gmsteve455

Hello, I'm a new member here and just posted my introduction on the newbie forum. After owning my 72 Cutlass for 21 years I decided to look up the numbers on individual components and see if they were likely original to the car.

The cowl tag on this car says 10B which would indicate 2nd week of October and the manila paper I found in the seat says it was made the 15th day of October so any component on the car would need to be dated earlier than that to be correct.

My question relates to the distributor and the Quadrajet.

The distributor has a 1J30 date code on it indicating that it was stamped the 30th day of September 1971. I read they didn't use I because it was close to 1 so because of this J becomes the month of September. I'm assuming that this part would be original to the car since that was about 2 weeks before this car was made.

The Quadrajet is the wrong model for the car anyway and indicates that it was made the 136th day of 1972.

So my question is, for the purposes of obtaining a date correct Quadrajet, do we know when these items stamped and where? Was this done at the assembly plant or at the manufacturer that made the Quadrajet? If they were stamped at the site where it was made, how long after they were stamped were they put on the car? If I follow the timeframe of the distributor, I would be looking for a Quadrajet made in September of 1971 but perhaps the carburetors had a longer delivery time.

I read on another post that within 2 months of the build of the car would be correct so would I be looking at parts made somewhere between the 15th of August and late September of 1971?

I'd be curious about the dates on some original examples to see the difference in the time that the component was made vs when the car rolled off the assembly line.

Nit picky stuff I know but I guess I'm a sucker for the details and usually end up driving myself crazy with all of this.

Thanks in advance.


Steve

66-3X2 442

Any date coded part was coded @ the time of the part build. It was not dated to the production of the car. The reason for date codes was in the case of problems with a part or runs of parts,it could be pinpointed to that time frame. Some parts were date coded close to the build of the car.others were not. I have seen blocks/heads several months ahead of the car build. I have seen parts date coded right on top of the build. As far as I know there's no definite time period preceding a cars build that defines what is acceptable and what's not. There's not any guide like the Vette Bloomington Gold standards ever been done for an Olds. All that's been done is by guys who have documented known cars for date code history.

rcorrigan5

As far as date codes go for items under the hood, I would go with anything, even back into July 1971, for your car. Your car has an early enough production date that it would not be unusual to have an item under your hood dated as early as July 1971.

The Corvette people are probably the strictest when it comes to dealing with date codes as compared to the car's production date. Generally speaking, they will accept anything up to 6 months before the production date of the car. As an example, on my '71 Corvette produced on December 15, 1970, the carburetor has a date code of July 21, 1970, nearly 5 months before the car's production date,and that works fine in that judging world.

In some instances, they will even go back further than 6 months. The back window in my '71 Corvette also serves as an example. The glass in that window has a February 1970 date code. I know the judges talk over stuff like that but they accepted it.

So even if you find your carb with a mid-July 1971 date code, I'd take it. Finding things that "fit" are getting harder and harder to get. So take what you can, when you can!

Randy C.

MDchanic

Also, remember that GM did not use Toyota's "just in time" parts supply process, and nothing other than basic inventory was computerized.
They made most things in batches, then changed the tooling and made a batch of a slightly different unit. This means that some low-production parts were made all at once, then used up through the year, while other more common parts usually cycled through frequently enough that they were never far behind the assembly line.
Also, parts were delivered in crates, stored at the plants, then brought out when they were needed, so it is always possible that an earlier crate got buried by a later delivery, and was therefore used later in the run, when it was finally uncovered.
Nobody kept track of any of this at the time (I would imagine that a central office polled the plants to see what their levels of various supplies were, to be sure their estimates weren't off, but as far as I know, there are no records of any of this), so nobody really knows.

- Eric

gmsteve455

Thanks for all the information. Kind of what I suspected but wanted to get some opinions and more information. I think I located a correct carb for the car with an August 3, 1971 date code which would be right in that range of acceptability.

Thanks again for the responses.


-Steve

wmachine

No, it would need to be dated earlier to be "original". If it has the correct part number *and has the correct internals* it is correct.
A date does not make a part "more correct". That's like "more pregnant". There is far too much emphasis put on the meaningless date code *on a replacement part*, and far too little concern for what is inside the part!
Carbs in particular. There are tons of cobbled up carbs out there that people are happy with because they have the right number and date on them.

mrolds69

X2 on the cobbled carbs...it's a big prob.

gmsteve455

What do you mean by "cobbled"?

Is this a restamp?

mrolds69

When GM made carbs for the musclecars, a lot of engineering was done so that your engine would perform it's best under all conditions. No emphasis was on mileage at that time, just performance. Inside the carb there are jets that squirt gas, rods, air bleed holes, a hanger to pull the rods, etc. Those parts are different for every engine + trans combo. Years ago (and now), when carbs were rebuilt, nobody paid much attention to what was in the carbs. They would just take the top from one and put it on another or whatever. Like a 70 Buick GS455, the top vent tube on the air horn was slashed at a 45 degree angle. This was done because it allowed more venting than cutting the tube at a 90 degree angle. The 45 degrees allows a bigger surface area. Now most 70 GS455 carbs the top has been changed. A cobbled carb is a carb that's pieced together. You don't know what's inside of it! It could have the right number + stamp for a 1970 W-30 4 speed, but internally...it's a 1970 Chevy 350 automatic Impala carb. It's big 'biz now. Sometimes you are better to buy a grungy original and send it to a reputable place than buy the right number carb from a "puppy mill" type carb place. Finally, "cobbled" can mean restamped or not. It COULD have the right float bowl with the numbers, but the top and bottom sections may have been changed. It could all have been changed, and restamped. THAT's why it's called cobbled, there is no way to know.

gmsteve455

I see what you are saying. Other than comparing the pictures in my factory service manual with my carb, I guess I really don't know if the carb that I have on the car now has different parts on it than what it had originally. If I do end up getting another carb for the car I'll be sure to go over it thoroughly to compare to what I have and what it shows in the service manual. I guess I could also post here with some pictures and have the experts let me know what is wrong or right with it.

Thanks for the heads up.


-Steve

66-3X2 442

I don't think you said if your car is a BBO or SBO. Either way beings your car is a September build,any Q-Jet carb that has a date preceding your cars build would be correct. That's so because the 4 th # gives you the year,in your case it's a 2. So any 704225X carb with a date code preceding your car would be correct. Production started some time mid August on the 72 model run,so like I said any carb with that # probably couldn't be more than 60 days or so preceding your car.

BILL DEMMER

actually, there is a way to know. rochester had master parts catalogs that cross-referenced casting codes to carb. model numbers. i only know of one person that has these, he also has a few rochester master carbs.(production "proof" carbs.). i'm still trying to get my paws on the master parts catalogs...


bill