I'm afraid this will only work for a 20xe, not a c20xe -but here's the proof (credit to chriscook who originally posted that you can get a letter from haynes technical services some time ago) - and best of all it was free!


engine age letter

[Edited on 30/1/06 by ned]

Are you planning to use that as proof of engine age for SVA? I don't think that will convince them if you are.

Why would it not convince them Andy? I'm geniunely interested to know why you think that.

cheers,

Ned.

I could prove what year my block was cast as it's cast on the side and that wasn't enough.

I could prove what year the donor was registered and the engine number and that wasn't enough.

The reason I don't think it will convince them is that although your letter correctly tells them when that engine was fitted to those cars you it doesn't prove the age of your engine. I.E. your engine may have been made after those cars went out of production as a replacement unit etc.

I think you will need official paperwork saying that engine number XX was manufactured on YY.

The Burtons catalogue has a table listing for engine numbers and their manufacture dates. This was good enough.

To be sure I'd ring the SVA centre of your choice and ask them if the letter you have is enough. Make sure they know it doesn't quote your engine number.

[Edited on 30/1/06 by andyharding]

[Edited on 30/1/06 by andyharding]

hm I see what you're saying but think thats bloody tight of em! I'll give em a bell at some point.

Ned.

ned if you do contact vosa or your local sva centre can you post your findings ta. mja

will do

The letter i got from Ford didnt say when the engine was made but did say what year and month it was fitted into a vehicle. Similar to Haynes letter but pinned down a lot closer.

I've been through all sorts of avenues to age my XE. I spoke to Martin Bell at the Kit Car Workshop as i knew they had sva'd an XE fury. They got there letter of Haynes but i think it said something like:

"The 20XE engine was produced between 198? and 199?."

Ned you letter just says when it was fitted to Astra's in certain years. It could have still been fitted to cavaliers for a lot longer as the letter isn't clear.

Now my engine is a C20XE which was produced for some years after the crucial 1995 date. So i bit the bullet and paid up to vauxhall for the letter - which coincidently i got on saturday albeit with the wrong engine number written on it! - Correct one is now in the post. Turns out my engine came of a 1990 Astra GTE convertible.

Chris

I totally refuse to pay this oik at vauxhall who is asking cheques to be made out to him personally (what I read on another thread) for varying amounts depending what day of the week it is!

£50-70 is what I've heard he asks for a letter - thats one hell of an hourly rate.

Ned.

I got him on a bad day but sent the cheque payable to Vauxhall...

Seemed cheaper and less hassle than a different engine and less dodgy than changing the engine number. But it did take a lot of phoning around vosa/dvla/sva centre/haynes/vauxhall to exhaust every option.

you'l probably be ok if you phone Trevor Eastman at haynes and ask if he can word it differently. I spoke to him a couple of times and he tried his hardest for me but couldn't help in the end, so i expect he will if he can. With a 20XE i think you'll be ok though.

Chris

Ned

I tried the Haynes route, and rang Southampton SVA, said they wanted a letter with engine no on it so they can cross ref.

Haynes weren't prepared to do that.

They spent ages trying to work out my engine no. as the 8 looked like a 6, rang DVLA to check as well!!!

I paid £50 for my letter from GM!!

You not finished yet then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ned,

As you know what I did was emailed loads of Honda dealers asking them what year my specific engine number was.

A few emailed me back stating that my engine number XXXXXXXXXXXXX was manufactured in 1994.

I then emailed two back asking if they would confirm this on headed paper, one confirmed and sent me it on fax on Honda headed paper and one sent a word doc with the Honda headed paper.

I took both to Mitcham with me at SVA and they were fine for them, not queried at all.

I know it was Honda but no reason why it won't work for Vauxhall, best bit is it didn't cost me a penny!!

HTH,
Rich.

Think i'd be looking for somebody thats already got Official confirmation of their engine number and age and then mysteriousley finding my printer spitting out a copy relevent to my engine

Am sure theres somebody on here that might be of assistance, if there that hard to obtain Mr SVA isin't likely to have seen many of them.

I have a c20 xe engine, i just changed the engine number on the log book and said the engine came from the 1980 donar vehicle and heres the log book for proof

Ned

I got that letter you need, could be worth a try!

I'm with Shortie on this one. I went to my nearest Kawasaki dealer and asked the guy on the spares desk if he could identify my engine. He typed the number into the computer and it came up, engine no, frame no, date of manufacture and what colour my donor was. He just did the print screen thing and printed it out. Newcastle SVA were fine with that as proof, got the engine no, the date and a manufacturers logo.

I'd be calling in at a couple of Vauxhall dealers and asking the parts depts for help.

HTH

Mike

The year of manufactuer on 20XE and C20XE (and derivatives, ie. C20LET) can be found on the cam caps.

Seeing as the caps are manufactured with the head (OK, not block) at the time of birth I can't see why that doesn't suffice for engine year.

They are also not interchangeable between different heads.

Failing that, there is a guy (Bigborts) on Migweb who works at Vauxhall Luton who may be worth PM'ing. (There is a long thread about XE/LET engine numbers at http://www.migweb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=31194 )

[Edited on 30/1/06 by the_fbi]

quote:

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Originally posted by billy
I have a c20 xe engine, i just changed the engine number on the log book and said the engine came from the 1980 donar vehicle and heres the log book for proof

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Guys

Vauxhall are notoriously difficult on this issue. Have a look at WSCC.

No dealer is prepared to help at all, and SVA won't accept anything less than either a log book or letter from the manufacturer with the actual block number detailed.