What Kind Of Date Code Is This?...

[Mike E.]

Re: What Kind Of Date Code Is This?...

I strongly disagree with John. I don't believe that cast number is a date code. If that's the case, then every 1962 Corvette and passenger car with a Carter AFB (3269S) had the main body cast on the 148th day of 1960, 1st shift, except for the real early ones that were, according to what you're trying to day, cast on the 146th day of 1960, 6th shift. (They have identical style moldings cast in the body of the carb 0-1481 or 0-1466 (early)). 2x4 carbs, 1x4 WCFB's, etc. all have castings that are nearly identical to the one you have pictured. I'd love to buy that that is a date code and it nicely fits your car, but have too much experience looking at too many parts to accept that.

[Chuck S.]

Honestly...

I wasn't trying to fool anybody...I'm just trying to figure this out.

The cast-in number, 0-1953, does seem to fit in with the Carter casting number system Mike Ernst posted, and I could coincidentally own a car where the casting number would work as date. OTOH, Carter made Rochester Quadrajet carburetors for GM during this same time period, so a manufacturing supply relationship was already established...If AC, like Rochester, couldn't turn out enough parts, then what?...GM would have slowed production? I don't think so.

I still would like to know what the stamped number "4B25A" means...If I could confirm that it was a date in, say 1974, I would just accept that the fuel pump is a replacement. There is also another stamped number (6106) on the opposite side of the flange bottom...anyone got an old Carter catalog?

The dating system on Carter Quadrajets is no less eccentric...mine is dated "E0" (May 1970)...But, no one argues about the dating system for Carter Quadrajets being extraterrestrial anymore. I wonder if the first guy to show up on the judging field with his Carter "Quadrajet" lost any points? I expect he did...And, all after him for about the next ten years.

Better a fool that keeps searching for the Grail, than the one that found it and threw it away as a beggar's cup.

[Verne Frantz]

Re: What Kind Of Date Code Is This?...

This is an AC 4657 pump off a '64 250hp 327. They're not "stamped" but they are dated. I first noticed these casting dates on pumps I was cleaning up over 10 years ago. Although this dating system wasn't mentioned in this thread, I would be surprised if it wasn't already widely known in this forum.
This pump was cast in Aug. '63