Engine number

[Bob Featherstone]

Not sure if this General or Technical. I know the engine on my 1977 roadster was changed just before I bought it but I want to find out what year, and even type, the engine is. I have looked at various websites but without success on identifying anything like mine. The number is 18VEHZ15547.

[Neil Wyman]

I can't seem to identify your engine number from my reference book, the 18v engine number started in 1971 but nothing matching yours, could it be that the engine started life in a non mgb ?

[Peter Cresswell]

See also Bob's other post which has some extra information at http://mgbforum.mgb-register.org/viewto ... ?f=4&t=210

I too have been doing some research about other sources that the engine Bob has may have come from, and these include the Marina, and Sherpa van. Both of these along with the MGB used 18V at the start of the engine code. The '18' means 1800 cc and the 'V' stands for vertical i.e. an inline engine. The Austin/Morris 1800 used 18H where the 'H' means horizontal i.e. transverse front wheel drive.
However Bob's problem is that he only has the last 2 digits (47) actually attached to the engine (see the other post above), as the tag plate has been badly damaged, and the number he has provided is from the V5, which as Neil says doesn't line up with any of the codes for a BL MGB engine. However having checked Clausagers book 'The original MGB...' (a book well worth buying by the way) gives a clue. Some Marinas and Sherpas had a single carburettor and had a letter 'E' in their engine codes, and an H (High Compression, probably for cars) or L (Low Compression, probably for commercials), which might indicate the block for Bob's engine may have been sourced from a Marina single carb car. It is important to realise that the engine number tag is attached only to the block and home rebuilders and some professionals will often just use any 1800cc block they have. It doesn't mean the rest of the engine is not MGB, but one might suspect that this may not be the case. The only way is to check the cylinder head casting number to see if it is a MGB head or one off something else. Similarly with the crank and rods, but if the car is running ok why bother!

A good list of all Nuffield/BMC/BL engine codes can be found here: http://www.mginfo.co.uk/upgrades4mgs/fi ... umbers.pdf
and the information in Clausager's book is on page 68.

I'm not sure what Bob could do about this in his case. I suppose if he knew the original engine number for his car he could have a new plate made up and attach that to the engine (the rivets are extremely difficult to drill out though!). There are a few people around, particularly in the Mini world, who can reverse stamp the plate. The DVLA don't seem to be bothered about engine numbers too much.