21 replies to this topic

[Tamworthbay]

So if you can legally assign any engine number you like, then what's to stop you just assigning your existing/old engine number to your new engine? I can understand that you probably wouldn't want to assign a 998 engine number to a 1275, but if you're assigning a 1275 engine number to another 1275 block, then what's the difference?

The number is supposed to be unique, if you use one you know exists, technically you are in potential areas of hassle with the DVLA. In practice, at the moment there are no central searchable records of engine numbers so the chance of being caught is slim, but if you were it looks very ringer like.

But if you remove the engine number from the old engine no-one will know what the engine number for that engine is

True, but like swapping vin plates on a shell. What people know and what is illegal depends own what you are prepared to do. I don't see it as an issue personally, just pointing out DVLAs standpoint. If they were more sensible people wouldn't feel the need to do this sort of thing. Before 2000 people reshelled and it was legit, they effectively banned it but you would be a moron if you think it stopped happening, people just do it quietly now. If its a one for one engine swap the chance of a problem is probably one in a billion, after all, how would they know?

[KernowCooper]

When my engine was built the engine number was removed and then the engine came from a MG Metro so the new number was sent to DVLA as MG13301234 so thats whats on my Log Book

Edited by KernowCooper, 03 December 2012 - 09:14 PM.

[Minidarren83]

The dvla has no current records of engine numbers, only vin and reg numbers and the engine number on your logbook is a reference only and an engine number is only a way to distinguish one engine from another, with mini the first part would tell us the spec of that engine the second being the serial so there is nothing that says you can't make your own serial or if your old engine is for scrap use that number and remove from the old engine problem sorted

[Guess-Works.com]

I don't believe there is an issue with renumbering an engine as long as that number accurately represents, or is representative through documentation, the engine's specification.

However, it should not be done to mislead or misrepresent one engine as another, eg....

Putting an MG metro engine number on an engine which is not one of the same specification, putting a 99h number on a 1275 to fool the insurance...

That's fraud and a criminal offence.

[wbutcheruk2]

Thats what i was thinking. I want to be legit with it all. I could use my current engine number as they are both 1275 engines, but then when i rebuild the one i'm taking out, i would then need a new number for that, when the one on it is that that engines ID, so seems like i would be creating hassle fr the sake of it. If i put a new number on the one that has no number tag on it, this has got to be best, as long as i can get a garage to sort out a letter to make it all easier!

[glowpot]

On later engines the number was not printed on a metal plate with rivets, it was just etched in to the metal block (same place though). It's hard to read and easily hidden by grease/dirt, etc. Worth checking?

[tiger99]

If the new engine has exactly the same type of block as the old one, I would just make sure that the old engine lost its number permanently and the same number went on the new one. (Put an invented number, not like a real one, on the old one if it is going to be reused.) DVLA would be none the wiser. There is no attempt to decieve or defraud so no-one would really care. I take a very dim view indeed of fraud or theft, but prevention of crime should not result in unnecessary difficulties.

But if you build the engine yourself from parts, no doubt having more than a few bits machined, you would be fully entitled to put your own number on it anyway, such as your own initials and a serial number. Professional engine modifiers are likely to do that to show that it is their product, not someone else's.

There is even less check on internal parts, and although it is concievable that major parts, such as the crankshaft or head, could have had a serial number in production, and the records could in theory still be around, it is well-known and understood that parts do get swapped around to keep classic cars going, so there would be nothing at all odd in having a seemingly mismatched set of bits. It is really only the aircraft industry that keeps detailed records to that level anyway. They should know where every part on every aircraft came from. If traceability to that level of detail ever comes to cars it will not be to stop what most of us regard as theft, but to stop the use of dangerous counterfeit parts, usually from China.

It would actually be useful to restorers to know the history of every single part in their cars, but that will never, ever happen with older models such as Minis, because doing it retrospectively is impossible.