How valuable is a fuelie '76 SDV?

[mgbeda]

Hi Folks,

I just got my latest "self-starter" and in the article about the 500 engine it states that only 1,200 fuel-injected 500's were ever made, 200 in '75 and the rest in '76.  It also states that most of those were put in Eldorado convertibles.

So I'm guessing a '76 Sedan DeVille with FI is a lot rarer than I imagined, maybe a few hundred ever made.  Does this mean that it would be a valuable collector's item, or just a novelty like one with a moonroof or a weather radio?  How much would one in #4 or #5 condition be worth?  Thousands more than a carbureted SDV or just $100 or so?

Thanks,

-mB

[TJ Hopland]

I would say to the average person it would be worth less because many 'car people' are afraid of EFI, especially that early of a system.  I personally like stuff like that because its different and I sort of enjoy doing things that cant be done or getting good service out of the biggest pile of crap that was ever made (im not saying that setup was crap, just thats what some people say about some of the stuff I play with).   

Those numbers seem possible to me.  I have seen about a dozen 75 or 6 eldos and only one 76 RWD car.  Seems like I have seen a couple 77-78 devilles and one 77 eldo but those were 425's and you were asking about 500's.   The Sevilles used the same system on a Olds 350.   For those that was the only engine option till the Diesel came in 78 so there were a bunch of those on the road.  79 eldos also used the olds.  Some 80's had it, some had the DEFI (tbi) system.     

A friend of mine had one (may have been a fleetwood, I know it was not an eldo)  in good driving condition and solid enough it could have been 'restored'.  He was in a small town, I live in a large metro area and tried to sell it or part it out for him.  Even had it posted here with 0 interest.  Got to the point where it was first $250 takes it or it goes to the scrap man.   It went to the scrap man.  This was a few years ago.  If that happened now I would have at least grabbed the EFI stuff for a possible project.  At the time I had no money and 10x more crap and projects than I had space or time for.  Now I am down to 9x more stuff so I would likely find some place to shove it till I wanted to deal with it. 

[bcroe]

Not many consider the 70s EFI an asset in a car.  But lots of people want the manifolds etc to build up a relatively modern 500 or 403 EFI for a project.  Hot rods, motor homes, more.  Bruce (fixes 70s EFI) Roe CC # 14630

[Carfreak]

My son just told me the other day he found a 70s Seville in a yard and he's going to grab the intake / FI to retro onto his 77 Olds.   

[jagbuxx #12944]

I wouldn't think it would be much more valuable, if at all, other than the novelty.
My '76 Coupe is EFI and years back I had a '76 Fleetwood that was EFI. Both cars are good runners and the systems are fairly simple, expecially compared to more modern cars.
I started in a Cadillac store in 1976 and it seemed as if we had a few C-body cars with EFI.

[76eldo]

I recently purchased a 53,000 mile Fleetwood in excellent condition.  When I opened the hood and saw the gold air cleaner cover, I was a bit surprised.  It's a fuel injected 500, and runs great, but idles way too high, as I posted in another thread.

The car will be available for sale in the near future.  I bought it as a "road car" to drive on nice weekends, but my wife hates it.  She keeps looking in the back seat for either Elvis or Vito Corleone.

It's triple burgundy with an excellent original vinyl top, almost mint interior, and absolutely no rust at all.

If the injection makes it a rare one, that's nice, but I will tell you it's got loads of power, maybe more than my 76 Eldorado.

If anyone has exact numbers on fuel injected cars for 76, I would love to know.

Brian

[bcroe]

Nothing wrong with the fuel handling stuff in a 70s Seville.  But the electronics are crude and have other problems.  The injectors are low impedance(superior peak & hold), most ECUs drive high impedance.  I converted my 79 Eldo to sequential fuel injection using an ACCEL VII ECU (can be seen on PHOTOBUCKET).  Bruce Roe CLC # 14630

[35-709]

A '76 with that old system is bound to be troublesome and hard to find someone that understands it and can fix it, unless you live close to Bruce Roe.  It would definitely be worth less to me.  Rare does not always equate to more valuable and that is certainly the case here.
Geoff N.

[Tim Pawl CLC#4383]

It is always fun when one of my articles strikes a need. The article states production numbers for the 500 cubic inch engine only. The systems were similar for the 1977-1979 425 cubic inch engine and for the 1976-1979 Seville and 1979 Eldorado 350 cubic inch engine, however you will note that they used different injectors for different required fuel rates.  The 500 cubic inch engine fuel injectors have a blue plastic collar, the 350 engine injectors have a green plastic collar.  Beware, they will physically interchange, but they are different fueling rates.

[bcroe]

The 500 & 425 injection systems are nearly identical.  However the 425 uses the same injectors as the 350, and the ECUs are retuned for the 425.  The 350s had quite a bit of rework in 78: new smaller throttle body, aluminum intake, some electronic spark control.  Some got an oxygen sensor feedback loop.  All the ECUs were internally changed too. 

The injectors are pretty big (40 or 50 lb per hour) because the batch firing system only allowed a maximum duty cycle of 50%.  With a sequential firing system (85% duty cycle), they could support 70% more horsepower.  Bruce Roe CLC # 14630

[mgbeda]

Thanks, everybody, for all the info and insight!

-mB

[Richard Sills - CLC #936]

I recently bought a 1976 Talisman with fuel injection.  I don't know how many of those were made, but I don't recall seeing another one.

[bcroe]

There is one here I've done some work on.  It runs well, but needs an exhaust and a lot of small things in the body.  Bruce Roe CLC # 14630