Engine mystery

Christopher

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Taking a closer look though a ream of receipts that came with my car when i bought it 20 years ago, i discovered that a PO had, or was at least charged for, a replacement engine. This was back in 1987. The car had done 100k miles, and the lines on the invoice read - Flywheel £201.25 and recondition (not ed) engine £995. These were parts, no labour costs.

The work was carried out by a west London BMW specialist. The original receipt has a breakdown of how the PO paid the overall £3000 invoice by cash & cheques

My initial disappointment of the my chassis and engine numbers now not matching was lifted by the thought that this engine would have covered less than 45k miles, based on my recorded mileage.

However, on taking a look at the engine stamp last night, the engine number does indeed match my chassis. Furthermore the date casting on the block is 73 (mine is a 74 model)

There could be a few possibilities to explain this - the first being that the chassis number was stamped in a virgin spot on a recondtioned engine, by either the supplier or the dealer, but how likely is that ? (especially as the block is stamped date correct)

To avoid any confusion the reconditon (sp) engine is in the parts part of the invoice. There is a further charge of £395 to 'remove engine strip and investigate, renew and replace engine'

There is a possibility that the PO was charged for, but didn't get his reconditioned engine. I'd guess it would be unusual for an M30 to have major bottom end issues at 100k ?

I'm booked in for a compression test in 2 weeks, so that might help to answer my question on the mileage the engine has done, but any info on the engine number stamp might help me with my puzzle in the meantime
 
Checked the casting date for the cylinder head?
PO charged for new header and renovated block back in the 1987?
 
I ommited this info but it appears in the year following the fitting of the engine he had 2 cylinder heads replaced. The first 'no charge due to guarantee' the second 6 months later that he was charged for

i have replaced the cylinder head during my ownership, so no clues there
 
The "renew and replace engine" sounds like repair and reinstall engine to me. I wouldn't assume it meant replacing with another engine. Replacement engines came with generic stamps on them from BMW, especially in the 80s when they used e12 motors, mine was stamped 530. You have your original block which is highly prized by CSi and CSL owners.
 
"Recondition" the engine means (to me at least) that the installed engine was overhauled, while a "reconditioned" engine would have been from another car or source.

If the engine number on the flat near the starter matches the VIN on the stamp on the body, you may be overthinking this.
 
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