History Help - 1968 1600-2

[Bibm5]

Nice ride!
Very interesting to follow the history.

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[spuriouspseudo]

23 hours ago, Conserv said:

it could easily have been November 1967

Steve everyone, thanks for all of the info...  Pretty neat to find all of this out.

 

I couldn't find a serial stamped into the block, but i'll keep looking.  I did manage to get a couple of photos of the casting numbers - is this block from '85, so a replacement?

 

I've got some photos of the interior below, too.

 

 

[HBChris]

Head appears to indicate 84 casting date e12, good for piano top Tii pistons.

[dbmw2002]

My call, find a o2 engine and make it breath right, drive the tight line and realize the middle of the apex is never reached too early in these Bavarian Bombers?. My 76 Golfie just got her 72 block and can't wait to make her tight and right. She screams but can't take her to the City (S.F.) as the liberals will impound her for leaking valve seals, I'll just circle Mt. Shasta for now. ?

 

[Conserv]

Yes, exactly as you say, the block was cast in 1985, January (“A”) 9th (or is that “19” preceding the “A” in the oval frame?).  And with a head cast September 1984 (I think I see 9 “nubs” surrounding the “84”), the engine will not have a traditional VIN as its number, unless some brave mechanic, upon installing the engine, took it upon himself to stamp it with the car’s VIN — highly unlikely, but it occasionally happened.  Given the close proximity of the block and head dates, the engine could conceivably have been a new replacement engine ca. 1985 — although we can’t know without further documentation whether it was originally installed in another ‘02 or this ‘02.

 

Regardless, as said above, unless you’re interested in restoring the car to its original 1.6-liter configuration, this block and head could well be a solid base for a refreshed engine.

 

Your car’s style of three-piece dashboard (top, bottom, and instrument binnacle) with chrome fascia trim — some pieces are chromed steel, some are plastic — was phased out of U.S. cars shortly after your car was produced.  The chrome fascia trim did not meet new U.S. DOT crash impact regulations, effective January 1, 1968.  But that chrome fascia trim continued on Euro-spec cars until April 1971.

 

Regards,

 

Steve