I've got an old 36'er engine number -20-0932660.And regarding dates of engines and the date of manufacture of the bus does anybody have any knowledge of the gap from the two?is it a couple of weeks a couple of months?Thanks guys.

"The gap would depend if the engine is orignal"you are kidding right?But i'll check the link thanksI'll rephrase the question if you bought a kombi back in the 50's and your bus was manufactured on say january 1st when was the engine likley to be manufactured a couple of days prior to the bus a couple of weeks a couple of months a year does any body have any idea?

Early Kombis, like early Beetles, used to have a chassis number, and an engine number, that were just a sequence of consecutive numbers. Each vehicle made would have a chassis number or engine number that was 1 more than the car before it.

For example, a 1963 Kombi would have a chassis number somewhere between 971550 and 1144282. You can see that the one millionth Kombi was made that year. Same with Beetles - a 1963 Beetle would have a chassis number between 4846835 and 5677119. This tells us that the 5 millionth Beetle was made in 1963. This sort of numbering system, for engines and chassis, doesn't give much info, and to find out the year model, you have to go looking for chassis number lists such as http://www.aircooled.net/gnrlsite/resource/specgeninfo/chassisnumbers.htm  . The 11Y nnnnnnn sequence came in for the 1965 model, which tells us more about the model and year.

Engines, however, stayed with consecutive numbering. In the early years there was a good chance that the engine number matched the chassis number. From 1952 to 1956, Kombi chassis numbers began with 20-nnnnnn (to signify a Type 2) with the nnnnnn being the consecutive number sequence as before. This was dropped for 1957 and they continued with just the consecutive numbers until the 21Y nnnnnn sequence began for 1965.

That engine has a 20- prefix, which matches the Type 2 chassis prefix from 1952-56. However the 0932660 doesn't match the chassis number sequence for 1952-56, which only went from 035112 to 160716 in those years. If we ignore the 20-, then that number matches the chassis number for a Kombi built in 1962 - but we know that 1962 Kombis didn't have 36-hp engines. In short - dunno when that motor was made.

Its therefore pretty much impossible to tell, specifically, when it was made purely from the engine number, especially to the nearest month, week or day! Even the year is difficult in this instance. Really the chassis number is the only guide. You also have to remember that Australian VWs, including Kombis, were built from CKD kits shipped from Germany. There would have been no corrrelation between chassis numbers and engine numbers for our cars as the different boxes for different sections would have arrived, and been used, at different times. Generally, 12 CKD crates held parts for 8 cars.