Projects Unsafe At Any Speed...Nader's Nightmare! '62 Corvair

Actually, he's pretty smart. Think about it... he fabricated data about the Corvair to sell a book. He sold a lot of those books and people are STILL talking about it AND believing it several decades later. I guess he won.

Looks great, Richard!

Not much of anything from the early Corvairs is worth anything. I'm sure you could find someone to buy the front end from you but it would probably only be about what it was worth in scrap. I'd take it off your hands if you were closer because it's a lot cleaner than mine, but shipping, even cheaply via Greyhound, would probably be more that it was worth.

 

What really blew my mind was I discovered he had not driven a car nor had a drivers license when he wrote the book.
My older brother had a lot of Corvairs as did my firend Sid Sloan, granny versions, four carb versions and Sid had a turbo even. When i was beginning my career as a mechanic in dealerships I got stuck with all the corvair engine work. I got so i liked working on them. sick ol me.
Don

 

Put her under the knife today. I don't think this car was ever wrecked up front, kinda a shame to cut her up. Oh well, little miss Cute Corvair, meet Mean Mr. Metabo!


Looks like I need to notch the "firewall" a bit.

I think it will fit just fine. I'll be able to keep the hood springs, and possibly the wiper motor(like I'll really need it).

The plan is to run the new frame rails right along the stock uniboy rails, but tapered in a bit up front to clear the stock steering box, and meet up with the springs, as the truck frame they came from was tapered as well. I will weld some thick plate inside the front uni-body rails. Some short outriggers will connect the frame to the plates. I'll run some bolts through rubber body mounts into the steel plate. Hope to start cutting rectangle tubing tomorrow.

 

subscribed to this crazy build thread. Thank you very much!

 

Any ideas on connecting the Corvair steering box(I'm pointing to the pitman arm) to the '47-'54 Chevy truck spindle?
I'm thinking I'll have to heat and bend the steering arm about 90 degrees so it is straight forward from the axle.


They are a bit under a foot apart, but the car will probably be 2"-3" lower when all is said an done.

 

cant wait to see this corvair come along!

 

Also, what about caster? This will be a drag car, but will probably see some street duty someday. The combo of short wheelbase, high center of gravity, light weight, and several times higher than stock horsepower makes me thing a lot of caster is in order.

 

Very glad you're building in this thread. So often these just end up as teasers.

-Dave

 

I have a week off for Christmas, I hope to get a good jump on the frame before I get sidelined into remodeling the house(BORING!).

 

No hints on connecting up the steering? If I heat it up red hot and bend it, it won't damage the temper of the steel? Are the spindles steel?

 

That's a lot of bending. Maybe fabbing a new arm would be safer

 

That's what I was thinking. The arm off the box? Can I cut off the splined part and weld a longer arm to it? Does it need to be parallel? Lots of variables.

 

I have seen some very long dropped pittman arms on 4x4's. Im sure you could find something through one of those sources.

 

Not sure if you have room for the extra rod, but older jeeps tie the spindle on the opposite side to the steering box.

 

Can you connect the pitman to the pass side first and then run another steering linkage to the driver's side? Cross steer.

 

The driver's side spindle has the steering arm on my setup.

 

That sounds more complicated than necessary.

 

What a handful! Your taking the build in a cool direction. Have fun, and take it easy on the natural light.

 

Anyway, so I did some trimming to see how the radiator will fit:

May even fit a fan clutch in there.

 

That's what the old gas filler is for now, cup holder!

 

That car would be exponentially more awesome with an electric fan.

 

What are you going to do to get air to the radiator? Will you be cutting out the front for a grill?

 

I think you need to add a steer arm to the passenger side and then a drag link over to the pitman arm. You should be able to figure out a way to fab a bolt on steer arm to the pass side spindle to avoid welding. Many Ford rods use a bolt on steer arm that use use the backing plate mounting bolts to attach the arm.

 

Here's an idea for the sterring:


The pitman arm faces the rear like yours.
And the tierod is moved ahead of the axle.

This is the same steering on most all Jeeps and any thing with a solid axle and a and a steering box up front.
The only this you may want to do different is lower the pitman arm to keep everyting 'level' or in the same plane at ride height.

As always any radical angles will increase your bump steer.

Jeff

 

the only problem with Corvairs was that people would inflate the front tires to 32 lbs when they were supposed to be around 20. less tire contact = poor steering = wrecks

 

Fuck yeah! And radials, and disk brakes, and a Prius engine...and paint it pink, with a big rainbow sticker on the rear window!

 

I't gonna take a while to wrap my beer-soaked brain around this one. Food for thought. I just think a dropped/extended pitman arm would be WAY simpler, especially for a drag car.

 

Yessir, and a shroud on both sides of the radiator.

 

I really wish I could afford to rebuild the Hemi right now. Where the fuck is Santa Claus when you need him???

 

Santa is putting a new set of bearings in his flathead for the upcoming trip. He said you ain't been a good boy. I did try to argue with him but he threatened to give me a Prius for Christmas so I shut up....sorry...