Hollander Interchange
The Hollander Interchange is a data set containing part interchange information, mostly for cars and light trucks since 1965.
What is "interchange"?
Interchangeability in this case refers to the ability to take a part in a vehicle, and replace it with a similar part from a different model of vehicle.
Hollander regularly releases sets of interchange data to allow users to identify, for any given part:
- What parts from other vehicles might be interchangeable
- What parts from other vehicles are similar enough that they could be made to work (even though they are not completely the same)
How parts are identified
Lookups in the interchange data require 3 pieces of information:
- Part type (selected from an arbitrary list released by Hollander)
- Model of the vehicle the part came off of
- Year of the vehicle the part came off of
Once you do a search with that information, you will get a list of possible interchange options.
Interchange options
For the same model/year of a vehicle, there could be variations on the same part (for example, a 1995 Camry could have come with any number of different styles of bumper).
An interchange option identifies these different variations of part on the same vehicle (a 1995 Camry could have shipped with a different bumper depending on whether or not it was manufactured in Japan or America).
An interchange option has two identifying pieces of information:
- An interchange number
- A description of the option (how to tell it apart from other parts that could have been on the same model of vehicle)
Interchange numbers
An interchange number is composed of three parts:
- A 3-digit part type number
- A 5-digit number
- (Optionally) a single alphabetic character
Example interchange numbers might look like this:
- 300-55643A
- 105-04671F
- 400-67043
What it means
The part type number identifies the kind of part (engine, transmission, bumper, oil pan, etc).
The 5-digit number is used to determine interchangeability - any parts (of the same part type) that share the same 5-digit number may be partially interchangeable. If the 5-digit number is the same for two parts from different vehicles, it could be possible to take one of them and replace it with the other - though you may need to modify the new part a bit, first.
If two parts share the whole interchange number (including the final alphabetic character), then those parts are perfectly interchangeable. They can be swapped out for each other without any difficulty (as far as Hollander has determined).
Interchange notes
In the case of parts that are partially interchangeable, Hollander will usually include notes giving a brief overview of what must be modified about the parts to make them interchangeable.
