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That is the ultimate '69 Camaro!

WOW, that is one nice Camaro.

interesting story how he bought 2 ZL1 Camaros and the original engine of one is in the other car but he didn't know it.

There are a few other stories on ZL1 blocks going back in the original car after many years of separation.

Aluminum blocks are almost always fixable because you can weld aluminum. Not many people are going to throw away a aluminum big block. Even if it gets decked, the vin is stamped down by the oil filter.

Aluminum blocks are almost always fixable because you can weld aluminum. Not many people are going to throw away a aluminum big block. Even if it gets decked, the vin is stamped down by the oil filter.

Not always true. Several, not all, OE ZL1 blocks were VIN stamped on the pad. This is #52.

http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt65/JJZ109/ZL152stamp.jpg

Being aluminum you can also re-skin,re-stamp and re-date the block to original.

The Voice of Experience speaks...

Nope the only block I've ever owned was a can am block.If I did ever do it it would be announced on DH so everyone would know.

Insider chat.

The problem with re-stamping a block for any COPO [ZL-1 or L-72] is the possibility of the real original block showing up. Happened more than once. One ZL-1 has 3 VIN-stamped blocks I hear.

As long as we are on the topic does anyone have a clue what RS 4.630 might mean? That is on the pad of the ZL-1 block we bought from La Mar via McLaren.

William,George Bolthoff worked for TRACO in Ca and then went to work for McLaren in late 1968 I believe.He lives in California and I talked to him about 4 years ago.Do a google search on him and lots of info comes up.If you wanna call him I still have his number.Private email me at chevyiimuchpa@msn.com

You had provided his number some time back and I did speak with him. He had no specific memory of our block but did say the stamping seemed familiar.

Once again Dan steps up to help out! No one in our hobby works harder to dig up info on these cars AND provides it just for the asking.

Keep up the great work Dan!

Insider chat.


As long as we are on the topic does anyone have a clue what RS 4.630 might mean? That is on the pad of the ZL-1 block we bought from La Mar via McLaren.

RS 4.630
maybe the 4.630 is a custom crank stroke?

They had cranks with 4.500 to 4.875 stroke that would give 511-553 cu in with a stock 4.250" bore


RS could be the builder's initials or the crank manufacturer initials?

From what I have learned about the Can-Am days McLaren was an "insider" at Chevy meaning they had access to the latest stuff and probably some influence as they built their own engines. Blocks were initially tough to come by so for the '69 season true ZL-1 blocks [4.25" bore 052 or 053 castings] were used by McLaren in their race cars. Later in '69 the "big bore" casting [4.44" 430 cu in] was released rendering the ZL-1 blocks obsolete. In '72 the true "Can-Am" linerless block was produced with a 4.44" or 4.50" bore. All the info I have indicates the big-bore and Can-Am blocks were built with 3.47", 3.76" or 4.00" stroke cranks resulting in 430, 465, 495 or 510 inch motors. A 4.63 bore wasn't possible for a ZL-1 and that stroke would be 525", just not feasible. So who knows.

For a McLaren engine our block did not appear to have been raced. It has not been decked, shows no sign of any kind of failure. Had new liners when we got it. One odd modification was a plug in the fuel pump pushrod hole. We rebuilt it with NOS parts and it runs just fine.

I owned the orange ZL1 #31 in the late 80's. I am not sure about the story of its engine being in another car. When I owned the car, I could not buy the engine from the guy who claimed to have it. It was in a drag boat in Texas and supposedly had been completely polished, numbers and all. I sold the car to two brothers from Vincennes, Ind.

Ever daydream about wha tyo might spend lottery winnings on? I do and I might start here :-)