No engine number on Discovery 1 V8

Wonder if anyone has had this problem. We bought an N reg Discovery1 to have the V8 engine as a spare for our Defender, which someone has already put a V8 in, with gearbox etc.

When hubby was cleaning it to find the engine number, he couldn't find one. But there is a Landrover Plate on it with different numbers on it. He has cleaned the place where the proper engine number should be, by the dipstick, and it is smooth, not ground down, and the engine has been painted, with what looks like a hammerite'ish pale green grey paint. It looks like a professional job, not a brush job. When we phoned Rimmer Bros about a new camshaft, they said that the number we have is for a replacement engine sometime in the Discovery's life, that would have come direct from Landrover themselves. I emailed Landrover and they gave me a generic answer about ordering parts from our local Landrover dealership. Not helpful at all. My question is, does it matter we don't have an engine number, and why wouldn't it have an engine number.

Any answers would be helpful.

Pictures of the area you are looking and the engine top and front would help.
Others maybe able to identify it for you.

J

Will see what we can do over the next few days. Thanks

Curly Oak said:

and why wouldn't it have an engine number

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Don’t ask

Curly Oak said:

My question is, does it matter we don't have an engine number

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To us it would matter with no number, Uk not so
Would be nice to dot the i and cross the t though.

J

If the v8 block has been skimmed then it can lose the number, though it should be re-stamped in that case

early rover v8 engine number were stamped on bellhousing flange

mystery said:

early rover v8 engine number were stamped on bellhousing

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Is that in addition to the block itself, surely?

kermit_rr said:

Is that in addition to the block itself, surely?

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It's not actually on the bellhousing it's where the bellhousing bolts too on the block iirc...

Thanks for all the replies, we were having to re-furb the newer engine as the engine in our landie tried to die on us. After new plugs, checking for milky oil, it turned out to be the coil. Had a spare from the donor Discovery, so voila, landie back up and running. So, engine rebuild not so urgent now, but we will take some pics of current landie and newer engine for people to comment on. Happy New Year to all, may all your landies be healthy. Our post lady thinks we are building a new landie by post with the amount of stuff that she keeps delivering.

Hi Guys and Gals,

Here's a pic of our current landie.

Will now have a go at pics of invisible engine number and Landrover plate on block