According to the engine code in my VIN my car is equipped with the 2L engine. No evidence that anything but a 1.8L engine was in the car.

4742910621

47 = Porsche 914 Type Designation
4 = Model Year 1974
29 = Engine Code / Chassis Variant (2.0L Fuel-Injected Flat-4)
10621 = Sequential Production Serial Number

All 914/4s are "29"

Thanks for clearing that up.

Where did you get that list from?

Gemini AI

Another reason to get rid of AI LOL

No, no, need to keep improving on AI. Skynet is counting on it.

Actually what started me looking at the vin was the car is listed on my insurance as a 2.0L

yeah - digit 4 and 5 assign in the following ways.

digit 4 is a 2. during the 60s VW was using a zero there. from somewhere around 65 or 67 - can't remember exactly when this particular full sequence of chassis numbering scheme came for all VW models but it was sometime in the mid sixties. as soon as 1970 came around the zero switched to a 2. this allowed the third digit in the vin which indicated the year of the decade to be used again. ie the difference between a 67 vin and a 77 vin is that while both would be a 7 as the third number the 4th number tells you which it is. 67 being **70 and 77 being **72.

don't ask me why they went from 0 to 2 without using a 1. mystery of german logic.

the 5 th number was assigned to each different model being made. up to 99,000 cars of a particular type per annum coming off the line this number would remain the same.
so for instance at the karmann plant the 914s used 9 as this number. beetle cabrios used 5, karmann ghias used 7.

if theoretically any of those cars exceeded 99,000 cars for the year that fifth digit would flip to the next number. the beetle cabs would go to 6 and the ghias would go to 8. i expect in the case of the 914 they never thought that would happen or maybe it would go a 0 or a 1 there. but anyway that is how the 5th digit worked. in any case the only models that really did have that 5th number change were the standard beetles and maybe some years of kombi buses. production numbers per annum were very high for the good old beetle. just like ford Ts. i cannot exactly remember but am pretty sure that in the case of the standard beetle they left enough of those 5th numbers available to get to a million cars in a production year which i am pretty sure it did a couple of times.

PS - there is no way to tell what engine the 914 was fitted with from reading the chassis (VIN) number. although in the case of 1974 914s there kind of is a way to tell it might be a fake 2.0. 1974 is unique in the years of all the 914s in that production of the small engine car (the 1.8 L jet) did not start at the start of the model year of production. L jet was delayed. not available for 914 engines until the start of november 1973. so production of 1974 914s from august to end of october 1973 were strictly 2.0s for ROW and USA and 1.8 twin carbs for ROW. the USA 1.8 L jet was not being made for those months. as a consequence VW had to do some catch up on production. it looks to me like, and this is based on the L jet research we all did that in terms of USA bound cars all they pumped off the line at karmann from nov 73 until about the end of jan 1974 was L jet cars. no 2.0 cars. i have also scanned the Vin records here on this website. those vin records also support this as highly probable.
so any 74 2.0 USA car with a production month of 11/73 to 01/74 ought to be looked at closely. its likely it was originally a 1.8 that got a owner upgrade along the way over the last 50 years.

i have definitely spotted one of those for sale on BAT. not a real 2.0 originally.
if that mattered to you. and in some cases it does as theoretically the 2.0s have a higher value.

this late commencement of 1.8 L jet production also explains the quite marked differences between early 74 2.0s and later 74 2.0s. production of the 2.0s was broken in half with a distinct three month gap between them. the later 2.0s incorporate a great number of changes. most of the changes occur during the 3 month production run of that first batch of 1.8 cars.

The other way to know what engine came in your car is to look at the vehicle emissions control information label. That is the ultimate bible to that car. EC is 1.8, EB is 2.0, EA is 1.7. Or look at the engine block for EA/EB/EC.

tire data label on fuel expansion tank is the other giveaway - if its still there and its still the orig fuel tank. 2.0s had a different rated tire. labels differ.

the L jet also had an aircleaner support bracket on LHS of engine bay. traces of its presence would be visible in an L jet car minus its original engine.

the only other thing is the lhs instrument. all 1.8s, base and AG had no temp gauge in that instrument. just handbrake warning flasher.
the base 2.0 had a temp gauge instead of flasher, although the AG 2.0 had the flasher like the 1.8s.

there is a bit you have to do if you wanted to "forge" a 74 2.0
i have spotted one on BAT that was being passed off as an original 2.0, rather than being described as an updated to a 2.0. all above details were incorrect and gave it away as a 1.8 built in december 73.

W 70 to 71 1.7
EA 72 to 73 1.7
EB 73 1.7 low compression California
GA 73 to 74 2.0
EC 74 to 74 1.8
GC 75 to 76 2.0

ChatGTP:

VIN/chassis number 4742910621 decodes quite cleanly as a 1974 Porsche 914/4.
VIN breakdown 4742910621

Digits Meaning
47 Porsche 914/4 — four-cylinder model
4 1974 model year
29 914/4 variant/index code
10621 Sequential chassis/production number

So:
4742910621 = 1974 Porsche 914/4, chassis #10,621

The number falls squarely within the documented 1974 914/4 chassis range of 4742900001–4742921370. Wikipedia

What the VIN does—and doesn't—tell us

Importantly, the VIN alone does not distinguish a 1974 1.8L from a 2.0L. Both 1974 engines used the same 47429xxxx VIN sequence. The factory engine-number ranges were:

- 1.8L: EC 0000001–EC 0037551
- 2.0L: GA 0006766–GA 0015021 Stoddard

Therefore, if this is the 1973/74 2.0L 914 you've been working on, we'd need the engine number to determine whether the engine is original to the car.

One particularly interesting point

Your VIN 4742910621 is substantially earlier than the known 1974 914 Limited Edition VIN range of 4742914348–4742916764. So it is not within the factory Can-Am/Limited Edition VIN range. Rennlist

Also, the VIN's sequential number does not give us the exact build date. For that, the much more useful number is the Karmann production/chassis number on the small Karmann plate. That number can be decoded to the production week, day, and sequence within that week. Rennlist

If you give me the Karmann production number from your 914, I can decode the exact production date and then we can determine whether your car is an early/mid/late 1974 and which factory configuration it should have had.

yes, but not quite.
additional to the EC code on the engine blocks of 1.8s in 74 and 75 there is a further subtlety. and as @L-Jet914 hinted its in the emission stickers.
in 74 there is an EC-A (california spec 1.8) and EC-B (49 states spec).
the reason its not demarcated on the engine block is no internal difference to engines like there was with the EA and the EB of 73. they all ran on unleaded and had low compression pistons unlike in 73. difference is a hose hook up on the injection system. an EC-A could be an EC-B by simply connecting or disconnecting the advance can hose on the distributor. porsche got away with this for most of 1974 but eventually either the EPA or CARB pulled them up. the last month of 74 1.8s for 49 states 1.8s got a sticker that said EC-B USEPA only conforming. at that point they could not pull their trick anymore of saying both engines were CARB conforming.
the CARB sticker was for the EC-A only

the same sort of differences went down in 75 for the 1.8s. this time two different emission stickers for the model year depending on calif or 49 states. again a matter of hose hook ups but also some special equipment involved. namely EGR. but this was equipment exterior to interior of engine. and they stopped calling them EC engines on the emission sticker. referred to engine families instead. if that sticker is still on the 74 car - attached to the side of engine bay its a solid giveaway. even AA does not reproduce all the variations on emissions stickers. for 75 its a bit harder. the emission sticker is on the engine itself. so if the engine goes awol the emission sticker leaves the building much like elvis did.

anyway all 1.8s were ECs. in that respect correct.

all art's data is already here.
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...357407&st=0
his is a 12/73 production.
its a 1.8.
i say that with 99% certainty.

find me a 2.0 (USA delivery) built between 11/73 and 01/74 and i'll buy you a six pack.
they are not there in our members vin records.
not saying they do not exist, but show me one and then i will say they exist.
they could. but............
evidence?

there are two batches of 2.0s in 74.
early =pre nov 73
late = post jan 74.
in fact they wind up 74 2.0 production again in feb 74 in order to start to produce the special editions.
far as i can work out anyway.

after end of jan 74 its mixed outbursts off 1.8s and 2.0s off the production line.
but before that its 2.0s to end of october 73 and 1.8s until end of jan 74.
at least where USA market cars are concerned.

i think anyway that art's question was can a 2.0 be indentified off VIN number alone without applying any other external research data - like there is a special code.
answer is negative.

I thought the car might have been mislabeled at the factory as a 2.0L with the info from Gemini. Nothing else on the car is anything but non-appearance group 1.8L 914