I need an original style distributor for my 350 and I'm wondering if they have date codes on them. Is this something that the judges check for in a driver class in a car show? Also, are the rear end codes checked?? I need a 2.73 posi rear for mine. Thanks.

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1970 Chevy Custom El Camino aka Kaileigh
Green Mist & Silver w/Green Vinyl Top
350ci/300HP 4bbl & Factory Dual Exhaust
Non-SS with Factory Rallies!
My El Camino Home Page - www.dreamelectric.com (http://www.dreamelectric.com)

Yes, there are date codes on distributers. Was looking in the recent D&R catalog and I believe they will stamp them with use and date codes for ~ $250. I have mixed feelings regarding this. It's very doubtful a driver's class at a car show will check component casting and date codes.

Shawn,
'70 is on the money on all counts. But, aluminum base, vacuum advance, point type distributors are a dime a dozen. Just ask around, scout the swap meets and check with the ad section of TC. You can probably come up with something to suit your needs fairly easy. For example, I just went out into the shop and pulled a dist from my pile. The number stamped on the side of the housing is 1112002, which is for a 70 350. The date code is 0A20. 0=1970, A=Jan, and 20=the day. Almost all of this type dist starts with a 11XXXXX part number, and the combination of numbers/letters will follow the same pattern. The first number in the date code will be the last number of the year. So now you say " how do you know if it is a 63 or 73 dist?" Good question. I guess you just have to know about what kind of car it came from. These dist are basically ALL the same, the reason for different part numbers is because of the different weights and springs and vacuum advance combinations.
The early cast iron base dist and tach drive Corvette dist have a thin foil band around them with the numbers stamped in the band. If you find a dist with the date you need you can set the curve to suit your needs by changing weights and springs and vacuum pod.
While you're at it, stick a PerTronix unit in it and get rid of the points.

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Tom Parsons

For our year early distributors, the Chevrolet by the Numbers book gives application and vacuum advance numbers for all Chevrolet distributors, cast iron and aluminum, 1965 through 1975, USA and Canada.

I use these books every day for distributor ident. Most distributors I see are in the 1112000 and higher numbers, late model slow 350 stuff. 1112054 seems to be plentiful, nothing special, 350/195 hp, I think. This is a core is a core, a yup, we'll change the specs for your engine type distributor.

I am in the process of obtaining a foil cutter, for making the correct ident foil banding for earlier iron distributors. Once the distributor has been rebuilt to full stock spec my customer needs for historically correct application, I will be able to match the distributor to the engine/date codes. I only do this for people that need a full-on correct stock point restoration distributor, and will not do it for money, only when I do a customer's restoration. Distributor has to fit the engine time period, though. Don't care who will or won't like me doing it.

Some concours judges do look at the little out of the way numbers and such.

Hey DZ- Why don't ya pull me an 1111437 distributor out of your magic pile!!! http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif
That's the only original piece that I don't have for my LS6.

For a distributor to be original, does it have to match the date on the block or can it be before the date?

Also, my engine was built on November 17th, 1969 so would the distributor code be 9K17 for 1969, November 17th??

[This message has been edited by Shawn (edited 12-09-99).]

Shawn,
It is extremely rare for all parts that are bolted to an engine block to all be date coded the same, because they are all made at different locations and then shipped to the plant where the engine is assembled. Realistically, your dist would GENERALLY have a date 1-3wks within the time the engine gets assembled (it would be near impossible for Delco to assemble a dist on Nov 17 and then get it shipped the same day to the engine plant in another state). It is totally possible (and has been documented) for some engine components to be dated several months apart. An engine assembly date will be the latest date of all the individual components because the individual parts had to be manufactured before the engine could be assembled. When engine parts arrive at an engine plant or when assembled engines arrive at an auto assembly plant, the parts are SUPPOSED to be placed with the newest arrivals at the back and the oldest up front to be used next. But sometimes, for whatever reasons, there may be some parts that have been in inventory for a while and a large shipment of fresh parts come in and get stacked ahead of them. Then it may take some time (weeks or months) before they get rotated to the front again. This situation has actually happened at the old Corvette plant in St. Louis. So why not a Chevelle plant.
And while we are on the subject, there are extremely rare documentations (and I saw it happen at the old Corvette plant) of engine assembly dates LATER than the assembly of the car. How? When an engine is started up and run up at the end of the assembly line, and the engine breaks (and this is super rare), it has to be put asside for the engine to be R&R. As a result, the new engine might have a date AFTER assembly of the car. Also, the newly stamped VIN on the replacement engine block may not be positioned like it was on the original engine.

Now for a test question. Is this replacement, matching number engine, installed at the FACTORY, the original engine?
Let me know if you want the correct answer.

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Tom Parsons

DZ: you are right about the unpredictability of the time parts can sit before being used. Very often, the most important thing is : How close is this storage area to where I gotta go? This is the logic that warehouse fork lift truck operators use quite a lot. I worked in a place where I got asked if we could use $36,000 worth of pistons (obsolete crap) that had been in inventory for 3 years after they had been made obsolete.