Aircooled VW South Africa

For the life of me I can never figure out how these engine codes work. Google searches etc also just confused me further…..

I have an engine with number: SFFR 166445

As far as I could figure out its a SF (South African factory) Remanufactured (R) 1300 single port (3rd letter- F)

Is this correct?

Engine prefix letter "F" or SFF was indeed a single port 1300 from around 1966-1967.

Code "AR" or "SFAR" was the late 70's dual port 1300. Engine casing would be marked "AS21", which refers to the alloy used.

As you mention, the factory sometimes added "R" to mean reconditioned. Until local law was passed which made it illegal to tamper with engine numbers. Think that law happened somewhere around the late 80's. Or early 90's. Because of increasing crime at the time.
(There was a time, so crime free, that some local manufacturers like VW even stopped stamping chassis numbers on their cars. Only the riveted on info plate had the chassis number. That was early 70's.

Dawie wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 7:03 pm (There was a time, so crime free, that some local manufacturers like VW even stopped stamping chassis numbers on their cars. Only the riveted on info plate had the chassis number. That was early 70's.

sounds like a utopia