L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

Found last weekend and have it at home. CE 396 L78. Shortblock, appears to have never been run. It is supremely coated in grease. It was in a crawl space under a house wrapped in plastic. Dated 72. 4 bolt, 3/8 dimple rods, forged pistons, 6223 crank. No sign of any heads ever installed, pistons are as new, no black on top, cross hatching in cylinders is very bold. Built in a 290 block. Odd. All the paint dabs are on the rod nuts across the caps etc. Nice find. I almost broke my back moving this out of the crawlspace.

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

Would you like to sell it to pay for the chiropractor bill to ease your back pain

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

Did you ever find a hemi in a river?

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

We have free medical here in Canada. Well not free, I guess its in the huge taxes we pay. LOL

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

YDR - I assume that you found a Hemi in a river? That's a good one. Better than a crawlspace. I should have taken a photo. I did buy a 69 SS Nova parts car from a guy that had murdered his girlfriend and burned a barn down with two horses in it the day before though. That is true. The barn was still smoldering while we removed parts from the Nova a hundred yards away. And, maybe just maybe, that Hemi was attached to a sailboat? Huh?

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

Nah! Just like to hear of the crazy places folks find stuff - sometimes you find Yenko's in fields, like mine. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

https://www.yenko.net/features/2001/field.jpg

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

Wow, just like that. It even still had the decals on it. We have lots of fields here, they just do not grow Yenkos.

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

There was a 69 Nova here I found years ago. It was rumored that it had a 427 in it. I bought it, no power train and then sent the VIN to GM Canada for docs. It came back un traceable. Who knows. I did save the cowl etc for years and finally sent it to the junk. Now I see there is VINs from USA to check for COPOS etc. Oh well.

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

The Yenko Stinger Canadian Prototype I had at MCACN last year was found in a storage yard in Canada. Didn't know what I had until I found documents signed by Don Yenko from June 1966 relating to the car and then retired GM Canada employees steered me to the car's racing history.

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Did you ever find a hemi in a river? </div></div>

I thought it was a ZL1 block in a tow truck that was in a river? Or am I combining two stories?

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

Update. Took the L78 shortblock to engine builder. He reports that it is as new, been taken apart cleaned up, balanced and reassembled with new rings and bearings. Love it. Look out 68 SS Nova. Those 074 heads will look good on this one.

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

Awesome news. I'm not sure if you will be happy with the performance of the 074 heads on a shortblock with closed chamber pistons.


Jason

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

There also is a 50-50 chance that the pistons might make contact with the heads in the combustion chamber area........besides having around 9:1 compression.......But......You could always build a Clone of a Clone......LOL

Ken

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/haha.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

Have a 427 L72 std bore, NOS pistons etc. Open chamber heads. Checked with putty , no problem. 396 piston may be close, we will see, may have to relieve chamber or not.

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

I have a pair of 12 or 12.5 pistons that are NOS from an L-88 that would be perfect for this.

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

We end up back in the same spot.........GM never made a Piston for a 396 bore with open chamber heads..........Remember.....we are talking about a 396 here......Not a 427....

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: kwhizz</div><div class="ubbcode-body">We end up back in the same spot.........GM never made a Piston for a 396 bore with open chamber heads..........Remember.....we are talking about a 396 here......Not a 427.... </div></div>


Ken...just wondering what piston was used on the 71-72 402 motors??
These had oval port open chamber heads(iron)...I would imagine that the pistons are different for oval vs. rect. port heads...maybe I'm mixing things up?? Perhaps pistons can be made to work in a 396 application that match the 074 head...but, they would need to be custom.

wilma [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif[/img]

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

Didn't GM make a hand full of aluminum headed 396's? Was that the L-89? Where they closed chamber?

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: RichSchmidt</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Didn't GM make a hand full of aluminum headed 396's? Was that the L-89? Where they closed chamber? </div></div>


Yes........L-89 engines were 396 ci and of closed chamber design........

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

Under the porch also was a Grumpy's 494&quot;mountain motor&quot;.

Re: L78 CE Crawlspace find
 

The L78 has been taken apart, checked out, washed and balanced. Everything is like new including the original cross hatching in the cylinders. But has been lightly honed for the new rings. Being assembled tomorrow.