Suspicious WLA/C VINs

[Lib45]

Never knew they made 99000 WLA's...motor made in feb '42

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-1942-Left-W ... 9c&vxp=mtr

They did their best to make it convincing though: number seems legit..

[OLDABEWLA]

You can tell the serial number pad has been welded up. The bubbles in the aluminum pad area are the died give away! These engine casting have tons of impurities imbedded in them from the casting process ( dirt, gases,carbon and etc) and when you try to weld on them these impurities escape out of the casting and cause the air bubbles.
When I used to work for a machine shop I did Aluminum casting machining from time to time and when I did a cut on them you could smell the trapped gases escape.
I know a guy that repaired a Panhead engine case they had to sent it out for cryogenics this process stopped the case from cracking more because every time they tryed to weld the case the crack it would go some more so after the cryogenics this solved the problem. The cryogenics process I've been told is used on race engines parts or complete engine torn down and done. I guess it makes them almost bullet proof.

Craig








engine casting

[Lib45]

Here's another:

VIN (looks like self stamped) 42WLA68999 which is a ligit (type VII) number, but the tag on the casing says 'L7' which means it was casted december '47...mmmmm

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harley-45-ci-Fl ... f6&vxp=mtr

[Lib45]

And again another:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-1942-WLA-En ... 16&vxp=mtr

Engine casted in november '40 (K0), matching 41-numbers, but with a '42WLA'-number??
Shouldn't it be a 41WLA ?
Vin is self stamped..

[Lib45]

Found another one on the Fleabay :click

Come on guys...a '42WLS'..??

[17thAirborne]

Good find Lib45 and thanks for posting.

oz

[Lib45]

All I hope is that (future) owners do their homework first before diving into the WLA-experience..
Any DVLA with some knowledge will never pass such an engine nor provide it with paperwork.

[Lib45]

And yes: I've found another one...

Motor cast in october 1961, matching '63 numbers but a rewelded boss with a '42wla number..?

[Lib45]

Bingo!
Here's another on the Flea..
Admits it has '47-' matching bellynrs, tag says 'I-7' (sept 47), but it has the 42WLA36545-VIN..??? (= type III, 1943)
Yeah..right..

[Lib45]

Y'ello..!
I didn't know they built 60000 '52 WLA's..hahaha.
You can even see the original 'A' in it's VIN..OMG
The casenumbers are 42-26929 , tag says 'E-2' which makes it a ligit late type III (probably early 1943) 42WLA27thou motor...
Why stamp it with a '52WLA...'-VIN?? Dumb*ss!!

[Lib45]

And what about this one mmm?
Bellynumbers identify this motor as a late type VII, but could have been a blank replacement of course.
Enginetag 'D5' means motor cast in april '45, but the VIN is for a 1942 type III?

[Lib45]

Surfing on the web looking for WLA's for sale, I stumbled upon this dutch wellknown seller...
The firm has several WLA's for sale; a nice type VI (rare!) resto-project but also this 'restored' one...
VIN says 42WLA87227 (haha), engine is selfstamped with just a serial (type VII) no...
It has a dutch license, but it's a bitsa and those in the know will probably walk away...
Shame..

[Lib45]

OK, officially not a WLA or WLC case, but still the same item..
You know it's been altered from the airbubbles in the boss created by welding it up...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harley-1947-W-R ... f9&vxp=mtr

[Lib45]

Even this Servi motor looks suspicious to me: look at the VIN-boss....it seems there are some file-marks....

[Lib45]

Oh my...!
What about this one then?.....