Engine Number location?

PostPost by: archigator » Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:26 am

My Sprint's ID plate doesn't have my engine number filled-in on it, so I'm trying to find out where the number is stamped on the engine. As I look on page 150 of Miles Wilkins' book, there is a number shown on the back of the engine head... is this the engine number? (Mine is a Weber head.)

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PostPost by: 1964 S1 » Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:10 am

The engine number should be stamped on a small protruding edge near the middle of the block, just below the head, on the carb side.
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PostPost by: ppnelan » Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:42 am

...on the horizontal face just above the engine mounting.

:arrow: Matthew
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PostPost by: garyeanderson » Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:02 pm

Photos on this link, about 1/2 way down the page

http://www.lotuselan.net/forums/viewtop ... c&start=15
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PostPost by: archigator » Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:24 pm

Thanks, much appreciated!

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PostPost by: archigator » Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:11 am

I checked my engine tonight, and there are no numbers on that "shelf" above the motor mounts... Were there engines made without numbers? My ID plate has no engine number on it either.

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PostPost by: rgh0 » Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:25 am

A lot of the Ford 1500 120E and 116E blocks I have have no number or a very lightly scratched number in the usual position above the RH engine mount. All the orginal Lotus blocks have a stamped Lotus number in this postion that I have seen.

Some of the Ford 1500 120E blocks have a number stamped just above the oil pressure tapping and some appear to have no visible number in either location.

My guess your block has been replaced at some time

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PostPost by: garyeanderson » Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:45 am

Hi Gary

With your Elan being a 71 it should have a 701 block, you will find the casting number on the left side of the block in back of the engine mount and above the pan rail. It should end in 6015. Towards the front on the same side(in behind the generator mounting), there should be some numbers/letteres that make up the casting date, that date should be before the Elan was built.
Attachments
P1310520a.JPG and
This is a block that I pulled out of a Cortina Estate to make room for the Elan motor that went in for a while.
P1310519a.JPG and
You can make out the engine number 116E
129 756
PC120467block.JPG and
This block was never in a lotus, it powered my friends Ralt RT1
P1210496a.JPG and
this block is frm a S2, all traces of the casting number ground away by Lotus. Casting dates on the lower left side of these photos.
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PostPost by: archigator » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:09 pm

garyeanderson wrote:Hi Gary

With your Elan being a 71 it should have a 701 block, you will find the casting number on the left side of the block in back of the engine mount and above the pan rail. It should end in 6015. Towards the front on the same side(in behind the generator mounting), there should be some numbers/letteres that make up the casting date, that date should be before the Elan was built.


Gary, what you say here is correct in my case. the casting number is 701M6015A and the date number appears to be 1018 (October 18th?), although my unit number on my ID plate says that my car was produced September 22, 1971. (Again, no engine number was written on the factory ID plate...)

Gary
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PostPost by: garyeanderson » Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:46 pm

The ford date casting is, first number cast is the year in the decade then month then day. As you already have the year of the first appearence of the varient in the part number, the 68 in 681, 69 in 691, and 70 in the case of the 701 block the 6015 is fords id for cylinder block the appendix is seen as a block height in the 711 blocks, don't know what it signifies with the twincam blocks.
If you have a 701 block I wouldn't worry too much about the original engine or not.

Gary

p.s. - the month can be a letter too
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PostPost by: garyeanderson » Thu Jan 31, 2008 2:35 pm

archigator wrote:
Gary, what you say here is correct in my case. the casting number is 701M6015A and the date number appears to be 1018 (October 18th?), although my unit number on my ID plate says that my car was produced September 22, 1971. (Again, no engine number was written on the factory ID plate...)

Gary
'71 Elan Sprint (RHD w/ Weber head)
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I would say the 1018 breaks down as

1971 is the 1
0 is January, 1 February, 2 March 9 October ... I think L and M were used for November and December.
18 18th

so 1971 January 18th is my guess
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PostPost by: archigator » Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:45 pm

garyeanderson wrote:
I would say the 1018 breaks down as 1971 is the 1
0 is January, 1 February, 2 March 9 October ... I think L and M were used for November and December.

18 18th
so 1971 January 18th is my guess


Thanks Gary. That's very interesting...

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PostPost by: trw99 » Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:53 pm

Gary

If from the above you are saying your VIN is 7109220???E then, firstly, the 22 is a batch number, not the day.

Secondly, I assume your RHD FHC is an E varient (UK spec). If so then your car would most likely have an engine number between N24650 to N25150. It is difficult to pin down as the Big Valve was getting fitted into the +2 and Europa as well. No sequential numbering was used for the engines fitted to specific cars.

Tim
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PostPost by: garyeanderson » Thu Jan 31, 2008 6:00 pm

garyeanderson wrote:
archigator wrote:
Gary, what you say here is correct in my case. the casting number is 701M6015A and the date number appears to be 1018 (October 18th?), although my unit number on my ID plate says that my car was produced September 22, 1971. (Again, no engine number was written on the factory ID plate...)

Gary
'71 Elan Sprint (RHD w/ Weber head)
Miami, Florida


I would say the 1018 breaks down as

1971 is the 1
0 is January, 1 February, 2 March 9 October ... I think L and M were used for November and December.
18 18th

so 1971 January 18th is my guess


A couple of sites about date codes of U.S. Fords, both state letters A - ? for month codes. I don't know... need to look into it some more.

http://www.reincarnation-automotive.com ... ained.html

http://www.ford-y-block.com/fordpartnumbers.htm
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PostPost by: garyeanderson » Thu Jan 31, 2008 7:08 pm

garyeanderson wrote:
archigator wrote:
Gary, what you say here is correct in my case. the casting number is 701M6015A and the date number appears to be 1018 (October 18th?), although my unit number on my ID plate says that my car was produced September 22, 1971. (Again, no engine number was written on the factory ID plate...)

Gary
'71 Elan Sprint (RHD w/ Weber head)
Miami, Florida


I would say the 1018 breaks down as

1971 is the 1
0 is January, 1 February, 2 March 9 October ... I think L and M were used for November and December.
18 18th

so 1971 January 18th is my guess


Well I got the month code all wrong but I think I know what the 0 is in your date casting.
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P1310517a.JPG and
this one is 7 C 15 or 1967 March 15th,
my guess yours is actually 1C18
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