My dad and me rebuilt his 68 Corvair from the ground up. I rebuilt the engine and tranny completely and tested ran it one a table i made and had it tuned and running like a champ before ever installing it in the car. He bought that car in 1972 and took his ride in it in 2018 with me and passed away a week later. It went to a new owner in NC.
Thanks for keeping another 65 Corvair alive! Had a new 65 Monza 4sp. 110hp. Loved that car and (famous lasy words) "wish I had kept it". Joined the USAF in 66 and when I separated in 70 the car had been trashed. Enjoy your videos
I see/watch videos like this and it brings back tons of memories of my Corvair days - from owning to rebuilding them. We had over twelve in our family during that time, with the most memorable being a rare '67 Monza 95/PG with factory A/C that Mom drove for 25 years and never had to recharge the A/C, my sister's '66 Monza 140/4sp, her boyfreind/hubby's rare '62 Monza Spyder convertible, my '64 Corvan 110/4-spd with a VW-like Westfalia camper interior, and my favorite, my '66 Corsa Convertible 140/4-spd with every factory option except A/C - flogged that car on many a mountain road and autocross courses, hard to describe the exhilaration of doing well w/o "losing it" on some of the weirder corners. . . "Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end. . ." @The Jayhawker - Over the years I was heavily involved in the Corvair hobby, I found NGK spark plugs worked best in the air-cooled engine, since they were originally developed for Honda motorcycles. I used BP5HS in the 95 and 110 engines, and the BP6HS in the 140s and turbos. Never had one fail, can't say the same about Champions. AC plugs were my second choice, but the NGKs were much easier to find, if just slightly more expensive. Nowadays the correct AC plug seems to be non-existent, but a set of BP6HS NGKs can be had for about $18 from Amazon. Oh, and be sure to keep the rubber boots on the plug wires to keep the cooling air going where it's supposed to!
Thanks for the tips! I am wanting to recover my seats. Do you have any pictures or literature that shows what a bench seat in a '65 500 should look like? Where they just smooth vinyl all the way across or did they have any inserts or weltings where you sit? So far I can't come up with any info. My dad had a '66 Corsa with the secondary carbs back in the early '70s. Wish I had that one!
as for the valve noises back in the 1965, I owned a 1963 Corvair coupe with a manual transmission I added Marvil Mistry oil to my oil and to the fuel and also tried spraying Marvil Mistry oil in through the carbs as I was running the engine the help clear the noise from the valve train. I turned my Corvair 1963 95 engine to 8 dregs advanced. Used a Gates Green Leaf Steel core belt for the fan once it first stretched and I retighten lasted a very long time
To keep sparkplug wires out of the carburetor linkage I use reverse gravitational forces along with a twist of the plug wire to get it to coil away from the linkage. Great looking car.
An old friend of mine that passed away a few years back had bought a first year Corvair back in the day, and he spoke very fondly of it! His only complaint was the belt, and he said he always kept a spare one with him. I’m glad to see you enjoying yours! Keep us posted and keep up the good work!
Most fan belt problems were from using the wrong type belt. The OEM belt is a wrapped type with no grooves. I used Gates back in the day. Clark's Corvair Parts has the right type.
By the time my sister bought one it never had any problems. In fact I drove it like a maniac. Never got any tickets but not because I didn't deserve them.
@@loboheeler actually, most belts coming off a Corvair are due to the fan bearing. Many should have been replaced years earlier. I always had trouble until someone told me about that. After I installed a new bearing, I never had a belt come off again. No matter the type belt that was put on.
I enjoyed the clip brings back some memories. In the early 70s i bought several of these cars that had various problems mainly case they were cheap at that time and I enjoyed the gas milage. I bought one Spyder from a friend , that one was my favorite. keep em coming I enjoy
Wow that brings back childhood memories of my dads 1961 Corvair. He was always tinkering with it and always bragged about the heater being gasoline and heating up fast. Dangerous? That's certainly an eclectic car here in So Cal for collectors. It has a unique sound that no other car has ever had.
Man, what a cool car! Such a sleek shape! I share your feelings about Champion spark plugs. I had 2 fail on me in vehicles, and 1 of those failed at less than 500 miles. It's a shame that so often Champion is all you can find for mowers and yard equipment - but at least those don't make you feel as though you will be stranded by the roadside.....
I had a device you placed on each carburetor one at a time while the engine was running. As air flowed through the device a little red ball would indicate on a scale what the air flow is going through the carburetor. This way you could adjust each linkage to adjust the butterfly valve, worked great once knowing how to use it.
I didn't drive one this new, but sure put a lot of miles on a 63. My sister owned a monza that was maroon. It was an excellent runner and she said after I drove it it ran "different". I was a senior in high school and drove it like I owned it. Glad she never rode with me. Loved that car.
I was looking forward to your video, you do such a awesome job. I live in Oklahoma and we are not that far from you.I like your thinking on this project.Great Job!!👍👍
The assembly which connects to the oil filter is an excellent engineering solution. You don't have to do an oil change to work on other bits of the engine. The unit sit above the oil sump level. It's hard to say, but I've had many problems specifically with hoses through the oil cooler in the past, A lot of pressure over the many years, and rubber seals over that same time, can perish. Good luck mate.
Thanks for another good, interesting video. The engine sounds really good; I wasn't expecting that. I thought we'd get one of those hour-long "will it run?" videos but we were spared of that. But, I do enjoy those types of late-night shows too. Liked the scripture at the end from Ephesians. I just bought a book from Perry Stone, "There's a Crack In Your Armor" that deals with that verse & the associated others. I'm getting rain from Ian that came up from Florida. Hope you got some from that distant storm you were beckoning. We are in need -- the creeks are running low & slow.
When I look at the profile of the Corvair, I can't help but see a "First Gen. Camero/Firebird"... Am I Crazy??? Maybe??? Maybe Not... Completely Loving it...
My neighbor has the same year and color '65 Corvair 500. His was originally a 3 speed stick, we converted it to Powerglide automatic, it runs great, and I often get to drive it! His car has 57k original miles, it had 27k, when he bought it 8 years ago. His is radio delete, very basic version but I love to drive it!
Could you shoot me a picture of the front seat and email it to me? The original brochure shows just a plain vinyl cover for the 500 but Clarks Corvairs and another picture of a 500 I found online show a patterned insert where the four occupants would sit. I would really appreciate it if so. ratzlaffmotorco@yahoo.com
The high 146 psi compression on the one cylinder is likely because of a tighter intake and exhaust valves seat seal relative to the other cylinders. This condition could have been caused by that cylinder intake and exhaust valves being tightly seated and sealed closed on the compression stoke while it was sitting up for so long. The more you drive it the difference should lower a little closer to the others.
Gotta Love those old car commercials! At least this one didn't have a babe leaning over the hood using sex to sell the car. Thank you for sharing a mistake and showing us that you are human and we are not the only ones that goof up,
I have to say I've always loved corvairs especially the spider GT. One very hard piece to find that is for sure. I'm sitting here watching you work on a Chevrolet doing the exact opposite thing I am doing you're doing the bend over and reach down and me I'm working on a Chevrolet and I'm doing the Step Up and reach over. I'm working on a 2000 k2500 Vortec 5.7 oh my goodness and she's a mess parked eight plus years and I'm down to one head off and probably will get the other tomorrow. I am disabled so it's a long process I do about 2 hours 3 hours a day and believe me when it's over with I am done. Last year when I bought it it was already fall late fall and it needed a few things new brake lines and parts new fuel line and parts a fuel pump in the tank, a water pump, but I got it up and running and she was running really good then all of a sudden I lost top end power. Well needless to say we figured out what was wrong with it the intake manifold gaskets were shot and it had one broken valve spring and obviously it meant a valve but I got lucky and it did not suck it in thank God. Speaking of God may he bless you and your family immensely, as he does me everyday. Anyway I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your video brings back a lot of old memories of the Heyday of my life, as the first car I built I started when I was 15 and finished when I was 17 it was a 68 Roadrunner with a 440 Interceptor engine balance blueprinted cc'd the heads three deuces a honking cam a really really expensive transmission build and 391 a limited slips anyway I never lost a race with that car three plus years not at the track or quarter mile and on the street. I've done many many builds mostly Mopars I built a few V8 Vegas but I never had a Corvair and I wished I had. Anyway many blessings to you and your family as always your brother in Christ.
I LOVE this project! I bought my 65 Corvair Monza out of a barn with the motor in pieces in a crate, Built the motor and it started right up for me. Loved it! Be sure to find the belt guide but even if you have everything right the belt will still fly off every time you go over 120 mph! :) Have fun and let me know if you ever need to sell it. ;)
probably for the best, anything past 125 and the whole thing goes airborne :) I'm aching to drop the drivetrain out and replace all seals but no time yet. Thanks for watching!
Running 2 X dual throat carburettors with oiled foam filters, would see a significant increase in power. So this is an excellent longer term project car. Better breathing equals better hauling.
im not sure about corvairs but my 64 chev pickup had a resistor wire to the coil , which i threw out when i rewired engine , didnt know about the resistor wire . Had to use a chrysler ceramic resistor to reduce voltage to the coil .
Great job ! & it was worth watching , Stick with it ! & I'm glad it's going in the right direction for You ! & she sounds real sweet , & is looking way better on the outside ! Compared to the 1st video . As far as the plug wire they should attach to the shroud , & You can find wire clips for the wires at any auto parts store for a pretty cheap price to keep the wires out of the way were they don't go on the shrouds ! Looking forward to the next video , & thanks for this one.
Inspiring me to get working on my '60 700 Sedan again. I'm in a somewhat similar situation as you. Being only sixteen, cash is not plentiful so I am focusing on getting it running above all else. I have all the parts I need, but it's hard to get out there and just start wrenching when there's so much to be done.
If you get into taking a lot apart then take a ridiculous amount of pictures, take notes, bad and tag everything, and buy a copy of the factory service manual. I don't know you but I'm proud of you. At your age I was wrenching on a '64 Impala.
I don't think the guides are worn, the carbs are antiquated. If carbs sit they get weird. Consider a rebuilt with bath and everything. I have a 140 with four primaries-as apposed to 2 primaries and two secondaries. . Keep it balanced. Also, check the fuel pump they are notorious(like all of them dont work-sorry for being jaded, but its true). Good job on the oil cooler. It seems to be idling high, but it SOUNDS REALLY REALLY GOOD.
I have that exact same tach/dwell meter. I have no idea where I got it. LOLOL I don't use it much anymore, but it certainly matches the Corvair era. When you get it back the way you want it, please reinstall the A/C.
Does anyone remember the after- market applications using various Corvair power...like the UltraVan Camper... the kiddie train at an amusement park...the Corvair/ Harley- Davidson hybrid motorcycle ...maybe even a racing lawn tractor??? @lds/aes
We all make mistakes...no biggie. I got frustrated at getting my carbs together on a '61 so I got an airflow gauge meter from Clarks and never had problems tuning them again. Oh by the way...never use the center of the crossroad to rev the engine. Those carbs sound as if they are fine for now...just need a bit of cleaning up.
Beware of carb throttle plate wear/ vacuum leaks that can play havoc with syncronization...best to get brass bushing kits from folks like ClarksCorvairParts...also having vacuum leaks from old worn out choke pull-offs can affect idle, as the source is plastic housed diaphragm, and old hard hose to base of carb passage to intake boss of cylinder head. @lds/aes
Yes you need that missing belt guide (ask me how I know). I ran my '66 Corsa at 18deg advance - finally went to installing a Mallory dual-point distributor to eliminate point bounce at high rpm. The carbs can be a bit of a pain to synch - a UniSyn helps with this. I usually used the palm of my hand between banks as a quick check. Be glad you don't need to fool with 4 carbs like I did. LOLOL! I had the same issue with my oil cooler elastomers failing as well as the pushrod tube elastomers - the materials of the current day for elastomers are much better and more forgiving of the heat cycles/high temps of these engines and should last a long time. You'll never get that burned oil smell out of the heater though. Be careful if you lube the universal joints on the rear axles. There are 32 or so tiny roller bearings under the caps on the cross (again, ask me how I know). Great video, brought back some good memories and learning experiences from 50 years ago. Oh, yeah...Helicoils will become your friend.
The dealers did a miserable job of tuning my mon's new 1963, so I took over the responsibility. Bought a UniSyn, which was useful later with British cars. Running a carb setup with 4 primaries is interesting, and I was not aware you could use the stock secondaries that way.
Had a 64 corvair Monza when I was younger. I always played my music loud not realizing that my glass pack mufflers was just straight pipes because the glass cracked out. Although I did kinda wonder at first why people's car alarms were going off when I went by..
Haha, a guy from my dad's generation once told me that the first thing they did with new glass packs was to drive the car to town to make the exhaust good and hot and then spray the glass packs at the car wash. Just for the purpose of making them loud.
Ralph Nader had an unsafe brain-to- publisher! ...AvcoLycoming, ReynoldsAluminum, and Porsche had an unpublished co-op with GM engineering to develope "Ed Coles" Corvair@ GM's "demise expense"... i.e. 1964 110hp engine parameters showed up with near identical specifications during the ongoing development of the Porsce flat 6! ...Kudos to Delta Airlines CORVAIR ATLANTA Engineering staff to find solutions to oil leaks, carburetion swaps with Webers... adaptation of fan belt to Porche- style blower housing redesign... Certain configured Corvair engines are now highly sought after for E.A.A. aircraft! @lds/aes And the late model body style still holds it own after 60+years!! ...so much potential applications!!! @lds/aes
To get real enjoyment from a Corvair, you need to find some sheep to chase around with it. At least according to the commercial, did you see the smile on that guy’s face?
I noticed that at 32:53 your fresh air heater hose, which is located at the back of the engine cover shroud and goes through the firewall, is torn. The hose should be replaced; rather than cooling air go over the cylinder closest to it (#6), the cooling air travels in a loop, which may cause an overheating of that cylinder. An alternative is to disconnect the hose and install a blocking plate on the shroud.
The little doohickie on the right side of the throttle cross shaft is used to connect an idle-up solenoid on air conditioned cars. Was this originally an A/C-optioned Corvair?
@@TheJayhawker I own a 1966 Monza 4 door hardtop that is the same color, Artesian Turquoise. Mine also has factory A/C with all its original parts, and it blows nice and cold. Good luck with yours!
@@TheJayhawker Thank you kindly for your timely response. We never got these in Australia, which was a shame, I think they have a very handsome appearance
@@josephpierce7250 That's ok, don't worry about it. I want to order vinyl for mine and I have a bit of a mystery. There are pics online of a 65 500 with the same color scheme as mine but the seats looks as if they have either cloth inserts with a pattern or the pattern is embossed in the vinyl. Clarks Corvairs also shows 500 seat upholstery as having a pattern to it. But if you look at the '65 brochure they clearly show a 500 front seat in just plain vinyl. I know you probably have no clue because you have a Monza most likely with buckets...Just one of those things I have to figure out.
they do (or used to) sell plug wires with 90 degree shroud seals so the wire would stay tucked away. You can also use the plastic clips that hold the wires together. I never had an issue with plug wires interfering with linkages. You're making me miss mine (1965 Monza 110 convertable) - stop that! I don't need another Corvair in my life. They're beautiful and fun to drive but they're old and fussy.
I don't know who told you this car isn't worth saving, but they're idiots. Late Corvair coupes are getting harder and harder to find as good starter projects. This looks like a decent one if you can fix the battery acid damage and other more minor issues. Also, that engine didn't look anywhere near unfixable. That's the thing about Corvair engines. They can sit almost forever as long as nothing gets inside them and still run. If they sit for a long time, they'll usually pick up and get peppier the more you drive them. Just make sure to take the oil pan and crank case cover off(the bit the fan bearing is attached to), and check just to see how she's looking inside. It looks like you got the makings of a good car. Just poke and prod it a little at a time and it'll turn out great. Just don't drive it too hard or run it without the fan belt for long. That's a first class ticket to a dropped valve seat. These cars have hardened seats from the factory, which makes them work better with modern gas than a lot of old cars. However, it has a huge downside and that the seats expand slower than the heads, and after a ton of valve float, overheating or just a ton of miles they'll just fall out. After that the head is worthless without spending a couple grand on deep seats. And that's assuming it doesn't turn you engine into a pinball machine, so treat her well. 👍
Also, I managed to see the engine code on the block in the video. That's an RJ code engine, which is a 95HP engine Powerglide with A/C. Now wonder it runs so smooth, and also why it runs so well despite the problems. It isn't the most powerful Corvair engine, but they run silky smooth. It's the kind of motor that is probably the most "indestructible" of the Corvair engines besides the 80HP. You could just about put Kerosene on it and drop a brick on the gas pedal and it wouldn't die. 95s are getting harder to find so take good care of it. If you haven't done so already, replace the stock crank pulley with a harmonic balancer. (Couldn't make out which was on it.) 95s have a tendency to split the crank because GM didn't put a balancer on it "because it didn't need it". Obviously it did. I also recommend you upgrade to a trunk-mounted condenser, unless you're going for authenticity. The extra heat from the stock one isn't good for the motor. Also, don't worry about the compression being super high. These heads only had around 8.25:1, so it was never particularly great in that regard.
Thanks for the information and the encouragement. Don't worry 'bout me and the nay-sayers. I know what I like and am just out to have some fun with old cars. My dad's first car was a '66 Corsa with the 4x1 carbs and I have loved the cars my who life. I personally, however, am still very new to these cars and have a lot to learn. (and make a fool of myself on a public platform)
Sadly soon all combustion cars and trucks including classic busses will be banned from public streets in entire EU and Scandinavia :-( In Germany the Green Peoples Party gave order to shorten fuel supply from 2025 on by reducing all conventional fuel stations to only one state operated central gas station per city or county. Car washs will be forbidden too because they are climate killers, now they want to slow down all the gas station pumps from 20 litre per minute to 2 litre per minute...From 2027 on in the EU certain car spare parts will be banned too....as exhaust systems, turbo chargers and even some engine and gearbox oils...California and New York will do the same from 2027 on.... So no investments should be done in oil burning cars any longer....They even created a new kind of crime here, called emissions and smoke crime. (BABVVEN & TEBBVEN & BEFVO laws)!!!!
It is not very smart to operate carbs using throttle crossover shaft AT the cooling fan area while running! Could have injurious situation to the hand/ fingers!😢 @lds/aes
