Hello, My wife and I were driving around and out of the corner of my eye, something red/orange stood out. So, after she spotted the bright orange paint, we pulled over to check out what was in the parking lot. The bright orange paint was pristine and drew plenty of stares and while we were looking, two other folks stopped to take a look. It was for sale. A pristine Corvair window van in all of its old time glory called for us to stop and look. Since it was near an In and Out drive-in place, it was a great place to get tons of views of this pristine Corvair Van. It was not fancy with custom wheels and such, but a nice looking, stock appearing window van, just sitting in the lot. The For Sale signs were not apparent as folks drove by. But, it was for sale. My wife and I thought about getting a van or larger station wagon for outdoor coastal adventures, whether day tripping or camping. So, this Corvair Van appealed to us. The cl***ic style was nice and if it were not painted a bright orange, would draw the eye of an old hot rod couple, but not the paint that made folks turn their heads. It was one of those things that happens when both of us liked what we saw. So, we stopped to check out the whole window van. There would not be any blind spots as it has a full set of windows and a super large outside mirror that was appropriate back in those “surf van” days. Jnaki Sorry for the pole, but this was taken from inside of a moving station wagon, in heavy traffic by my wife. Point and shoot like the old Kodak Brownie days… The only problem I saw was, as nice as it looked outside and inside, the lack of horsepower stock was a factor. The stock model could have been an 85 hp motor, but if it had the next level up motor, perhaps a 95 hp motor. 95 hp may be fine on level streets, but if one lives up in the hills and goes to the local mountains for short term vacations stays, it will not do well. Struggling with the extra weight of the built in creature comforts would override any HP advantage. Remembering my own 80 hp flathead motor in my 40 sedan delivery and the problems going up the coastal highway steep sloping climbs, even 95 hp would not work well. For daily lever streets, 95 hp may work, but we also like to go up into the local mountains for a different look at the So Cal landscape. YRMV Note: My wife saw this bright orange Corvair Greenbrier van and was amazed at the condition. We pulled over and I took a few photos. A nice looking young lady was also looking at the van and asked if I was going to buy it. What? Us buying a Corvair van after owning a 1962 Corvair coupe? Ha, that was a good one. I am pretty sure this small stature youngish 30 something woman/girl was going to buy it. She was looking at it with a ton of soul searching and detail appraisal. I said we were thinking of a possible buy, since we like vans in great condition… So, with that notion in her head, she hurried off to her car with a cellphone to her ear. Ha! I probably sold the Corvair Van on the spot!!! The lady’s shadow + “we all like a nice rear end…” But, in looking at the pristine van, it would be a nice coastal cruiser for our road trips and days spent at the beaches. Inside when it gets hot and a nice breeze blows into the open seating area in the back. Wow, that would be a great place to sit next to the waves or down at the harbor and draw another old hot rod or write a few stories for our granddaughter’s memory book.
I’ve posted some pics of my 65 Corvair with a SBC on a TH425. If you have never seen a Toro conversion from below, today is your day. I had already removed the control arm bracket. The control arms are still hanging on the trailing arms…..anyway, the pumpkin shaped piece is the entire final drive. You can see the p***enger side axle goes through a tunnel in the oil pan. Not great but no other choice. You do get a good look at the drivers side axle. All 10 5/16 inches long on each side. There are 2 locks on the axle. One has splines inside that keep the axle in place. The second long squeezes the u joint flange onto the axle. Change is on the way
Not really sure. They built this transaxle from a TH400. GM went on and built a TH355 from a TH350 for the lighter front wheel drive cars.
It took two of us to manhandle the old final drive out and put the new 4:10 Posi unit in. let’s review SBC 500 lbs TH425. 450 lbs Car before work 2150 lbs 900 lbs directly on top of the rear wheels Maybe I didn’t think this through I need to update my Will
I finally got both axles in. What a pain in the ***. I need 2 new controller arm brackets and it will be ready to terrorize East Baltimore
My old control arm bracket was, to say the least, a real piece of ****. So, with the new 4:10 gears, I decided to build a completely different control arm bracket. Once the final drive was in place, I got to work with some thick wall tubing and some 1”x 2” rectangle tubing. The first picture shows our original idea. The second picture shows the finished brackets today.
After some finish welding and powder coating, it came out exactly as planned. For those of you thinking this is ********, let me explain. While functioning as a control arm bracket, it is really just the camber adjustment. There is no lateral movement in this setup. Unlike the Corvair and Corvette setup where everything has a twist factor built in. This is trailing arm up and down only movement. Anyway, here is how it looked after installation Can’t wait to get it on the street to see how the 4:10 Posi feels
The Jalopy Journal
