72 clock repair - revisited

[Gary S.]

I bought a 72 clock in very good condition, at least from an appearance standpoint. It supposedly came from a 72 yet, when I compared the faces, the clock in my car has a taller and narrower font. I can only assume that mine is original since this is a 35000 mile 72 that, by all appearances, has never been apart.

The clocks are now apart and on my workbench. Internally they are identical. Once I sprayed the recently purchased clock with electrical cleaner, it started ticking. The only difference in the two is that mine has an ink stamp on the back that says "2801" and there is a small 3/8" square piece of paper stuck over a hole in the back of the clock. The other clock, with the shorter and fatter font, has the numbers 0459 on the back and no small hole. Is this ink stamp a partial part number or a batch number?

After cleaning the mechanisms and filing the points, both clocks work fine when a 12V power source is hooked up to them on the bench. I intend to let them both run for a few days to see if they continue. I will then put the better mechanism back into my clock housing along with the face. Any suggestions on keeping this clock running, at least until I get it judged next year? As you may know it is a PITA to pull this out of the center instrument cluster.
Gary

[Terry M.]

Re: 72 clock repair - revisited *TL*

Gary,

Those are date codes.
2801 = 280th day of 1971 - October 7, 1971 by my Julian Calendar.
0459 = 45th day of 1979 perhaps. Probably not 1969 because that clock would have a greener shade to the lettering. February 14th.
Terry

[Gary S.]

And the education continues

Thanks Terry. I thought of a lot of things it could be: part number, Julian date, etc, but I never thought a standard date code. That works out well then because my car was built November 4th, 1971. At least the internal clock parts look good.

Thanks. Btw, where did you dig up that bit of trivia? Can I assume that other inked codes would be similar?

Gary

[Terry M.]

Re: And the education continues *TL*

Years of research, looking at parts at swap meets and late nights with fellow Corvette nuts at shows around the country leads one to retain a whole bunch of extraneous information - when I can remember it.
Sometimes Julian codes have the year first, and sometimes it is last. Other times they confuse us by adding shifts (AIR pump and AC compressor) and/or model numbers (AIR pump) to the mix. A whole lot of components contain dates in various forms - door panels and rear trailing arms are straight forward stamped with month, day and year. It just goes on and on.
If you come across something that you can't figure out - just post it and someone will likely answer. As you know, that is how we all learn.