Spitfire Ping Andy Mace - Spitfire Engine Number?

[dklawson]

Andy, I've looked through my books and online and I think I've decoded the following engine number but I wanted to see if I'm reading it right or wrong. This is for the 1500 engine I picked up from Jamie P. for transplant into my project Spit.

The engine number is: FM13363OUCE
What confuses me is the suffix. The UCE was easy enough to decode as a California spec U.S. engine. What I'm questioning is whether the number is 13363O with the last character "o" as in orange, or the is it the number "0". Did the 1500s have 6-digit engine numbers which would make the last digit a "0", or is that last character a "o" and part of the suffix? If the last character is "o" and it's part of the suffix, what does the "o" designate?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[HerronScott]

Doug,

The information they have at the Spitfire and GT6 Magazine website would seem to point to this being a 1978 1500 engine with 6 numbers although they don't specifically say there was a UCE suffix for that year (UE but not the UCE California one).

Spitfire and GT6 Magazine reference

Do you know what year car this engine came from?

Scott

 

[dklawson]

Thanks Scott. The site you provided the link to was one of the references I'd been looking at. However, I missed the fact that their "FM" sequences had 6-digits, not 5. Thanks for pointing that out.

I wish I did know more about this engine. My friend who gave it to me told us as what little he know. According to him the engine wasn't original to the car he got it in. He only drove that car for a few months until it the car was totalled in an accident. According to him this engine was very strong and, regardless of how it started life, someone has been inside and tweaked it at some point.

The engine turns over freely by hand. I'll do a cursory (through the spark plug holes) exam of the bores and a general clean up. I need to swap the flywheel and clutch components so I figured while that's apart I'd fit a new rear main seal and perhaps a pilot bearing if needed. At this point I am not planning a major overhaul for the engine.

 

[Andrew Mace]

Hi, guys (out of breath)...rushed back as fast as I could...(still breathing heavily :wink: ). Been down, computerwise, for the past 26 hours; first time I've ever had a power strip/surge protector just plain stop working!

Anyway, yes, Doug, the FM engine series did get up into the six-digit range, as they were crankin' out a lotta Spitfire 1500s between 1973 and 1980/1. And I'd wager that the FP (Midget 1500) series engines were numbered along with the FM series, which would drive the serial number series yet higher.

Funny thing about the blokes who stamped those numbers on blocks: I suspect that they weren't always that careful about whether they were using a "0" (numeral) or "O" letter! I've seen similar things on earlier Herald engines, where it appears that the "I" (letter) was often used in place of the (numeral) "1"!

 

[dklawson]

Thanks Andy (and thanks again Scott).

Andy, before I forget... Jamie said to tell you "Hi". If you're not aware of it, he recently acquired a truly obscure car. Last week he received his 1956 Standard Vanguard Sportsman.

 

[Andrew Mace]

Thanks Andy (and thanks again Scott).

Andy, before I forget... Jamie said to tell you "Hi". If you're not aware of it, he recently acquired a truly obscure car. Last week he received his 1956 Standard Vanguard Sportsman.

First, you're welcome! Second, yes, Jamie has been keeping me apprised of the situation. For the rest of you who may be wondering what we're talking about, it looks something (well, EXACTLY) like this:

...and is a very rare car indeed!