Just looked at a project '57 Chevy hardtop with two fours. It has Corvette valve covers and it looks stock but I don't know if it was an after thought or did it come that way from the factory. The Chevy is all stock without any visual modifications, The owner has died so we can't ask any questions. I read that you could order one about any way you wanted back then so how can I tell if this is the way she rolled off of the line? Happy Trails, Mick
I've seen two dual-quad 270 horse 283 '57 Chevys that had the Vette valve covers with no other apparent modifications. Both, the owners discovered, had had warranty replacement engines, and apparently, the covers were on the warranty replacement engines. That said, it's not out of the realm of possibility that some engines intended for Vettes found their way into full size Chevys on the production line.
You would have to have the original bill of sale. Beyond that, making sure the carb numbers and date codes were reasonably correct, there is no way to tell.
Join the Vintage Chevrolet Club of America, they have real good tech help. This board here is concerned less with authenticity. As far as I know there is no way to tell if your car was actually delivered with a dual quad motor. The firewall tag will just tell if it was a six or an eight. The block has casting #'s that may tell if it's a counterfeit, but if they used the correct block and head castings, then they could re-stamp the pad at the front of the right head with a code that could make the whole thing believable.
Thanks for the input guys.... He is thinking about replacing the engine with a small block and making it a driver. I told him it might be worth checking to see if it was a real McCoy, might make a difference in value. The other reason if he is looking to get rid of the motor It would sure look good in a future roadster project. Hhhmmmm!!
Before the wife came along I had a 57 with the 2 four, 270 horse engine. It was a single 4 barrel car to start with but when I did frame off restoration on it I changed it over to the 270 horse and no so called experts could tell. The VIN must start with a V otherwise its an original 6 cylinder. The 2nd letter will be C for a Belair,B for a 210 or an A for a 150. The cowl tag will show nothing as far as drivetrain. I did a whole lot of research before building my clone and there are a lot of little differences in a 2 four car like pulleys, generator, etc. I don't think any 2 four passenger engine would come with vette valve covers because they used the batwing aircleaner and the pots mounted to a small stand on each valve cover. Also all 2 four motors, the 245 and 270 versions used the 997 heads and they are very expensive so people usually use the more common 539 powerpack heads.
The Corvette valve covers are probably wrong. The big oil bath "Batwing" air cleaner on the pass cars used the stock valve covers as a support. The stamped steel valve covers had brackets welded to them for this purpose. (See pix below) The Corvettes used a totally different air cleaner; low, flat stamped aluminum with a horse-hair type element. And the replies above are correct; no way that I'm aware of to authenticate a factory dual quad car. The block casting numbers for a DQ car are the same as a Power-pack car. (Oops, simultaneous posting above. Sorry!)
Both 245 and 270 hp. come with regular,orange, valve covers and the "real batwing" air cleaner on passenger cars, (not the Oldsmobile/Cadillac 4 barrel air cleaner everyone calls the batwing).......
57's with dual four's from the factory had a "bat wing" style air cleaner, not individual air cleaners like the Corvette had. They came with steel painted "Chevrolet" valve covers and not the aluminum finned "Corvette" covers. There is no definitive way of determining if it came from the factory with dual quad's short of having the factory invoice. There should be a VIN tag applied with screws, not rivets to the driver's side door jam. By extrapolating info from you can determine approximate build date for the car. Then you can check the casting date on the motor to see if it jives with the assembly date of the car. On the front of the block is a stamped sequence of numbers/letters that indicate the build date of the motor and the type of horsepower-transmission configuration it is. It all are in agreement then maybe you have the original motor. Hope this helps!
A dual quad car will also have a 3/8" fuel line out of the tank instead of the standard 5/16". I am sure all passenger 2x4 cars came with the script valve covers and not the corvette ones.
One of our clients bought it and since I'm tagged as a "car guy" he wanted me to check it out. That was the first thing I looked for was the bat wing'd air cleaner. I was snooping around and had to end up asking for it. He said that it came with individual air cleaners...... Might be wrong but still kool. Thanks guys for all of the help, I'll copy the post and forward it to him.... Happy Trails, Mick
Yawn, now if it had a 'factory' hemi or blown Stude 289 in it, then that would be an exciting Chevy find.
_______________________________________________________________ It is indeed possible. You could get the 2x4 set up with either hydraulic or solid cam. I think the solid version is 270HP, not sure of the hydraulic HP. The corvette covers, I'm not sure of, it could always been installed somewhere along the line. I don't think it would come on full sized car, but could be wrong.
what they all said--3/8 fuel line and sender,997 heads,different pulleys,gen and fuel pump-tin covers with batwing-was common in early 60's to put on vette valve covers cause the tins ones leaked after a few valve adjustments (I did it too). There is a nice 57 around here with a later eng/trans but I happened to notice the lg gas line and correct frame clips on it-he thought it was a 270 HP car but has no way of knowing either-hope this helps
Two friends had 270 hp 1957 Chevys in 57, and both had individual air cleaners and aluminum valve covers, and solid lifters. There was a two 4-barrel engine with hydraulic cam and less hp than the 270. I think that engine had the bat wing as you call it. A friend of my dad had a fuel injected 57 Vette with Powerglide and had a hydraulic cam and maybe 250 hp or something like that. Less that the famous 283 hp model. In spite of the Powerglide, it was still a pretty fast car. I used to get to drive it once in a while.
A 270 HP Chevy was a seriously fast car in its day. I would think the bragging rights would be considerably greater with the original engine than with a more modern SBC, especially if it has the correct Duntov cam with its great lopey idle.
Single 4 bbl Power Pack - 220 HP Dual Quad Hydraulic cam - 245 HP Dual Quad Solid cam - 270 HP Fuel Injection Hydraulic cam - 250 HP Fuel Injection Solid cam - 283 HP
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Man-O-Man, I agree with that. Even without Mr. Duntov, with an original "57" Block with rare staggered valve cover bolt heads would make a ride of envy. The two Four-Barrels with Corvette valve covers are just icing on the cake. Stay away from the modern sbc. You got a great nostalgia thing going and still be a great reliable driver! Not my car though but, I’m just say’n. Just my 2-cents & good luck,
I was around in '57 and two guys around my home town had 270 hp Bel Airs. One a 2 door hardtop and the other a post. Both of them had close ratio 3 speed transmissions and the gearing was really screwed up. They would go like 90 mph in low gear and almost as fast in 2nd as in 3d. A couple of other guys had 220 power packs with OD and 4:10 gears and they would smoke the 270's up to about 70 mph. A lot of street drags back then were 0 - 60 and those 220 overdrives would put it on the 270's every time.
I don't know about 90 in low gear but my 57 270 had the close ratio 3 speed with a 3.55 rear but it would do an honest 60 in low gear, 100 in second and high gear would help slow it down. It was more motor than those optional 8.00x14 tires and drum brakes could handle but what a ride.
I can verify that! Had a buddy back then with a 1958 Bel Air 2D hardtop, 283 three 2's, three on the tree. I was in the car when we did 90 in 1st gear, and it was still pulling when he backed off. Wicked.
I had a 58 Impala with a 348, three factory vacuum operated two barrels and a close ratio three on the tree. Not exactly remembering the first gear MPH but it was pretty high. Maybe in the 50-55 range. 90 MPH? I don't think so. Gary
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