fuelie or no fuelie??

[mattyg92]

i dont know if this question was asked, but how can you tell if a 63 is a factory fuelie car? tag ? or vin?

thanks for all the help

 

[mattyg92]

i think i found the code

L84 ?? that would be in the glove box?

 

[BarryK]

Matt

L84 was option code for the fuelie motor. If the original motor was in the car, on the stamp pad would also be a derivitive of the vin # and a 2 letter coded that idenitifies the motor as a fuelie motor on the stamp pad.
Once that original motor is gone (since you are looking at mostly NOM cars) unless you have original documentation on the car such as the original window sticker, order form, sales order, etc there is no way to prove 100% whether a was an original fuelie car.
As far as *I* would be concerned, if the car is currently a NOM car than it wouldn't matter what it used to be, it's not one any longer since that original motor and fuelie unit is gone.
If a car is a NOM than I wouldn't pay any extra for it just because the owner is claiming it was originally a fuelie car.

The trim tag and VIN plates under the glove box are not going to tell you what motor was in the car.

There are certain things you could look for that could give you hints one way or the other but without real documentation all it will ever be is hints.

for example: the fuelie cars had a hole in the radiator core support for the air intake breather hose for the fuel injection unit. seller may have a core support with that hole and claim the car was once a fuelie car because of that but unless I'm mistaken I believe that all the service replacement core supports had the same hole so you can't use a hole in the core support as definite proof of the car being a fuelie car.

I'm FAR from any expert on fuelie cars (or anything else for that matter!) but I THINK the fuel cars also had a couple holes in the drivers side inner fender where the fuelie unit air intake tube mounted for support. Just because there are holes there doesn't prove it's originally a fuelie car as anyone could put the same holes there to make it look like a fuelie car, but on the other hand you could look and if there are NO holes than most likely the answer is that it never was one....... unless the innr fender was replaced and the replacement part didn't have the holes.

There are a few other possible signs to look for that may indicate a fuelie car.

Without documention all you can really do it look at all th "posible" indications to see if it adds up to making sense if the car could have been a fuelie . It's easier to disprove a car than it is to prove it since almost everything could be faked up to make it appear to be a fuelie car to bring a higher resell price

 

[Kid_Again]

Here are a few things to look for. The left hand exhaust manifold (casting number 3797942) has a hole for the choke tube. Carb'd version had the hole on the passenger side. Take a look at the distributor - if it has an aluminum collar on it which clamps the two halves together (and sits on a thick aluminum spacer), then it's a FI distributor. The FI distributor also has an oil supply line fed to it from the oil pressure take-off. The correct distributor cap is shorter than stock to account for the added height of the FI distributor. If they swapped out the correct distributor, then you can't tell but expect to pay $$$ for the correct version.

Also look for high redline tach.

The ignition shielding will have the grounding clip located in the "FI" notch rather than the "Carb" notch.

Hope this helps.

BTW, I have an allegedly original non-FI '65 sb and it has the FI radiator support. Go figure.

 

[mattyg92]

well it does have the hole in the radiator support, and it also has the high redline tach

the motor in it is nom, so it just has a regular tach

but thanks for the info!!

 

[c5vetter]

hole in rad support doesn't really mean diddly! all SERVICE REPLACEMENT rad supports for the mid-years had the hole!

 

[Kid_Again]

one other thing to look for, the FI flags on the sides had widely spaced pins whereas the standard corvette emblem pins are closer together...easy to just put a shop light up under the fender on the driver's side and see if you have plugged holes - likely not