New to list and in need of Help! Bought a 77 C3 for a song since it had a little body damage. Cleaned the carb, new gas, battery, and had to call the wife to listen to see if the motor was even running !!!! GREAT DAY IN THE MORNING !!! I finally got a deal that came true.

Now the headache. According to the VIN# this is a L48 with a 180 HP 350. But it has the L82 emblems on the hood and the paint seems to match where the small scratches and other marks LOOK original.

Car has just over 50K miles and is in rather Good shape for the year. It is equiped with the 4-speed tranny, and even the 8 Track/AM/FM still works in the dash. Runs strong with no hesitation and even better gas milage than my Dodge Truck or the wifes Durango.

Did manage to get the fiberglass work repaired with a little direction from my Son-In-Law. Considering I have NEVER done this before I am quite proud of the job and it should look presentable after the paint. Color is Butterscotch with a Dark Brown leather interior. Still not sure if I want the original color or get crazy with yellow, or something unusual. But I am no painter, and I know my limitations in this area.

I reside in the Dallas Area and would like to get another opinion on the car if you can take a look, just drop aline and I will get back to you. Want to look over a few other C3's and do a little coamparing to see if I truely got the bargin i think I did.

Thanks in advance

Nick
1977 L(something or other) C3 Vette

There's a couple of things to look for to "maybe" tell if your engine is an L82 or L48. You can look and see of the numbers stamped on your engine block match the VIN or not.

The one certain way is to check the engine VIN...it should match the car's VIN. It could be stamped on the engine block just below the right cylinder head and behind the water pump. It might also be stamped near the oil filter housing or even elsewhere on the block. I'm not sure the most common place to find it. If this matches the VIN, you have the original engine block in the car.

Now to tell if it's an L82 or L48...not so easy to verify from just looking at it. An L48 would have stamped steel valve covers painted to match the engine, plus a cast iron intake manifold. An L82 would have finned alloy valve covers and an aluminum intake manifold. Of course, these could have been replaced before you bought the car. The other ways of telling would be internal...not so easy to tell without removing parts. An L82 would have 4-bolt mains, an L48 would have 2- bolt main bearings, but you have to remove the oil pan to tell.

I hope this has been some help. Best of luck with your car.

Your vin number would have an L8 in the middle if it was an L48 engine I think an L4 means an L82. someone correct that on me if I am wrong. I know the L8 means L48 since that is what Ian has in him.

|UPDATED|10/14/2003 7:31:51 PM|/UPDATED|

The Vin # is as follows

1Z37L7S439782

This was taked directly from the window pillar. I haven't checked the front of the right cylinder yet, so I'm not sure if the motor is original or not. But the tops of the valve covers are blue in colol just as the rest of the engine.

I seems to have a cast intake with a Quadrajet four barrel carb.

I'll get the motor numbers tomorrow evening after work.

Thanks for the replys

nick

http://www.vettefinders.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Vette101Story&id=2
one of my research sites before I bought the '79
Hope this helps, more sites available if you're interested.
Bill

The "L" in your VIN shows the car to have been built as a '77 L48.

Verified that the VVIN is for a L48 and also that the motor IS the original according to the block stamping.

The motor is stamped "V0609CKZ" and below that 17S439782 so it's the original. But what is the
"V0609CKZ" mean in Vette lingo??

Also, if it is an L48, why would it have the L82 emblems on the Hood ?????

Not Whinning, just don't know the answers !!

Nick

I don't have a clue as to the second set of numbers and letters stamped in the block, but having L82 on the hood could be from several causes. Could be someone added the L82 to it for whatever reasons, maybe it's a replacement hood and the L82 happened to be on it, or possibly the factory made a mistake when the car was assembled.

I had a similar experience. I bought what i thought was a 1979 L82 from a good friend who had owned the car since 1986. When I got to checking the numbers I discovered it was an L48 California emissions model. My car also had the L82 hood emblems. I know the person I bought it from very well and he always believed it was an L82. The good news is that the numbers matched. The car had been slightly modified by the original owner with an intake manifold, carb, and true dual exhaust system. I don't like the car any less but it does lower the resale value. I'm certain that the car is an L48 but I suppose the only way to know for sure would be to find the build sheet.

I'd think an Orig Cali Emissions car would be worth a bit more than an l48 since they made less(granted who would want one, but rarity?)

Scot