Corvair engine tear down and disassembly - Bad News! 

I have a 64 Monza convertible. I used to really enjoy working on it. I’m 72 with bad back and can’t do it anymore but I do enjoy watching you. You have a very nice shop.

My dad and I flipped Corvairs in the late 70's, early 80's. You could buy them so cheaply then and it wasn't hard to make them look good. Step 1 in every car brought home was to remove the pushrod tubes and replace the O Rings with new O'Rings that were of a better quality than stock. Step 2 was to mask off the engine compartment, clean it and paint it, Step 3 was to change the oil, change the plugs and points. Step 4 was to clean the car.

Piston and cylinder are serviced as a unit. Unbolt from the crankshaft and remove. Mark the jugs when removing pistons. Corvair cylinders usually wear to an egg shape, and most frequently require overbore and new pistons. Very good video.

With the powerglide you need to be sure and check the seal on the control cable. When parked the fluid drains out of the torque converter and raises the level in the transmission. At this time it will leak from the cable if the seal is worn out. Always use the bottom tin and thermostats. This is to keep your engine from cooling too fast which a much bigger problem than overheating. You drive up a hill and head temp goes to 340F then you go down the other side and your heads go to less than 200F in just a few minutes because cooling is the same as when you were going up. You need the thermostats to close the damper doors and prevent that rapid 'shock' cooling. Stable head temperatures are more important than lowering the temperature a few degrees.

If production hadn't stopped, you really have to wonder about where the car would be today...

Whenever taking off a Corvair head it is also best to follow the torque sequence so as not to put uneven stress on the aluminum head while removing it.

"... And I'm cheap ..." My kind of channel! I'll be back to watch more. I've got a '61 Lakewood that was given to me 25 years ago. Just started on the engine last year. I had to hang a cylinder upside down (on the nubs) in a press, put sand in a baggie to "level" the chamber and clip the edges of a 4x4 to fit the barrel to press the head off. NOTHING else worked. I feel your pain. Doing the "Poorman's Rebuild" myself.

You are doing good! I will bet you, the reason that engine sat so long was because they dropped the carb part down into the head, and then found out after they tried to start it. The pistons and bores wouldn't look good after sitting all this time. Some clues as to the true mileage will be the valve stem and guide clearance, the cam journal to block clearance, as both will be shot on a high mileage engine. By the way, viton o-rings were first used in the early 1970's, I believe it was 1971. All Corvair engines that had 25000- 30000 miles on them were leaking oil really badly with the stock o-rings. All my "stock" engines looked like yours when taken apart, but mine had more mileage, and had additional clues... loose valve guides, deep scratches on the piston skirts, cam lobes worn, slight wear on cam journals. Another clue will be if theres a "wear line" where the bell housing seal contacts the crank. If the car was parked with only 30000 miles or less, the crank wont have a groove in the seal area, at least not deep enough to "feel".

Had 3 corvsirs...all leaked oil..now I know why..my dad was too cheap to fix the motors in 2 of the ..had a 64..a 65 and a 67..all 3 were good cars and ran pretty good..r...I like the video. Can really now see what made the motor run..thanks.rj

I can’t believe how filthy the cylinder cooling fins are. Not good. I guess these engines change their own oil. I would disassemble that whole engine. Soda blast the case , cylinders and head, then protect it with gibs. Don’t half way it. I do Porsche 911 air cooled engines. This is more like a Volkswagen engine, with its wet sump, and single head on both sides. I would remove the studs and install timeserts and new studs. Like we do on the magnesium Porsche cases. I remember a lady, who lived across from me years ago, who had a Corrvair. It was her daily driver. There was an oil trail , a couple of feet wide up er driveway, and down the street. She must have added a quart every few days. Looks like these could be nice engines, if you can fix all of the oil leaks. Good video.

In one of my Navy commands we had a Maintenance Officer who had 4 of these things. Only MO who acted and thought like a Maintainer... he had no problem grabbing a junior to go wrench on one of his heaps so they could learn how to work on a car. Nice guy. ...You might want to have new valve seats to go along with the new valves, hardened for use with lead free gas.

I had a 63 convertible back in 68, that I loved. Deep dark midnight blue metallic metal flake deep in the paint, and a pale yellow interior. It was the small displacement engine that needed a valve adjustment, unfortunately the mechanic screwed that up. I was on my way to joining the military, so it went away. I still miss that car

just found your channel, i was givin a 63 corvair and i cant wait to start tearing into her. im sure your vids will be a huge help, thanks for posting!

I have a 65 corsa.. ran great till last week.. won’t start now after some smoke on the left side exhaust.. it’s sounds bad trying to start. This is a big help. Perfect timing.

Wow! when I saw the carb. needle in there , I was like not expecting that . The whole project is worth it still ,You have a very solid body to work with & the engine is not a complete loss , It reminds me of a engine I got with a Corvair & it was already out & complete & I drove the car home with a 68 110 in it . The engine was a complete Turbo & I mean complete . I decided to pull the heads even though it turned freely ! & low & behold a big hole in the no. 2 piston from running a hot plug . But I'm glad I did the engine & I was the only one that has been it so I know what was done. If it is not to late have the heads jet washed & glass beaded they will look brand new & if the engine has low mileage you can get away with just lapping the valves. Anyway way if it where my car I would see it through. Thanks for the video.

I'd love to swap a EJ-20, or EJ-25 Subaru engine into one, I had a 69, 4door, I like the 4 door version better, the 2door just looks a bit off to me, like the 67 Impala, all stretched out looking in the rear! Anyway, the choppy idle of the Subaru engine, with either a pair of small superchargers, or turbos, would more than make up for the 2cylinders, but only if I could do it' and keep everything reversible! I wouldn't want to chop and cut to swap it, not much anyway, I'm thinking maybe a couple small Honda radiators can be used at the rear of the engine, on each side, make a scoop to catch air going under the car, and from the wheel well, mount at a angle, so the air can come out on the back side near the bumper, use a couple 8-10" fans, maybe 12" should keep it cool, the turbo Hondas keep cool with 300 HP or so, it may get warm if ran hard for long durations, but two aluminum radiators, it should easily handle the 400 HP the engine would be capable of, enough for stoplight to stoplight and 1/8-1/4 mile trips, without heating, I like the Subaru engine design,. Every cylinder has 2crank bearings, no shared rod journal, and with a few modifications, can be exelant engines, I'd narrow the bearings, or groove them to reduce friction, and o-ring the heads use copper head gaskets and larger head studs, and it's ready to make tons of power, I'm betting with added ring gap, the thing could make 800+HP, with stock internals, but a 300-400 HP corvair would have to be fun to drive, not crazy, but enough to keep up with modern traffic, and then some! 225 -300hp would be plenty, but more if more fun!

Ive always wondered how these engines would have performed with a hemi combustion chamber. Would have been cool back in the day if they would have got with the other American company making air cooled engines.

You always have to be prepared for the worst with engines...align bore, grind crank, new pistons l, etc., Etc.

If its a manual shift, I wrote an article 35 years ago on how to pin the cam gear to the cam. Pretty straightforward job. More imp for stickshift

Please don't waste your money on another FRAM oil filter. Carefully clean the oil cooler. The Corvair cylinders are much harder than the usual cast chevy fare. Iade a bench fixture to hold them securely when cutting the ridge.

Just from the exterior look of the engine you should know it will need a lot of work/parts to come back to life. Sad you never get your money back if you sell it later on.😥

Hey can you make a video on removing the seat of a corvair. Please thank you

I'm looking for a manual that's not the original shop manual because it's so confusing

Thank goodness someone is actually savi g corvairs !!!!

use easy off oven cleaner, removes everything in ten mins, i rebuld engines all the time its the fastest way

Hopefully your machine shop can install deep exhaust seats. Would be a shame to ruin all the good work with a dropped valve seat. Yea, you are definitely in the rabbit hole. I would split the case for nothing more than to refresh the main bearings. What did the rod bearings look like?

Tim Horton's coffee and corvairs belong together!

Degreasing. Before Workings any engine or car. My method is to purchase cheap dollar store oven cleaner spray it every where. Take to the cars wash. Knock Off the oven cleaner then soak it down with solvent . Even diesel will work but stinky. Then hose it hard with the car washer. Leave the filfthy gunk at the carwash not your shop. Save on Expensive on cans of parts store degreasers spend on carwash.

I'm taking apart a 110 right now and I can't figure out the best way to remove the pistons. It took me 3 hours for just one. How did you do it

Did you find any bad valves in the new valves you bought from Clark's?

You mean SIDE end rebuild :) Don't you?

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De-Burr

Do the head studs come out of the aluminum block over time? The ZAZ968M engine has such a problem.

ive got 6 corvair motors i purchased for 150 bucks i dont know why you are complaining about price

look if your not going to do a proper. overhaull.......check your piston clearance.....hone your cylinders......30 over on your replacement bores...will overheat your engine....thinner walls thansfer more heat.......but in canada...that may not be as big if a problem as here....hand fit your rings..minimum end gap...for torque.......im a chevrolet master mechanic....chevrilet sponsired...and certified.....

1960 corvair

Luckily Kanadia peso is more valuable vs US greenback

Guess you had to choose some annoying music, but man I had to endure it? Nope sound off.

Man, please don't SMACK on the air! 👎👎