As ive been looking at buying a 1275 block or engine to rebuild I got asked the question today how do you know the engine your buying is not stolen.
Had me thinking is there anyway of checking this?
should I ring RMS before any purchase?
before I spend 7k on a rebuild to find out when its time to go back in the car is a hot engine.

Take the number to your local police station , they should be able to help .

thanks will do

I was in this situation once before, so I rang the RMS and asked if they could check the engine number to ensure it was not stolen, the answer was that I needed to ring the police as RMS do not have access these records. However RMS also said that when it is placed in a vehicle and you apply for registration it would then be checked against police records through the police (I just don't understand this bit). When I contacted the police they said that they could not check the number without a legitimate reason for checking because of privacy laws. I pleaded with the person at the station I rang and told them that I didn't want to go through the $5k rebuild process only to find out at the end that it was stolen, he finally felt sorry for me and checked it and it was all clear. Phew!!!!!
Was told by an area head of a Highway Patrol that they go through those police checks on a regular basis and that the person who did the check would have got a "please explain".

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"Investing my Super in a Cooper" &
"Re-living my Surfing Past in a Woody"

I used to be a cop in QLD. There is no problem for the Police to perform a check on an engine number. You will only get a please explain if you are searching vehicles or engines that correspond to a flagged item. i.e. the engine or car belonged to a famous person or is linked to a crime. In which case the District Officer may call you to explain your need to conduct the search, or to ascertain the locality of such evidence. Its acceptable to make notation in your Police notebook of the search and the enquirers details should that search be questioned. Performing an enquiry for a member of the public is a suitable community service activity. Your not giving out personal details, so all good, merely ascertaining if you may have been alerted to the proceeds of an offence.
More likely if the cop doesn't want to do the search, they are bloody lazy or just a wally.

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1970 Cooper S ex-Bathurst & ATCC
1964 Austin Cooper S ex-Group C race car
1967 Morris Cooper S ex-Group B
1962 Mini Speed sports sedan
1968-71 ex-Peter Manton Shell car