Technical Anyone have old flat rate books?

I'm sure you keep track of the orientation of things when they come apart and probably already know about the push rods being one way deals [something about the oil holes and oiling IIRC] but some others might not. I'd feel bad if I didn't mention it and somebody had to find out the hard way.

Ed

 

thanks, yes that is about the only thing that I have to worry about the orientation. There's a little oil hole on the side of the pushrod, at the outer end. pretty easy to get them right, since they also have a wear band where it runs through the guide plate, and I like to put parts back the way they were.

I am swapping jugs/pistons, though, to keep folks guessing. They're all worn out standard size, so I doubt it much matters.

 

I ended up replacing one of the cylinder jugs on the second side that I worked on. it had a 2" wide rusty area the whole length of the stroke. pretty ugly. My brother found a couple for free from a guy in the Tucson Corvair club. I got it all back together, and it runs pretty good. Went for a drive today, over 100 miles, didn't use any oil. So I guess it's fixed.

good thing I didn't have to pay myself, because I would have got a beating on how long it took me...

But I did only spend $26 for parts, that was that old stock ring set I got on ebay.

 

Hell - Jim....I most likely have a factory manual I could send freebie to you - I forget what I have sometimes - what year ?

 

mine is a 63.

 

Good thing you don't need a heater down there

 

You are a rock star.

$26 ring job brings back a lot of Corvair memories. I'm not getting sucked back into these things. nope. not.

 

it's like a gateway drug, the price of admission is so cheap, it's irresistible.

 

Exactly. RUN AWAY!!

 

Good to hear you got it back on the road.

Sent from my XT1585 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

You're right, Jim ... I had two back in the day ... I walked away. BTW, the Edsel is doing fine - my girlfriend hates it so that makes me love it even more. Good luck on this year's rally, and I hope the 'Vair has a/c and you won't be relying on David's swamp cooler!

 

...

Sent from my SM-G930T using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

No AC on this thing, and David sold the Thermador. But he asked if I could get the defroster working, so we can see when it's foggy out.

good to hear from you

 

My air vair had good heat and defrost.

 

I guess I'll look into it. I think the driver side is the one with the damaged rear duct, that goes from the engine to the heater box, I'll need a new one. And I have to get the blower motor working, which should be fun but doable.

 

I have nothing technical to add other than, Great Job on the Corvair. Keep up the good work!

BigMike

 

Some quick steering arms are a nice upgrade.
Don't back off the throttle in a corner, at least until you get a camber compensator installed.
Lowering the car or the engine a bit, to crank in some more rear camber is a help too.

 

The stereo system seems to have lowered the rear of the car about an inch!

 

So did the '62 110 with Powerglide coupe I had Back East ... and the oil smoke that wafted out of both was a free bonus! ;-) But damn, that car would go through lake-effect snow with a 100 pound sandbag in the front trunk, as long as one remembered to keep a window cracked to vent the oil smoke!

 

You need to remember in most dealerships you got $4 they got $4.

 

Had one with a glide in it and it would not back up the hill in my drive way. I always had to back it down the driveway so I could get out. It was gutless in reverse.

 

Nice operation, Jim. Glad you dropped eng./trans, kinda figured you'd go this route.

I worked on a then-almost-new 1960 Corvair when employed at my new job at the Cadillac-Olds dealer.
The Corvair was a used car, I was the 'new guy' with VW experience, so I got the job.
Single post 'California lift' and a rolling steel table had the engine & tranny out, and everything easy to reach.
Off came the heads/jugs, broken rings and collapsed lands dictated a set of pistons/cyls. ("jugs")
The old salts were surprised that I breezed thru this operation, placing the engine/trans on a table and working so clean...
(I didn't mention my phone call to the service Mgr. of Courtesy Chevrolet... "Oh, yeah, Mike...It's a cinch. Just remove the axle shafts at the tranny, disconnect everything up top then undo the mounts, lift the hoist and roll it out!")
Invaluable info...

Homework is everything... Did a boatload of them thru the next 20 years, they were popular in the Bay Area.
I used to joke with my Porsche 'colleagues' about 'Corvair Fundamentals=911 Porsche training!' 911s drop out identically.

 

sounds good!

I also found all the Chevrolet service info on the internet, there is a pamphlet that describes the Unipack removal, pretty much just like you said, but illustrated step by step showing what needs to come off, and the easiest way to do it.

 

back to the old Corvair...at the end of the LeMons Rally last year, my brother bought the car from me. He got the seats redone, and did a good brake job, fixed the fuel gauge, and a bunch of other stuff, and has been driving it. Then, when we were working on his LaSalle hearse earlier this year, the Corvair started making a funny noise, and it was getting louder, so he decided to leave it at my place. I pulled a valve cover on the noisy side, and found a loose valve stem. uh oh.

Fast forward to a month ago, he told me he got a free 1964 engine. And that he'd try to get around to taking it apart to see how it looked. Fast forward again to yesterday, I had some free time, so I visited him and we played with the LaSalle a bit, and then loaded up the engine for me to take home and work on.

Today I took it apart, and found it was not too bad, but after doing a little research and measuring, it turns out it's mostly a 1963 engine, so the parts will mostly interchange with the one in the car. One of the heads is from 1963, the other from 1964, neither of them matches the V code on the block, which is for a Corvan. The crank looks decent, and I think we can build one good engine from the two, without spending more than about 500 bucks. We'll see how it goes.

I never took one of these apart all the way, it's pretty interesting. There was some rust in one hole, not too bad. Someone had done some buchery on one side of the engine though, used oil ring rails for the second compression ring, and busted the bottoms of two of the jugs.