Corvair Corsa 140/4spd
 

Well....we did it.
After the longest week in my recent life, I finally got her home today!
1965 Corsa 140/4 speed. Not running but as they always say in the ad, "It ran when it was parked 20 years ago." Uh huh.... We'll see.

Overall it's pretty straight. It's pretty loaded. AM/FM radio with rear speaker option, and other tidbits.

Really looking forward to this project... I'll keep it updated. First things first. Carb rebuild kits and get the thing re-keyed. No keys came with it. Still couldn't pass it up. No rust.

Me jelly.

Looky what Mrs. 2LZ found!

My uncle had one of those in 1965. He lifted the trunk, and I remember seeing that belt getting turned 90 degrees on those two pulleys. I thought it was a flat six, but I guess it's a V6? Mrs. 2LZ can hold the flashlight while you tinker on it.

Nope, a flat 6. Somehow, I can't picture Mrs.2LZ putting up with the 'Dad Yell' from Mr.2LZ in regards to aiming of said flashlight.

So it IS a flat six. Ford was using a water cooled V6 car for some smaller midsized models (British Ford), and they were conventional front engine RWD. Up until Chevy's Corvair, the Porsche 911 was the go to RWD flat 6 sports car.

Ralph Nader may have killed the Corvair. Maybe Chevy could have widened it and limited suspension travel to make it a little more stable, but the damage was done. "unsafe at any speed" was a rather blatant exaggeration. I rode in my uncles Corvair and he pushed it into some curves, and got some 4 wheel drift for me. Serious sideway G-forces- I was about 9 years old. That was FUN!

LOL! Hilarious! Oh no....she'd beat me with said flashlight.

That would be a hoot for a 9 year old!

Actually, Chevy came out with their Flat Six in the Corvair three years before Porsche came out with theirs in 1963.

Regarding Ralph Nader, the Corvair community now has fun with him. It wasn't he who killed the Corvair, it was the Nova, Camaro and Mustang that brought about the end of the Corvair in 1969. They were selling those cars by the bucketful. The Corvair's time was about done.

A little history on Corvair handling and Ralphy Boy....

"NHTSA went on to contract an independent advisory panel of engineers to review the tests. This review panel concluded that 'the 1960–63 Corvair compares favorably with contemporary vehicles used in the tests. The handling and stability performance of the 1960–63 Corvair does not result in an abnormal potential for loss of control or rollover, and it is at least as good as the performance of some contemporary vehicles both foreign and domestic.' "

"Journalist David E. Davis, in a 2009 article in Automobile Magazine, noted that despite Nader's claim that swing-axle rear suspension were dangerous, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Tatra, and Volkswagen all used similar swing-axle concepts during that era. Some contend that Nader's lack of an automotive engineering degree or a driver's license at the time he wrote Unsafe at Any Speed, disqualifies him as a critic of automotive safety. In response to Nader's book, Mechanix Illustrated reviewer Tom McCahill tried to get a 1963 Corvair to flip, at one point sliding sideways into a street curb, but could not turn over the vehicle."

Sooooo..... I had to take out a door lock and the trunk lock yesterday to get the lock numbers, since I have no keys! Fortunately, there are guys on the Corvair forums that can cut keys by the lock numbers.

Long story short, I had to take out a headlight and bucket, reach in with a 7/16" wrench and undo the lock loop bolts to get the trunk open. I wasn't sure what to expect or what I'd find in there. The trunk is usually a rust prone area due to salt, etc....getting tossed on the underneath side. Many are rotted through especially in the mid west and back east. I was very please to see this when the lid went up.

Wow!!!!!!

Good old 'crabass' Tom McCahill of Mechanix Illustrated. The guy never held back on his opinions. I just read a piece by him in the April 1952 issue regarding the new Ford 215 six cylinder.

Being that this thing is going to be a driver and not a full-on resto, I really have to think about where to draw the line at cost. I wish I had gotten a better pic but the right rear was punked in at one time. The trim was hammered and paint on the fender was missing. There are also other substantial chips in the paint on other areas.

I spoke with an auto body buddy and he says, "A quality repaint at our shop would flip this thing so far upside down, you'd never get your money out of it. You'd have to do it for love."

Sooooo....my young buddy came over and we went after it in budget fashion. I custom carved a wire brush handle on the grinder and he drove the hammer part of the process, while I aimed the small piece of lumber. We got the dent out to an acceptable level and then he went around the car with some Testors gloss black and a set of brushes. I sat back and drank a few beers. I think it turned out more than acceptable. The pot metal coving I was able to straighten and paint, and the stainless trim piece is on order. Total repair cost? 63 bucks. I'll take it.

The best part of the day? Spending time with my 26 year old buddy. He loves his "funcle". He's a firefighter on "Helattack" and doesn't get home often. I'm glad he chose to spend the day with me.

Quick update. Got the new keys in and they worked awesome!
I did a bunch of touch-up paint today, since it made it all the way to 48'. If done "correctly", it would be a repaint/resto, but it's going to be a driver. I decided to do a test panel of the old black to see if it would come out ok. There are scars, scuffs, etc....for it's paint age, but I think it turned out more than acceptable for a driver. This was after a machine buff of Maguires Ultimate Compound and two machine buffs of Maguires Ultimate Polish. No wax yet. I think this will work.

After multiple days of buffing and waxing, I finished today. Much like me, it still looks like crap up close, but does ok from a distance. ;-)

Again, this is going to be a driver, not a resto. After I got all the paint touched up and buffed, I decided a killer, period correct, racing stripe to help cover the crazed section on the roof was the ticket. Here's the start of the stripe project. I think it's going to work.

She's looking good! :tup:

Corvairs have come out of the woodwork on Marketplace the last couple weeks here in Illannoy. I don't need another project, though I did come across an early seventies MGB that's been stored indoors for the last 20 years with 63K on the clock. Rust free and $4K. Sigh. :ohno:
We'll be paying off Mrs.C's cancer surgery and my ankle for awhile yet.

I can say one thing for sure, this is BY FAR the easiest car I've ever worked on. Plus, since it's got a skirt that seals all the way around the engine, dropped nuts and bolts never vanish into the abyss.

I swear, the older I get.....
Went to pre-oil the engine since it hasn't spun in over 20 years. I wanted to make sure the pump worked and flowed before I dropped in a battery and did the compression check.
1- Hook up oil pressure gauge (check)
2- Make long tool for drill to spin pump (check)
3- Make sure oil is full and clean (check)
4- Crank drill and stare at gauge (check)
5- Notice oil spraying all over because the old bastard forgot to spin on a new filter (check)
6- Mop up shop floor and spread lot of dog training pads (check)

So it's not just me?

Or,

Well, you are old now, Sir Leaks A Lot.

I'll grab my hat on the way out.

Was looking forward to seeing a thread on this. I have been idly looking at corvairs for a few years now and there is one that keeps hanging on constantly on Kijiji for $2500...Best part is new gf is up for the idea of picking it up. So it remains to be seen if its still around after we get the truck I'm buying at the end of April so i can finally shift my old C10 to project Status.

Since the body and interior are "as good as they're gonna get" at this point, I moved to the engine compartment. Been replacing all the rubber grommets and accordion gizzy for the accelerator at the firewall. Plus, of course, a top of motor tear down including carbs, yadda yadda.
.All the bearings in the fan, alternator and idler pulley are in excellent shape and silent. Good news there.
According to Fitch (look him up), by dumping the stock air cleaner and going to four separate units, plus re-canoider the PCV system, along with advancing the timing by 3', it's worth 15hp. I'll take it. Sounds just like a China bike mod!
In addition, since it's a quad carb setup, I bought some exhaust adapters and Dremeled them to custom fit. VIOLA! Instant velocity stacks! The real reason for this is to tap the PCV into one of the primary carbs, but what's the point of synching all four carbs if only one has a stack? The way I see it, anything that gets the airflow straighter to the venturi cluster is a good thing.

I also converted it to an electric fuel pump. All the new replacement mechanical pumps are garbage. They make a bypass plate for the mechanical pump, so I rebuilt and prettied up the one I have. All it does is route fuel now.

The Corvair Guru's say "No rubber under the hood for fuel!"....so I did everything in metal line. Word to the wise, I bought steel line which was a BITCH to bend and flare. I'd try aluminum next time around.

One of the Guru's also pointed out, "Your fan looks cut down". Sure as heck, it's supposed to be 11.25" and has been cut to 9.5". The same fan mod Yenko did to his cars. Supposed to take less HP to spin it. Someone really put effort into this. You simply can't buy one and only certain people will attempt to cut magnesium. I guess someone REALLY wanted this mod.

I’d love to be there the first time the key is turned.

Finished the stacks and the carbs yesterday. Still waiting on main jets for the secondary carbs but that's easy. The PCV fitting worked out perfectly. Gotta love JB Weld.

I just keep getting deeper though. I figured...."Well, since I'll be replacing every gasket and o-ring under the car I can get to, including the notoriously leaking pushrod o-rings, I may as well swap out the 1965 old lifters while I'm there!" It never ends......

The Corvair Crowd. Generally very nice, not as quickly accepting as here, but this has been a learning curve for me on the forums. It finally dawned on me that at 65, I'm probably the youngest one there. I told Mrs. 2LZ, "It's like hanging with your dad. They all have they're advice, good or otherwise, and I get the distinct feeling that some think I am 'under talented(?)' ", for lack of a more descriptive term.

Now I confirmed reading something today that it really IS like hanging with her dad!

"Yes....I looked that information up online, then printed it, and put it in a file for easy access."

I find that on some other forums, too. Some I've walked away from.

And, yes, I print stuff out and put it in a file. The wi fi is sketchy and not to be relied upon in the Barn, where I keep those files.:)

Very happy with the internals. I spun the motor by hand and everything is nice and snug regarding rods, both sideways and end play. I saw no reason with pop caps and whip out the mics and feelers.
There was a little sludge in the pan, but to be expected. The pickup was spotless.
Got the pan, breather and fan cover all done and ready. I'm one valve adjustment from hopefully going the other way and reassembly.