Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Dear all:

Can I get some help with engine and chassis numbers, please? I'm prepping my '69 S4 for sale and only now discovered that the engine number on the vin plate and the stamping on the right hand side of the block, above the engine mount, are different. The vin plate says the engine number is G/17481/B while the block (above passenger side engine mount) is stamped LP1006. The car's vin is 45/8443. The "G" engine number seems appropriate for a Federal Stromberg S4 but I have no idea what "LP 1006" means. Can anyone clarify this for me?


many thanks,
Will Zehring (newbie)

Will, LP is for Lotus Power and was the engine prefix used for all twin cans until production moved to Hethel (in broad terms).

Engine no 1006 would have been fitted to an early Elan 1600. It would therefore appear that your car has had an engine swap at some later stage in its life.

Tim

Tim;

Thanks for your prompt reply. That's very interesting; thanks for clarifying that one. I remain puzzled about a few things..... if what you say is true the engine is perhaps 6+ years older than the car. The head was recently off and there were no stampings on the piston tops to indicate oversize and there were no ridges either. It actually looked quite "fresh." I've tried to inspect the back of the head for stampings and find only "22YB" (or is it "BY22" as I'm turned around reading it in a dentist's mirror?) and no other cast numerals or letters on the head that I can find. Regardless, I am sure you're right that this clearly is NOT the engine original to the car. The significance of that is unclear to me. The car runs superbly.

Actually, I guess this is really a bitsa engine, isn't it. If what you say is correct and the block is an early 1600, the head is not from that block, but rather is a later Stromberg head. Oh well.... HYBRID VIGOR!

cheers,
WZ

Will, now that I'm back at home I can tell you that your car was invoiced by the factory in mid-December 1968. It would have then spent the next 3-4 months getting shipped to North America, hence its 1969 title.

The Engine No the car was originally fitted with was G17481, per factory records. Clearly it is now a bitsa engine. This often happened when these cars were daily drivers and it is not unusual to find the head of one engine fitted to the block of another.

Engine No LP1006 was originally fitted to an Elan 1600, invoiced in December 1963 and destined for Lotus East, Dutchess Autos.

Tim