Dont blast me Duane for another date code question:laugh: It appears that the buicks aren't as tight on the date assembly stampings as chevrolets. My 69 camaro had block, intake, heads, distributor, water pump, carb, fuel pump, trans pan, dates within 5-10 days or so of each other. I have huge spreads in stage 1 parts, i.e. distributor, carb.......is this the norm??
Sorry but I had to tease you.:laugh: You ask, "It appears that the buicks aren't as tight on the date assembly stampings as chevrolets." Well the answer is yes & no. On the 70-72 Buicks I generally see that the major engine casting pieces, like the block, heads, and intake are all dated within a week of each other, and often the exhaust manifolds fall into the same time frame. These pieces are also dated very close to the build date of the car. This appears to be the trend regardless of whether it is a 350, 455, or Stage 1 motor. Now, it also appears that the more common engine pieces are also dated very close to the build date of the car, ie 350 carbs, distributors, fuel pumps, water pumps, oil pans, etc............ and the reason for this is very simple, the plants ordered these pieces in volume. The parts were used constantly and new "batches" were ordered all the time, so the parts "stayed" dated close to the car build date. Where this breaks down is with rare/uncommon pieces, and the lower the volume the further these parts can be from the body build date. Case in point, there were not that many 71 Stage 1's built and I had 2 of them. One is an (02D) 4th week of Feb 1971, and the other is (04B) 2nd week of April 1971, and the vin # correct OW/BB transmissions for both were cast in August of 1970. The bottom line is this, the faster the parts "batches" were used up and replaced with more parts, the closer the parts will be dated in regard to the car production date. If the factory got so few orders that the initial parts batch sat around for say half the model year, then the dates of these parts would get further and further away from the vehicle production date. Then when the next batch of pieces is ordered the date starts close to the body build date and then gets further away until the next batch is ordered, etc, etc. To bring this full circle, there are very few "Chevy" pieces that attain the rarity of some of the Buick parts because they were made in large volumes. Face it, in 1970 they probably made as many LS6 Chevelles as they did 70 Gran Sports, so you generally do not "see" the date fluctuations on chevies like you do in buicks. Now, to tease you one more time, if you bought my book I talk a little about exactly this on page 4. :Smarty: Duane
Now, to tease you one more time, if you bought my book I talk a little about exactly this on page 4. Duane Ok, ok, now I really need your date code book:grin:
I don't know when the strike was, but obviously the part date codes will be way early for the cars built just after the start up. That is just common sense. If you have info from vehicles built at the same plant and the same week as yours, you can cross reference the dates and learn all kinds of things. That would be one way to tell the above info. Duane
Duane....what a shameful plug...........here's another one... For ordering information to recieve Duane Heckman's "The Date Code Book" go to www.atlantabuick.com Go to the Gran Sport section and there you will see a section on Date Coding, click it on and print off an order sheet. :TU:
