I have a friend who has plans to take his beautifully restored '57 model down to Fla. in a week or so (from Canada) to enjoy over the winter and possibly sell if presented with a good offer while there. He has owned the car for approx. 40 years - bought it from the first owner here in Canada when it still had the original fuel injected 283 engine in it. Like many he got tired of trying to fight with the Fuelie combo and swapped it for a less frustrating carb'd 327/300hp in the late sixties. Now that all the original stuff is long gone, he is wondering if there is any way to prove it's identify as an original F. I. equipped unit... anyone have any ideas as to whether there were some oddities particular to the F. I. cars verses the carb'd versions that would provide him with the proof he needs? Any and all info and suggestions are much appreciated .... Randy
-
-
Re: F. I. Car Identification
Given that it is supposed to be a 283 hp car, there should be a factory hole in the firewall for the distributer driven tachometer, and the tach should indicate twice cable speed vs cable speed for a generator driven tach. I think the ws washer on a 57 is located in the same position for a FI car as a carb car, but I'm not 100% sure of that. The 58 and later models had a lot of clues left behind by a missing injection unit. Most were the result of the fender mounted air cleaner and the attendent modifications. The 57 air cleaner was mounted to the air meter on all but a handfull of special "airbox" cars. -
There are clues but no proof
In '57 the features unique to the non-airbox FI Corvettes were relatively minor.
The firewall accelerator bellcrank was round rather than flat. The cove emblem holes were not centered vertically in the cove. The wiring going to the FI unit T-shaped terminal may or may not have been separate from the engine wiring harness on the firewall. The exhaust manifolds had no hot air tube in either of them.
The non-airbox FI cars used 889, 905, or 906 distributors. These did not have a provision for tach drive, so the conventional generator tach drive was used.Comment
-
Re: There are clues but no proof
And, if the original block is still there, build suffix of EL
VerleComment
-
Re: F. I. Car Identification
Jerry covered all FI-unique 57 items. ONLY the air box FI's had dist. driven tack. mikeComment
-
Re: There are clues but no proof
That's probably why there are so many "original" 57 FI cars around.:)Comment
-
Re: There are clues but no proof
Ed, maybe that's where the statement"there were only 1100 (?) fuel injected '57 Corvettes made of which only 3000 remain" came from.Comment
-
So ONLY 128 cars????? *NM*
Comment
-
Re: There are clues but no proof
I would suggest that he take the car to either Jerry Bramlett (above) or Jerry Clark to have it rebuilt as it once was. The value will be much higher.
Ol' GeezerComment
-
Re: There are clues but no proof
EL suffix ok for solid lifter manual tranny 57 fi vet but other suffixs exist including EM (250 hp hyd lifter engine with man. tranny) and FK( for the 250 hp Powerglide). if its an EN suffix, have owner call me. mikeComment
-
Re: F. I. Car Identification
If the car was bought new in Canada wouldn't there be export/import docs somewhere?
RobComment
-
Re: F. I. Car Identification
Rob: If I recall corectly, my friend contacted G M Canada Restoration Services regarding their usually excellent registry for older cars sold in Canada, only to be told that of all the cars they kept records for, the Corvettes prior to the sixties were their worst documentation-wise and they couldn't be of any more assistance than that. It surprised me somewhat because of how easily and completely they managed to help me authenticate my first generation Z28 from their records - but I guess the Vettes were a different animal from another era than my car... RandyComment
-
Re: F. I. Car Identification
Am familiar with lots of c-2's (canadian exports) having their pedigrees being uncovered by GM canadian records. Have never heard of any C-1s (exported to canada) whose owners were succesful in getting pedigrees. Doubt records in canada existed pre-63. If they do and you all out there have examples, get in the POST IT HERE mode so the rest of us can learn and benefit. mikeComment
Comment