Having trouble reading VIN Assembly Number after I had this engine balanced and blueprinted 30 years ago. Still able to read "T 1025 IR" prior to VIN Assembly.
Help with suggestions as to how to bring those numbers out so that they may be read please and thanks!
99% sure this engine belongs in this car. Purchased in 1975. All other numbers are matching. Would like this number to "seal the deal".
Block was milled in 1978 when I had engine brought to specs.

 

Is it a 68 BB?

 

Talk to your police or forensic friends. It is my understanding there are techniques to raise stampings which otherwise appear obliterated. I do not know whether the process involves acid. Personally, I would be very wary of the use of acid on the only VIN derivitive you're ever going to have.

 

Your Engine falls into a category that is common today. There are Two sides of the Fence and You are on top of it. One side sez Restore it, remove the Engine have it Decked and have the correct Broach Marks put in and re stamp in. You will then have a restored numbers matching car.
The other side sez that You will be destroying the Block by doing this, and that You are Cheating the system and creating a numbers matching car. For whatever reason it is thought that any and all parts on a Car can be restored but the Block Serial Number is sacred.
Because the second approach has been done successfully enough the term Numbers matching doesn't mean as much as it did 20 years ago. For an example lets use an L-88 Car. A race Team buys the Car and the first thing they do is Disassemble the Engine and Blueprint it. At this point the Serial Numbers are gone and no body cares. Today we find the same car that has been restored so would it be more correct with or with out the Serial Number ?
No there is not some sort of Acid that will lift the old numbers to the surface for everybody to see. I would look at the Block Casting and Date Codes. This should coincide with the build date of the Car. If its wrong then You have the wrong block no matter what the Serial sez. If its good and You have at least some of the correct numbers showing then maybe you have the best of both worlds right now.

 

I think the cops used a magnetic powder to see filed off serial numbers on guns. The same technique can probably be used. You'd have to take pictures of the powder once the numbers are visible since the powder (of course) isn't permanent.

 

Seal what deal?

Even if the numbers could be made temporarily visible, aside from satisfying your curiosity, it will not make the car any more credible.

 

Are you trying to sell the car? If not, why go through the trouble?

I can tell you that police forensics do use acid to raise numbers, but the first hand knowledge I have of this is on motorcycle engine cases. They are aluminum and being softer, the changes to the grain structure from the stamping tends to run deeper than it would on iron. If you can still read part of it, your not machined that deep. It may still show up with an acid or magnetic test. Unless you do it in front of the buyer, or got a good photo and some kind of letter of authenticity, I don't know that it would mean much.

 

There are indeed chemicals that may be applied to temporarily raise the VIN numbers on your pad.
I want to stress the word "TEMPORARILY" !!! I have done it on numerous occasions on both engine blocks and firearms. It is destructive however and the numbers do not all become legible at one time as it is dependent upon the force in which the numbers were struck or stamped in the first place. You literally need to videotape the process with a macro lens and go back and view it in order to record the sequence of numbers as they become visible. You are not gauranteed perfect results as it depends upon factors that I wont go into.
The process is slow, painstaking but in the end produces results for the tenacious.
I definitely would not recommend it for a typical car owner or hobbyist.

 

And flawed. There's nothing to stop someone from restamping a pad, re-decking it to remove the new numbers and then using miracle juice to raise the numbers to 'prove' that it's original.

The crooks are way ahead of the honest folks.

 

Nital etch is the solution used to help bring out stamped numbers. It is a solution of alcohol and (5%) nitric acid. It works by finding differences in the structure of the metal because of the localized forces applied by the metal stamping.

My experience with this is that the image is 'fixed', but not permanent. It can be cleaned off with light abrasive material (fine steel wool, etc).

Here is the Wiki info on it. Note that this mixture CAN become explosive, if the concentration of the acid is too high!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nital

 

Mike I assume you mean the "absolute" interpretation of the results may be flawed - both the chemistry and physics behave as they should and often the results are good. It is just not something any car enthusiast should try and do for many of the reasons cited above.

 

Thanks, all ..... appreciate the advice and info.
I am most satisfied with the casting date (11 Sep 67) and "T 1025 IR" matching up as well as numbers on tranny and diff I will leave well enough alone. Vin has car coming off line Nov 67.
The machinist in '78 was the one who told me I would have to recover those stamped numbers as he was the one who took them off when he decked the block.
Thanks again ..... Pat

 

Why not try the product used for revealing dates on dateless buffalo nickels?
I believe it's ferric oxide sold as a product called Nic-a-date

 

I think You have a home run.