My 68 427/390 with an "I" body build date = April Is the correct Water pump 3856284 letter A, B, or C? My vin is in the 14,000's Any help??
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Re: Water Pump Dating?
Don't fully understand your original post, Chester. The reference to 'A', 'B' or 'C' on the water pump is fuzzy. Is this in the date cast of what you've got, what you're looking for, or what....
Water pumps started getting casting date codes in early '66. Before that, only cast number was used to ID. NCRS rules are pretty 'butchered' in this area....
Some MY divisions (like Shark) place a prohibition in the Judging Guide against trying to read/use the casting date on the judging field due to how hard it is to accurately read it with the pump installed and the pulley/belt system oblitherating it.
Other divisions (straight axle/mid-year) make no similar prohibition and it's a judge's call as to whether or not he should try to read the pump. I've seen some pretty clever and experienced mid-year judges who can/do check for pump casting number/date. Take the 327 SB of the '63-65 era.
It should be a '326' casting with NO date. The core casting was used on GMC/Chevy trucks too, but the bypasss outlet was punched to 3/4 inch vs. 1/2 inch (judging guide says 5/8 inch and it's wrong in my opinion).
Since trucks roll on and on, it's pretty common to find 326 castings out there that are dated. So, I've seen guys check for the presense of any date as there should be no date.
Back to A,B,C. Some items on Corvette use month-alpha date coding that starts with first production build. This includes car body. So, your 'I' agrees nicely with an April build since production started in August of the prior calander year (A). For run of the mill parts that were made for both car/truck production as well as round the year service spares, alpha dating follows the calendar (A=Jan).
So, for an April car, a water pump with A/B/C casting date sounds real good. But, Catch-22, the engine shipped as an assy from Flint/Tonawanda and its major sub-assy's should agree with the stamp pad build date (preceed engine assy except for the occassional failure/reject/rebuild at either the engine plant or the car's final line). Since engines have been known to pre-date cars substantially (FIFO vs. LIFO inventory pull) as well as legitimately post-date cars (mid-year body built at AO Smith and stock pilled for some time before meeting its chassis/engine), it's not right to just look at body build date for key engine components..... -
Re: Water Pump Dating?
Hi Chester,
You're correct "I" does represent "April" however, are you sure about your VIN ??? because vin 15000 was the last car assembled on Mar 29th, 1968. The water pump part number is correct, IMO, lead time of 2 weeks prior to your build date would be nice. However, I believe NCRS allows as much as 6 months. If you're serious about finding the correct parts, etc, the '68 Judging Guide is a must have.
Send your Vin direct to me, I'll check the NCRS Birthday book and give you a better idea when the car was assembled.
HTH, BobComment
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