• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Chassis Number on Shock Tower

Share this page

J

jmdlotus

Freshman Member
Offline
I have a 67 3000 with a VIN problem. I cannot locate were the chassis number is on the shock tower. I have the front right wheel off and I am just not seeing it. Can someone give me a good description or a picture on where it's located.
 
On the leading edge, in front of the shock, on my BN6.

IMG_0141.JPG
 
Randy,

What does the number mean? Yours looks like 469 but your car is 942. I looked at mine and it is 3105, which does not match my car or body number.

Thanks- Duane
'58 BN6
 
Randy Forbes said:
On the leading edge, in front of the shock, on my BN6.

IMG_0141.JPG
Click to expand...
Not in this location for a BJ8. I'd post a pic but I gave up a long time ago trying to post pics on this forum website.
Patrick
 
Duane_Rhynard said:
Randy,

What does the number mean? Yours looks like 469 but your car is 942. I looked at mine and it is 3105, which does not match my car or body number.

Thanks- Duane
'58 BN6
Click to expand...
That's apparently the chassis number assingned by Jensen's. The VIN being assigned at Abingdon.

I don't know how that will help get a VIN straightened out, but maybe the Heritage Certificate carries both numbers...?

IMG_0142.JPG


If someone would send me a picture of the BJ8 shock number location, I would post it, but this one is the best I can do :wink:
 
Get hold of Steve Byers, the BJ7 & BJ8 Registry guru - he has some pics of
the VIN stamped on a BJ8 shock tower that will also help !
Regards,
Mike
 
Patrick: Your shock tower just looked different from what I remembered. Probably just my fading memory. I wondered if, somewhere along the line, someone relpaced your shock mounts with aftermarket items.
 
Cutlass said:
Patrick: Your shock tower just looked different from what I remembered. Probably just my fading memory. I wondered if, somewhere along the line, someone relpaced your shock mounts with aftermarket items.
Click to expand...
Memeory fade is normal. ( sorry,I was short on reply this morning on my way out the door)I had to have a Jule frame produced. The shock towers are included in the frame. My frame was restamped exactly as per my original stamping only more clear than the original. The old frame was scrapped and my original stamped piece was returned to me so that it can't be used on any other car.
Patrick
 
Patrick: Thanks, I feel better now. There are some subtle differences between a Jule and an original frame. After spending a year repairing my frame, I wish now I had gone with a Jule.
 
Cutlass said:
Patrick: Thanks, I feel better now. There are some subtle differences between a Jule and an original frame. After spending a year repairing my frame, I wish now I had gone with a Jule.
Click to expand...
I bought my car wrecked in '72 and then in a few months it was hit on the opposite side in a parking lot accident. The car tracked down the road perfectly with no abnormal tire wear and it wasn't until I decided a couple of years ago to do a paint job with rust repair did I notice some unusual items such as bent inner body panels and motor mounts that "leaned". Marty(Jule-Enterprises), stopped by my place to look at my car when it was completely stripped down and pointed out all of the "compression" bulges, etc. etc. He priced it out and we loaded it on his truck and 3 months later it was back in my garage all repaired and painted the original beige color with base coat, clear coat. It's nice to work on a "super clean" car after working on a grease, oil soaked rust bucket for 38 years!! I feel I made the right decision in having a new frame done by Jule-Enterprises.
Patrick
 
The number on the shock tower in the photo posted by Randy Forbes does not in any way relate to the VIN, body, or any other number found on a Healey as far as I or anyone else knows. It was probably a number that was significant only to the folks at Jensen Motors when they were manufacturing the chassis. There is no cross-reference between this number and the VIN anywhere in existence, to my knowledge, including BMIHT.
BJ8s in theory had the original VIN stamped into the right front shock absorber mounting tower (I can provide a few sample photos to anyone who wants to contact me directly at sbyers@ec.rr.com. I've also given up trying to figure out how to post a picture here). Whoever was given the job at Jensens to stamp these numbers was close to incompetent, because they are frequently 1) non-existent, or 2) stamped so imperfectly as to be either completely or partially illegible, especially with paint on the surface. Also, the shock tower is probably the place most vulnerable to damage and being replaced due to collisions or cracks from out of balance wheels. If the shock absorber mounting surface gets replaced, then the number is likely to go with it.
I do not know when the practice started of putting the VIN on the shock tower, but apparently it started with the BJ8s. If anyone knows differently, please let me know.
 
Steve, if you have pictures relevent to this thread, E-mail them to me and I will post them.

For future searches and reference, as these subjects tend to repeat themselves every few years, a searcher would find all the now known information and pictures in one place.

That is, unless you want to get the same E-mails every few years... :wink:

My E-mail address is in my signature picture.

As regards my own car's stampings (shock tower chassis number/hood hinge tab body number), is it really just a coincidence that they match the stamped aluminum auxilary tag on the firewall?
 
Back
Top