Early Engine Number Query

[Peter Truman]

I had a call today from a fellow Triumph nut here in Melbourne searching if I knew of a Spitfire with Engine No. FC95XXGE, presumably a Spit4.

What interested me was the engine GE suffix, E is for Engine I assume, but what is the G, The car was Australian delivered, but as I understand it Triumph UK delivered fully assembled engines complete with their engine numbers to AMI for CKD assembly, AMI fitted the Triumph bulk provided  Comm Nos to the Aus assembled car

[Pete Lewis]

i dont see anything that denotes the GE   only HE or LE   wonder if   ckd  had their own prefix ?????   or an engine replaced under warranty  

pete

 

 

 

[Peter Truman]

Pete it was at the end ie suffix

[Colin Lindsay]

The end is usually HE or LE - people often claim the E is for 'emissions' but I've also heard it simply stands for 'engine'. I've never heard of a GE suffix however special smog-reduced engines for California / USA market were suffixed CE.

I'll attach a screen shot I found of engine numbers, which seems to cover all of the versions I know of:

I've also heard of engines marked HEA for automatic - rarely applicable to our cars!

 

[Peter Truman]

Thanks Colin but the 9500 number Would indicate an early car Spit 4 around 63 which I would have thought was pre emission California and Nadarism

[Pete Lewis]

pete yes i was looking at the end    just it was early and prefix and suffix not in the grey matter  before breaky   ha 

have you seen it is it a factory style stamped number  ???   or been over stamped by a reconditioner some time in its life 

Pete

[dougbgt6]

I'm sure we've had this question before and it was someone in Oz who solved it, but I can't find the thread with search. Something to do with factory spare engines and their journey to Oz?

Doug