Anyone running a corvair ifs? I am,and think I'm going to replace all bushings&ball joints this winter. Was wondering if anyone has done this job and what all is involved.
I had one years ago and by years ago I'm talking 25 years plus. I drilled out the rivets and bolted in chevelle ball joints and used chevelle spindles and disc brakes,,,kind of a home made setup but worked good. HRP
That sound like a good idea! I have old american racing torque thrusts 14" front---do U know if the disk setup will fit inside the wheels? also by using the disk-setup did it change the width of the track? what year chevelle did U use? thanks
The Chevelle setup does increase the track with somewhat. For rebuild parts for Corvair, contact: Clark's Corvair Shelbourne, MA http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/main I had my local repair shop install all new bushings and ball joints that I got from Clark's. I didn't think I had the experience to deal with releasing the coil spring. Also, the lower joint needs to be pressed into the lower control arm. They did a rough alignment which was good enough to drive the car to the alignment shop.
If you have a Corvair ball joint in your hands you can easily see that it won't take the stress and pounding of a front engined vehicle for very long. I had a super looking (it took a ton of fabricating and redesigning to make it look good) Corvair front end on a '29 2dr in the 70's After replacing the ball joints every year for 3 years I did what others have done and went to a Chevelle spindle and brake ***y. With the adaping of the MII front it was no longer necessary to "crutch up" an inadequate front end. Frank
Corvair IFS are relatively nice units. I like them since they are bolt ins. Should've used one back in early '70s on my 62 nova with 371 Olds and hydro (dual range, not dual coupling). Instead went with Econoline straight axle. Worked well but steering ****ed.
The Chevelle setup does increase the track with somewhat. What do you mean by somewhat? are we talking 1/8" or 1 1/2"?
I'm sorry to disagree but I have to disagree with that statement Frank. I had Corvair suspension in a fat fenderered Phaeton with a big block Ford engine that I drove over 70,000 miles with absolutely no issues whatsoever except that the car sat so low in front that I had to go through a 15 minute ritual to get it up off the ground.
Got a corvair setup under my 27 T touring 231 V6 Buick powered -- Rides great. Of course, axle would look better, but this whole thing is weird . Like I said though, Rides nice goes straight !!!!
Yeh,mine rides and handles great ,but I was looking at it the other day and noticed that the bushings on the lower control arms look a little deteriorated (at least what I can see of them) I don't think I have any play anywhere,but thought about replacing all bushings and ball joints this winter. I hope I'm not getting into a lot of work and expense for nothing! How do you actually determine if any of this stuff really needs replaced?
Great thing about a Corvair front suspension is it is all "self contained" and should be an easy bolt in. Funny this threead was here. Last night I just changed one in a Corvair. the original had some rot issues in the cross member, so I changed in one out of another car. pretty easy all things considered. Clark's Corvair parts has all the bushings, and also has a conversion kit available to change to disc brakes.
About 20 years ago we(our car club) were on our way to Piegon Forge,Tenn and were enjoying the drive thru the Smokey Mountians,,the narrow back and forth of driving thru the mountans and the switchbacks. **** was driving his 37 Ford flatback,sbc, corvair front suspension and I was behind him,,,when we got to the top of the mountian we had already planed to stop at the overlook for a lunch break. As we took the hard left to turn into the parking area the frontball lower ball joint snapped,,,thank the good Lord it made it to the parking area,,a few minutes earlier an I fear it could have been much worse and to think of the traffic problem it would have created. To make a long story shorter,,**** and I jumped in my 40 sedan and went to Gatlingburg looking for a corvair ball joint,,,we hit ever parts house there,,no one had one,,Piegon Forgen next stop,,,nope,,Servierville,,nada on to Knoxville,Tenn,,after the 2nd parts house we found what we needed,,back to the top of the mountian to find the 2 guys still waiting on us. Almost 7 hours later the repairs were made and we pulled into our motel,,tired and dirty,,but with the repairs made,,**** switched out all the ball joints when he got home and made the change to chevelle spindles and disc brakes. HRP
How far does that setup move the wheels outward? I don't have much room that way--don't know if U can tell from this pic or not
In 1977 I took the front end out of a 1965 Corvair and installed it in my '38 Chevy 2 dr sedan with a rack & pinion from a pinto. I didn't have any problems. I used the '65 Corvair since it had a 5 lug pattern whereas the pre-65's were 4 lug.
I don't have a measurement for the increase in track width with the Chevelle conversion. All I know is I saw one once and could tell it was somewhat wider and decided against doing it on my Model A as the Corvair front is already slightly wider than the Ford I beam, and the tire can hit the fender bead if you hit a bump while cornering hard. To identify the year of the Corvair front, look at the lower shock mount: If it uses two small bolts to hold the shock to the lower control arm, it is '60-'64. If it uses a long bolt through the lower shock eye, it is '65-'69. To start, ***ume it is p***enger car but be aware that the '61-'65 vans are somewhat different.
Thank you Mine has the one thru-bolt on botom shock mount,so I guess its 65/69. I don't think I can go with chevelle parts because like you said --fender clearance--actually right now my sidewalls are out of the fenders,but the tread is under the fender
No problem with you disagreeing, that's what makes for a good discussion. However, did you ever seperate the ball joints from the spindles during the time you had the car an check for slop in the joint? After a friend experienced a near disaster like the one Hotrodprimer discribed while using a Corvair front ***y. I pulled the ball joints (after 1 year of EXTENSIVE pot hole infested Michigan highway miles) and the ball stem would just flop around in the socket. As you know, they are supposed to be very tight and should resist movement until subjected to heavy pressure. So... with the evidence in hand I decided to replace the lower joints and I did it every year for the next two. Finally decided the Chevelle spindle/disc brake swap would be better so that's the route I took. The wider track width necessitated the car be raised for tire clearance and IMO ruined the profile of the car. After selling the car I got the job of removing the Corvair and putting in a dropped axle/disc brake combo. If I had done that I doubt I would have sold the car. Like I said in my first post, hold a corair lower ball joint in one hand and a Chevelle in the other. If a quick comparrison doesn't scare the bejesus out of you, knowing the whole weight of the front end will be supported by two of those, then I guess you'll never be convinced. Frank
Why not get your hands on a chevelle ball joint and see if the corvair spindle can be drilled out and reamed to fit the new ball joint,,,don't know if this is possible but worth a try and a lot safer for you. I never tried because I wanted disc brakes and I ran very narrow steelies with moon disc under my model A so everything fit under the fenders. HRP
might be worth looking at!--my front wheels aren't too wide 14X6with 185/65/14 tires. I've never worked on a frontend before----before I start into it is there anything I should be aware of? for instance--the a-arm bushings,do they have to be pressed in & out? I don't think there is enough room to get a compressor on the springs--is there a procedure for that? etc etc----Maybe I should get a corvair manual?
For those with a Pinto r&p, did you have to modify the rack at all to work? I have a Corvair front end in my Es*** and want to switch to rack steering. Just not sure which rack to use.
Years ago,,I used a colt rack & pinion. That was before the mustang II's and it was mounted behind crossmember. HRP
I had a 39 Chevy pickup that had over 100K miles on a Corvair front. It had 1972 Nova SS ball joints and brakes. It was running an early Pinto R&P. The important thing to keep in mind on any rack is to align the pivot points (inner tie rod and lower a arm pivot) Any variation (usually caused by a rack too narrow or too wide) and it is BUMPSTEER BIG TIME!!! Just my 2 cents from bad experiences.
The rack needs to be positioned so the rack pivots lie on the imaginary line through the upper and lower a-arm pivots. Mine was done with a front steer Pinto rack and it worked well, but I didn't like the look of the rack in front of the radiator. I installed a rear steer rack, reversed the steering arms (than swapped to the Corvair hi-po steering arms to get the turning radius somewhat under control. I like the looks now, and it still rides and steers nice. I also swapped the wheel cylinders left for right, to get the brake lines behind the crossmember. This also puts the brake bleeders in front where they are easier to use.
I have a '61 Olds Cutl***, I believe it too has the Corvair front suspension. Do you know if there was any change to my unit over the stock Corvair to account for the engine being mounted on top of this setup? It sounds like I should up grade to Chevelle/Nova spindles and balljoints if I'm going to use this front suspension under anything with weight. This is a non-power steering box. Any problems continuing to use this? The front suspension will probably endup under a fatfender roadster, with a 300 six cylinder and auto trans. I'd like to go with Ford wire wheels and WWW tires, fairly tall tires too. Dan Stevens dba, Steelsmith
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