I recently acquired a '65 IF coded L78 engine in pieces, along with a bunch of other parts. It honestly has me scratching my head. The stamping on the suffix pad looks original, but its very late dated and has no VIN stamping. It shows with the flying F and horizontal broach lines , is standard bore with original pistons and nothing appears to have been disturbed on the deck. The block was cast in late May but has an assembly date of Sept 1st. The heads are dated June and July, the intake August, and the carb October.

I guess my question is: When did they stop production of the 1965 model? I thought by Sept 1, 1965 they would be building the 66's....and why doesn't this block have a VIN stamping? I can understand that the carb could be an early service dated replacement, but the other components make sense to me

 

Don’t know if this will be of any help but I own a 79 that was born in September 8, 79 . There were still just over 2,000 more to follow finishing that production year !

I found vin # information and also information on block, head, distributor, and carburetor stampings on the website- corvsport.com

good luck in your search an welcome to the forum

 

Welcome to the forum.
You might try checking with the National Corvette Museum to see if they can provide any information about production.