No Serial Number on Motor?

[gregwils]

I bought a 160 motor about 6-8 weeks ago. The head and cylinder were off and the motor still needs a good cleaning. I just noticed today that there is no serial number on the case. It doesn't appear that the it was ground or sanded off because you can see the original casting marks in that area. Anyone have any thought as to what I have? Thanks.

[Rick]

Probably a replacement crankcase- the factory sent out replacement cases with no numbers so the shop or owner could stamp the numbers from the damaged cases into the new ones- they would sell individual crankcase halves also, you could look for the numbers on the bottom of the case halves to see if they are a 'matched' pair, or if just one case half was replaced.
Rick

[gregwils]

Thanks, makes sense. I guess the possibility of the one-off, secret experimental race engine worth several million dollars is not high. Sounds like Moe, Larry or Curly simply forgot to stamp the thing when a crappy 60's Italian casting failed. I will look elsewhere for the serial #. Like I said, makes sense. Thanks again.