mk1-forum.net

What do you reckon?

I've heard that parts sometimes hung around a bit before being fitted...

Tom

a three month gap is a real possiblity, it would depend on the batch qty and the rate at which the item was used (obviously!)

the drums on my 1964 car where made 02/02/64 and that car was registered on 01/04/1964



if you think that wiper motors would come in a big stillage and they would simply start at the top and work away until the stillage was empty, then get another one out of the main stores, i doubt they used any form of 'just in time' tracking like Nissan do!!!

i would guess that smaller dated items like switches would have been ordered in in the thousand, so the date spread will be huge.

maybe its a new spreadsheet for simon to start along with FE numbers..........

guru_1071 wrote:maybe its a new spreadsheet for simon to start along with FE numbers..........

Now that sounds like anorak heaven! I'd love that!

Just checked my wiper motor, stamped 2 / 63. My car was registered 18 June 1963. 4 months later and no reason to believe that its not original.

Gav

A couple of months between date stamp and date of registration seems quite small to me ?

I could even imagine that sort of gap on the build date.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know if switches were stamped with the month or week of manufacture ?

I have a car where the date stamp on the switches have the correct year, but if the stamp shows the month of manufacture means that they have been changed. As they are all the same date, I'd be surprised if they were.

Two or three months gap sounds about right, that's if it's original and has lasted fifty years ?

My car built 30 jan 64 has a 12/63 dated wiper switch although all other date marked items are 1/64 cheers tim

pdaykin wrote:...Out of curiosity, does anyone know if switches were stamped with the month or week of manufacture ?...

All the Lucas stuff was stamped with month and year - at first. Later they changed to week and year, but I don't know when the changeover happened, some time in the late seventies or early eighties I'd guess. For Mk1 Minis it should all be month.

Tim

Tim wrote:

pdaykin wrote:...Out of curiosity, does anyone know if switches were stamped with the month or week of manufacture ?...

All the Lucas stuff was stamped with month and year - at first. Later they changed to week and year, but I don't know when the changeover happened, some time in the late seventies or early eighties I'd guess. For Mk1 Minis it should all be month.

Tim

Hi pdaykin & Tim,

I dont know when exactly Lucas made the change from month / year, to week / year ?

but it was not late 70ies, more likely early 70ies, if not already in the 60ies ?

my 1973 September built car, has week & year on all its Lucas parts (from 34 - to 40 / 1973)

I have many other/older Lucas items, and they also have week & year.


Jens Christian

Hi Jens, I didn't realise it was that early. I've only ever bothered to check it on my older Minis. I have no idea what the stuff on my Moke is like. I'll have a look tonight.

Tim

I'm guessing the changeover affected the various components at different times - just to add greater uncertainty to an already confused brain

This has confused me as well, I had assumed that the wiper motor was stamped with the month and everything else the week as that is how it is on my 69 Cooper from memory. What I have noticed is that almost everything on my Cooper is dated within a couple of months of the date the car was registered, my 1990 Flame Red has dates from about as far back as 86 and most are around 89 even though the car was built in 90. Some things are stamped with the Leyland symbol and some are Rover, it's a real mixture and it is a sign of how things were by 1990 I suppose.

I know it's not a Mini, but my 71 MGB GT has week and year stamps on all the Lucas components. I would guess at the change over starting in the late 60s based on the parts I have.

Austin Cooper wrote:
This has confused me as well, I had assumed that the wiper motor was stamped with the month
and everything else the week as that is how it is on my 69 Cooper from memory.

Time for e new anorak question then = how do we know when the digits stamped in, are week instead of month ?

I havent seen a item with less than 4 numbers, so how is a item from the first 9 weeks of a year stamped ?

Does it say 04-67 forexampel ? and is the ones with month & year dated 3-67 ?

my oct 62 morris supers wiper motor and dizzy are stamped oct 62
my mar 62 morris deluxe is stamped nov 61 on wiper motor and dizzy
the oct 59 morris has a july 59 wiper motor and oct 59 dizzy,,so they dont half vary wildly

as said here,,they just get picked from a parts bin..

austin mustve ordered more than morris,,,maybe there are patterns forming?

I've a suspicion that the switches changed around 67/68 to being stamped with the week.

Wiper motors, horn push and dip swicth seem to be stamped with the month at that time.

The position of the date stamp on the switches also changed somewhere betwen 64 and 68. Maybe this coincided with the change from months to years ?

pdaykin wrote:I've a suspicion that the switches changed around 67/68 to being stamped with the week.

Wiper motors, horn push and dip swicth seem to be stamped with the month at that time.

The position of the date stamp on the switches also changed somewhere betwen 64 and 68. Maybe this coincided with the change from months to years ?

My MK I is from 1967, I will have a look at the stamped numbers in its Lucas parts ?

Had a look at my 1967 MK I Mini.

It was registred here in DK on August 31 - 1967.

The boot lock reads 25 - 67, so that was clearly week & year.

The Lucas parts (dash switches) = 5-67 & 7-67, fusebox = 7-67.

Interesting.

I know I am taking a little leap of faith here, but that suggests to be that by 67 the switches were stamped with weeks

Allowing for the switches to be stood in a parts bin for a while, the car to be built, shippped and registered with switches made in July (assuming they are stamped with months) seems a very tight timescale.

But that said, it isnt conclusive. If the switches are stamped with the week, to have them hanging around from week 5 is a long time.

pdaykin wrote:Interesting.

I know I am taking a little leap of faith here, but that suggests to be that by 67 the switches were stamped with weeks

Allowing for the switches to be stood in a parts bin for a while, the car to be built, shippped and registered with switches made in July (assuming they are stamped with months) seems a very tight timescale.

Dont think so, I have never seen a car with such a big gap, between fitted parts.

When lock is stamped 25 which is late June, it all adds up with 5 & 7 being months.

The Lucas parts with no 5 & 7 would be fitted within a couple of weeks from the lock (25)
This will still give the car plenty of time to get to DK, and get registred .

pdaykin wrote:
But that said, it isnt conclusive.
If the switches are stamped with the week, to have them hanging around from week 5 is a long time.

My bet is still, that 5 & 7 are months, all parts on the original cars I have examind, have been within 6 to max 7 weeks apart.


This thread gives me a chance to "flash" /show off, my wiper motor lid .

As my car is a LHD, it cant be seen when the motor is in the car .