I have a feeling its one of those "sounds too good to be true" stories, but a guy I work with says he has a bare ZL1 block that he might sell. He doesn't know the whole story or the ZL1 heritage, just that a friend of his gave it too him but that it's an aluminum big block 427.

So assuming it has no bearing caps, is it now worthless?

If it has the caps and is a useable true ZL1 block what would it be worth?

Big diifference if it was one of the acutual 69 ZL1 blocks or an over the counter ZL1 block.
Look for a VIN and Suffix Stamp and let us know.

Rich

The Silver Hauser 1969 ZL1 Auto 427 block ended up in California.Contact member William if its got a vin number on it.Its friend has the Hauser car.

Big diifference if it was one of the acutual 69 ZL1 blocks or an over the counter ZL1 block.
Look for a VIN and Suffix Stamp and let us know.

Rich


What would an over the counter block be worth? I need to read up on ZL1 stuff, I didn't know they were available unless they came in the car, what did they make, 69 of them?

69 1969 camaro cars were made with the ZL-1 engine, and I think 2 Vettes in '69. I think the ZL-1 was developed for road track racing, Can Am stuff . Drag racers used them too. The engines were available over the counter, lots more probably went out the door that way and to race teams of all sorts.

I sold a ZL-1 (yenko embossed) block last year for just over 12k needing work. I think that was way high. The market is way off on all this crap. There was one last week locally with heads for 10k that I believe sold. GOOD LUCK:thumbsup:

got it :thumbsup: Like I said this may be one of those 'sounds too good to be true' stories but we'll see if it's a true zl1 block. I'll report back if and when I get to check it out. Just trying to get a ballpark value

Try to get some pics of the numbers and stampings and post them here, some of the people that frequent this forum are pretty good at spotting restamps and stuff.

See if this block has any connection to a Jim Dunn,old dragracer.

There have been a number of aluminum BB castings over the past 40 years. Not all are ZL-1s.

The first were "0-" castings used in 67-68 Can-Am cars. Never sold to the public, might be worth a bit but a very small audience.

The first ZL-1 castings were produced late in 1968. Casting numbers were 3946052 & 3946053. Hundreds were cast; about 180 complete engines were built.

Mid 1969 Chevy offered a "big bore" casting to extend the rpm level at the same displacement. Never used in production or offered as a complete engine.

Around late 1971 Chevy offered a linerless "Can-Am" block. Easy to ID, does not have provision for a mechanical fuel pump. Block only.

Chevy sold the ZL-1 tooling to Don Yenko and he had a variety of blocks cast for all forms of racing during the '70s. These have "Yenko" logos on them.

In the '80s the aftermarket began to produce other castings, Rodeck being one of them.

No matter what it is there is a small audience for it. There are a number of better castings currently available so racers will not be interested. Aluminum can have porosity problems and does not hold up as well as iron. Since they were intended for racing it may have had a hard life and be used up. If it is cracked or has been repaired value takes a big hit. Main caps can be replaced but will add to the expense of building the engine.

One scenario as stated would be a block out of one of the 69 ZL-1 Camaros. Production ZL-1 Camaro engines were stamped with assembly codes MM or ML. The serial number of the car was stamped in one of two places: on the RH deck with the assembly code or on the cast surface adjacent to the oil filter. Unfortunately it is SOP to "deck" a cylinder block during a build up. This can remove all of the stampings on the pad.

Check it out, get some photos.

thanks William!, lots of info in that post. As soon as I get more info and/or get to actually see it I will post the numbers!