1750 GTV engine number mystery

14312 Views 17 Replies 8 Participants Last post by brad fischer, Dec 8, 2021

ricardo73

Discussion Starter · Oct 13, 2007

Hello,

First of all, being relatively new to Alfas just want to say what a fantastic resource this bulletin board is. It's given me hours of entertainment, not to mention increasing my knowledge ten fold.

I have a query about my engine number which I originally posted in the "surviving RHD" thread, but thought I'd have another go.

The engine number of my 1750GTV series 2 (105.45) has the prefix "AR00544". I would have expected AR00548. Does anyone else have an AR00544 engine number ? I've done a lot of searching on the bulletin board but cannot find any reference to AR00544. The Alfa specialist I use here is Sydney is also mystified.

The engine is definitely a 1750, the cylinder head has the correct markings for a series 2 and all ancillaries (oil filter etc) are correct.

The car was originally sold in Singapore, so could it be the number is market specific ? Otherwise, maybe the guy doing the engine number stamping made a mistake !

Any thoughts ?

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1750GT

· #2 · Oct 14, 2007

My understanding is that the engine prefix is more or less similar to the car model number. My 105.51 US spec 1750GTV has engine prefix AR00551xxxxx, as such it would therefore seem to me that your engine AR00544xxxxx came from a 105.44 model 1750 GTV....which I believe is a Euro model (and the Canadian model as well from 1971 and 1972).

tiger0529

· #3 · Oct 14, 2007

Rossano is correct. Type 105.48 is actually the 1750 Berlina IIRC.

papajam

· #4 · Oct 14, 2007

Alfa has a history of fitting a particular engine type into different model types. Two such examples are the 1750cc AR00548 engine that was fitted to the 105.44 GTV, 105.48 Berlina and 105.57 Spider, all European models. The US version 1750 105.51 GTV, 105.62 Spider and 105.71 Berlina all got type AR00551 engines.

This AR00544 engine is a bit of a mystery. Given Alfa's engine type numbering system, one could conclude that this 00544 engine was fitted to the 10544 1750 GTV. However, there is extensive Alfa documentation showing that this model was fitted with the 00548 engine. I have not come across any documentation that Alfa ever produced a type 00544 engine but this by no means proves that Alfa did not produce this engine, only that I have no documentation for it. One might be inclined then to write to the Alfa Archives ( [email protected] ) and ask 1) was a type 00544 engine ever produced and if so, 2) to which model(s) was it fitted?

A personal thought/observation here; the location of the engine number and the letter 'F' in the sequencial serial number. Alfa started using a letter in the sequencial serial number on some then current production engines to designate a change to a standardized and/or an emcon (emission control) engine. This occured in the early 1970s. The engine number location was also changed from the rightside engine block to the leftside bellhousing flange in about 1970. So, one might conclude then that this 00544 engine was produced in the early 70s.
Having said that, and not having documentation, the possibility may exist that this was a transition engine for the early Alfetta 1.8 before the AR01608 engine was produced.

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1750GT

· #5 · Oct 14, 2007

PAPAJAM I bow to you!....your never ending fountain of knowledge on ALFAs is truly amazing!

ricardo73

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 15, 2007

Papajam,

Thanks for your detailed response. I've e-mailed Alfa as suggested so will see what they come back with.

I didn't realise the "F" in the engine number sequence was unusual. I recall seeing a thread (which I can no longer find) that listed an engine number fitted to an AR105.45 GTV which also contained an alpha character, so thought it was normal.

My car was manufactured in Nov 1970, and the engine number is on the left hand side bell housing flange. Assuming the engine is original, and as the car comes from Singapore maybe some deviation from standard was required for the tropics ?

On the other hand...maybe just another Alfa quirk !

Takis

· #7 · Oct 15, 2007

My quess is that someone has stamped the number 44 on the original number 48.
I can barely see the upper circle of number 8 on the right number 4.
Takis.

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Takis

· #8 · Oct 15, 2007

Ricardo73, do you have the original documents with the original engine number?
Takis.

1750GT

· #9 · Oct 16, 2007

Good observation TAKIS, and to look even closer the font style and positioning of the #44 don't match with the other numbers. Could ALFA themselves have done this in light of PAPAJAM's comment on emission engines coming on the scene at some point during the production run of the engines?

ricardo73

Discussion Starter · #10 · Oct 16, 2007

Takis, unfortunately I do not have any of the original documentation.

My first thoughts were that maybe it had been overstamped with a new number but I've had a really close look and can't see any evidence. Agree that the positioning is not totally straight.

I've just received an e-mail from Alfa stating the correct engine for my car is 00548 and that engine type 00544 does not exist.....despite the fact it's sitting in my garage !

@[email protected]_rehuni

· #11 · Feb 28, 2010

1750 gtv engine number mystery

Hello,

I live in switzerland and I face the same problem. I have contacted alfa romeo without any success: they don't know anything about the engine number AR00544 * 75748*.

Does anyone have some news about this topic? I have problems to homologate my car and would be helpfull to have informations.

Thank you to keep this site so interesting

papajam

· #12 · Feb 28, 2010

Welcome!

Unfortunately, no new information has come to light that I am aware of. It would be interesting though to compare digit placement and font type of your engine number to that of the engine pictured above. Would it be possible for to post a picture of your engine number? In addition, what is the chassis number of the vehicle into which your engine is fitted?

@[email protected]_rehuni

· #13 · Mar 1, 2010

Thank you very much for your answer.

The chassis number is AR1365 166

Here is a picture of the engine number in attachment (sorry for quality...).

Best regards

JK

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Lastforry

· #14 · Feb 18, 2019

Anyone knows about the E suffix on this 1750 engine?

AR00548*E1154*

Lastforry

· #15 · Feb 18, 2019

Pic attached E-suffix 1750engine

Pic provided, see previous post

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brad fischer

· #16 · Dec 8, 2021

I just discovered in my documents my engine # from the Alfa factory, build date July 4 1970, sale date July 7 1970. AR00544E0037 In a 1970 S2 1750 GTV Euro /CDN spec.

Reactions: 1

1750GT

· #17 · Dec 8, 2021

brad fischer said:
..I just discovered in my documents my engine # from the Alfa factory, build date July 4 1970, sale date July 7 1970. AR00544E0037 In a 1970 S2 1750 GTV Euro /CDN spec.

That is so cool! You were fortunate that the PO provided that to you. You've also confirmed what i only suspected...that engine ser# were included in the sales receipts/invoices...but the Factory & the Centrodocumentazione seem to not have kept a record of these ...at least for my 1969 GTV they did not provide me with that information.

Reactions: 1

brad fischer

· #18 · Dec 8, 2021

brad fischer said:
Notice the engine # is AR00548 E0037 in my photos. On the bill of sale it states the
engine # should be AR00544 E0037. I have seen on the ABB guys looking for the rare 544 engine #s!
I guess Alfa made a few typos in the documentation, bill of sale, block stampings, etc.. View attachment 1713305

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