Re: Engine serial number

Posted by Packard Don On 2019/10/4 11:36:02

California does not register by engine number as such. If there is no VIN, then it can be used but it goes in the VIN field on the documents and it's best not to mention to the DMV that it is an engine number as they frown on it because engines get changed! Motorcycles are the only vehicles in California that use engine numbers but they still require the VIN too.

That said, I suspect Howard is dead-on that yours is a service replacement engine and if so, be careful of torques and that sort of thing. I once used a 1956 Motors Manual for a 1940 110 rod torque based on the chart in the book which went back to 1946. Apparently the postwar six cylinder engines used larger rod bolts so my smaller ones started to stretch every time I got them to the proper torque! Yours may have to be tighter than the 1939 specification but check the bolt size to be sure.