This is an original 1969 Shelby GT350 4 speed carburetor. The carburetor shown has not been rebuilt. I wanted to go through the process of identification and rebuilding of this part.
The first thing you want to do is identify the carburetor and make sure it is correct for your application. Some cars may have more than one "correct" carburetor. There are numerous online resources to find identification numbers. I recommend checking with other Shelby owners and websites that are specific to your car.
The carb tag is a good place to start. You should know these are easily removed and they are reproduced. This one says "C9ZF-C". That is short for C9ZF-9510-C.
The base plate is also stamped C9ZF-C. Additionally, there is a small date code on the top cover of this carburetor. So, we now have four things that we can use to properly identify this carburetor. They are the history, the tag, the stamping and the date code.
Now that I am confident I have the correct part, I made a list of all the things I felt a correct looking carb should have. This list includes finishes on various parts. It also includes missing parts and the name of a qualified rebuilder. This will be the hardest part of the project. It requires networking and looking as many caburetors as possible. I tried to find original unrestored and new old stock pieces. I also added a few common detailing marks to my list. However, this should not be your main focus. That is a lot of work, but I think you will agree the final product is worth it.
Rather than get into a long discussion about the individual finished of various parts, I chose to let the carburetor rebuilder select the finished he thought were correct. This carburetor was "run-tested" on an engine and adjusted before it was returned to me. I was very happy the end result.
When I got the carburetor back, I changed the finish on the choke retaining ring from gold dichromate to silver. A few of the linkage rodds were changed from gold dichromate to black. This information comes from the research I did earlier. I also added a few of the more common detailing marks. Adding these marks is definetly an art. You have probably seen many cars that have markings that are inappropriate or out of place. The internet is littered with people asking for markings even though they have not checked the boxes of getting the basic items correct first.
When I sent the carburetor out to be rebuilt, I did keep the original identification tag. In most cases, original tags are not like the reproductions and I didn't want to take the chance of it getting lost.
I added a new old stock Ford dashpot and fuel filter to the carburetor. You can see the detailing is tastefully done and not overpowering the restoration.
There are always a few more parts when you are restoring a car. Don't forget about the heat shield and the throttle linkage if you doing a 1969 GT350 carburetor. This heat shield is different on the 1969 Shelby.
Hopefully, this article will help you with some ideas when restoring your carburetor. Just like restoring the car, you need a plan, you need to do your research and you need help. The finish product is a result of how well you can execute those things.