I guess everyone heard that Fuelies were difficult to get to run right. My only experience on this issue was what my brother told me while working his first job with my Father who was service manager at Benson Chevrolet in Brooklyn New York most of his life. The story goes none of the line mechanic's could get the car to run right ( Think It was a 61 or 62), so they called in a big shot from Chevrolet. My brother said before the day was done the engine caught fire ? My question, did many Corvette owners switch Fuelies to carbs, and was their really a big difference in straight line performance ?
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Re: Fuelies to carbs
Walter, Many fuel injections car were switched for carbs. Reasons being the mechanics in the old days didn't have a clue how to fix them and basically were not interested in learning. Have proof of that crude statement.
In 1961-62 I went to the GM Training center outside of Pittsburgh. Sponsored by a local dealer who sold a ton of fuel cars but only had one man what could fix them. That was my pal Tim Grabiak of Grabiak Chevrolet in New Alexandria, PA.
So his Uncle Sam Grabiak sponsored me to go take the classes. In my class I was the kid of the group. Classroom was packed full. Most of the mechanics slept thru the class. Most flunked the tests and were not interested.
One day at lunch I asked the instructor of the United Delco courses if it bothered him that the guys were sleeping and snoring during class. He said of course it bothers me he said as GM is in trouble with the fuel injections as getting a lot of customer complaints and the dealers have no one to fix them. But he said he couldn't say anything.
I actually thought he was afraid to say anything but kept quiet. I was only 18-19 years old.
Walter. Sorry to ramble again. A fuel injection properly rebuilt can absolutely scream and is quit reliable. Now I am talking the 58 to 65 FI's.
'57's take a bit of educated tinkering.
Another problem Walter with the FI's in the old days is this. The '58 to '63's and even early '64's used a cranking signal valve for starting.
So when one blew out you went to your dealer and bought another one. Even in the old days they were expensive. I can remember paying a bout $35.00 for them in the 70's or so. So you went home and put the new one on your FI car and it still ran like crap. Same thing happened in the dealerships. So next thing was that the FI was taken off and scrapped or put on the shelf.
Here's one more funny story and I will quit.
When I was a kid I collected fuel injection units. I mean collected them big time. Had literally 100's of them until I got into trouble with my Dad.
One day he came down to the basement and said to me. Your Mother and I are very upset with you. The whole town is making fun of you for collecting all these worthless fuel injections. Dad's best friend owned a Chevy Dealership and he told Dad that I was crazy to collect them as they were crap and no one could fix them.
That my friends is a 100% true story. So Dad said to me. Don't you dare bring another one of them into this house.
So now you know the story gang. Very few could fix them in the old days so they went to a carburetor. John -
Re: Fuelies to carbs
John, Great story.....
Do you still have those 100's of fuelie units?
Your mom and dad were a little wrong weren't they. If they only knew what their values would be in the future, they'd have been able to retire early.
RichComment
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Re: Fuelies to carbs
I wish I did Richard. I will be retiring when you read my obit here. Love what I do for the most part. JohnComment
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Re: Fuelies to carbs
My friend Nick Malik bought a new 1965 triple white FI vert. He'd had it changed to a carb almost immediately. And no, neither he nor I knows where the car or the FI unit are. :-)
Rich1966 L79 Convertible. Milano Maroon
1968 L71 Coupe. Rally Red (Sold 6/21)
1963 Corvair Monza ConvertibleComment
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Re: Fuelies to carbs
back in the early 70's, in morgantown wva where i was a student, i bought two 4800's for 100 bucks then later that year,got a complete 380 unit with air cleaner and distributor for installing a 4bbl carb on the owners 65. another young buck didn't care for the K/O's on his 64 365 AC convert and i traded 4 chrome reverse steel wheels for the 4 K/O's. morgantown was loaded with c-1 and c-2's back then. a junk yard just over the pa line in mt morris pa, had an exclusive contract with state farm and any corvette that was totaled went to Jack's junk yard for 25% of the car's value. i picked thru a bunch of c-2's that Jack acquired. jack and i had a deal, i'd take all the busted t-10s and muncies to my place, rebuild them using the parts from the damaged ones, then return the salable trannys to the yard the following week. . that got me anything i wanted at Jacks. jack was quite a dirt track race car driver, always 427 powered chevelles. fond memories and terrific deals. mikeComment
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Re: Fuelies to carbs
A good friend of mine owned a performance speed shop in the 1960s after working as a mechanic at a Chevrolet dealership. He too told me that at both places he converted many FI cars to carburetor and the FI units where thrown out!Comment
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Re: Fuelies to carbs
Lucky for me that the Chevy dealer I grew up in had one mechanic that was in love with fuel injections. Tim taught me a lot in the old days. He was hording the FI units tha the got for free. Also got a lot of them that were supposed to go back. I bought a ton of them from him for $25.00 each. Most I ever paid was $50.00. That was a lot of money in the 60's you know.Comment
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Re: Fuelies to carbs
My 1960 was missing the Fuel Unit when I bought it 42 years ago (real Fuel car). A friend I worked with took "a truck load" of F.I. parts to the dump in the early 70's because they weren't worth anything. If we just had a crystal ball back then . . . Don H.Comment
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Re: Fuelies to carbs
In 59, I had a 58 fuelie In my 50 Chevy coupe. I loved it, but it was hard to start at 2 below zero (even with a wool blanket on top). Other than that, I loved whistling through town with my 57 air cleaner and script lettering from the 58 Vette mounted just below my trunk lid. No one would race me. I sold the unit taking a 57 dual quad set in exchange plus $150 bucks. I loved the low end with the dual quads and the throttle noise it would make with the 3 stage progressive linkage, but I missed the 3500 rpm on up superior torque of the fuelie. Nothing would match that feel of turn on torque.
Stu FoxComment
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Re: Fuelies to carbs
I drive my '57 FI ex-racer with it's 4800 all spring, summer, and fall.
It has been completely reliable.
It was rebuilt by John's Fuel Injection of Los Angeles about 5 years ago, mainly because it had sat for about 15 years. I'm convinced that many other problems these old engines develop were blamed on that new-fangled FI thing.
They're not rocket science, but they're different and I'm learning. I'm sure glad there are good guys like John DeGregory around to ask questions of.Comment
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