Engine serial question

9pin · Post by **9pin** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 9:15 am

Hey all! First post to this forum. Looking forward to reading more and learning lots.

I'm about to pick up a '66 that's been in the same family for decades. It's a few hours drive from where I live so I've not been able to inspect it in person yet. The seller believes it's all original, except when I had him read to me the engine serial #, it didn't make much sense.

The chassis starts with 116, so there's no question it's a '66. Seller says the engine serial however, is 0241982. From what I've read so far anywhere, that doesn't fit with the typical naming convention. From what I can tell, they never started with 0, correct?

I'm thinking either the 0 is actually a D or for whatever reason, there's no F. Making the serial possibly (F)-024-1982.

Anybody have any insight? Thanks!

9pin · Post by **9pin** » Wed Aug 15, 2012 10:58 am

Well, I bought it.

As you can see, no letter visible, as far as I can tell. A teeny, tiny little vw logo is stamped on the block though, along with another scratch that I can't really make out, looks like two crossed marks, but… that doesn't mean anything either.

Anyone seen anything like this on their '66?

Somebody on another forum told me it could be a 1500 block from a 63 bus… I find that unlikely.

russ c · Post by **russ c** » Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:00 pm

i heard those engines were dealer replacements

fatalifeaten · Post by **fatalifeaten** » Sun Aug 19, 2012 9:26 pm

That definitely looks like a factory recycle, you can see how it looks like the face was milled and re stamped, which VW did when they reman'd a case. I remember reading an article on this and it had codes in it, but I can't for the life of me find it now.

Unless you're going for a complete 100% coucours restoration, Don't sweat it. VW cases are rarely ever original to the car they were sold with and get passed around a lot. If you have to have one that was with a '66, check ebay or the samba for a case that falls into the date range for your car and roll the dice.

9pin · Post by **9pin** » Sun Aug 19, 2012 9:40 pm

I don't really mind if it's a reman'd case, as long as its still classified as a 1300. Would there be any other noticeable differences if it were a different size case?

fatalifeaten · Post by **fatalifeaten** » Sun Aug 19, 2012 9:46 pm

After you strip the top end junk off, 1300/1500/1600/ and beyond all look the same from the outside. It's very difficult to judge whether or not it's still a 1300 without pulling it, pulling a head, and measuring the bore and stroke on one of the cylinders.

The general lack of availability for 1300 parts means it's probably not a 1300 anymore, but again, unless you're looking for a total competition stock rebuild, this isn't really a big deal. A 1500 or 1600 single port will look correct and give you a very nice, comfortable, and slightly more peppy driving experience for a long time without any major downside.