Of those that have bought engines from salvage firms, have any had the engine numbers ground off due to insurance company vehicle destruction orders?

Why would a vehicle destruction order mean the engine number was ground off? As far as I am aware (and the DVLA told me) they cannot backtrack an engine number to a vehicle, only the other way around.

If a number is ground off, it is more than likely to be stolen so do not touch it!! If it is a stolen engine it can be traced because the number will be on the police database!

If the engine came from a bike that was in a serious accident then there's a good chance that the engine, although runnable, will be damaged internally. Some breakers put second hand covers on engines to make the accident look less severe . . . you end up buying an engine that needs a £1000 rebuild.

If the police see your engine or the DVLA inspect it when you register the car and they see either no engine number or a number that doesn't look like a genuine number, they can impound the whole car until you can prove the engine isn't stolen, which without a genuine engine number could be diffieult.