hi-po corvair engine questions?

i am building a low dollar fun to build project and every one is tring there best to talk me into a corvair enge. what is the best engine to get that has the most horse power? i do not want a turbo. just about 140-180hp . are thes engine s hard to rebuild? what heads are good? what casting numbers should i look for?it will be going in a vw and i allready know about the reverse rotation issues.i just need to find a good engine i can work with . also is there any tricks in rebuilding the engine ? any help would be appreciated

 

You need to start with a hard slog through every used book site you can find...
All titles are approximations from memory:
How to keep your C alive
Souping the Compacts (HRM/Petersen)

Dig through HRM late '59--early '60's. Several builds
Look at the same period R&C...great styling article on GT type Corvair with period sporty do-dads
Gotta locate the lunatic Corvair subculture anf its sources for parts, clubs, etc.

 

in 1963, I built a corvair and put it in my Porsche Speedster. It was stock bore and stoke, with 11-1 pistons,I milled the intake manifolds off and welded plates on to accept 4 rochester 2 bbl's. used corvette exhaust valves for intake and f-85 olds exhaust valves. Had to cut the exhaust ports on an angle to get full flow. I think I used a Clay smith 280 cam. It would pull 7000 rpms at the top end of 4th gear. I think about 180 hp.

 

Start with a 1965 and later 140 motor. I would put the 4 to 1 intake manifold, which allows you to use a Holley or Edelbrock 4 barrel carb. Look for a book called "How to hot rod a Corvair engine"

 

Chevrolet(GM) sold the Corvair engine to some company in Italy, I believe. It was still available for not a lot of money in the 70s but was very improved. Many folks used them as Airboat powerplants.

 

Use the 140Hp motor, cam it (OTTO's) and have Wolf Enterprise do your carbs (E-bay for contact). I disagree with the switch to a 4 barrell set-up. Use the stock singles, just have them done up by Wolf. I have this set-up and it is a blast. (Just went to the Pile-up, 100 miles each way, runs 65-70 all day, and still gets 24 mpg). Or better yet, just buy my car! LOL
Check out the Corvair Center (Corvair forum) they will have everything you need to know. I believe a guy was just selling the kit to adapt a 'vair to a VW. PM if you need more....
Don't want a VW engine? We had one in a sand rail that pulled to 7000 rpms and made close to 200 horse. It was a little salty to build but damn was it a blast to drive.

 

Google "corvair 3100" or "corvair 3200" for info on the big displacement engines being built for experimental aircraft.

 

Hi
The best engine to use is a 140 H.P.
The heads have larger valves and also are set up for 4 carbs.
I suggest a 3/4 cam, balancing if you can afford it.
Also if you are using the volks trans, you will have to flip the crown and
pinion ( Early trans only), otherwise you will have to go the reverse engine rotation
route. An aluminum flywheel also helps. Crown engineering used to make a complete change over kit which included an aluminum flywheel with the right ring gear for the corvair starter, an offsett starter bushing and the trans adapter.
I have done many swaps using this set up and it is trouble free.
Contact Clark's Corvair parts, they have tons of stuff, or Corvair underworld.
If you need any further info let me know.
Ian

 

This man has the right idea.

I am in the process of rebuilding a 140 for my 65 Corvair Corsa. Just like any Hi-Po motor, be careful, as you can rack up a sizable rebuild bill in no time flat. I have close to 3K in parts alone already. Check the Craigslist and ebay for used motors, I have seen some neat once for under 1500.00

Lots of resources, Corvair center.com is great, so is the Corsa (Corvair owners club) website.

Good luck and have fun.

 

Ditch the mechanical fan for an electric that doesn't throw belts and don't trust the temp gauge 100% as the stock location is a little sketchy and by the time that area reads hot there's already damage elsewhere. Good luck!

 

subscibed

 

Bill Fisher's book "How to Hot Rod Corvair Engines" found several copies on Abebooks prices ranging from $25 to just under $50US.

 

Really depends on how much you wanna spend. The all out way to do it is the Porsche Weber conversion. It looks and sounds fantastic and has some amazing horsepower potential. Short of that, like others have said, get a 140, do a nice valve job with some bigger valves and cam it. Put some headers on it and some rebuilt carbs and you should be at your goal. Do not convert to the electric fan. Not many people have done it successfully, so you're looking for trouble. You could also do the Porsche fan conversion that would look great in your car.

 

here is a link to an add that has a 140 for sale.
http://sandiego.en.craigslist.org/nsd/cto/1417034778.html

Looks like a good piece.

 

Come on over to the Corvair Center Forum these guys have given you some solid advice here but there is a great deal more info over there and plenty of Corvair experts as well there are also links to several Corvair sites there.Corvair Forum
There is no OT question over there as long as it relates to the Corvair in some way weather just about a single part or a complete car any info you want or need on the engine is there as well as cars/parts for sale.Don't go internet shopping till you check out prices there corvairs are not Big$$ Rare cars like you see them posted as on evilbay etc.

 

i want something reliable . i will be driving the car to bonniville in sept 2010. i would like a basicly stock 140 engine with a hot cam. it seam like i am on the right track with what everyone has said.

 

I am on the fence about used 140's. They had a habit of dropped valve seats when poorly maintained. But when done up correctly, they are nice motors. So if you buy one, tear it down and have the heads gone through.

A 110 in that little body of yours would also scoot.

That said, you can get some good power out of one. Check out corsa.org and sign up for Virtual Vairs. There are people that have been running and modifying these things since they came out. How to Hot Rod Corvairs is more basic information and calls up a lot of parts that do not exist any more, so I am not a gian fan of them.

The stock fan works just fine, do not go electric. There have been people that attempted with terrible results.

And lastly, if you really want to push the envelope, check out American Pi. http://www.american-pi.com/corvair/corvhome.html

 

In my opinion I would not use a 4bbl intake. They have a bad tendancy to puddle and the fuel drops out of atomization as it travels down the runners. I'd go with a 140 set-up with the 4x1bbls or if you have the scartch, mill the heads and put the tripple webbers on like a porsche.

here's a place to drool
http://www.blackhawkengr.com/

 

Drool. cool stuff.

 

i got a corvair engine . it is a 140 hp engine with big big bore , offy oil pan ,center ieco intake ,hot cam and some head work. here is the photo of the engine in the car

 

Holy cow, cool lookin' project. Can we see the rest of the car pls? (Besides the pic in yer first post)

 

I've got a 140 that came out of a 65 Corsair meadow muffin. Does not turn over but appear s to be all there.....The car was closed the entire time it sat.

PM me if you are interested. It should be a good one to start with but I can't promise anything.

I'll sell it cheap, you figure out how to get it. No extra charge for the rats nest....


It is missing the air cleaner, which must be an odd looking thing.

 

Many years ago I built quite a few hi powered vairs. If you are using a vw transaxel you will need to do a reverse rotation convershion to your corvair motor if you want the transaxel to live. I have seen way to many broken ring & pions from poeple simpley flip the ring gear. Also I highly recomend you add a heavy duty ring gear side plate to you transaxel. For the motor start with a 140 and switch to a mild solid lift cam with matching valve springs. There are some fairly cheap big bore kit avail if its in your budget. The heads will need some mild intake port work but the exaust port needs alot. It is fairly easy to do thoe. I machine the exaust port to accept an press in exaust port extinshions at a much improved exaust flow angel. For a mild motor i would make them out of 1 5/8" stainless steel tubing. You will need to slightly squeze the tubing to fit them between the push rod tubes. The stock 4 carb set up can easily support 180hp but a 4 into 1 intake with a single small 4bbr will make a little more hp and is more street friendly. The 4 into 1 intake does have it's cold weather starting issues. Anyway good luck with your project and please post some more pic's

 

I believe you will be very pleased with a slightly warmed up 140 engine. I bought a '65 140 coupe in '68 with only 25,000 miles, not because I was into Corvairs but because it was so cheap. Nader was on a rampage and had the media on board. You could not give them away. I paid only $500.00 for the like new car. I was really surprised at the accelaration. I liked it so much I kept it for a year. It was a great red light to red light runner. The powerful muscle cars (well I guess it was too in a way) were spinning and could not catch me before the next light. I wish I still had it.

 

Well here is a few photos of the volkswagen. When i built the car i did not want the vw cable clutch and throttle so i built rods with rod ends and bell cranks . Kinda different and very mechanical looking . All will be exposted, also i have modifyed a 36 ford truck windshield frame and used a 39 car crank out mechanicals.the hood is punched full of louvers by diver dan the louver man in springfield ohio. It has a aluminum corvair steering box reversed with a custom fabricated steering arm. The front shocks are off of some british sports car with custom fabed arms.the seats are 35 chevy sedan that have been chopped up. 37 ford tail lights. 38 ford truck head lights. also i made a license plate for it . i took an ohio 1948 plate and shortened it and re hammered some of the letters . i went to all the trouble to get a 1948 title for ti and nsra changed the rules this year . go figure . the engines does have a reversed cam and distributor drive gear. i plan to drive the car out to bonniville this year with some of our customers . should be a cool ride . i have most alll the fab work done i just have to pull it a part and do the body work and paint. the hard part is what color to pain it.

 

Some images from '73, Don Kendall if the post was correct.

 

FYI, guys, a 140 engine has 4 carbs, and a 180 IS a turbo engine.

Electric fans do not work on Corvairs. I have no idea why, but they've been tried over and over and I've never read a report where they were as successful as the stock fan across all speeds and driving conditions.

Changing a cam in a Corvair requires splitting the block. Fun!

Otto's technically doesn't exist anymore, but Clark's carries and produces most of their parts.

 

I started a post about this car a while back, should be able to find if if you do some searching

 

Thank's for adding the new pics. Your car and your fab work look real good. After looking at them I noticed you do not have any type of cluch preload devise designed into your linkage. Cluch chatter is usally an issue with a corvair motor hung on a vw transaxel as it weights quite a bit more that a VW and in also much longer. Does make for some good fun wheel's thoe . Have you done anything to reinforce the trans/motor mounting ?

 

i mounted the transaxle solid but i have yet to make a rear engine mount in the very back. i will make something i just have not figured it out . the mount will have to look clean though.