I Have a chance to buy a 70 w30 block. I found a guy with a complete 1970 455 with F heads. He is gonna keep the heads but would sell the shortblock. Does anyone have a 70w30 missing the block? The code is 30M283990... Let me know if anyone has this car and needs a block and ill pick up that shortblock. Thanks

 

Google of the possible 442 vin's comes up empty

344670M283-990
344770M283-990
344870M283-990

dashes added so that searches will skip these here instances

 

Were all 70 w30s 442?

 

One of my brothers had one 'highjacked' by a machine shop, because he didn't know what he had.
I think they sold him a Jasper motor, and said they sent it back as a core! Yeah, right! Heads and all!
Now he knows, and we're checking the VIN. He's in Des Plaines - what're the chances??

 

That sucks. I had a customer tell me this about a GTO he had restored. Bunch of original parts came up missing.

 

Yes, all W30s from 1966 - 71 were 442s (there are questions about 1972 but no proof)

 

Actually, there IS proof from 1972 that NOT all W-30s were 442s. Specifically, there were 1972 H/Os (which were Cutlass Supremes, not 442s) built with the W-30 motor and an "X" in the VIN.

 

I've heard of those but thought none exist, that would be an awesome find, are there any around.

 

From what I remember there were at least two made with a sunroof. This was one of them. As far as I know this car never sold and is still in a garage in Central Massachusetts

http://www.realoldspower.com/phpBB2/...n++w45&start=0

 

I am familiar with that car. I know the owner and the car. It is a 72 Hurst Olds sunroof car. It was in primer last time I saw it. I am not too familiar with the Hurst Olds but everything looks real except:

The motor was blown many years ago and was supposedly changed with a dealer blank I.D. block.
The original distributor is gone
Maybe carb too?

I know this guy has owned this car for as long as I can remember (1984 or earlier) He is very well versed in Olds stuff. It has an X in the VIN and he told me some Hurst Olds were W-30s.

Any opinions on the car's worth without the original block and dist?

 

It's certainly rare but remember that the "X" in the VIN had to do with the engine (in this case 300 horsepower) and not the car. In other words, an "X" doesn't mean the car is a W-30. Is there a "W-46" on the Fisher body tag?

 

I think it went to about $25k on ebay at the time. The 72 H\O's haven't fared very well of late at BJ or Mecum. Obviously the X in the VIN makes it worth a lot more money but a 72 H/O builder on here that was missing everything recently was listed for like $2,500.

 

The "X" absolutely means it's a W-30 and it had the correct H/O cowl tag

 

Same engine as used in the W-30 ... yes.

 

I understand what you're getting at. The only car that wouldn't be a W30 442 with that engine would be the H/O

 

Ok, just wondering; how would someone have ordered a Hurst/Olds with the W-30 "stuff"? I guess they would've selected "W-30 Performance Package", though since the car was also going to have the Hurst/Olds treatment, it would've meant W-30 without the typical W-30 striping and emblems. It sounds like the result was two levels or versions of a W-30: A '72 Cutlass 442 W-30 and a '72 Cutlass Supreme Hurst/Olds W-30.

 

W-30 refers primarily to the engine, so yes this is a W-30 engine. That was the only Olds engine with a 300 HP rating in 1972.

 

The VIN code refers to the engine for EPA purposes. The X code in 1972 refers to the 300 HP W-30 engine. All the other "stuff" in the W-30 package (except for the stripes, which were superceded by the H/O stripes) were also included in the H/O. Same VIN code, same equipment. How is that "two levels"?

 

I didn't say it was; i said it "sounds like". Maybe the word "levels" was the wrong word to use.

 

Prcisely
You can of course Google Cutlass VIN's as well, who knows, maybe the BLOCK is from a Cutlass and the HEADS are from some other 442 W30!

Googles for 336... and 342... [desperate] also return nada

 

Im starting to think the block is from a cutlass or something. Maybe the guy wanted to go faster and bought a set of F heads to put on his cutlass 455.

 

Uh, am I missing something, Chris? What does Googling a VIN get you? I'm pretty sure you won't find the VIN of my 70 W-30 in a Google search.