Checking originality of a 1957 corvette fuel injection

[John S.]

I wondered if anyone could enlighten me as to how to check the authenticity of a 1957 fuel injection corvette.. That is without removing the heads. There are so many out there that some have made up a fuel injection set up but the car was not original. Please let me know a few items to check.

[Gary C.]

Re: Checking originality of a 1957 corvette fuel injection

FYI - 1957 FI options are well documented in the '56-7 Judging Manual.

Your question depends on the VIN, date of production, etc. as to the what components one would expect to find.

Gary
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[James G.]

Re: Checking originality of a 1957 corvette fuel injection

Gary just said it. Body will tell a lot as finding emblem attach holes. Round throttle rod on firewall is another. Post some phots and history as known

[Jim L.]

Re: Checking originality of a 1957 corvette fuel injection

If the heads are original and unmolested, the valves will be swirl polished have have reduced diameter valve stems in the region that is in the air flow path.

[Mike M.]

Re: Checking originality of a 1957 corvette fuel injection

jim: got educated on the heads. got any photos? OD of valve stem exposed to flow? thanks, mike

[David B.]

Re: Checking originality of a 1957 corvette fuel injection

If the heads are original and unmolested, the valves will be swirl polished have have reduced diameter valve stems in the region that is in the air flow path.

Your statement is true however all 56-57 HL cam equipped engines were designated with the same type valve #3730860 inlet and 3730859 exhaust

[Jim L.]

Re: Checking originality of a 1957 corvette fuel injection

jim: got educated on the heads. got any photos? OD of valve stem exposed to flow? thanks, mike

Mike, I don't know any specific dimensions. The picture below shows generally how a swirl-polished valve with the reduced diameter stem appears. In the FWIW department, the correct valves were available from GM for a long time. I bought a set in the early '80s.

swirl-valve.jpg

[Mike M.]

Re: Checking originality of a 1957 corvette fuel injection

thanks jim and dave. mike

[Todd H.]

Re: Checking originality of a 1957 corvette fuel injection

A good car builder can definitely fake a fuel injected '57 Corvette. It's not that hard. If there's no known history of the car you're looking at you may never know for sure.

But as Jim said, locating the side emblems correctly is something that even some good fakers don't do right. Of course many old Corvettes have had body panels replaced, so you might have a real FI Corvette with incorrectly placed emblems. Please post pictures if possible.

[Mike M.]

Re: Checking originality of a 1957 corvette fuel injection

i carefully examine the throttle rod when attempting to differentiate a real vs repo rod. mike mccagh