Asked out of general interest.
Does anyone have any idea of the meaning and significance of this tag found attached to gearbox casing bolts. 1972 Sprint.
None!
Though it looks more Ford than Lotus. May be worth asking on a Ford forum?
Tim
It’s a Ford tag that is coded to the version/bill of materials for that specific gearbox, bearings, synchros, etc.
Could ‘2 D 04’ be a date code?
2 - 1972
D - April
04 - the 4th of April
Previous discussion of tags and gearbox identification:
https://lotuselan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=20184&start=
This mentions A, S and AB suffixes but no AE?
Another previous discussion:
https://lotuselan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=34181&start=
AE is present on all the tags, so it looks like AE is the suffix for the Lotus application (E for Elan?). It also speculates that the other numbers/letter is a date in the Ford numbering scheme (edit: in fact it was gjz30075 who suggested it both times).
this is the tag from the gearbox fitted on my 66 S3 SE
It is a bit unclear on the photo but it reads
2820 ED
6 J 28
so I guess the date is 28th Oct 66.
And mine from my February '72 build Sprint:
So 1J 21 is 21st December 1971, makes sense with the build date.
Other stampings (2821E, AE & FOB) consistent as OP.
Happy to be corrected, I believe that the FOB on the tags is Ford of Britain.