread. I haven't received any responses, even from guys who collect build sheets and VIN number data. My guess is the cars have long since departed, or are stashed in a garage somewhere because the owner lost interest.

It's worth making an effort to reunite the body and the motor, could make somebody very happy down the road.

Awesome! Nothing like getting an original block back with the car. I picked up my numbers block a little over a year ago for my '70.

Is he interested in getting the block ?
Or already bought it from you ?

Not interested in buying it - just curious how that part played out.

Have seen some pretty bizarre scenarios arise when a car and a block have a chance to reunite.

Sometimes things don't work out as expected when you find the car.

In the early 80s I bought a 1970 WS motor from a guy who had decided to put a Chebby LS7 in his car. I stuck the WS in the basement with other engines. Then around 2005 or so, I got a call from a guy who got my name from a friend, said he was looking for a WS engine. I told him I had a couple and I might have one that might date match his car, and I gave him prices on a short block and a long block with heads and intake. We got talking and he described his car, and how the previous owner converted it to Chebby power. The stories matched up, so I checked the VIN and found I had his original motor. I had already given him a price, but he felt since the VIN matched his car he still somehow owned that engine. He refused to pay my price, which was pretty much the going rate for a 1970 WS engine. He had a lawyer write me a letter demanding the motor and threatening legal action, which I ignored. He knew he had no legal claim to the engine, so a few months later he called and said he was willing to buy it. I was pretty irritated with the whole affair, so I told him I would never sell it to him. I later sold the WS to a guy I'd known for several years for a car he had picked up. He had his chance to make his car a numbers matching, but he decided to be an a-hole. I don't feel a bit bad about the way things played out.

What a a-hole. Him and his lawyer.

wow!?

that's unfortunate all around.

It’s sitting in my garage waiting to find out, I was gonna sell it a few weeks ago (ironically it was actually listed on Craigslist in his city at the time this all took place). For now I’ll keep it and use it in my formula until either he ponies up the cash (for what it’s worth I didn’t try and jack the price up at all) or if I’m lucky decides to sell the car and hopefully I can match the two up that way.....


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It’s the wrong date code for my formula BTW but so is the other one I was gonna use so I’ll dump that one if need be


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can you really, accurately use the term "dump" with a desirable block like that?

Have heard some wild ones and some crazy ones -
but that one beats them all .

/\ yeah... I don't get why the guy just wouldn't be happy to have found the numbers block!?

my car isn't a RA car, but I'd be tickled pink if I came across the numbers block (which I suspect was recycled probably three decades ago)...

That is nuts. I would have quadrupled the price on him then.

While we're on the subject of someone trying to reunite a "born with" engine back to it's rightful place, the odds are staggering, I would like to know where would be the right place to post such a question on this forum. Although I've been warned here about the perils of someone cloning your car, I guess it would involve listing the entire numerical sequence your looking for. Anybody know the safe way to ask/post our community that question? I'm guessing the Classifieds based on B-man remarks. My original YE has been missing for I know 38 years. Wouldn't mind finding it if I had to weld on it & sleeve all 8 cylinders. Just wondering.

It's also possible that the VIN number stamp in the block is un-readable.

There was a thread a couple of years ago about a 1971 YE that I was selling that had no VIN number at all. Not even a poorly stamped VIN number.

And then there is this 1971 YE block I have. I challenge anybody to decipher what the VIN is on this block. You can make out 21N12, and after that it's anybody's guess.

I've found a number of blocks over the years where the VIN number was so poorly stamped you couldn't verify it matched the car it came out of.

In the case of the WS engine, I don't think the guy who bought the 70 T/A was a car guy. He was apparently a wealthy businessman (or he said he was) with a huge ego. I suspect he had no intention of keeping or restoring the car, probably got it running and flipped it. It was a nice car, original Lucerne Blue with black interior, non-A/C. It spent time in the Charlotte NC area in the early to mid 80s.

You could try here.
http://www.wallaceracing.com/lostengine.html

I have a 1967 WZ engine less intake and carb. Would be correct for manual transmission Firebird 400. No clue if the car is still out there though but I submitted the EUN anyway. If anyone ever contacts me and they can prove that engine is for their car then I would sell or trade for another like engine. I don't need to make a profit, I would just want to be made whole and have the satisfaction that another car could be more complete than before.

Thank you...I will.