I have an engine at home with an engine number I cant identify- can anyone shed some light?

its an upright dual port. generator not alt. and was removed from a 1965 beetle.

the numbers under the gen stand are: 5025538
they are not stamped evenly and are smaller in size to other #'s on motors i have. Also there has not been any grinding or sanding of the block so I guess they are the original numbers as such.

P.S. there are no letters before the numbers.

It might be a type 3 engine, in which case the real number will be under the fan shroud next the oil cooler outlet.

A previous owner may have copied only part of the number to the Type 1 location under the generator stand. Or thought it didn't have one so made one up :o

Best of luck

I think I remember hearing somewhere that if you build your own new engine from scratch you get allocated a number by the relevant road authority. Maybe that's what happened with your engine.

according to the book infornt of me the only engines that came with a 5 at the front were the 1961 1200s

Yes, had a number allocated by the relevant authority and stamped on by the mechanic when I had a rebuild with a new case. And a 1600 DP is certainly not the original engine for your car

Easy enough to check, does it match the number on the rego papers?

yeah the same numbers are on the rego papers- the previous owner told me it was a 1775cc but nothing more. I was just curious as to what case it was originally and a little worried that I may have probs when it comes time to re-register it again.... but I guess if the numbers are on the old rego slips then it must be ligit

Looks like it may be a Type 3 1600 converted to upright fan to suit the Beetle and stamped with the 1200 engine number of the previous motor to save a visit to the Rego Branch.