30 replies to this topic

[hanra]

Im getting my donk ready for paint and was just curious if I should mask up the engine number? Was it painted over from factory? Being painted may make it harder to read? What should I do?

[Ice]

They were painted over last time i checked you will still be able to read it unless you bomb the paint on

[yel327]

Looks like a restamped number too. I'm pretty sure they were naked on original engines, but they can be easier to read when painted.

[hanra]

Restamped? This number was on record for this car when I contacted GMH head office. He actually quoted it to me before I asked for it.

[orangeLJ]

I dont think its a restamp, in order to grind the old number off (so taking a couple mm off), they would have removed the pitting/casting marks to the left and along the edges.

The numbers look wonky, but hey, thats holden stamping for you

[yel327]

For years engine shops have been decking V8 engines and restamping the original number. Most wonky numbers you see will be just that. Most of the Holden 6cyl and V8 original stamps I have seen over the years are pretty much aligned, only the 11 and 12 on Statesman 6cyl and V8 plus the X on ADR27A 6cyl auto Toranas are out of place. I may be way off track but if I see an number stamped like that it screams deck and restamp to me. Are other Torana engines like that? Most Holden engines aren't, and they are stamped in the same engine assembly plant. Maybe they used a different stamping machine as LH-UC engines (except the X prefixed ones) are in a different sequence to HQ-HZ and LJ?

[hanra]

Well this engine dosnt have stock pistons in it, so its had a re-build at some stage in its life. But most definitely this is the engine # for this particular car, as I mentioned previously, when I called GMH for a authenticity letter, they quoted me this number prior to me even asking for it as I didnt think they would have it on record.

[yel327]

That's what you'd expect if the engine had been decked for a rebuild and its original number stamped back in.

[hanra]

Ok Cool I see where your coming from now.

[hanra]

My car is 10/75 and this casting is 5J5 which is Friday the 5th September 1975?

Edited by hanra, 08 March 2012 - 12:52 PM.

[hanra]

Hahahaha, thanks for bringing it back on course! Yeah interested to know what the experts think.

[hanra]

Good one Adam!!! Thanks for those pics mate!

[myss427]

That H on the last bright red engine is different to all the other H's, did they have different stamps?

[yel327]

They should all be the same as they are all from the same engine plant. That lower one looks like a restamp too, the 4 is wrong I think. Maybe the ones up higher with the wider H are actually orignals??

Here are some original stampings. Numbers should be aligned, not all over the place.

Attached Files

•  DCP_0812.JPG   94.62K   5 downloads
•  XQL.jpg   109K   5 downloads

[hanra]

My "H" kinda looks right compared to the others?

If the machine shop machined it off whilst doing work, they must have taken a fair bit of meat off the block?

[Ice]

You got to remember these were done by humans there is going to be some mistakes where not perfect
yours look right brad

[yel327]

My "H" kinda looks right compared to the others?

If the machine shop machined it off whilst doing work, they must have taken a fair bit of meat off the block?

Yes it does. Has me intrigued.

[yel327]

You got to remember these were done by humans there is going to be some mistakes where not perfect
yours look right brad

They were done a machine held by a human hence the near perfect alignment on most original numbers, and humans can't vary the font on the stamps. The wide H is interesting though. Most of the misaligned ones you see are restamps. Hanra's may not be, it just looks a little wonky. It looks to have had the deck cleaned up so maybe that explains a bit of the apparant misalignment, you can see on some engines the characters appear slightly out of alignment but it is the shape of the character make it appear that way especially after a light decking. The 7 on the XQL in the photo above is a good example, the top of the 7 looks higher than the 9 but it isn't..

[hanra]

Here's a closer shot. Definitely has a wonk to it!!!




I know these letters dont mean much.... but anyways... It shows the engine # at least.

Edited by hanra, 09 March 2012 - 09:38 AM.

[yel327]

Hanra, yours might just be OK. Just need to see a couple of other original HT stampings to see if the H is right to be a different font. You can see how nicely aligned all the original 6cyl numbers look, but remember these were stamped horizontally, V8's were on an angle so maybe the odd digit dropped a fraction? See also in the top two photos Skap put up how the T is talled than the number? Yours is the same, as is your H. So again, maybe the air operated stamping device used for the Torana engines needed a new set of stamps for the H and the T as the H may have gone missing from LC and HG era engines and the T was used for HQ and HJ engines, so they needed a new H and T. All speculation, need more samples to be sure either way.