Author Topic: Carb casting numbers and stamps  (Read 5935 times)

Offline 3GOATS

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Carb casting numbers and stamps
« on: April 23, 2009, 11:18:11 AM »
I was wondering where you guys find info for the stamped numbers on the castings for quadrajets.
I'm a pontiac guy and looking for a ramair 3 carb or to build one. I have been trying to collect parts , airhorn, throttle body etc.  So far I have the correct casting number airhorn but it is not a ram air unit.

Problem I'm having is that, Pontiac used the same casting number on throttle body and airhorns on different carbs besides the ram air units. I'm not sure on the bowls.
 This is what I have found so far.
 I know what a ram air carb is suppose to look like and the different things to look for on authentic carbs but say for example,
I find a airhorn with proper casting number at a swapmeet (by chance of course) then how do I know if it's real without the stamped number. I have some info on the ramair carbs for stamped numbers but I'm coming across carbs with correct castings & different stamped numbers .
I can't seem to find info on these carbs and don't know what i'm passing up.
Did SR carbs have different numbers than originals did?
 I tryed googling etc. and no luck.
Note: I will make it clear that I am absolutely against re stamps and that is not my intension to collect info.
I need the info for the non rare carbs so I can decifer what I find. Or at least explain to me how GM came up with there numbers.
Thanks




Offline 3GOATS

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Re: Carb casting numbers and stamps
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2009, 09:09:29 AM »
ook. Since I haven't had any response which is understandable. I have a couple of parts I would like identified if anyone could help out.

#1 --I have an air horn from a rochester  that has casting # 7037454 underneath and stamp number 37498 on side.
The stamp is on passenger side by secondary air flap.

#2 --  Bowl with casting #7044617 at rear and stamped under fuel inlet 44650. Bowl is a rochester and has no application stamp.  It has a xx25 stamped on it at rear top passenger side only.

Any advise would be appreciated.

Offline Cliff Ruggles

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Re: Carb casting numbers and stamps
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2009, 04:23:15 AM »
The Ram Air main castings and other parts are not "special" castings in most cases, and may share the same part number in the small cast circle(s) as the standard units.  In and after 1968 most of the Ram Air carburetors used an airhorn that is cut deeper and wider for the accl boot retainer.

Some Service Replacment units were not cut for the boot/retainer.

Service Replacment Ram Air carburetors will not have the plant code, and the Julian date will be later than the model year.

The most common SR Pontiac units were 7028276, 7029270, and 7040270.  These were used to service Ram Air applications thru 1970.

They did not make any manual transmission SR Ram Air units that I have seen.

All original units will have a plant code after the number, and Julian date.  If the plant code is missing, the carburetor is a restamp in most cases, unless it is a Service Replacement unit.

Since the value of the Ram Air units has soared, and folks are stamping standard castings with the intent to pass them off as originals, we do not give out secondary stamping information.

We get scores of units sent here, where folks have paid high prices for them, that were nothing but restamped standard units.  Some of the work is very good, and will pass an initial inspection until we look closely at the rest of the carburetor.  The vast majority of the restamped units we see have obvious features, such as a Hot Idle Compensator for example, which was not used on Ram Air units.  We also see a LOT of Pontiac "Ram Air" units for sale with primary POE airhorns, another feature not used on Ram Air carbs.

My advice for anyone looking for a real Ram Air carburetor, would be to educate yourself in the features of the units, as most restamps are pretty obvious at a glance even if the number, plant code and Julian date look pretty good.......Cliff