[Roadsters] Engine ID?

[Pete Peters]

What Gary said. More stuff....

I thought Lars had created a database of VIN's and engine numbers, but all I can find is the VIN Decoder: 

<http://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsun311/ModelYearsVin/tabid/304/Default.aspx> 

...which doesn't show engine numbers....sigh.... 

FWIW, there -ARE- SAE 5-main engines, though I'd reckon they're few. A friend has/had one.

Pete "had to Google 'palindromic'...."

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary and Cindy Ault" <aultgc at att.net> 
To: "Erik Miller" <funkaholik at yahoo.com>, datsun-roadsters at autox.team.net 
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 10:45:40 AM 
Subject: Re: [Roadsters] Engine ID? 

Erik, 

Nissan was not real careful about installing engines in any sequence, but, the original engines in '65-'67 cars had serial numbers R-40,000 or lower. All of those should be SAE. The change to metric came with R-40001, which I think was used in '67-1/2 and later cars, and has five main bearings. 

The body and chassis on '67-1/2 cars is SAE, however. At least mine is. 

Your engine should be SAE. Maybe 5/16-18 is close enough to M8 x 1.25 that either will fit, but I'll bet the M8 is looser in the bolt hole. A 5/16-18 thread gauge should not be quite right for M8 x 1.25, but I haven't checked personally. And, over the years, some PO could easily have used the wrong bolt, and, if it was close, forced it to fit, particularly on something as stout as a 5/16. 

Gary 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Erik 
Miller <funkaholik at yahoo.com> 
To: datsun-roadsters at autox.team.net 
Sent: Thu, 
April 12, 2012 1:12:50 AM 
Subject: [Roadsters] Engine ID? 

So, thanks to list member Karl Lett (Thanks, Karl!!), I acquired a running R16 engine to swap into my long dead 1970 1600. He sold it to me at a great price, and even brought it over to my girlfriend's garage (Thanks, girlfriend!!). I have some questions about the engine, which has a palindromic engine # of R 25852. 

He was unsure of the year of the car it came out of. Can I determine the year by engine #? I checked the registry, and a 1967 car, VIN SPL311-08544, has engine # R 25807. Pretty close. Were they installed in sequence? 

Also, would this be an SAE or metric engine? I pulled a bolt out and checked it, but it seems to fit both 5/16-18 and M8-1.25 nuts. I want to make sure that if I need to order parts like fuel pump, etc. that I get the right ones. 

Thanks, everyone, and wish me luck getting her back on the road. Maybe she'll even be ready for Shasta... 

Erik Miller
Berkeley, CA, USA