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I acquired a sand rail with what I believe is a type 4 engine. But, when I went to look up the engine code, there is none. Is there anywhere else on the engine I can look. Here is some pics for visuals. Thank you in advance.

Looking from the back and forward, on the left side near the upper mounting bolt to the tranaxle the number may be there. It would be on a angle.
From where your oil filler and dipstick are being on top of the engine, it may be from a Porsche 914.

Thank you. I took it to the car wash and hosed it off the best I could. I wire brushed the area you mentioned and didn't see any sort of number. But I did find something that might resemble a crack! I did find a casting number on the fan shroud, but I don't have my hopes up on identification of the engine itself.

That fan shroud number does come up as a Porsche 914 number, but I'm still not convinced. I would like to know the displacement and HP rating of the engine. In the meantime, I need to locate a starter and electronic dist. assy. so I can do a compression test and work up from there.

That crack can be a common one on off-road cars catching air.
Not a huge deal to have welded back up..

All type 4 cases are pretty much the same.
That one is a 914 case based upon the dipstick location.

No matter what the numbers might say, you'll never know what's in there until you open it up.
With the case being painted, it's pretty much a sure bet someone's been in there by now.
They were never painted from the factory.

Clatter wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 6:16 pm That crack can be a common one on off-road cars catching air.
Not a huge deal to have welded back up..

All type 4 cases are pretty much the same.
That one is a 914 case based upon the dipstick location.

No matter what the numbers might say, you'll never know what's in there until you open it up.
With the case being painted, it's pretty much a sure bet someone's been in there by now.
They were never painted from the factory.

Thank you. I do plan on pulling the engine eventually and cleaning it up ( tig welding that crack, walnut blasting the paint off the block, powder coating the tins, shaving the fan shroud and maybe a polish?). From what I have found on the net they type 4 and 914 motors are pretty synonymous. I have dabbled in type 1's before, but this is new waters to me. I figure after I get it cranking, needs a starter, I"ll do a compression test. That will tell me If I need to pull the heads or not. I am finding that a lot of type 1 1 parts will still work on this engine, I.E. intake boots, distributor, starter, etc. Might save me some $$ there? I appreciate the replies. If you guys have any suggestions, I'm all ears.

That is where the number should be on the case if it not by the oil breather tower. It almost looks like that area is not smooth. I wonder if someone has ground off the numbers?

jsturtlebuggy wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 8:28 pm That is where the number should be on the case if it not by the oil breather tower. It almost looks like that area is not smooth. I wonder if someone has ground off the numbers?

That might have been me being overly aggressive with the wire brush. If I did erase the numbers, they weren’t very deep.

YOU CAN BRING THOSE NUMBERS OUT SO THAT YOU CAN READ THEM....

DON

Impossible to tell, the chassis is obviously not a type-4, your pictures contain parts of type-4s from such a vague distance they appear to be once sourced from actual legit type-4s but you appear to be hindering efforts to identify by being vague on dip stick and oil fillers photos and markings.

sideshow wrote: ↑Sun May 03, 2020 5:11 pm Impossible to tell, the chassis is obviously not a type-4, your pictures contain parts of type-4s from such a vague distance they appear to be once sourced from actual legit type-4s but you appear to be hindering efforts to identify by being vague on dip stick and oil fillers photos and markings.

It's not my intentions to be vague. I just have seen how easily noobs like myself can get flamed on these posts. So I tread cautiously. I have found out the the intake manifolds are four bolt which are indicative of a type four cyl. head. The dip stick tube location is right next to the oil fill (which is held on by a wire bail). The spark plugs are angled inwards, if it is relevant, the oil filter is drivers side rear corner, and there is no oil temp probe. I will not know the cc until I pull a head and measure bore and stroke so I'll deal with that later. Until then, I'll go under the assumption that this is a type four 1700 or 1800, Not that it matters that much, as the short blocks are very identical, except for rod journal size and rod length?. Thanks again for any input or advice on this topic. If there is any other pics that will help I can post them, just let me know what/where, and I'll try not to get them to close.

dstar5000 wrote: ↑Sun May 03, 2020 4:33 pm YOU CAN BRING THOSE NUMBERS OUT SO THAT YOU CAN READ THEM....

DON

As in not so darn close? The only numbers I am seeing are casting numbers, not stamped SN#.

It looks like your case number has probably been ground off for some reason, so you can't tell what it originally was, though that has no relation to what it actually is now. The only sure-fire way of knowing is pulling a head and measuring stroke and bore. 1700 was 66x90 1800 was 66x94 and 2.0 was 71? x 94

The type of piston could possibly give some clue if it came out of a 914, bus, or VW type 4 (all the same T4 engine built to different specs) Domed piston would be 914 or Type 4 I think, while dished piston is likely from a bus to lower compression. In a rail I'd think you'd want higher compression flat tops or domes since you don't have a giant brick to push around.

you can work out the engine size without removing the heads but it's a little messy .
If you pull the spark plugs out and turn the motor over by hand ,with a finger over #1 spark plug hole . When you get compression , wind the motor on to TDC . get a measuring jug ,500cc to 1 litre full of engine oil and a small funnel .
With the engine on TDC measure how many CC's it takes too fill the combustion chamber . Then wind the engine clockwise 180 degree to BDC Fill the cylinder with oil and measure how much is needed .
Then subtract the combustion chamber cc's from the cylinder CC's and multiple by 4 to get the engine size. If you divide the cylinder CC reading by the combustion chamber CC's will also give you the compression ratio .
If you can get a bit of hose that is a tight fit in the plug hole , wind engine over slowly to get the oil out of the cylinder . once most of it is out , spin the engine over on the starter with the plugs out. Good time to do a compression test if you have a gauge .