1957 Corvette #10

[Edward M.]

Just saw the article about 1957 Corvette #10, the first FI car. Interesting article, and a beautiful car.

Did anyone else see that chassis when it was down in Kissimmee a few years ago?

I seem to recall that the front cross member of that chassis had holes for mounting the engine like the passenger car cross members had. Does that ring a bell with anyone?

If so, why would that car have a passenger car front cross member?

[David B.]

Re: 1957 Corvette #10

Edward,

I saw that car at Carlisle this year and met with the owner - nice guy. It has the standard front engine mounting bracket, but also had "engine stands" bolted to the bottom of the block.

For pictures and a more detailed description, see:

http://jmenterprizesinc.com/projects.html

Dave B.

[Chris E.]

Re: 1957 Corvette #10

Edward,

I saw that car at Carlisle this year and met with the owner - nice guy. It has the standard front engine mounting bracket, but also had "engine stands" bolted to the bottom of the block.

For pictures and a more detailed description, see:

http://jmenterprizesinc.com/projects.html

Dave B.

Holy smokes, that shop does some BOLD work.....some of those pictures look very daunting!

[Mike M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette #10

i'd guess the front cross member didn't leave st louis in '56. the "engine stands" bolted to the block are 55-57 chevy pass car front motor mount brackets. these brackets will not fit into the 49-54 pass car front crossmember currently installed on this chassis, so i see no reason for either on a 57 vette, pilot or not. very nice 57 vette. drooled over the first desing air cleaner.mike

[Edward M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette #10

Edward,

I saw that car at Carlisle this year and met with the owner - nice guy. It has the standard front engine mounting bracket, but also had "engine stands" bolted to the bottom of the block.

For pictures and a more detailed description, see:

http://jmenterprizesinc.com/projects.html

Dave B.

Dave, thanks for the info, and the pointer. Now my question is: why?

By 1957 is was apparent that the passenger car engine mounting was not going to work for the Corvette. The 1956 Corvettes did not have the holes in the crossmember for "passenger car engine mounting".

Why does this car have them? Did the front crossmember / suspension from this car come from an earlier passenger car?

I get that this is a pilot car, and perhaps scrounged up parts were used. I just would like to understand why this crossmember is on this car.

[David B.]

Re: 1957 Corvette #10

Edward,

Good questions all, and I don't know the answers. The owner told me that Ken Kayser had done some research on the car and perhaps Ken could shed some additional light on it if that is the case.

Dave B.

[Edward M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette #10

It puzzles me that a car of this significance would have an as yet unexplained anomaly like this.

I suspect there is a good reason; I am wondering what it is.

[Mike M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette #10

Dave, thanks for the info, and the pointer. Now my question is: why?

By 1957 is was apparent that the passenger car engine mounting was not going to work for the Corvette. The 1956 Corvettes did not have the holes in the crossmember for "passenger car engine mounting".

Why does this car have them? Did the front crossmember / suspension from this car come from an earlier passenger car?

I get that this is a pilot car, and perhaps scrounged up parts were used. I just would like to understand why this crossmember is on this car.

not only did the 56 crossmembers lack the holes, the 53 thru 62's all lacked the 49-54 pass car holes. mike

[Edward M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette #10

not only did the 56 crossmembers lack the holes, the 53 thru 62's all lacked the 49-54 pass car holes. mike

Yeah, so why is a 49-54 passenger car crossmember on that car? Puzzling

I saw photos not to long ago of a restored 55 Corvete chassis. It also had a crossmember with these holes.

[Rick A.]

Re: 1957 Corvette #10

me thinks not original to the car!?

[Karl L.]

Re: 1957 Corvette #10

When we started taking my "55" apart, to start the restro this
summer, we found it has a 49-54 6cyl front crossmember in it.
I would only surmise that it was in an accident at sometime in
its life time and is what they, (whoever) replaced the cross member with.

So.. The "57" can't possibly have the correct front cross member
in it. Too much water has crossed under the bridge since 1954
to 1957.

Karl.

P.S. Just because it's there when you pull something apart......
"DOESN'T MEAN IT WAS THERE FROM THE BEGINING!"

[Edward M.]

Re: 1957 Corvette #10

OK, the question has been answered. I just got an email from J & M enterprises, the guys who did the restoration. I asked them the same question, and they said

"the car no longer has that crossmember. We were on a tight deadline for the chassis build and had to use what we had for pics at the time. We went back and changed out the crossmember before putting the body on the car."

Mystery solved.

[Loren L.]

Re: 1957 Corvette #10

"Mystery solved."

Oh, really? "Why" was it there in the first place?

[Tyler T.]

Re: 1957 Corvette #10

This car and the 53 in the other photos (#29) will be on display at the Winter Regional. Come and ask the restorers in person.

Tyler

[Tom P.]

Re: 1957 Corvette #10

In the past 40+yrs, I've worked on and/or rebuilt many 49-54 pass car frontends and 53-62 Vette frontends.
I have observed that there are some VERY minor variations in the 49-54 pass car front cross members.
First, ONLY the 49-51 pass cars used the front engine mounts between the front engine plate and the top of the cross member. The 52-54 pass car front cross members did not get the 2 holes on top with the welded-on square reinforcement. The 52-54 cross members still had the flats where those holes were on 49-51 cross members, but no holes.
The 49-54 pass car cross members used a totally different bracket for the center steering arm than the one used on 53-62 Vettes. The bracket for pass cars was attached with 2 lower bolts and ONE bolt on the top of the cross member. Thus, ALL 49-54 pass cars got the center threaded hole on top of the cross member. The Vettes did not use any of these holes, BUT they DO HAVE the 3 flats for the holes.
If you examine the pass car and Vette cross members closely, you will observe that they are made up of heavy gauge steel pieces which are welded and riveted together. It would appear that when the individual pieces of the cross members were cut/stamped into their shapes, those flats on top of the cross member section were stamped into ALLLLLLLLLLL of them. For the 49-51 pass cars, the holes/reinforcements were added plus the upper, center hold for the center steering arm bracket. Then in 52 (when the pass cars changed from front mounts to side mounts) the 2 mount holes were no longer included but the center, top hole was still added/tapped.
That stamped top piece continued to be stamped in the same dies (why change it) for the 52-54 cars and 53-62 Vettes.
The two lower, rear holes for the 49-54 pass car and 53-62 Vette steering arm bracket were shared, and for the Vette bracket, only the two front holes had to be added.
Finally, ANY 49-54 pass car front cross member is a 100%, direct bolt-in swap for a 53-62 Vette. Even though the pass car cross members have additional holes, they are COMPLETELY covered by the lower fan shroud, so they can never be seen. Thus, If a 53-62 Vette front cross member is damaged beyond reasonable repair, or seriously rusted, and a pass car cross member is readily available (and I guarantee that it will be MUCH CHEAPER to acquire), use it!!!! No one will ever know after the car is assembled!

In these 2 pictures, you can see the top of the cross member in my 51 Chevy (my very first car and STILL my daily driver). You can see the square reinforcement that surrounds the hole (one on each side) for the front motor mounts used in 49-51 Chevys. Of course my 51 now has a V8 installation and those holes are no longer used. In 52, the pass cars switched to side mounts which are VERY similar to the side mounts of 53-54 Vette 6cyl engines.