Ford Capris - Bits & Pieces: January 2020

On & off for weeks I have been trying to find the engine number on my white Capri XL which has the 1600 GT engine. So, just to be clear, the car is a 4 cylinder with a Ford Kent crossflow engine with the 711 block. I have owned the car for 20 years, have had the engine out several times and never really bothered about checking the engine number. I was always under the impression that it was the original engine but, unless I found the engine number, could not verify this.
I was convinced, after reading Dr Google, that the number was on a flat spot on top of the engine block between number 1 & 2 exhaust outlets. When I initially could not find it here, I removed the extractors & gasket so I could get a better look but still, no numbers. I even researched metal etching and made up a special mix that would reveal worn or ground away numbers. Again, no numbers. Here are some pics of where I originally looked.

The engine block has 2 or 3 other flat spots around it so I started cleaning them off with sand paper and one, right at the rear of the engine revealed the number 44. Some research stated that this was an engine code but not an engine number. Not what I was really after!

Some more looking on Dr Google said it was between the water pump & the thermostat but I still could not find it. It was getting to the stage that I was convinced the motor had been replaced at some stage in the 30 years prior to my ownership and I may have to do something that I didn't want to do and that was to stamp the numbers again.

At a recent car show I asked the owner of a Cortina GT with a similar engine where he thought the engine number was. He was quite experienced with these engines and showed me where his was, on the other side of the engine, just above the oil pump. I was a little confused as the numbers he showed me were cast into the block, as most engines have to distinguish the type of engine eg, 711M. Anyway, I had not looked very hard in that spot as my car has so many hoses, plus the distributor and wires, that it is a very difficult place to work in. So, on returning home, with my brightest torch, I started looking again. My engine had no such numbers as he had shown me on his Cortina! OK, foiled again!

So again I started looking very carefully around the back of the block & then around the front near the water pump and I thought I could see the letter A, which is the last letter of my number. It was at the front of the engine block, in a relatively difficult place to see, but a start. I then got a screw driver & started to scrape away the paint & guess what? Some numbers started to appear & they were checking out what I though they should be. After more cleaning with sand paper & a wire brush, all the letters & numbers started to be revealed, indicating what I had hoped for - that they matched the compliance plate. A smart phone camera is a great help in these tight spots as the flash can really highlight the small numbers that you are looking for.

Some of you who are experienced with this engine will have known this all along, but nowhere in my research did it say to look in this spot - centre front, top of engine block.
Finding this number confirmed my belief that I had an original car with matching numbers as you can see in the photos all the numbers are the same, including the body number found on the driver's side suspension turret.

Once again this year, the Bayside Vehicle Restorers Club staged an Australia Day Rally. This has become quite a popular way of celebrating this special day as 560+ vehicles turned up and were spread across the two ovals at Ormiston State School. I am sometimes reluctant to attend because of the heat but this year with some cloud cover and bayside breezes it was pretty comfortable, even with the Capri's air conditioning not fully functioning! It is always a well organised event and this year was no exception. Breakfast is free for a $5 raffle ticket (17 prizes) with proceeds going to Sailability, a local charity. If you are inclined, there are 4 mapped runs around the Bayside that you can join, all ending at the Redlands Sporting Club for lunch. A number of car clubs make this their first event for the year.
There are many & varied cars on display but a couple of Fords were interesting. Firstly, there was another Capri that I had not seen before parked with the All British Ford Club. It was a cream/beige colour with a black vinyl top (facelift model?). I was trying to find the owner as I think it may be the person who has recently joined our club. The other car was a Corsair sedan with a V4GT engine. Again, I wanted to have a good look but the owner was not about.