Dan,
One of the biggest questions I have had is with manufacturing number. Does it have a specific date code embedded in it, is it just a number that was used for a few years until they produced a new batch/number, or does the number signify a specific motor when originally produced? I see that some numbers were used during a few year period. Does carter have a master sheet anywhere of manufacturing numbers? Thank you for the help.
- Matt
You are welcome, does not feel like I helped much.
It was not a "batch" situation. It was some functional design change situation. Every engine and vehicle application would have its own model created if something was functionally different from a previous version for any reason. If the diameter of an exhaust port was changed, that would require a new identification. If the angle of a port changed, a new model would be required. A 1964 260/289 pump is very similar to a pump for FE engines EXCEPT for the rocker arm design. Similar pumps for two different engine families required different identifications. Hypothetical, imagine two pumps that look alike for the same engine and vehicle except one has runs at 5 psig and one runs at 12 psig would have meant a different model number.
If a master list existed it probably only exists in some literature collectors stuff somewhere now. When I was researching the pumps used on Cobras circa 2006-2010 the original company was already long gone. The brand name was owned by another company and they made nothing fuel related. All the "Carter"pumps being sold in the aftermarket were being made by a subcontractor of the day. A manager got me a contact name and information for the company that was actually making pumps at the time under the brand name. I talked with one of the contractor's engineers for a while. He told me flat out they had none of the engineering files from the 1960s. I wanted to know the specifications for diaphragm springs. They would have made some ethanol resistant spring and diaphragm assemblies for me if I could have found the original pump drawings. No joy.
The model numbers got larger over time as the designs changed. If you every leaf through a Ford MPC slowly you will see all kinds of "before" and "after" notations. Ford changed many parts frequently. In Fairlane engine parts there were often multiple parts revised, added, or superseded completely around the beginning of February and the middle of April every model year. In working with Cobra owners and restorers I have to know the original HP289 engine serial number for the car, engine assembly date, induction system option level ordered for the car if applicable, and which location installed the drive train to be able to even have clue which version of carburetor was in use at the time.
As illustrated in my Fairlane 260/289 related post above Ford did not always use a model of pump and entire model year. The 3568S model was used August 1962 until about mid December 1962. It was replaced by the 3623S which was used the second half of the 1963 Ford model year. In the case of 1962 Fairlane Ford used GM(R) made pumps for the whole 1962 model year for 221 V8s and used Holley(R) brand pumps for 260 V8s from their 1962.5 model year introduction through the end of 1962 model year production.
There is one real good example of Ford and Carter reusing a model number twice and that was the 3623S pump. Designed for Fairlanes they were also used in Cobras CSX2126 onward. The pump went obsolete for main stream Fords when the 1963 model year ended in the summer of 1963. Unfortunately for Shelby American the 3732S and 3734S models that replaced the 3623S model would not work in a Cobra because of a physical interference problem with fuel lines. Carter made two manufacturing runs of 1963 model year 3623S pumps months past the start of the 1964 model year run for new Cobras. Fords dropped the 3623S in summer 1963. Shelby installed 1963 model year 3623S pumps in new Cobras all the way into what they called 1965 model year Cobras in year 1965 when the last ones were completed. The actual supply chain was Shelby American had to create a purchase order to Ford Motor Company for pumps. Ford had to issue an purchase order to Carter for manufacture and delivery to Shelby American.
