Not mine but pretty cool..new lt5

[my1994z28]

1992 ZR1 engine - $8000 (Taylor )

Date: 2010-12-29, 9:17PM EST
Reply to: sale-udam7-2135331897@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]



Brand new ZR1 engine never installed in a vehicle. built 12 23 1992 No vehicle Vin stamped. Stated to us as a GM performance display engine appears as test fired only. Many unique parts such as External crank trigger ignition and Gloss Black painted covers and intake with all stainless steel bolts. All rubber shipping plugs and caps intact. engine lift hooks intact. $8,000 or make offer
Ken 734.231.7634

• Location: Taylor
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 2135331897

[MP81]

WOW! That is such a cool engine, I'd love to have one just to have one.

[scholtmj]

Pretty rare to see a 92' crate motor. Not sure why GM would paint it black but I'm sure there is a story.

[81DaytonaPaceCar]

Pretty rare to see a 92' crate motor. Not sure why GM would paint it black but I'm sure there is a story.

Hmmm...yeah, I'm sure there is...an "X" in the P/N too followed by 0004...I'm guessing this is something that shouldn't be alive right now...should have been scrapped almost two decades ago...hard to put a value on this one...

[MP81]

Supposedly it was a display engine...

[Plantfoam]

Hmmm...yeah, I'm sure there is...an "X" in the P/N too followed by 0004...I'm guessing this is something that shouldn't be alive right now...should have been scrapped almost two decades ago...hard to put a value on this one...

Ahh, one of those things where you're supposed to knock a hole in the block and send a picture of it in as proof? Time for a stunt double

[Gottork]

hey jeff if this would be true and it was supposed to be scrapped and GM found out, do they do anything to the person if they catch them with said item that is not supposed to exist?

[nascarnate326]

hey jeff if this would be true and it was supposed to be scrapped and GM found out, do they do anything to the person if they catch them with said item that is not supposed to exist?

possession is 9/10

[81DaytonaPaceCar]

hey jeff if this would be true and it was supposed to be scrapped and GM found out, do they do anything to the person if they catch them with said item that is not supposed to exist?

Generally speaking, no, the OEMs don't go chasing parts, especially ones that are (from their perspective) technically obsolete...now if somebody smuggled out a new prototype LS motor and started showing it off (or worse, tried to sell it), oh yeah, the National Guard will be in your front yard.

And Phil makes a good reference that made me chuckle...back in the day, the OEMs would have several off-site skunk works developers working on some of their Secret Squirrel projects (Smokey Yunick immediately comes to mind), and when development concluded, they would make you destroy the item in some fashion, take a photograph of it, mail it to them, and scap the item (the OEMs didn't want to pay to have it shipped back to them and then scrap it themselves).

For engine blocks, you had to punch a hole in it.

For entire cars, you were required to cut them in half longitutdingly down the center of the car (generally speaking...sometimes you had to cut it cross-car as well). Smokey Yunick had to do such a task in 1964/65 on one of the first mid/rear-engine Corvette concepts, XP-819, except he skipped the "scrapping" step, and just stored the pieces in a corner of his garage after he chopped it in half.

The one-off prototype 327 aluminum block with aluminum heads was sold off sometime in the '70s to a guy in Florida to put in his race boat, but other than that, everything else remained forgotten for years until a Corvette collector was walking through the shop in the early 80s and spied it under a tarp. After some negotiation, he bought the pieces off Smokey and spent a couple of years reassembling/restoring it. It was shown a couple of times in the late 80s, and Muscle Car Review (I think) did a 4-page writeup on it in '89. It's currently "on-loan" from the current owner, and sits in the Corvette museum. So, no, they don't always go ape-sh!t over it...

http://www.corvettes.nl/gm_prototypes/xp819/index.html

I'll stop rambling now...

[OIF1VET]

possession is 9/10

Not if it was stolen or obtained illegally.. Read about the 1933 Gold Double Eagle coin.. (I know completely different, but still a good read)

http://coins.about.com/od/famousrare...Gold_Eagle.htm

[scholtmj]

Hmmm...yeah, I'm sure there is...an "X" in the P/N too followed by 0004...I'm guessing this is something that shouldn't be alive right now...should have been scrapped almost two decades ago...hard to put a value on this one...

On second look, if it really was built in December of 92 it has to be a 4-bolt 405hp motor (the silver EGR tube on the passenger side of the plenum confirms this). If there is no vehicle VIN stamped on it odds are is was a warranty motor. But even if it was never fired, I have no idea why GM would paint it black to showcase a motor that was grey in the cars. I'd bet someone else painted it black and added the stainless bolt kit.

Side note: Schram auto parts gets a lot of interesting pieces. I saw an 89' LT5 on eBay a couple months ago.

[81DaytonaPaceCar]

If there is no vehicle VIN stamped on it odds are is was a warranty motor.

Possible...but if it is a replacement block, you can track that by the part number and/or whatever designation they used that year for a warranty motor (i.e. back in the 60s/70s there would be an "R" somewhere on the block for "replacement")...really need more of the numbers off of it to truly know what it is...

I think they're interpreting that "X212230004" as being the date code...but if it was a production block, it should have a four digit code cast (not stamped) into the top of the block...and the only thing that would be stamped into a production block should be the VIN and the engine suffix (six numbers followed by three letters), so nine digits total, not ten...can't find a reference for what that number might be...

[81DaytonaPaceCar]

Well...here's some more information...

In 1992, the MerCruiser guys offered to paint all the 40th Anniversary ZR-1 motors black for free...GM eventually turned them down...this could be one of MerCruiser's initital display prototypes for the "black" program...which would make that funky "X" number now more valid as a date code.

"X" would be experimental, "2" would be the year (1992), "1223" would be the day of build (12/23), and "0004" would be the fourth engine built in the series.

Now I'm really curious to see what other numbers are on that block as, if it really was built 12/23/92, that is right at the middle of the Doug Rippie DRM-500 "Black Widow" LT-5 development...

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/...lackwidow.html

[OIF1VET]

I love this site.. I learn soo much info on Fbody's.. Very interesting stuff on this motor, sounds like you're on to something jeff..

[scholtmj]

Did some digging:

It should start with an X for MM Stilwater
last 4 are that days sequence, but the date derivative can't be right.
So should look something like this:

X911100015:
X = MM
9 = 1989
11 = November
10 = 10th
0015 = 15th LT5 assembled that day.