"U" prefixed Grey Engines .

[Dave Lakin (Davo Lako)]

The engine number of my FJ ute is U 291929 ...

I have read that the "U" prefix motors commenced with engine number U 283384 and were fitted to "run-on" FJ utes and panel vans which continued in production until February and May 1957 respectively ...

The first FE was produced in July 1956 with engine number L 283373 ...

Therefore a number of the last produced FJ utes (mine included) are "newer" than the earliest FE's ...

Can someone advise how many "U" engines were built and if they were only fitted to FJ utes and vans (as produced) ...

I presume that the "U" prefixed engines were numbered in sequence from U 283384 and these numbers were not duplicated on the "L" prefixed engines ...

And still on the topic of engines ... I presume that spare or surplus grey motors were built .. ie. not fitted to a vehicle ... if so , how many were produced ?

Cheers , Davo .

[RET]

I'm not sure how many "U" prefixed engines were built, but they ran well into 1957, as you suggested.

Engines have a single sequence of numbers, because they were only manufactured at the Melbourne plant, unlike chassis and ID numbers, which have a sequence per manufacturing and/or assembly plant. Certainly there would not be two engines with different prefixes and the same number.

It's not clear to me, but I would imagine that someone like Don Loffler or Barry Black would know the logistics of how the engines came to be stamped. The were crated in boxes - perhaps some boxes had U blocks and some had L blocks? Maybe the L or U was stamped separately at fitting time?

Is there any visible difference between your U block and a bog-standard L block fitted to an FE?

Engines were sold via NASCO in both short and long versions, and advertised heavily internally to dealers in "Accelerator" magazine. I think the actual number produced is probably long lost, though.

None of that is much help, I know...

cheers
RET

[zulu]

G'day Davo

This may be of help although does not answer your questions

FJ 2104 & 2106 U PREFIX GREY MOTORS  FROM 07/1956 TO 02/1957

So 7 months of ute and panelvan production

FJ INCEPTION AT ENGINE NO 121694

I understood that Industrial grey motors for fork lifts and the like were stamped with the prefix i although I have only seen 1 or 2, most I suppose were replaced with whatever prefix engine was available

I am sure someone will have the answers

Gary

[Dave Lakin (Davo Lako)]

Thanks RET and Gary ...

Firstly the engine in the FE (currently out of the FE) is L 6220030 ... and it appears identical to the "U" ...

One of the guys over at the FX-FJ forum tells me that the only difference between the "L" and the "U" engines is the ancilliaries , belt and pulleys (for 6 or 12 volt system) as they travelled the same assembly lines ...

He also said that although he didn't know how many "U" engines were manufactured , the highest engine number was around 303,000 ...

Cheers , Davo .

[Dave Lakin (Davo Lako)]

Just remembered this ... mate of mine worked at Pioneer concrete in the 70's and the concrete mixer trucks were fitted with Grey motors to turn the concrete mixing tubs and geared for different mixing speeds ...perhaps "I" prefixes

[Dr_Terry]

Hi Guys.

The last FJ engine prior to FE sedan production was 283372.

The total build of FX + FJ = 290,371.

Simple arithmetic has the total build of U prefix engines as 290,371 minus 283,372 = 6,999.

This figure has to to be corrected for any industrial engines sold pre-FE. I don't believe that any Nasco long or short replacement engines sold in those days were stamped with an engine number at all.

So if we had an educated guess that around 1,000 engines were sold for industrial use (concrete agitators etc.) that leaves 6,000 FJ utes & vans produced post FE sedan intro.

I think the only real differences between L & U prefixed engines would be the pulleys & front engine mine bracket. What about the sideplate. Do all FX/FJs have the ignition coil mounted on the firewall & all FE/FC have them mounted on the sideplate bracket ?? If so, that's another difference.

Dr Terry