'57 EL Motor

[Edward L.]

I've come across a '57 548 block which has an EL ( Fuel Injection ) suffix. However, the the block seems to have been cast and assembled during September, 1956. This, of course, is entirely too early for a '57 fuel engine.

Was the EL code used for any other production vehicle ( truck, passenger car ) in 1957? Thanks,

Ed

[Tom Freeman]

Re: '57 EL Motor

My source only shows the '57 FI Vette motor.

tom...

[Verle R.]

Re: '57 EL Motor

Can you post a picture of the pad?

Verle

[Tom Parsons]

Re: '57 EL Motor

Why is it too early????? FI was a planned option and it seems perfectly reasonable that preproduction of ANY option could have occured as early as Aug or Jul. WITHOUT QUESTION, there probably would not have been many engines assembled in Sep 56, but it would certainly be believable that a few were. You very well may have one of the earliest FI blocks.

[Loren L.]

I'm looking at a picture of the SR-2 &

4 1957 Fuel Injected cars at Nassau Speedweeks, December 7, 1956. When do you think these motors were built?

[Clem Z.]

1957 black widow

we had our 57 FI 150 coupe NASCAR car in december of 1956 to prepare for the daytona beach race in february of 1957. we qualified 12th but burned a piston durring the race,went over to Smokeys,installed a new piston and drove it back home to Pa. in those days you drove the car to the races. we started back in 55 with 55 chevys that we drove to darlington SC,raced them and drove them back home. things were a lot different back then

[Tom Parsons]

Re: '57 EL Motor

On top of all this, it is reasonably well known (more so by people who are much more FI knowledgeable than I am) that at least two 56 Vettes had prototype FI (265 or 283 is unknown) and there were also some VERY early 57s used for FI R&D. So this also lends credibility to the strong possibility that you could have a genuine Sep EL block. But then, this raises another question. How well do you know the background/history of this EL block? Is it TRULY a GENUINE EL block (or could it be a restamp)? If you have rather conclusive proof that it is genuine, then it is probably the genuine article.

[John P.]

Re: '57 EL Motor

ED, Michael Hunt's early survey of 57's, incomplete as it is, shows the earliest respondent to his survey with an EL engine as Vin# 930 with the engine pad (not cast date)as F1116EL and Vin# 954 with Pad dated F1109EL, CastK16. There obviously could be earlier ones. Haven't had a chance to look at the Spring 75 issue (Volume One, Number Four) of the Corvette Restorer which addresses the '57 Engine Suffix issue. I have Corvette Fuel Injection literature printed in Sept.56 unfortunately it does not address production data. There is a number of sheets related to fuel injection in the currently sold 57 Assembly manual showing a 10-22-56 Release date.(may not be the original release sheets)I'll let you know if I can find anything else that would be helpful.