1969 ZL1 Engine stamping

[Joe L.]

Re: 1969 ZL1 Engine stamping

It would be interesting to know if a plastic cope & drag pattern was made off the CI tooling & cores were made from the CI core boxes & shipped to Winters. I can't believe GM would spend the money it would take to make metal patterns & core boxes. we are talking 100,000.00 in the day.

Kenneth-----


Whatever the tooling was, it was durable. The tooling was discovered about 20 years ago and refurbished to make the new production ZL-1 blocks which are still available from GM. The tooling was also modified to make improvements to correct deficiencies that the original blocks suffered from.

[Mark B.]

Re: 1969 ZL1 Engine stamping

Part of the reason the engines were so expensive of an option, was due to GM costing in the actual costs instead of averaging normal production costs with this engine. That could explain why the expensive metal patterns and molds were more than likely made. The 100,000 dollar cost to make steel patterns born over 100 to 200 blocks is 500 or 1000 bucks per engine. Most of the other bits and pieces on the engine were from existing parts in gm production inventory. If I remember correctly, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the ZL1 engine option was around 4 grand.

[Bill M.]

Re: 1969 ZL1 Engine stamping

Part of the reason the engines were so expensive of an option, was due to GM costing in the actual costs instead of averaging normal production costs with this engine. That could explain why the expensive metal patterns and molds were more than likely made. The 100,000 dollar cost to make steel patterns born over 100 to 200 blocks is 500 or 1000 bucks per engine. Most of the other bits and pieces on the engine were from existing parts in gm production inventory. If I remember correctly, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the ZL1 engine option was around 4 grand.

The ZL-1 blocks were machined on a unique computer-controlled machine that had to be VERY expensive. The engines were assembled in a clean room by one senior technician who wheeled the completed engine down to hot test and supervised the final checks on the engine. All other big blocks, including the L-88, went down the regular Mark IV engine assembly line. The ZL-1 got special treatment from raw block casting to box car

(It was a real heart-breaker to see the scrap blocks cut in half!)

[Patrick B.]

Re: 1969 ZL1 Engine stamping

Your engine would then have to be the warranty engine out of car #41 If it's a blue car from that neighbourhood.

Mark -- I had seen that list many years ago and had the feeling that the blue ZL-1 sold by Sport Chevrolet was probably the car. However, your response got me searching the internet again today and I found some newer information that nails it down. Car #41 which is VIN N615229 also is on the list of about 7 ZL-1's that ZL-1 searchers have not been able to find a trace of. Well, I'm pretty sure it was residing in a Virginia junk yard in the mid-1970's before anyone began searching. And, I found another congruent fact. A ZL-1 engine bearing the 19N615229 VIN has been reported to exist. I think I know how the engine block got separated from this car before it disappeared. When Amatucci Chevrolet installed the warranty fitted block, the original block got separated from the car. Someone must have saved it as a curiosity even if the zone rep wacked it in the side with a sledge hammer as they were known to do. A cracked aluminum block can fixed much easier than a iron block, particularly if it is valuable. So, I got the heads, manifold, carb, crank, rods, etc. that came on car N615229 along with the warranty fitted block, and someone else repaired the original block and built an engine with it. Too bad ZL-1 N615229 has been to the crusher by now ---- or is it still rotting in a rural VA junkyard?

There are even some more coincidences here. The blue ZL-1 Camaro was sold by Sport Chevrolet in Silver Spring, MD, and the engine was repaired at nearby Amatucci Chevrolet in Wheaton, MD also in the DC suburbs. The repaired ZL-1 engine currently resides in my blue LT-1 Corvette that was also sold by Sport Chevrolet, and the paperwork I got from Sport showed that my car had been transferred from Amatucci Chevrolet to Sport Chevrolet for its original sale.

[Mark B.]

Re: 1969 ZL1 Engine stamping

Patrick,
It makes total sense it is that car.