Maserati 3500 GTi , summary number vs engine number

May I suggest you email Sig. Fabio Collina at Maserati - maserati.classiche@maserati com .

He can provide you with an accurate answer to your question.

I recommend that you include photos of the relevant numbers and the "green identification plate".

 

To respond to your question in a more direct manner, the early 3500 cars such at the GT Coupe, Sebring, and some Mistrals were built by various body builders. These car were made at various locations with chassis number assigned to the frame which is stamped on a plate near the steering box. The completed cars minus mechanicals were returned to the Maserati factory for engines, running gear, etc. When Maserati built the engines at the factory they were unassigned to a particular car and would be assigned a internal engine number that is stamped on front left side of the block near the chain tensioner and on the bottom of the oil pan. This internal number is also stamp on the underside of the head, and other internal engine parts and was used to match machined parts together during the engine assembly.
Some cars but not all of them recieved the chassis number stamp on a flat machined area at the right rear of the block just under the throttle linkage and next to the bell housing. Many cars especially Sebrings for some reason, did not have the chassis number stamped on the engine. Later cars such as Mexico, Ghibli, Indy were all uniform in stamping the engine with chassis numbers. The green chassis plate was made last and screwed to the bulkhead before it left for the dealer destination.

You can request the build from the archives at the factory and it shows all of the numbers associated with the car. So if you don't have a chassis number on your engine you can cross reference the engine number to the build sheet.

Chris

 

The 4 digit number stamped on the front driver side isn't the engine number but the block number. The same number is found on the main caps.
The engine number is stamped on the back of the block above the starter. The engine number should match the VIN. The VIN can be found on the VIN plate in the engine bay or on the welded plate above the control tower.If you forward pics I'll be able to tell you if the numbers are correct.

 

You are actually incorrect on this as the factory build sheet refers to this 4 digit number as "Numero Motore" as is stamped on every part of the motor including the head, pan, caps, anything that was machine from casting. The VIN is stamped on the rear of the motor, sometimes but not always, when it was put in a car.

 

Lussoman is correct.

This 4 digit "internal number" was not stamped on the green data plate. I have never understood why the factory chose to (most times) stamp the VIN on the engine block instead of stamping the internal engine number on the data plate.

Ivan

 

Thank you Ivan,

Chris Rose

 

The 4 digit number is the block number also known as the "internal engine number". Some blocks had as little as 2 digits and as many as 5. This number is not stamped on every part of the motor. It is specific to the bottom end of the engine and can be found on the front part of the block,caps and pan as you stated. The cylinder head or top end of the engine use a 2 to 3 digit number and that number is different from the bottom end or the block number. You're right that many early engines do not have a number stamped in the back of the block but for the one that do,that number should match the VIN stamped on the VIN plate.This is referred as an "engine matching number car". The factory does have records of the internal engine numbers associated with each VIN.

 

This is very strange, ie the chassis number being the same as the internal number and something I have not seen before.
The font on the block looks a little odd, ie not normal.
Ciao,
FGM

 

I agree with FGM.

In addition, since the engines were built separately, before the chassis was assigned a number from Maserati, (Touring did assign their number prior to delivery to Maserati), one may conclude the engine has been re-stamped.

Let's drop the oil pan and look at one of the connecting rods to find out!