Corvair engine tear down and disassembly - Bad News!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ม.ค. 2021
- Investigation and discovery on my Corvair engine! Peeling back the onion of a flat six cylinder air cooled Corvair engine. Determining a path forward and making decisions to progress my '64 "Sea Can" Monza Coupe project.
*New*
Buy me a Coffee and keep me fueled!
www.buymeacoffee.com/slowcarfix - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
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.
Thanks very much for watching. I'm glad you enjoy.
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.
They're pretty straight forward cars when you get your head around them, and they're great to drive. Thanks for watching.
If production hadn't stopped, you really have to wonder about where the car would be today...
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.
Thanks for watching. I agree, pistons and cylinders should be kept together. I bought new cylinders and pistons from Clark's for this one.
"... 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.
Just got my parts back from the machine shop. I'm looking forward to getting this thing put together.
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.
Good tips.
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.
good point. I'll do that next time.
Yep !
Failure to follow the pattern, you can potato chip the head and cause cracking.
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.
It seems that nobody can just own one of these cars. I've bought and sold over 30 of them, with a high number of 7 licensed and on the road at once. The new valves were lapped into the original seats on the heads I used. I've never had to change valve seats. This car is up and running with a few thousand miles on it now. Thanks for watching and check out my other videos.
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
They're great cars and good fun. You should look for another.
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'm glad you enjoyed! Thanks for watching.
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.
This video is a bit old now, I finished the job and the car has been great for a few thousand miles so far. Thanks for the input and watching.
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
Thanks, glad you enjoyed. The car is running great now.
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".
Thanks, that's great info, I'm not sure how many miles are on this, but it needs a bit of work and it'll get it. I appreciate the support!
I really wondered how that float needle got in there. Definitely not all by itself as it is impossible. I wonder if there was foul play involved? I have seen nuts embedded in farm engine pistons and that was most likely a jealous neighbour.
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.
I would Check compression first
@@richardfry19 ... that was a while ago. I did have an issue with starter and ended up replacing the solenoid on it.. then I checked the compression. Had one cylinder down. Pulled the engine and found a broken lifter and a bent push rod. That was it. I’m just getting ready to the motor back in next week.
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.
Don't worry, under no circumstance have I considered giving up on the car. I like it. I have other Corvairs, I'm looking forward to having this one going. I'll keep going with whatever it needs. I just have to be smart on what I'm replacing, and what I am okay with leaving alone. It'll be a better car than I had hoped. Thanks for watching.
@@SlowCarFixSounds great! It just sounded like with everything else You have going on that You had regrets , I like the car allot the color reminds me of my 65 Corsa Tahitian Turquoise code ( L ) This is the 1 I was telling You about the no. 2 piston I'm glad I saw her through. Looking forward to seeing more on this build.Thank You for your reply.
Most transmission shops can clean it nicely. Glass bead blasting will " leach " into the oil from the rocker area. Walnut hull blast media or almond shells are gentle. Jus' sayin'
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
This one is PG
He mentioned a govenor soooo
Thank goodness someone is actually savi g corvairs !!!!
They have a huge owner's club and I love the cars. Thanks for watching.
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!
I like Corvairs with their stock power train. I've come to accept that they were never really performance cars, apart from the stinger. I've had turbo Corsa's, I have a 140 Corsa now. They work great just the way they are. Corvairs aren't tire burners, but they have plenty of power for what they are and they cruise great on the highway. I really enjoy the way they drive and have put tons of miles on them.
I have friends with V8 Corvairs, and that's pretty interesting as an engineering excercise and quite fun, but I prefer just regular old Corvair engines.
Another good friend of mine has a 140hp with a fuel injected blow through turbo. It's pretty interesting. Another friend of mine is doing an EV conversion on his 67 sedan. I stripped his car a few months ago.
To each there own, there were 1.9 million built in 9 years. There's tons still around to convert and not really worry about it being reversible.
As long as you don't grab one of the low production number cars, like an Oshawa built Corsa or a wagon or something, then nobody would care if it's not reversible.
Interesting thoughts...
Did you find any bad valves in the new valves you bought from Clark's?
No, did not. So far everything is working well.
@@SlowCarFix thanks. And thanks for the videos!
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
If I remember correctly, I took the pistons and cylinders off. Lots of lubricant and you can carefully tap them out from the rod end. If you're buying new pistons, rods and cylinders, it doesn't really matter.
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.
Tim Horton's coffee and corvairs belong together!
I agree for sure!
You always have to be prepared for the worst with engines...align bore, grind crank, new pistons l, etc., Etc.
Do the head studs come out of the aluminum block over time? The ZAZ968M engine has such a problem.
If the thread is good and the head is torqued correctly there should be no reason for the studs to loosen over time. I personally have not seen or heard of that issue.
Possibly could happen on a rebuilt engine if the studs were removed and reinstalled incorrectly.
The expansion and contraction during heat cycles should not cause this on its own.
@@SlowCarFix What is the thread diameter of the studs? And what is the diameter of the stud itself?
check out page 174 of Clark's catalog at www.corvair.com there's a bunch of information on these studs, including diameter.
@@SlowCarFix Thank you. I found this page - ssl.corvair.com//user-cgi/catalog.cgi?show_page=174
3/8 "= 9.52mm stud thread diameter
use easy off oven cleaner, removes everything in ten mins, i rebuld engines all the time its the fastest way
I'll keep that in mind for next time.
Hey can you make a video on removing the seat of a corvair. Please thank you
Removing a driver seat? I think I covered installing one in another video on this car.
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?
Hey David, 95 and 110hp Corvair engines aren't prone to dropped seats like 140's and the turbo cars are. If this was a 140, I'd be 100% in agreement and would be doing deep seats. This little 95 PG won't run near the temperatures a 140 or a turbo car sees. The rod bearings looked pretty good, but I will be replacing them. I have new pistons, connecting rods, lifters, bearings etc. I could keep going and do a new cam and gear, crank polish etc, but I have to stop somewhere. Once I measured the crank and determined it was in spec, did a visual on the cam with my boroscope, I feel pretty comfortable with not having to split the block this time. Thanks for watching.
@@SlowCarFix I totally get what you are saying. The rebuild costs spiral really fast. Last 2 I did was over 4K in parts. If the rod bearings were good the crank should be good.
@@davidraezer5937 I think if I was in Arizona or New Mexico or something, and driving it daily with lower shrouds on, I'd be more likely to have valve seat problems. However, in Ontario, it's not subjected to those extreme temperatures. I'm looking forward to getting my parts back from the machine shop. Not looking forward to the bill.
I'm looking for a manual that's not the original shop manual because it's so confusing
Try "How to keep your Corvair alive" It's pretty good.
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.😥
It's rebuilt and running great now. If you get into restoring or fixing old cars to get your money back, then you are going to be disappointed. This is all out of love for these cars and no interest in making money or even breaking even.
👍
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.
I don't use Fram filters I use the filters from Clark's Corvair. That's just what was on the car. Check out my other videos, this engine got a lot more work.
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.
Good advice. Thanks exactly what I did for the differential and the transmission.
@@SlowCarFix great. old age experience I'm sharing. PS my first car was a 1960 corvair With the 140 and power glide auto. Engine is in my brothers 61 coupe. Amazing cares . We used to take them elk hunting in the mountains . Lot of years ago.
@@tomstulc9143 Fantastic. Thanks for sharing and I hope you're enjoying the videos. That's all I'm trying to do as well, share my experiences and my fumbles and hopefully folks will get something out of it.
@@SlowCarFix everything is a learning curb. I'm getting old we need young people like yourself to learn to get in there and get it done. Computer's and technology is a tool not the stuff that gets it done. I'm a product from the generation that put man on the moon with a slide rule. So keep up the sharing God bless. Always Thomas.
De-Burr
You mean SIDE end rebuild :) Don't you?
valid point
1960 corvair
Luckily Kanadia peso is more valuable vs US greenback
Are you kidding? USD is 30% more than CAD right now. Everything I order from Clark, by the time it is shipped and exchange, brokerage etc; is double the catalog price when it gets to my door.
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.....
I replaced the cylinders, replaced the pistons and main bearings. New valves, springs and heads completely rebuilt. I have several thousand miles on it now with zero issues. Proper overhaul has a different definition for different people. Crank measured in spec, cam has very little wear. I replaced all the lifters. in my opinion this was a proper overhaul for this car. thanks
ive got 6 corvair motors i purchased for 150 bucks i dont know why you are complaining about price
Ever rebuild one? price out the rebuild parts cost. Core engines are everywhere.
Guess you had to choose some annoying music, but man I had to endure it? Nope sound off.
Sorry you feel that way, can't please everyone.
Man, please don't SMACK on the air! 👎👎
I'm not a professional, I'm recording stuff on my phone in my garage. Sorry I'm not a perfect person.