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Help decoding an engine number please...

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:01 am
by Andiken
Morning all

Can anyone help decoding an engine number please? What do the various elements mean?

LP 11063 LBA

Many thanks

Andy

Re: Help decoding an engine number please...

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 10:35 am
by trw99
Engine Number ? To begin with all engines were preceded with the suffix LP, which appears to have stood for Lotus Power. This was then followed by the sequential number, starting from 1, for each engine. The number was allocated as the engine was completed at Lotus; it had no connection numerically with any car until it was recorded as having been fitted to a particular vehicle. In March 1968 the factory began to use a new system to delineate engine types. This coincided with the start of in-house engine production at the new factory at Hethel.

The suffix letters indicate the engine block cylinder bore thickness casting grade, ie how much the engine can be safely over-bored. LBA was a common thickness, LA blocks being a good basis for bigger bore engines. As Rohan will tell you, this is generally true but depends on how well the bore is centred in the casting.

That engine was fitted to an early Elan +2, invoiced by the factory in spring of 1968

Tim

Re: Help decoding an engine number please...

PostPosted: Mon Feb 05, 2018 10:39 am
by Andiken
Thanks Tim

Very useful. Sort of fitting then that it'll likely be going into my plus 2.

Andy

Re: Help decoding an engine number please...

PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2019 6:16 pm
by FL-Frank
Engine number LP5495LBA

Where can I find information on what type of car this engine was originally installed in, and approximately when it was produced?

Based on my research, the MK2 block started production with # LP7800 in the autumn of 1966, so, LP5495 is a MK1 block, correct?

Thanks!