On 1/11/2013 8:31 PM, Jimandruthhome@aol.com wrote:
>
> Maybe the Brits were right to be skeptical about the willingness of US
> dealers/mechanics to deal with Bosch mechanical injection. I know Corvettes
> had mechanical injection from way back, but were their injection systems
> Bosch? I'm thinking that back in the 50's and early 60's everything from
> overseas was pretty suspect, at least re service, so either GM had their own
> injection system, or it was licensed from Bosch or another overseas company
> but the source was never mentioned out loud. Not a Corvette guy, so just
> speculating about that.
Jim, I tend to think the business about unwillingness to learn fuel
injection is more apocryphal than substantive. The technology was
changing in a lot of ways by then (note that 4As had had, for example,
several years of IRS suspension by the time PI showed up), and the
savvier mechanics would have been eager to keep up. The factory may
have been reluctant to provide training because of the cost, but my
experience in dealerships is that there were always a few people who
wanted to stay current, and the truth is, one didn't have to have a shop
full of mechanics capable of fuel injection work--one just needed at
least one guy who could do it.
As for Corvettes, IIRC, fuel injection was a special option in the year
of introduction in 1957, and there were about a thousand made that
year. It was a Rochester system first developed by, in part, Zora
Arkus-Duntov, but the development was initially begun for Pontiac, I
think, because Pontiac's sales were flagging and GM was beginning a
program (run by John Delorean) to attract younger buyers to Pontiacs . A
slightly different system (better fuel metering in cold weather) was
actually installed on the new 1957 model, the Bonneville, on 600 units,
one for each dealer.
Unlike either Lucas or Bosch at the time, the Rochester system was
continuous injection, with the injector nozzle positioned very near the
intake valve, and fuel metering done by vacuum signals from the air
metering unit to several diaphragms operating levers controlling the
fuel valves. Compared with the Lucas PI system, it was actually a lot
more fidgety and fiddly, with lots more moving parts and multiple vacuum
signals.
Cheers.
--
Michael Porter
Roswell, NM
Never let anyone drive you crazy when you know it's within walking distance....
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