Engine Number

[Reklaw]

Hi Guys. First post and first foray into Mustang territory. Bought a '66 Coupe a few weeks ago and am just learning the ropes.
All the paperwork for this car shows the engine number being the same as the VIN, which I thought was unusual. Looked at the pad at the rear of the block today and, sure enough, the VIN is stamped into the block. Is this the norm?
Bob

[aussie trev]

been a 66 it should have a 289 with engine no on front or none.. the 302 has the engine number on the rear pad ,some  late 289 on rear pad. you must have a 302 engine.

[Dwayne]

Think it's fairly common. 

A lot of motors don't have a number stamped when first registered here, so you can either pay the rego dept a fee to allocate an engine number for you or just use the car's VIN.

[barnett468]

There is no "pad" on the rear of the block on a 66 engine, therefore, your engine is later than 66.

 

[Reklaw]

Interesting replies. Thanks to the brains trust. Any other way of determining the origin of the engine, casting numbers on block etc?

[Dwayne]

Any other way of determining the origin of the engine, casting numbers on block etc?

Yes, casting numbers.

[boofhead]

They did not get an engine number in 66 - so someone has stamped it for au rego purposes.
You could have a matching numbers car (even though the motor was cast years later) - excellent.
 

[sms777]

Congratulations!.....You have most probably bought one of the cars that I have blue slipped years ago. It has been my practice for many years to simply stamp the last seven digits of the VIN on a smooth pad large enough to accomodate seven digits. It is an accepted method by RMS and never had a complaint about it. Makes it a numbers matching car also......
You can contact me if you want to verify it's authenticity..

Cheers. Chris.

[barnett468]

The casting numbers DWAYNE mentioned are under the starter and look like this . The small  numbers above the C50E are the date the block was cast . The date is typically around 1 week to 4 weeks earlier than the projected assembly date on the door tag providing the door tag is original.

7 = 1967
A = First month of the year
12 = Day of the month






There is another hand stamped number on a tiny pad on the left front of the engine just below the cylinder head . This number is the date the engine was assembled . It is also typically before the projected assembly date.

5 = 1965
C = March
4= day of the month




If the back of your block looks like this it is later than 1966

[Reklaw]

Thanks for that. Yes, the back of the block has that flat pad, so not the original engine. Will check other numbers over the weekend.
And, sms777, the number stamped is the full VIN number (6F07 etc) and the car has spent most of it's life in Victoria (Engineered for RHD in year 2000) so don't think it's one that you've done. Thanks for the offer 'though.

[mustang_talk]

Barnett, what does the R stand for in 5C4R?

[GEOFF289]

Barnett, what does the R stand for in 5C4R?

That photo is from here and it says that the meaning of the R is unknown.

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Zn-oCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=5C4R+FORD+CASTING&source=bl&ots=zLVYfl85rq&sig=cQG-Pe8Bdl4TVVn-DGVfQ6bZW6w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi24N6r3vDSAhXBvbwKHW0kCDUQ6AEIKTAB#v=onepage&q=5C4R%20FORD%20CASTING&f=false

[barnett468]

Barnett, what does the R stand for in 5C4R?

The last letter of the assembly date is the identifier of the person that assembled the engine, so one engine might have an R and another might have an M or a B etc since there was more than one engine assembler.

[mustang_talk]

Okay, thanks. Interesting the site that posted that image claims the meaning is unknown...

[barnett468]

Okay, thanks. Interesting the site that posted that image claims the meaning is unknown...

No, they are stating that they do not know but in an ambiguous way . That does not mean that someone else does not know.