Carb I.D.

[Dick G.]

Here is what is on my carb.. Ink stamp on front left air horn 2818-1. Right front air horn stamping (heres the problem) 3849804; List 2818-1; 2567. According to my JG the first number is to designate the year in question; 1962?? On the front fuel bowl there is a ink stamp 4096D, rear bowl ink stamp is 4097D. My car is an early 65 350 HP. So where does this carb belong? Thanks!

[Clem Z.]

Re: Carb I.D.

sound like a replacement carb because of the 4 digit date code.

[Dick G.]

Re: Carb I.D.

Yes, that is what I read in the book Corvette By The Numbers. So when I look for another carb for my car, if my engine assembly date stamp is FI2I6HT, how much time should the carb be pre-dated.

[Kevin Whiteley]

Re: Carb I.D.

There are a couple of similar situations in the archives regarding this subject, if you want to search. But, since the carb was installed at St. Louis, I don't think there is a "correlation" between the carb date and the engine assembly date. The carb is only dated prior to the vehicle assembly date. Maybe 2 to 4 weeks on average.

[Jack H.]

Good answer, Kevin!

Actually, 'some' carbs can pre-date a car's VIN by CONSIDERABLE length.... If a particular carb setup was a 'rare' low usage item, St. Louis would have ordered in batch lots and let them sit in inventory for as required builds.

Bottom line in my book--you'll never have the car's factory original carb again, so why not let the general NCRS restoration rules (0-6 months prior, unless detailed as an exception item) work for you? Why pass up a perfectly useable carb core you stumble across that happens to be dated, say, 4-months prior to the VIN build and insist on using a sludge hammer to force all those dated parts to line up nice & neat in the 10-20 day 'magic' window?

[Mark G.]