I was talking to my uncle the other day, and in his younger days, he had a '63 coupe. He has no recollection of what it had in it (He's a surgeon now, not a gearhead) but it was a Corvette, therefore upping his coolness quotient. The car got stolen sometime around '65-'66, and it was later found, missing the motor & trans. He SWEARS that he DOES remember my grandfather & father (Who WAS a gearhead) putting an over-the-counter 327 ALUMINUM small block back in it,and putting on a fuel injection unit that my dad probably won off some guy in a drag race in his '62. Did GM ever have an aluminum small block available back in the mid-late '60's? I know I've never heard of one from that era, but then again, I wasn't born yet. So, if anyone has a '63 with an aluminum small block in it and is curious as to the history, I can enlighten you. Just curious.
-
-
Re: Over The Counter Alum. SB in a '63?
if your father or grandfather was Smokey Yunick, an aluminum SBC could have been installed. Experimantal SBC were around in the mid-60's but don't think they were available over the chevy counter. mike -
Re: Over The Counter Alum. SB in a '63?
Is there any chance that it wasn't a Chevy/GM block, but, say, an aftermarket block available through someone like Nickey or Yenko, or a dealer of that nature that dealt with hopping up cars? I know Nickey is not far, and there were a couple of Chevy dealers near O'Hare that I know sold speed parts as well back in the day.Comment
-
Re: Over The Counter Alum. SB in a '63?
Not likely, because while the dealers often had a high performance market, there was not the availability of aftermarket BIG items like today. Today, you find many aftermarket heads. Back then, there were not any.
It wasn't until the later '60s with drag racing and Can Am road racing that aftermarket blocks became really available to most people. And only if you had a big pocket of cash.Comment
-
Oh well....fun to think about, though! *NM*
Comment
-
Re: Over The Counter Alum. SB in a '63?
In the mid sixties Chevrolet produced (They were probably actually cast by Alcoa.) some experimental aluminum small blocks, and a few ended up in Grand Sports and Jim Hall's (who was acting as Chevrolet R&D's "field test group") Chaparrals, but as far as a mere mortal being able to buy one over the counter from a Chevrolet dealer - no way!
The first "production" aluminum block released for sale was the ZL-1 big block in 1969, and this was followed by an aluminum small block in the early to mid-seventies.
Nowadays you can build an all-aluminum SB or BB from the ground up without purchasing a single part from GM.
DukeComment
-
Re: Over The Counter Alum. SB in a '63?
I ran into a guy selling one of those ZL-1 crate engines in the mid '70s sitll in the crate, new, unused. I have a tired Vega for a work car and the thought of that in it was incredibly seductive. He wanted $3000 for it, and if I remember right, that was more than Hot Rod said the aluminum small block case only cost, so it was a deal.
The trouble was that I hadn't spent that much for a single Corvette up to that point in time. People would have thought I was insane to pay more for an engine than a complete Corvette.Comment
-
Re: Over The Counter Alum. SB in a '63?
I can't help but wonder why Chevy DIDN'T offer a small block version of the ZL-1...like an all-aluminum LT-1? Probably for the same reasons that there's only 2 ZL-1's (or so I've heard) but still, fun to think about! I'd think that would be right up Zora's alley. Wouldn't an all-aluminum SB be easier to live with than an equivalent BB, at least as far as cooling is concerned? Food fer thought......Comment
-
Ever hear of Vega?
Much of the big block aluminum technology was used in the Vega, however, production manufacturing had its own problems. When things went bad with Vega, Chevy had its hands full, and the bad publicity would have killed any acceptance of the small block in aluminum.
It would have only been good for racers and that would be even lower volume than Corvette. The ZL-1 and other Can Am big blocks didn't last too long into the '70s. Can Am was killed by the gas crisis, and there was no reason to run an aluminum small block when you could run an aluminum big block and get another 200 hp or more for the same money.
The only way it would have worked is if every Corvette and Camaro had an aluminum small block. But in the '70s, many Corvettes sat on dealers floors waiting for buyers until Corvette clubs began going nuts, Bloomington started the 50,000+ Corvette attendee meets, and everyone suddenly began to take interest. No one would have bought a $10,000 Corvette in 1974. By 1978, all they needed was black paint and a cheap decal, not an aluminum engine, to get the big bucks.
Production of Corvettes has rarely had anything to do with deliverying what we want, but rather what it took to sell.Comment
Comment