Holley carb numbers

[Wayne C.]

I have a Holley carb with the following numbers:

3884505-DA

LIST 3367

3137

It's been lying in a box, buried in my garage for many years.

Now, using various info I've gleaned from past posts on various forums, I decipher this may be a part number used on 300hp '66 Corvettes, although there's no "A" after the list number, the "-DA" suffix on the part number is strange and the 4-digit date would seem to be near the end of 1977, making it a re-issue carb for what????.

I'm troubled because I could swear I purchased this carburetor (and the intake manifold) prior to 1977 from a fellow member of a Corvette club I belonged to at that time; as I recall, he told me they were the original carb & manifold leftover from a horsepower upgrade to his '66 Corvette.

I've long since learned to attach tags to things I put away; most of us weren't looking at numbers way back then.

Is my memory that faulty?

Here are a couple more I'm hazy on:

3874898-ER, LIST 3139, 032
... March 1970 re-issue for 65-66 Chevy & Chevelle w/396 or 427ci?

3875964-DB, LIST 3230, 1575
... mid-1975 re-issue for 66 Chevelle 275hp 327ci?

Thanks,
Wayne

[Joe L.]

Re: Holley carb numbers

Wayne-----

There's no mystery here, at all. The GM #3884505, Holley list 3367 is the carburetor used for all 1966 Corvette small block applications. "DA" is the broadcast code for this carburetor and it usually follows the GM part number. So all is well, so far. Apparently, the one that you have is a SERVICE-dated carburetor that was manufactured in 1977. It's still for the 1966 Corvette application regardless of when it was manufactured; it was not originally used for other applications.

While the julian date coding would indicate a 1977 build date carburetor (it could not be 1987 or 1997 since the 3884505 carburetor was discontinued from SERVICE in 1984, although a non-GM-boxed Holley-issued reproduction of it was available after that time), let's just suppose that the julian date coding system was used earlier. If so, the only other year that the "7" could refer to is 1967. So, let's SUPPOSE that it's a SERVICE carburetor that was built in 1967. Even if that were the case, it still couldn't have been originally installed on a 1966 Corvette. Either way, then, what you were told does not "hold water".

[Wayne C.]

Re: Holley carb numbers

Thanks, Joe, it wasn't what I was told that I was questioning, it was my sanity, because I'd have sworn I acquired that carburetor prior to 1977.

Just out of curiousity, though, what is a "broadcast code"? I think of a broadcast code as a term used when building a vehicle to designate the optional parts that go into it, but that would not seem to apply to a re-issue service part from Holley.

[Joe L.]

Re: Holley carb numbers

Wayne-----

Basically, the broadcast code is a code designed for assembly line use. It's just a code to make it easier to identify parts. However, most SERVICE carburetors also include the broadcast code, too. That's just the way it is. Even carburetors which are sourced directly from Holley but of the original part number and list number usually have the GM part number and the broadcast code on them. I don't think that's an issue here, though, since I don't think this carburetor was available directly from Holley prior to 1977.