MB serial numbers start with "MB- ". The serial number is stamped on a
raised oval pad behind the oil filter on the right side of the block. The casting
number you want is 638632. Depending on what your serial number is,
you can guesstimate what range your engine number should be. As production
continued through the years, the engine number and serial number started to
skew away from each other. That is the nice thing about the MB is that the
engine number and serial number hardly ever matched. So you can get an
engine pretty close to the skew rate and be correct. I believe (and John
Edwards can correct me if I am wrong), the '44 engine/serial numbers
differed by 70-100K. The casting date is the first set of numbers (usually
MM-DD) in front of the casting number. This number can vary in reference
to the DOD date up to 4-5 months. (Some examples even greater.) The
assembly date is stamped on the bottom of the engine block in the rear
on the right side of the engine on the oil pan sealing surface. (Most I have
seen are within a month or 2 of the DOD date.) I'm starting a database
of these numbers to help people figure out what engine they need to look
for. I took a bunch of pictures of various engines to help people locate
these numbers. I hope to solicit a survey on a web site to rather some
data. As soon as it is ready, I'll let you know.
The area between the cylinder head and the water pump is small in the
MB and early CJ-2A blocks. The wider area appeared sometime early
in 1946. The "CJ2A-XXXXX" stamp disappeared sometime in mid-1946
and replaced by "JXXXXXX". This is probably because of the introduction
of the Jeep Station Wagon. Since they probably just pulled engines
out of the room, they made the stamp a generic "J" rather than "CJ2A"
so they didn't need to have 2 stacks of engines.
If people are looking at engine numbers, if you have a MB-463XXX (or a
engine number close with a casting date of 8-19) or a MB-499XXX,
please let me know.
Todd Paisley
paisley@erols.com
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'41 Willys MB "slat-grille"
'42 Ford GPW "script" (very rough)
'44 CJ2 Agri-Jeep (#12 of 12 prototypes built for testing
whether Jeeps had a civilian use!) (restoration
in progress.)
'45 CJ2A (68th CJ ever built!) (Just a pile of parts...)
'46 CJ2A (early column shift)
'46 CJ2A (late)
'47 CJ2A (Farm Jeep with 3-point Monroe hydraulic implement lift)
'48 CJ2A (trencher)
'48 CJ2A (one of the 9000 with a left side spare tire mount before
Willys-Overland decided to move it back to the right side.)
'64 CJ5A (Tuxedo Park Mark IV) (column shift with front bench seat option)
'64 Wagoneer (with IFS option) (39,000 original miles)
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