How to Indentify a 1967 L88 Corvette: Know the Numbers

The first thing is very simple, if you find a corvette for sale for $30,000, and they claim that it's a 1967 L88 corvette, I'd be very careful buying that car, if you can find one, just the engine alone will cost no less then $16,000, so if you put 2+2 together you should realize that an L88 corvette is not cheap.

Second you'll want to be sure that the price of the car matches the condition of the car, the truth is that I have seen 1967 L88 corvettes sell for almost $2,000,000 dollars when there in good condition, but in the %100,000 dollar range is more common in this market.

Noe that we have all of the caveats out of the way, we can get down to business here, the first thing that you'll want to look at is the engine id numbers, the engine will have a casting number, it will have an rpo code, a date codes and a few other codes, but these are the important ones.

The first myth that I'll talk about here is the fact that L88 corvettes came with a three deuce carb setup on them, this is a myth, a true L88 corvette should have an 850 Holley carburetor, this is what was installed from the factory.

The L71 corvette were the ones that came from the factory with a 3x2 carburetor setup on them, and this was the same engine, the only difference was the 3x2 carburetor setup, now that we have that myth out of the way, let's get down to business here.

Below I'll add a list of casting numbers for the 1967 L88 corvette, this should help you to know if the engine belongs in the car that you want to buy, you best know these numbers before you begin to shop for your L88 corvette.

List Of Casting Numbers:

Year Casting Number

1967 3904351

1968 3916321

1969 3935439

The casting number is the one number that you can depend on, it cannot be ground off and re-stamped, it is a raised number, this is why I say that it's the most important identifying number on your L88 corvette engine block.

The next most important number is the rpo code, the reason that I say that it's second in line for important identifying numbers, is quite simply that it can be removed and re-stamped to mislead you as your buying your 1967 L88 corvette, or any other car.

List Of RPO Codes:

When deciphering the RPO code on the front of the engine it helps to know how to read the stampings this is a typical reading for a 1957 - 69 RPO code.

1) The first digit represents the plant that the engine was built at

2) The next two digits represent the month that the engine was built

3) The next two represent the day that the engine was built

4) The last two are the suffix code

The suffix code is what will tell you what engine is in the car, and what options it has, below you'll find a list of the codes for the 427 Engine.

Horsepower Transmission, Options Suffix Code

390 4-Speed Hydraulic Lifters, Special Cam, 4BBL Carburetor IL

390 4-Speed Hydraulic Lifters, Special Cam 4BBL Carburetor, AIR IM

390 Powerglide Hydraulic Lifters, Special Cam, 4BBL IQ

390 Powerglide Hydraulic Lifters, Special Cam, 4BBL, AIR IR

400 4-Speed L36 Engine, 3X2 Carburetors JC

400 Powerglide L36 Engine, 3X2 Carburetors JD

400 4-Speed L36 Engine, 3X2 Carburetors, AIR JF

400 Powerglide L36 Engine, 3X2 Carburetors, AIR JG

430 M22 4-Speed 4BBL, Special high performance cam IT

435 4-Speed 3X2 Carbs, L71 Engine, Aluminum Heads IU

435 4-Speed Mechanical Lifters, 3X2 Carbs, AIR JA

435 4-Speed Mechanical Lifters, 3X2 Carbs JE

435 4-Speed L71 Engine, 3X2 Carbs, Aluminum Heads, AIR JH

These codes are for the 1967 year, if you need codes for another year, please send an email to blogmaster@muscle-car-resto.com and let us know what you need, we want to help you make an educated decision about your Corvette purchase.