Engine number identification?

I image that highest number = youngest motor (but not necessarily lowest mileage of course!)

That said, I imagine that your Ferrari Network would most likely be able to date any engine by number if you ask.

The one thing you can be sure of is that any doner engines almost certainly came from a badly crashed vehicle and so you can be pretty confident that they were working perfectly up to that point!

Good luck with your purchase, hope it works out for you.

 

TIA, personally, I'd look for the engine that looks the cleanest. You want to make sure you're getting an engine from a crashed car, not one that has been in a flood or fire or other non-crash terminal event for the car it was sitting in. An engine that has been exposed to floor or fire is not one that you want. Recyclers will sell major drivetrain components (such as engine/gbox) from flood and fire cars after very cursory inspections, just hoping that the sold parts don't implode right away.

And generally, the cleaner engines are lower mileage (less miles and time to spring oil leaks and such).

 

Mark- Cliff is correct. What you want is the lowest mileage 456 engine in the best shape, not the latest engine. The latest engine, by the way, will have the highest engine number, as Cliff stated.

Be careful not to get a 456M engine if you have a 456. Firing order was different, 1-12-5-8-3-10-6-7-2-11-4-9 for the 456 and 1-7-5-11-3-9-6-12-2-8-4-10 for the 456M. Different ECUs. There were also two different versions of the 456 engine with Motronic 2.7 (94-96) and Motronic 5.2 (96-99) Ignition-Injection ECUs, so you need to ensure your harnesses and ECUs are compatible with whichever engine you choose.

Get a pro to help you that knows what you can mix and match. Most of us laymen are just blowing in the wind.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

If you have any access to these engines, buy the one with the best leakdown numbers; and ignore the casting/date/mileage....