Proud new owner of a....'63 Corvair?!?!

You heard that right! I just bought a 1963 Chevrolet Corvair Monza. Going to pick it up in the morning. The body is in great shape, in fact its probably the only one in Alaska this clean! It has a spot of rust on the rockers on each side just behind the doors, but other then that it is pretty damn rust free. It came up from California and apparntly didnt get driven around much up here, if at all. The clear is starting to peel but the paint seems to be in good shape overall. Someone started taking one side of the engine apart (seems like they were doing headgaskets?) but Ill pull the engine and go through it all. The car is a 4 speed, 2 door, and the guy had all the keys, title, and even a Chevrolet shop manual! Has a set of alloy rims (want to say Eagle, but not sure- they are the 5 large hole type, old school look), and sitting on a new set of Cooper Cobra tires. The other cool thing is that he seems to know 1 or 2 guys that have a bunch of these for parts, and I know where a rolled over one is sitting up on a hill down a trail, just down the road from where I live.

Ill get some pics up tomorrow!

 

Congratulatiosn! Same years and model I have.

There's a guy in Alaska with a super nice Corvair. I forget his name, but he is a regular poster on the Corvair Cenbter forum.

There is a book on "how to keep your Corvair alive". Get it. Lots of great tech and money-saving tips, as well as corrections to the Chevy shop manuals.

 

It's tomorrow. where's the pics!?

I've got a '66 301 mid engine Corvair.

 

Now that's cool.

63 up are good years. '62 was the year that GM straightened out the front end problem. But I don't think that the new front end happened on all the '62s. At least that's what everyone said when i was a kid.

They were pretty tough little cars. I had a '65 monza Spyder.

We rolled a 60 when I was in high school (it belonged to 4 of us). Landed on its top, no one hurt but it did pop the windshield and back glass out. We got it upright and drove it home. Piopped the roof out and put the glass back in it and continued to drive it until someone else needed it worse than we did.

 

congrats on the new addition!

 

yes, but the substantial suspension change happened with the '64 models, and major changes occurred in '65 along with the new body style

 

I was so busy the morning I went to pick it up, I forgot the camera! Here are a few pics of it in the yard now. My goal is to rebuild the engine over the winter and make it a daily for the summer. I think this may be somebodys custom. It has 5 lug wheels all around, newer style fuse box in back, alternator, chrome dash, alarm system, and Ive found wires from a stereo system. I dont know if the interior is custom or not, but my guess is that it is. Im also thinking it may be lowered a bit? I will probably fix the rocker rust spots and pull the carpet and seal the floor as well.





Ricer pedals are the first to go!!





Ok, lets hear it!!

 

That could be a bad little ride! Damn nice canvas to start with, don't even see them that clean in Kansas. Way cool.

 

looks like about a 3 inch drop in the front.........looks good

 

great car way better than their " unsafe at any speed" reputation. in alaska I suggest a gasoline heater they were an option and work great [heat in less than a minute]. kills the fuel mileage

 

I owned a twin to that car back in 1966. What a fun little car to drive,especially in the snow.I put dual glass packs on it and it was the only one around like it at the time.Thin whites and baby moons. I loved driving around town and hearing the exhaust echo off the tall buildings.
I hope you have lots of fun with it.

 

This will be a summer car only, so Im not going to worry about the heater. I think the heater controls have been removed anyway!

Its kind of hard to tell, but in the 2nd picture you can see part of the exhaust. It has headers and possibly mufflers too (not sure what came stock?). Im interested to see what this sounds like.

Does anyone know anything about the 5 lug conversion? I couldnt really find much info on Google. This thing has no brakes, and I dont know if the 5 lug used different brakes/drums/etc from stock.

 

I miss AK.

 

I have a 63 GreenBrier (van) has 5 lugs. small Chevy pattern. Any idea what horsepower that one had? I'm betting 95.

 

'65 and up Corvairs had chevy 5 x 4-3/4 pattern. Someone may have swapped spindles.
You get better brakes that way.
The rear axles may have been swapped with Corvair Forward Control (truck) axles.
That requires spacers at the bearing end as the axles are longer on the trucks.

Usually one side of the engine is taken apart because of low compression on one cyl.
It can be caused by a bad/broken piston, broken rings or a dropped valve seat.
Do you have the rest of the parts to complete the engine?
If you are missing a bunch of engine parts it is cheaper to buy a complete engine, than to source the parts, even if you have to ship the engine to Alaska!

http://corvaircenter.com has plenty of info

 

I may have some engine parts, depending what you need. Pretty sure I have one 102 head. If you can post the numbers on the other head I can tell you what it is.

I have a set of 95 heads that need valve guides. The valves and stuff are out. I have everything that was in them, may be missing a keeper or two.

 

Is there a way to tell if the spindles and axles have been swapped? Is the bearing spacer visible from underneath?

I have all the parts for the engine, they are in the trunk. In not sure why it was taken apart but I would guess low compression, the engine looks pretty original.

If I do end up needing anything Ill keep you in mind.

 

Nice! I have a 63 4 door 700. Just put new floors in it. The motor sizes in 63 were 80 and 102. I have an 80. someone could have done an alternator swap....BUt someone also could have dropped in a later motor like a 95 or a 110. have to check the numbers to know for sure. Good luck with it, their great cars!!

 

Here's a few resources I found helpful. Bookmark 'em!

http://corvaircentral.com/
http://www.angelfire.com/ca4/CorvAIRCRAFT/HeadNumbers.html
http://www.tocmp.com/tOCMP/wiring/5765wiring diagrams/Chevrolet/MWireChev63_3WD-091.jpg
http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/main

 

Nice car man !

 

Nice design. Check out this video from Jay Leno's garage of a 1966 Chevrolet Corvair Corsa.

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/1966-chevrolet-corvair-corsa/1208797/

 

You can find engine code info at www.corvair.com (Clark's Corvair).
Go to "Tech Tips". Engine ID info is on page 3.
Later ('65 & up) engine codes are two letters starting with "R" (most common), "A" or "Q".
'65 & up engines have alternators. The code is stamped into the block near the alternator and the oil pressure sender.

"Is there a way to tell if the spindles have been swapped?"
Pull a front brake drum and measure the brakes. The later brakes are 9-1/2" x 2" on the later spindles. Early ones are 9". Later driver's side spindles have the center drilled for a speedometer drive.

"Is the bearing spacer visible from underneath?"
I think it goes between the axle flange mount on the rear arm and the bearing mount flange on the axle. I think it mounts behind the brake backing plate. I don't think it is easy to see unless you know what to look for. I've never done it myself so you might want to ask on the corvair center site.

The original axle flange may have been redrilled to the later pattern. Pull a rear wheel and drum and see if you can see the old pattern on the axle flange.

 

For what it's worth, it's got a '61 "grille" on it. Like one of the others said, from the looks of that engine, I'd just pick up a complete mill somewhere and start with that.

 

The only way to tell what motor you have is to run the numbers on the block AND heads.

It looks like someone swapped out the original dash gauge cluster for a home made one, or possibly a later model cluster. The other side looks stock, but with the original covering removed. Pedals are not stock. The cowl at the front of the engine looks like it was chromed.

It's common to swap higher hp motors from later years into earlier cars. Along with the higher hp, you get an alternator. My '63 had a '66 110hp engine in it when I got it.

I have a lot of spare parts. If you need anything, let me know soon because the whole pile is going to the scrap yard this winter. Looks like you have another red early Corvair you could rob for parts though.

The stock exhausts are cast iron logs that go into a single pipe off to the passenger side. Later cars could have cast iron logs that went into 2 u-piped for true duals. Headers look like headers. If you really have headers, the lower shrouds/ducts most likely were removed or cut up to make them fit.

The 63 came with 13" rims and those look bigger, so that probably helps make it look lower, but it definitely looks lowered. It's common to cut a coil out of the front springs to help with stability and reduce the nose-up look they can have due to less weight up there.

 

Ill pull the brakes and see what I can find, and Ive also printed out the sheet with engine codes.

The dash is either homemade or aftermarket (the stock one is in the trunk, and going back on), the pedals are the cheap Autozone clip on ones (coming off as well!), and I think the chrome engine shroud is aftermarket as well. I did notice that it had the billet tensioner assembly also.

What sort of parts do you have? The red one isnt mine so its not really a parts car, just more of a 'where the hell did this go?!' car!

The headers look like headers. Ill get a pic of those when I go through the engine parts in the trunk today.

It also does have 15" rims, which I agree that it does help make it look lower, but the body seemed to sit lower then the red one still. Ill look for cut coils when I have the wheels off.

 

There's an aftermarket for these cars, but it pretty much dried up years ago. If you have a chromed shroud, it's probably older. You can't just get them off the shelf, although some suppliers occassionally have them

If you have a billet tensioner, it's likely relatively new. Clarks and Corvair Underground carry them. Not really necessary, but nice to have from what I've heard.

Between the headers, tensioner, and all the other things you mentioned, it does sound like someone put some money into hopping that thing up.

I have a stash of parts I got from a Corvair hoarder. A lot of it is rusty junk, but a lot isn't. Most of what is good is the stuff everyone has... push rod tubes, push rods, some shrouds and engine parts, some trim & dash parts, nuts & bolts, spark plugs, exhaust logs, etc. In other words, nothing valuable. It will be easier for you to tell me what you need.

 

Join the Corvair Center forum and look up a guy who goes by "Unsafe". He's a Corvair nut (& expert) and he lives in Juneau. Kinda far from you, but you're probably used to that!

The Corvair Center is a great source for info, but some of those guys are very, very grumpy.

 

i've got a spyder motor & dash cluster iam partin with . Small blockin my 68.
nice ride .

 

I looked up all the numbers and went through the parts, and according to the block # and head #, the engine is a 65-67 110hp motor. Heres the tag, block #, and head #.







And the reason they took it apart. I guess I need another head! Not sure if this is repairable or not. What wouldve caused this?



And the headers:



Also, I found the 'heater'! Might polish up the front panel, and paint the rest of it to match the car. I think that would look pretty slick!



And to who said they thought it was on shorter spring in the front, I think you're right, these were in the bottom of the trunk.

 

Nick, I'm the one who made the comment on the stance. I have a 65 coupe that has about the same stance. I cut the front springs 2 full coils to get it to where I wanted it. After I did that, I found that I could bottom out the front of the car on even a small bump. I got a new set of heavy duty springs from a place in St Louis that would end up with a 3 inch drop....they worked out fine.

The headers you have work pretty good but there are better. There is a set of headers called STINGERS that Clark's Corvair sell. They seal better than any of the others. You might want to look into a set of those.

Good luck with your car