Projects 1962 Corvair Monza Wagon: my rarest project yet

In '64, the rear suspension got something that looked like a single transverse leaf spring but was actually a camber compensator that corrected the wheel tuck under problem. In his book about his years at General Motors, John Delorean said that Bunkie Knudsen had to threaten to quit G.M. and go to the NYT with his story about how the brass wouldn't spend another $15.00 per car to correct the handling issues before they'd back down and do it. Of course, for '65 the rear suspension was redesigned and the handling was much improved. Helwig, among others, offered aftermarket versions of camber compensators for the early cars.

 

I started scrubbing a bit with the soap impregnated SOS steel wool pads. A lot of the red was coming back, but there's this thin film of iron oxide staining sitting on top. It was getting hard to strike a balance between scrubbing hard enough to get the stain off the top of the paint, and keeping the paint from rubbing clear through. I might try some CLR for the rust staining, then switch to a rubbing/polishing compound to get the paint oxides off. I was definitely making progress, it just didn't look like it was going to come out very even without a change in strategy.

Thanks! And yes, I've got a bit of a GMC collection. I need to start thinning the herd.

I actually have one of those compensator springs in my parts pile. I think I'd have to swap the transaxle too, which I also might have. The only bad part is, I'm pretty sure they had unique coil spring rates in '64 since that leaf spring actually bears some of the load. I'll get it sitting the way I want with the cheap springs I have coming in, then maybe I'll play around with the compensator at some point.

 

NEVER scrub paint with an SOS pad. Use rubbing compound.

 

It's not really "paint" that I'm scrubbing in that instance. It's rough rust areas that have height, that would quickly destroy any buffing pad or rag. The rough rust needs knocked down. Rubbing compound wouldn't be aggressive enough to start with. This one has to be tackled in stages. Obviously, you wouldn't want to go after good paint with an SOS pad. That's not what's happening here. There is no good paint that needs saved. I'm just trying to get a higher percentage of visible color again compared to all the surface rust. The standards here are low.

 

USE Bon Ami, hasn't scratched yet " or COMET CLEANSER

 

Interesting, I've never heard of Bon Ami. Sounds like it's been around a while. Is it similar to Barkeeper's Friend?

 

I had an old Ford with chalky paint. Comet and a scrubby sponge to the rescue. It didn't seem to do any more damage to the paint.

 

Ah, you're right! I built a custom dual exhaust for mine

 

How did you have the tail pipes exit? I haven't thought of a good way to deal with the body asymmetry.

 

I ran into a guy with a '65-ish Corsa at a cruise night yesterday. 140 HP, the car was in good shape. The club he was in also had a Greenbriar van there.

 

Interesting, your grille isn't contoured in the corner to go around the tailpipe like mine is.

 

From a quick picture search, it appears that perhaps only the wagon had that cutout. The Spyder's cutout was different.

 

They relied on the 90 degree tailpipe shown in your exhaust system illustration.

 

That 'certain unnamed prosecutor' is said to have amassed a large Corvair collection in some years.
Stranger than fiction...

I worked on Corvairs for years, also. Back in '64, I 'jived' my German garage owner boss, Karl, that Porsche was coming out with a new model: Typ 901, but it would use the Corvair Boxer-6 cyl. Karl went mad... We had a good laugh afterward, as Porsche DID intro the new '901' in Europe, but tagged the American ones 912. 4 cyl. Porsche engines.

I bought a '54 Porsche w/o engine, when I went to pick it up it looked like some perimeter cutting had been done. Saw the input trans shaft turning as we pushed the car, checked to shift into neutral. It was in second. (shaft spinning backward)
Omigod! P.O. had flopped the ring gear, and installed a Corvair 6!
Corvairs turn counter-clockwise, @*&^%%$!!!

 

Of course, more parts that are unique to the wagon. Ugh. I guess I'd better not ever mess up my grille!

 

I always thought the early Corvair was ugly as sin. Yours has changed my mind. Lowered en better, but I understand the uselessness of a lowered car. If at all possible could you send me a picture of a driver's side exhaust manifold one one of the 455s. I have been told it is the one I need for a 455 swap into a 59 Elcamino but would..like to see on before I search for one

 

I have a full set of NOS 1960-1961 dog dish hubcaps. maybe they will work on your car?

 

It probably had a side exiting tailpipe like a lot of wagons to keep exhaust fumes away from the rear window.

 

Oh yeah, she's a runner. I might put together an edited video at some point showing the process just for fun, but you guys know the basics. Cleaned out the carbs, preset them, went through the points, blew out the fuel lines, hay-wired coil and an electric Carter pump, and off she goes. It was all pretty straightforward. Mechanical pumps are kind of the achilles heel for these rigs currently. There's a lot of bad reproductions out there. Between that and the fuel composition these days with its lower vapor pressure constituents being prone to vapor lock, I think I'll make the electric fuel pump more permanent. It won't be visible tucked away down by the tank, and I'll do what I can to quiet it down. I'll set up an oil pressure interlock and a hidden priming switch somewhere too.


Oh, and the new solenoid was definitely a big clue. It still wouldn't crank. Ignition switch doesn't work, but besides that, the solenoid coil wasn't finding its path to ground through the starter motor. Commutator and brushes weren't making good contact. I had to remove it--a bit of a pain--and clean things up inside the starter motor. After that, it cranks very enthusiastically. This thing starts super quick and easy too. I think the carb presets came out awful close, which makes me happy since I just winged it without any specs. I've got a Uni-Sync on the way so I can get the dual carbs dialed in just right. I'm also missing a check-needle for the accelerator pump on one side, so I'll have to get a kit after all. Man, I was so careful not to tear a gasket. Oh well.

 

Now you know what to look for.

 

I recall a Corvair V8 kit in a '70s car magazine. Apparently they are still around.

https://www.corvaircorsa.com/crown1a.html

 

Clark's is coming out with a new mechanical fuel pump very soon (according to their website), and it has a two-year warranty. Since there have been so many problems with Corvair mechanical fuel pumps, they've apparently been doing a lot of testing on it. I hope it's good!

 

Glad to hear that you got it running and it runs ok. In spite of the rust, you scored with that one.
Just my opinion, but it looks mighty good with that maroon color, thin WW and the dog dish hubcaps.
We’ve had our ‘62 coupe for several years. I picked up some extra carbs and fuel pumps just in case but I haven’t needed them so far. Corvairs are a lot of fun for the money.

 

my corvairs starters both were iffy at first to get working. however getting a nice big battery and new ground cables helped them light off.

wish they ran as good as yours though

 

I went to auto school with a guy that picked up a few on the cheap. I recall he had one running and looking good. By 1974 people gave them away, a misunderstood car to say the least. The fan belt routing had always freaked me out.

The guy I ran into a few nights ago, we were talking about the oil leaking they were notorious for. I had heard of some being attributed to the oil pan... but he told me that most came from bad push rod tube o-rings. Real bad ones were a smoky mess and people gave up on them.

I saw one on my school commute going home around 1973, traffic backed up worse than usual. It was a Corvair with an engine fire. The guy was throwing handfuls of dirt on it. Some guy hops out of a car and snuffs it out with a car seat cushion. Likely a bad fuel hose.

 

if you have any rubber fuel hose in the engine bay it will get cooked. you need to use steel line, i dont even trust nicopp. corvair engine bays get ridiculously hot.

 

That would be a ton of fun, but I don't think I could do it for the wagon. I need to fit myself and the wife, 2 kids, and 2 large dogs inside. I may continue dreaming about V8 swapping a coupe someday though. Those were pretty common, and fairly cheap still.

I agree! I'm loving the dog dishes on the maroon wheels. The wife likes the full-size caps the most. I may keep both sets and alternate a bit for fun, and try to decide which ones we like best.

My cables look scketchy still, so they're on the list. For now it cranks great. My other Corvair needed a new starter drive when I got it--the clutches would slip about 49 out of 50 tries. That was pretty annoying when I was trying to get it running for the first time.

Those air-cooled motors run really hot. With the benefit of hindsight, the experts tend to agree that the heat just cooked the o-rings on those push-rod tubes. Thankfully we have Viton now, and it's really less of a problem to keep these things leak free. The only leak on mine right now appears to be the drain plug, believe it or not.

I'm with you on the rubber fuel lines. It has no business in an engine bay, especially on the pressure side of the fuel pump. I do trust ni-copp. It's supposed to be pretty fatigue resistant compared to copper. Temp, line pressure and corrosion definitely aren't an issue, but steel is certainly tougher if things start getting banged around. That PVF steel line is kinda neat; I bet that stuff goes a real long time without ever rusting.

 

She's still sitting, waiting on springs and floors. I've got a bead roller on order! I'm looking forward to that process, actually. I think that'll be a fun tool to learn.



I've also been becoming a Corvair wiring expert. I've been working on the blue Monza sedan, getting it ready for sale. I want it to be a turn-key ready car (literally--getting rid of the duct tape and haywired pushbuttons someone added). Hopefully someone can just take it home and start working on the aesthetics.