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What an offer from Jerry. When Jerry is done with your unit you will be the happiest FI owner on the planet. That unit should already be on its way. Don't hesitate.
Ronald, I believe you've already spent plenty. Also, I doubt you'll be able to fix that FI system with a little home tinkering. I'm guessing your unit and distributor have many of his usual errors, and maybe even some I've never seen before.
I used to repair FI systems. I closed my business about two years ago and took down my website. But, contrary to some silly rumors, I'm not dying anytime soon. If you will ship me your FI unit and distributor and pay for return shipping, I'll repair and calibrate your system at no charge for my labor. I'll first estimate the cost of any parts needed so you can decide if you want to proceed. If you don't, I'll ship your unit right back to you.
This offer is in appreciation for you having filled out your profile completely and for posting so openly about your FI problems. I do hate internet anonymity.
You can call me on my Top Secret listed phone number (251) 478-4003 if you want to discuss this. I'll be glad to supply references.
Sincerely,
Jerry Bramlett
Mobile, AL
Jerry, That is such a generous offer... I am deeply moved... I will call you tomorrow morning and will ship it to you.... I am truly confident that the FI unit will be in the right hands... Thanks from the bottom of my heart.... You will make my dream come true.... Ron
Jerry, That is such a generous offer... I am deeply moved... I will call you tomorrow morning and will ship it to you.... I am truly confident that the FI unit will be in the right hands... Thanks from the bottom of my heart.... You will make my dream come true.... Ron
This is absolutely the right decision. You have everything to gain from Jerry's expertise and nothing to loose. What an offer.
Keep the faith, George!
Jerry, Jim and the forum helped me tremendously with parts and tips to help me get my 57 4800R unit running again after 25 years of sleep. (Tip, ask Jerry for a correct 57 fuel filter, most repros are junk!).
thank you i will try to talk to jack again. i may have to buy 2 x4 and sell the unit. george
George, please don't sell your FI system if you got it with your '57 in 1968. I'll furnish free labor to repair it if you want me involved. Your CorvetteForum profile is filled out just as thoroughly as Ron's.
Ron Gerst shipped his 4520 FI unit and a 914 distributor to me this week.
I disassembled everything to find out why his engine wouldn't start. I found that no gas was flowing to the nozzles during cranking. The unit's starting by-pass circuit wasn't opening when the starting solenoid (on the fuel meter) was energized. The reproduction axle link was "bottoming out" on the spill valve splash guard when it needed to travel another 1/16" downward to open the starting by-pass circuit.
While I could just modify the axle link and probably get the FI to start my test car, I'm certain it wouldn't run right. Both the unit and distributor have assembly errors and some damaged or missing parts. I also think many cosmetic improvements are possible. I'm waiting to hear from Ron about how far he'd like to go with this repair.
I haven't heard anything from George Barber, so I assume he doesn't want my help. Good luck with your FI anyway, George.
What a story…. I was so close to working with Jerry when I was shopping around to up grade my 65 C2 to Rochester F.I. When he told me he was retiring & not taking in anymore work I felt I hesitated & my loss, bummer…
Sooooo happy to hear he is volunteering his expertise to help out others.. What a true professional & asset to this crazy car hobby/love…
“You get one shot”, spend whatever money you need to spend with Jerry & you will never look back…
UPDATE Jerry Bramlett so graciously volunteered to rebuild and install my Fuel Injection on my ’57 Corvette. I sent him my FI unit and he completely rebuilt it to NEW standards. He then installed it on his ’62 test car. I bought a car hauler trailer and towed my ’57 corvette 700 miles for Jerry home to install and tune my FI to my Vette. Jerry gave me a ride in his test car and my FI unit worked great - smooth idle and good acceleration. My ’57 ran on a 4 barrel absolutely perfect. It started on the first click of the starter and had a smooth idle at 500 RPMs and it would do that for hours without a hiccup. Jerry installed my FI on my car. He told me to drive it around his neighborhood. It idled poorly and when I stopped at the first red light it died and would not start. For 20 minutes I waved cars around me and then it started and I limped back to his driveway. I told Jerry that he needed to drive it and he did and he concluded that the air meter, butterfly shaft was worn and the bushings needed to be replaced. He then said that this FI unit CAN NOT use pump gas and MUST be operated on RACING FUEL ONLY…. He said that he could not do anything until I put in racing fuel. He did NO adjustment and sent me home…. I felt so terrible. It would not idle and was flooding when driven and could even drive around his block. I now have it at home. To cold start (temp has around 40 degrees) I push the accelerator to the floor and release it and then crank it till it starts. It is on high step and runs at fast idle for a minute or two. It then runs rough and dies. It then will not start. It took me 3 hours to get it started again. I called Jerry and he had me hold the accelerator to the floor and crank it till it clears. I would only crank it for about 20-30 seconds and give up, Jerry had me crank it for around a minute before it cleared. The FI unit is flooding out so it will not idle and I must clear the flood every time you attempt a start. Jerry tuned my FI unit to his 62, but did not tune it to my 57 because it floods. Jerry responded on email, “Your engine is not dying while it is idling because of flooding. That idle death is caused by percolation due to not using racing gasoline”. NOTE in my option, it was 41 degrees outside so it was not a fuel boiling problem (using Chevron 93 premium).
There must be someone out there can help me adjust my FI unit to stop its flooding and get it to run.
FWIW, I have a 57 fuelie 4520(#1526) that was restored by Jerry some years ago. I tried running AV gas and had mixed results until I used only race gas as he suggested (110 unleaded, ethanol Free). Since then it has run like a top. Good luck!
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (track prepared))
2019 C1 of Year Finalist (track prepared)
My '57 4800 was rebuilt by John Marquardt at John's Fuel Injection in Los Angeles about 13 years ago. It runs great, but it did suffer from some percolation until I switched to race gas last summer. That stuff costs around $18 a gallon where I live. But I drive it about 500 miles every summer.
I am in no position to question Jerry's FI advice. But I know that Jim Lockwood sets up these old units to run on Caifornia ethanol. Maybe you should check with him.
UPDATE Jerry Bramlett so graciously volunteered to rebuild and install my Fuel Injection on my ’57 Corvette. I sent him my FI unit and he completely rebuilt it to NEW standards. He then installed it on his ’62 test car. I bought a car hauler trailer and towed my ’57 corvette 700 miles for Jerry home to install and tune my FI to my Vette. Jerry gave me a ride in his test car and my FI unit worked great - smooth idle and good acceleration. My ’57 ran on a 4 barrel absolutely perfect. It started on the first click of the starter and had a smooth idle at 500 RPMs and it would do that for hours without a hiccup. Jerry installed my FI on mine. He told me to drive it around his neighborhood. It idled poorly and when I stopped at the first red light it died and would not start. For 20 minutes I waved cars around me and then it started and I limped back to his driveway. I told Jerry that he needed to drive it and he did and he concluded that the air meter, butterfly shaft was worn and the bushings needed to be replaced. He then said that this FI unit CAN NOT use pump gas and MUST be operated on RACING FUEL ONLY…. He said that he could not do anything until I put in racing fuel. He did NO adjustment and sent me home…. I felt so terrible. It would not idle and was flooding when driven and could even drive around his block. I now have it at home. To cold start (temp has around 40 degrees) I push the accelerator to the floor and release it and then crank it till it starts. It is on high step and runs at fast idle for a minute or two. It then runs rough and dies. It then will not start. It took me 3 hours to get it started again. I called Jerry and he had me hold the accelerator to the floor and crank it till it clears. I would only crank it for about 20-30 seconds and give up, Jerry had me crank it for around a minute before it cleared. The FI unit is flooding out so it will not idle and must clear the flood every time you attempt a start. Jerry tuned my FI unit to his 62, but did not tune it to my 57 because it floods. Jerry responded on email, “Your engine is not dying while it is idling because of flooding. That idle death is caused by percolation due to not using racing gasoline”. NOTE in my option, it was 41 degrees outside so it was not a fuel boiling problem (using Chevron 93 premium).
There must be someone out there can help me adjust my FI unit to stop its flooding and get it to run.
Jerry Bramlett is absolutely obsessed with percolation…. Jerry states that pump gas has a low boiling point and thus causes it to boil or percolate inside the FI unit. Let’s think about it…. In 1957 there was little to NO racing fuel available. AND more importantly why would GM build a car that had to run only on racing fuel. The manual Fuel Injection unit was on the Chevrolet Corvette and Bel Air passenger models and you cannot tell me that they would not idle or run on pump gas right out of the factory. This is crazy…. VP racing fuel that Jerry uses is $22 a gal here in Texas. Jerry buys it by the 55 gal drum and gets that price in Alabama down to $11 a gal. Buying racing fuel for my ’57 is unsustainable…. It would cost hundreds to full my tank each time.
One data point you are missing is that fuel percolation has been a problem for FI units since they were NEW!!!! This is NOT a new problem. If Jerry sez your unit is experiencing fuel perc because you use pump gas, you can take that to the bank.
Jerry tuned my FI unit to his 62, but did not tune it to my 57 because it floods
Something else you are missing is that an FI unit doesn't have to be re-calibrated just because it's been moved from one engine to another. FI doesn't know or care what engine is under it. All it knows is that air is coming in and it needs to put out fuel. The MOST you need to do is reset the idle speed and idle mixture when changing from one engine to another.
Another data point for you is that Jerry did you a big favor by NOT attempting to remedy those worn air meter bushings himself. Doing anything to those bushings is fraught with huge risk of screwing something up. The ONLY machinist in the nation who any of us trusted to do that kind of work died last year. Jerry was being cautious and didn't want to ruin your air meter by attempting an ill-advised repair.
And finally, the fact that your FI unit worked PERFECTLY on Jerry's '62 tells you that it is in PERFECT working condition. That it doesn't work for you on your car sez that something is wrong at your end. You'd be well served by figuring out what that is and not by blaming Jerry for having done you a huge favor.
Jerry Bramlett is absolutely obsessed with percolation…. Jerry states that pump gas has a low boiling point and thus causes it to boil or percolate inside the FI unit. Let’s think about it…. In 1957 there was little to NO racing fuel available. AND more importantly why would GM build a car that had to run only on racing fuel. The manual Fuel Injection unit was on the Chevrolet Corvette and Bel Air passenger models and you cannot tell me that they would not idle or run on pump gas right out of the factory. This is crazy…. VP racing fuel that Jerry uses is $22 a gal here in Texas. Jerry buys it by the 55 gal drum and gets that price in Alabama down to $11 a gal. Buying racing fuel for my ’57 is unsustainable…. It would cost hundreds to full my tank each time.
The issue you don’t seem to comprehend is that there was NO ethanol in pump gasoline in 1957, NONE, and today there is 10% ethanol in most available pump fuel. GM did not design 1957 cars to run on that mixture. Ethanol makes a HUGE difference. Ethanol-free gasoline is available all over Texas, use the “PURE GAS” app on your phone to find it near you. It will cost slightly more than pump gas. You may have to mix in a gallon or more per tank of 108-110 racing fuel to get the octane up high enough for a high compression Chevy engine to run properly.
OR, you seem to be a pilot, use aviation fuel and you will not have a problem.
Why not try running straight race gas as Jerry suggested?
I had very little gas in my gas tank, but Jerry never volunteered to drain my tank and put in his VP racing fuel.... He had a 55 gal drum and 5 gal can, but he may not have had any left. This pump gas issue did NOT come up until my car would not idle and was flooding .
Straight race gas would be great way to find out whether your problems persist or if Jerry was right. 5 gallons would be sufficient on an empty tank. Sunoco STD 110 runs about $15/ gallon here in NC from the pump. One pail of gas seems well worth your time considering the cost of owning and restoring a 57 Fuelie. If not, then stick with your carb set up. Good luck!
Stop criticizing Jerry, he did you an unbelievably nice favor. He had no duty to do so.
So, you have a car whose engine runs perfectly on a carburetor and pump fuel. You also have a fuel unit that runs perfectly on another engine with race gas. When you put the fuel unit on an engine running perfectly with pump gas and a carburetor, it has problems. Logically, I would say you've ruled out everything but the pump fuel. Get rid of the pump fuel and your problem will go away. Not difficult to figure out.
10-18-2023, 07:54 PM
