Matching Engine/Chassis Numbers
 

Could a Pelican please advise me on the best resource for matching an engine number to the chassis number?

I've yet to find something comprehensive. Ideally it'd be nice to have some web based platform where one enters either the engine number or chassis number and sees all the pertinent data (options, date produced, matching counterpart - chassis or engine number, etc.).

A traditional search of "matching engine numbers" yields more "for sale" cars or questions on a specific car than how to read these ancient numbers.

Thanks in advance.

While not answering your question directly, if you are looking to find which engine # matches which specific vin#, the only way to do that is with a factory COA. The best you can get on the web are sites which give the ranges of engine#'s that fall within a range of vin's. Several on this forum know some links, and I expect they will respond soon.

That is never going to happen, legally at least. The factory keeps the data well secured, and if you want the info, then you are going to have to pay for it one car at a time.

http://www.elferhelfer.com/fzident.htm#

The numbers in the year ranges give you enough info to find out whether the numbers correspond to the correct year of manufacture. The range per year also allow you to figure if you have an early, middle or late date of manufacture (approx).
As stated, the only way to know which exact engine and trans were mated at the factory is to buy a COA.

So....is it possible that this car 9307800022 matches this engine? 6860411 Looks like the engine is number 411 built in 76 and the car is a 77 model but only number 22 of that year?
Does anyone know if it's possible for this engine to have been in this car?

refer to ossiblue's post above.

Per The Red Book, the engine was made in '76. The engine numbers ended at 541 in July of that year. With MY 1977 production starting in August of '76 and your car being #22, I could see your engine being a "left over" from the previous production run.

A COA will set you back $100 and the sad part is their is no guarantee that the info you want will be on it. The little known fact is that Porsche will/can only list what information they still have on file. I have seen a number of COAs that didn't even list the most basic item like the original price. Sure they list all options the car came with but don't tell you what it all added up to.

Quattro,
Chassis 9307800022 is really the 11th production US version 1977 930. The 1st 11 digits of the year are reserved for Porsche’s use.
You are correct that 6860411 is the 411th US/Canada1976 engine. It would be a type 930.51.
As you know, the correct '77 engine should be numbered 687xxxx. But, just as important, it would be a type 930.53 engine.
In some years the 930 engine types overlapped. However, for ’76 and ’77 USA/Canada production, those two types were specific to those years only. If you have a .51 it’s a ’76 and if you have a .53 it’s a ’77 which can be another help when matching years.

Before spending $100 I'd try calling PNA first. I highly doubt that engine belongs in that chassis. While I might agree that ’77 930 engines were pulled out of sequence (I've documented early 3.3L engines as such), it doesn’t work here, this engine type needs to be 930.53, the 686xxxx engine would not be.

I'm talking to the car owner tomorrow. So far it looks very good with timelines of events or both.
We'll see. Btw the engine is a 51.