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V12 block cast date * 1st post *

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AussieV12

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I am hoping I have found a place that has the technical answers I am looking for in regards to Jag V12's. The plan is to slot one of these beasts into an Australian made car.

First of many questions.

Is it possible to tell the date a particular block was cast? Is there some sort of alpha-numeric code cast in the block somewhere? Do you have to go by the engine number? I need to know this, as the engine cast date will determine what emmision control regulations I will need to comply with. Hopefully there will be an easy way to get an accurate answer to my question.

More questions will follow once I get this one sorted.
 
Welcome to the forum... I'm not too sure about the answers to your questions... but someone here will.

What Australian car are you going to put it in? Any pictures?
 
There are no pics, as the car hasn't even been purchased yet. I do have a front cut of an identical vehicle for the purposes of dummy fitting everything. Better to butcher a worthless rusted example than a pristine one. Please note I haven't given any details on what the engine will be going into at this stage. I wouldn't want anybody to beat me to finishing what should be a uniquely modified vehicle.

What I suppose I should've mentioned, is that the block needs to be made before July 1976. Even better would be one made prior to 1975. So any help in identifying a block would be very helpfull.
 
Would you be buying just a block, or a complete unit? Quickest way to ID a motor is the fuel delivery system, fuel injection was not introduced to the V-12 until the 1976 model year (started production in May 1975), so anything that has, or has had, carbs on it will be of the required vintage. I'll take a look at a couple of books, see if there's a way of identifying a block.
 
Re:

One of my brothers has a complete engine in his garage which is probably for sale. However before I ask him any questions ( he tends to be a bit of a grumble bum at times ), I would prefer to know the details I asked in my original post. I suppose the good thing is, if there is no way of confirming how old a particular block is, then I can use any block I wish and tell the rego guys it's a 1974 cast block with later models heads and injection. But I really want to be sure before I purchase anything, just to be safe.
 
Re:

So I suppose the next question is, what engine numbers would correspond to a block made before July 1, 1976 and Jan 1, 1975?
 
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