matching number engine

['40's guy]

Hello all,

I have done some searching and cannot find specific information regarding how to determine if I have a "numbers matching" engine in my car. I do not have a birth certificate, though it appears engine numbers aren't included on them anymore anyway. Can someone please tell me how I can determine if my engine is the same one installed by the factory when the car was built?

Many thanks,
Clayt

[OldSchoolVW's]

Locate the chassis number stamped on the frame under the rear seat. Locate the engine number below the generator stand. Go to this chart:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/bugchassisdating.php

In the chassis # column the first chassis built that month/year is listed. Find the chassis numbers that your chassis number falls between. That will tell you the month/year your car was built. Repeat this with the engine number in the engine # column. That will tell you when the engine was built. If the car and engine were built the same month (or the engine was built a month earlier), there is a very high likelihood that that engine is original to the car. It is always possible that the original engine was replaced with a used one that happened to be built within a month of when the car was built ... but that would be an unlikely coincidence.

BTW ... I believe you can check the transmission the same way by looking up the transmission number in the rear axle column. The transmission number is stamped on the bottom of the transmission on the right side ... oil/grease/road grime may need to be removed to find it.

I have one of those rare survivors where the engine and transmission on my '63 were built the same month as the car.
_________________
Tom

"Following distance is proportional to IQ."

"If you don't do it this year, you'll be one year older when you do." Warren Miller

"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing." Wernher von Braun

'63 Beetle Sedan
'69 Beetle Sunroof
'70 Beetle Sedan
'73 Type 3 Fastback

[obnoxiousblue]

If you order a birth certificate you can tell them the engine number in your car and they will tell you if it is correct to the car.
They no longer send the engine number because people with non-original engines were stamping their reman units with the original number and asking more money for them. Quite clever, but very disingenuous.
_________________
Mike
1964 Beetle
2001 Eurovan Camper

[SLO-N-LO-69]

[h~moto]

[OldSchoolVW's]