The very earliest corvairs had a problem with the front end. GM was already taking care of the problem before Nader decided that there was money to be made by bad mouthing them. My neighbor has a '62 Wagon that I'm still trying to talk him out of.
i didnt have time to read all the posts, but up to page 8 there were no Yenko Stingers shown (maybe a couple racers). no one remembers them?
Anyone know a good Corvair engine rebuilder on the west coast? I've got one thats been sitting for 40 years, needs seals and a good cleaning... but probably not a full rebuild.
Do it yourself. They're really easy to work on! Start with Corvair Underground, Raffee Corvair, and California Corvairs. If they can't help you, they should at least be able to point you in the right direction (and supply you with the parts!)
The Corvair was the start of the Camaro. GM made the late corvairs for the cheap, little sport car market. With Ford making the Mustang availible with a V-8 and the rear-engine Corvair never taking off, the Camaro was born.
Actually, the Corvairs did pretty well. They built them from 1960-69 with only 1 major body re-design. There's a reason there are so many in junkyards and cl***ics cl***ified... Chevy sold a LOT of them. They started out as an economy car, like the Falcon, but Chevy quickly realized the sportiness of them, and you can see that in the 65-69 redesign. Chop Top, I'll send you a PM. Too much to cover and I don't want to hijack the thread.
Check with Corsa (Corvair Club) there will be a link to a club nearby. I would bet good money there is someone relatively nearby that handles Corvair motors. And if you get involved, I remember the clubs would sometimes get together to help thrash out on someone's ride. But dropping the motor isn't too bad. Pull the axles, One mount at the rear(front) of the motor and two bolts at the transmission side. And of course all the obvious stuff linkage, wiring, etc. A good floor jack will get all but the most stubborn out and drug around the yard. And typically two decently fit people can carry a motor around. And a word of advise, drop it all. While it is possible to just get the motor out by its lonesome( i have done it) it is so painful that it is just easier to drop everything and separate the motor from the trans. The seals and such are seriously easy. Not much different than anything else on wheels. If you can, just do them yourself. I have been out of them for a long time, but if i can offer a hand, pm.
Very easy... 2 jackstands and a floor jack are all you need, a trans cradle makes it safer, but I've never used one... Once you drop the engine, it's light enough to scoot off the jack by hand and start dis***embly... Think VW with 2 extra cylinders.
Whitewalls and spider caps on gloss-black steel wheels. I dont think a four-lug spider cap is commercially available, but you could make some - or perhaps upgrade to five-lug wheels. If you go five-lug, Ive always thought Raider Tri-Rib mags would look good on an early model. -Dave
You weren't kidding, that is clean! FYI, 13" tires are getting hard to find. ALL tire manufacturers quit making the stock Corvair size a couple of years ago. I had to really hunt for mine. Your best bet would be to upgrade to 14s and go 5 lug. I should have. Every once in awhile I see some Cragar-like 4-lug wheels, but not often and usually for more than I want to spend!
I like 'em, but then I keep thinking there are late models that would look good with them (Chrysler 300C, Ford Flex). If it's any consolation, it wouldn't take much to remove most of the hints that it isn't a phantom '60 or '61 ragtop. -Dave
i hear ya... but I think I kinda like it... Gives a nice overall look to the car. Brings some of the "white" of the top and the int. down lower
Spotted in the parking lot at Road America this weekend. My bad photos don't show how nice this car actually is.
====================================================== Not that car.... I bought it and sold it on ebay.... $300 /$800 [sniped] The barber in PHX sent it to a junkyard... Hellfish bought it for $500 minus engine, etc... He had trouble selling it...went back to AZ... latest guy, last week, picked it up for a song.... not much left.. We all had dreams of Big $$$ GGGG
heh, quite the before shot. only thing i know is i have a engine from a corvair.. not sure what to do with it, but its there. chris.
looks good with the rally's.. i have a bunch of rallys i just think they belong on anything but a t bucket project. by the way how i ended up with my corvair engine was it was a running spare that came in a corvair powered trike built in the 70s. crazy thing.. anyhow, i was gonna put it in a vw baja bug about that time my bad leg stop me from playing with stick shifts.. so down the road went the baja bug, shelf engine.. chris.
Back in 1966 I had a '62 2dr.4 speed 'Vair with dual glaspacks coming out of aftermarket brackets that mounted on the side of the rear grille. It was dark blue with a red racing stripe up the drivers side and baby moons. It wasn't fast but it sure sounded good. We had more damn fun with that car. There were five of us that hung around together that had them at the same time. Saturday afternoons we'd take two of them,pile every body inside and head for a beer store in NY state.(Drinking age was 18 in NY ) Buy a couple of cases each and a ****load of bags of ice. Load up the trunk and ..... INSTANT COOLER. We'd drive around all night drinking and raising hell. Next morning we'd just reach in the trunk,pull the rubber plug and drain the water out. One guy had a '64 that none of us could beat. I found out years later that it had the optional low gears in the differential that made it really get off the line.
I've had several and enjoyed them, still have a few parts, including a sbc adapter to a corvair trans. was in a mid eng sports car in the 70s.
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