A police detective called me. I told him the full fedex story. After
realizing that I will not be home during his working hours, he asked
me to get a VIN number off the engine. He said that it should be there
in at least 3 places (any ideas where?)
I will call him back tomorrow with the vin number. He said that if the
engine is stolen, they would be interested (and, I suppose, take it off
my hands), and if it is not stolen, they would not be interested.
i
I doubt the number on a motorcycle engine is in 3 places. Maybe on the
WHOLE
motorcycle it will be in 3 places, but you don't have all of that. Look
it over
with a bright light for numbers that are STAMPED into a flat space on
the metal.
It should be a pretty long sequence that goes
letter-letter-number-letter-letter
and then continues for 14-17 total characters.
Jon
I don't think it will be in three places, but it is typically in one of
three places, maybe that's what he meant. It will be stamped into the
engine cases, or attached to them (metal tag riveted). Likely spots are
near the starter and clutch cover, near the bottom of the clutch cover
(the part with the sightglass), or somewhere near the sprocket. I'm
drawing a blank on where it would be for a GSXR, which is kinda
embarrasing cause I should know. If you're having a lot of trouble
finding it let me know and I'll ask a friend who WILL know.
OK. I set the engine vertically and looked quite closely. No trace of
the VIN number. I do not want to detective to come to my home. I need
some real urgent help on where may the VIN be located. Thanks.
i
You may want to search Google for "GSX-R" GSX" "GSXR" and forums message
board, etc. Someone that actually owns a GSX-R would be much better help
than me. For now, with the exhaust pointting forward, and you looking
forward like you are riding the bike, that is considered the right side in
bike descriptions.
While you're looking for a VIN number, also look for pairs of cut-off
rivets or a ground-off area somewhere flat. That'll be where the VIN
used to be and a good indication your engine passed through a thief's
hands. At that point I'd call the detective and ask where he'd like the
engine delivered to.
However, it's pretty unlikely that there has ever actually been a VIN
on the engine, as vehicles in their normal life spans get engines
swapped out from time to time. You might have to give the detective the
engine serial number and tell him to see about getting a cross-reference
through Suzuki or one of their dealerships. Perhaps they'll accommodate
him where they wouldn't accommodate you. Let him know you tried and
give him any phone numbers you have written down.
If a VIN had been put on the engine after the fact for security
reasons, it's most likely going to be etched in the engine block itself.
If you don't find any likely candidates on the block it's a safe
assumption that there's no VIN anywhere on the rest of the engine.
It's on your picture page, Iggy. That one with four letters and six
digits - appears to be R737-115840
You will have to cross check with a Suzuki dealer to turn the four
letters into the first 11 letters/digits in the VIN, but the digits
are the production serial number part of the motorcycle chassis VIN.
Suzuki should be able to search on that engine number and tell you
the full VIN of the bike it was first sold in. I have $5 that says
that the expanded VIN of the bike it came off of is something along
the lines of (x meaning unknown) JSxGSXR7xxx115840
If they do a "partial match search" through NCIC on the Stolen VIN
list with the right few letters that would signify 'Japanese
manufacture, Suzuki motorcycle works" and the six digits at the end,
if there are any hits you can research them further.
The first position in a standard 17-character VIN is country of
origin (and in the US, there are several different digits used
depending on the percentage of domestic parts used).
The second position is the manufacturer.
The third position is type of vehicle(car, truck, etc.)
The fourth through seventh is the model series of the vehicle.
(FJ62 is Toyota Land Cruiser,
Eight through eleven are for model year, engine and transmission type.
Twelve through seventeen are the sequential production serial number.
-->--
The only place you are going to get a VIN is from the frame tag that is
either mounted on the left side of the steering head or on the left side of
the lower frame...well, that's where almost all bikes have the VIN, anyway
Mike
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