red stamp on heads?

[deacon]

As part of going over all of the s/n's etc. on the 78 to see if it is original, etc I came across a red stamp on each head. It reads 131-USA with an outline around it. All numbers on the car seem correct and they do match, but I was curious about these marks. I know the 131 was the Brava, I actually had one. Anyway, any thoughts?

[mbouse]

depending on what else is "stamped" with those red dots, i might suggest what some mechanics are in the habit of doing.

they find some tinkerer (client) that cannot resist tweaking this or that until the entire engine is out of whack.. then bring the car back to the garage complaining it does not work.

the mechanic sees which bolts have been tampered with, and zooms in for a quick analysis and "repair" of the component(s).

i have two friends that this has happened to. both friends think they know something about their cars' engines ... but are more harm than good under the hood. the funny part is, there are two different mechanics in two different states involved.

[kristoj]

I have seen several original Spiders with USA stamped on the heads with an outline (including my own). But I have never seen one that had 131 with it. The owns I have seen were on later cars though (80-82), so maybe they changed stamps at some point.

[mbouse]

seen that USA stamp as well, but i thought the ink was orange. maybe once was red...