63vettezo6

I was reading a post about how to tell if a 57 was a fuelie or not and what i was wondering...Is there a way to verify that a 63 is a real fuelie or not? Just wondering. Thanks

fuelie65

I did some research on my 65 to verify...I am not an expert but one easy thing to look for is to check the inner fender wells where the side flags would go on a non fuelie and see if they were filled in at one point in its life. If "std" flags were originally on the car, not the fuel injection script that would be an easy tell-tale.

Also in 65 there is a purple wire for the injection unit that originates in the wiring harness...not sure if it's the same for 63

You can also look at the radiator core support, although it could have been changed at one time, look for obvious indications it may have been swapped out...

vintagecorvette

1963's have the side flags and the Fuel Injection script. Early 1963 Fuelies do not have the purple wire. I think that the solenoid that required the wire first appeared in 1964.

Other than the 3 holes in the inner driver side fender well for the air cleaner and the hole in the radiator support and the emblems I can not recall anything else.

oWEN

MikeM

That purple wire is on '63 carb cars. It's the starter circuit wire from the switch to the starter solenoid. There is a male/female hardshell connector taped inside the harness above the wiper motor. The fuel injection pigtail to operate the fuel enrichment solenoid was simply spliced in between the two existing hardshells but this jumper didn't appear until early in the '64 model run with the release of the 7380 FI unit.

Sorry to tell you this but a standard car can be converted to a complete FI car without being detectable. It's all bolt on and/or drilling holes.

If you like to use a remote starter button, that hardshell connection is a handy place to plug in a remote button.

mattyg92

according to the previous owner, mine is suppose to be a real fuelie car, i cant prove it, but all the signs are there, and it looks like the rad support was never replaced.

i wish there was a more documented way of telling!!

fuelie65

I believe mine is a "real" fuel car too but who really knows !!
It is fun tracing history and checking numbers but after awhile we all forget what these cars are all about....fun

mdz06vetter

two other "tell tail signs" - 80lb oil pressure gauge; and the redline is different on the tach - different color and different RPMs

mattyg92

i do have the high redline tach, but my oil pressure guage only goes to 60lb.

i did look further into this, and i found a fuelie 63 on ebay for sale, i believe it is still on there

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Fuel-...QQcmdZViewItem

and this vehicle, after looking at the pics, has the same oil pressure guage as mine, 60lbs

mine was built in april, maybe early cars had this pressure guage???? i dunno

MikeM

There were four guage cluster assemblies in '63. 1st design and 2nd design which was the different color red line on the tach face and then there was the base/hp engine and SHP engine. All SHP used the same oil guage and red line as did the base engine and the HP.

I think the speed warning tach was part of the early assembly.

mattyg92

what is a speed warning tach? sorry im still learning!

Injected Stingray

I'm not sure about the early 63s but the 64s had the close ratio trans with the 2:20 first gear. If your trans matches your Vin# check the rotation with the trans in first. I think the SP/HP 340 and 365 HP cars had the close ratio to. But this could be used to eliminate the possiblity.Also you could find a F.I. Expert to help you thats what I did. Good luck and I hope you have one.

boulderkid

"There appears to be no correlation between engine horsepower and 60/80 lb. oil pressure gauges. 60 lb. pressure gauges are used on all 1963 cars until approximately VIN 16000, at which time the 80 lb. gauge begins to appear. Between VIN 16000 and the end of production, both 60 and 80 lb. gauges are acceptable." Per pg. 23 of the Fourth Edition, 1963-1964 Corvette Technical Information Manual & Judging Guide. Another verification detail on the '63 F.I. original radiator core support is the protruding reinforcement sections, approx. 2" wide, where the horns mount. As I understand it, these do not appear on replacement/repro. F.I. core supports, nor do the '64 supports have these reinforcements. If your core support has these reinforcements, that is another good indicator regarding your car's F.I. pedigree (reference pg. 109 of the Judging Guide).

Mark_Milner

Hey, I have seen this car before. It was on ebay. The guy had a bunch of pictures but not of what was really needed to be seen.

Or are you the guy that was selling?

CorvetteTechInc

Just to summarize, or add to the list:

-6500 Redline Tach. Early ones (not all and cutoff vin rangeS)
-80lbs Oil Pressure (Some early may have been 60's)
-Inner fender holes
-Radiator Support
-Emblems installed in a specific location
-Engine Code "RF"
-All FI Cars had a Posi of 3.36 or higher I believe)
-Obvious items such as exhaust manifolds and distributor
-6qt oil pan
-No Steering Damper

Each of the above items though can be created if someone wanted to.

If it's an original motor and never been out ofthe car there is ussually the "RF" code in white on the back of one of the cylinder heads. Also, later built cars had two head gaskets to reduce compression/detonation per a service bulletin.

mattyg92

no i am the new owner!!! i am surprised at how many people were watching this car!

Ironcross

The double head gasket on the SHP engines started with the 1962 model run. All of the listed rear axle ratios were availble with any engine. Nothing specific all the way to a 4.56. Most performance Vettes were probably special order and the 4 series gears more likely that not were ordered at the same time and more common among the solid lifter Vettes.

MikeM

As a running change during the '63 model yead, the SHP engines (340, 360) got a new oil pump part number that had a higher tension relief valve spring to raise engine oil pressure from around 40-45 to 55-60, hot and running. Therefore, the requirement for the gauge to reflect that higher pressure without pegging it on the SHP engines. That was the reason for the gauge change. It does not mean that some of the lower horse engines didn't randomly have it for some reason.

ALL the '63 radiator supports have the wide flat spot mentioned here. ALL engines. They also had a strap across the bottom of the round stock reinforcement X brace welded at the bottom of the support. I think the Coffman repop is now accurate. "64 and later do not have this wide surface.

Injected Stingray

Couple to add;
Finned Damper
Deep Groove Alt. Pulley
no power steering Aval.
Idler

Seaside63

I think almost all these features were common between the 340hp and 360hp models.

Did anyone mention the exhaust manifolds? They are different in that the passenger side does not have the choke hole drilled and the driver side has the choke hole but no accessory/alternator boss.

If I'm not mistaken, the water pump pulley, as well as the crankshaft pulley, are also unique to the 340/360 (SHP) motors.

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I did read somewhere once that the default axle ratio on FI cars was 3.70 to 1 unless otherwise specified. (I can't verify this though, it is only hearsay as far as I can tell)

The FI radiator support is difficult to find since it was only made that way for one year. All later replacements were the 64-67 style with the FI air inlet in order to allow one part to serve for all replacements.

Radiator supports were commonly lost to rust or collision damage and it's very hard to find an original. Mine has some small rust and I looked for 10 years before giving up on finding a replacement. I will just have to repair the rust and use what I've got.

Original Air Cleaners have become very scarce and insanely expensive. most were thrown away over the early years. Mine is missing.

There is a steel reproduction A-C available but I've never heard if it's any good or not.

Injected Stingray

Yes your correct most of the 360 stuff was on the 340 but if seen in combination with the F.I. specific it's an indicator. Also Jack Podell makes a Repo Air Cleaner for $2300.00 I have not seen one so I can't say how accurate they are. Just saw a piece of crap A/C go for $3500.00 on ebay you can get them cheeper though. Makes me glad that I have all my correct parts except the right side manifold that you mentioned. I bought one on Ebay it was a repop sold to me as original.