Okay...let's say you re-stamp a VIN on an engine and then sell the car and you tell the buyer all about the re-stamping. Then he sell's the car. Maybe he is as honest and forthcoming as the guy who sells it to him, maybe he is not. I am not going to say it will always happen, but I am willing to bet that in some cases, somewhere down the line, someone is going to buy that car and be mislead that the engine is "original". There is now a cause of action and I can think of several counts that would apply. The likelihood of being successful in court against the seller or one of the previous owners all the way back to the original stamper in increased dramatically. A studious lawyer can go all the way down the line if need be and if the lineage can be traced, each owner may have some questions to answer in the form of subpoena. If the information is what the lawyer is looking for, some of these previous owners may find themselves named as additional defendants if the lawyers so wishes and especially if there is deep pockets somewhere in this chain. Everyone involved will be enticed to participate in a civil lawsuit to some degree. They may not be found for any wrongdoing or have to pay money, but questions will be asked and answers can be compelled by the courts if the lawyer wants to go that far. As for the criminal law and the illegality, I am not sure. Again, an over zealous police officer could make a connection and start filing charges based on the VIN stamping and the circumstances. It may not be against the law per se, but the law is written vague for a reason and wiggle room is there to make any case. For someone to say they are stamping a VIN on an engine purely for restoration is a stretch. Maybe it is legal and maybe not. It's up to the police officer to make a case and the state attorney to agree or not. If you are going to use that argument, then what if I buy a dynacorn body and stamp a VIN on it purely for "restoration" purposes only and I am just "re-creating" what the factory did. If I am a cop, and I can convince the state attorney you stamped that VIN, on any part of the car, in order to take advantage of someone or mislead someone and there is a victim, I can make a case. You see, adding the VIN to the engine is a slippery slope. Where does it end. I am not stating that every engine re-stamping is illegal, but the likelihood of someone getting burned is greatly increased. And if that person wanted to make a big deal out of it, he can. It is only my opinion, but merely stamping codes and part numbers on an engine or any body part that would normally have it, may be okay, but there seems to be a line that is crossed when you start stamping VINs or partial VINS on any part. Again, just my opinion.