Your comments are priceless. I have a L-5 & L-2 Burst fractures & fusions w/ chronic pain . Please don't stop video of your projects, only way I can escape besides drugs. Your important to me for learning & MENTAL HEALTH ! Thank You John.
I find your welding, fabrication & machining skills, as excellent as they are, easily eclipsed by your ingenuity and thoughtfulness. This is a wonderful series and I can't wait to see the bodywork all painted and shiny, ready for that mahoosive motor!
My dad was a pilot who loved building engines. So, of course his retirement business was a full machine shop. 30 years later I still can't get enough. I love this kinda thinking.
I always thought these cars could have been so much better if only someone would have put a little more effort into them. Holly cow this is going to be a beast.
Very nice. When I was in high-school a local racer took the front wheel drive from a 455 Toranado and made a mid-engine Corvair. Wickedly fast and fooled many unsuspecting street racers.
Your weldments should be in a museum, priceless workmanship. I am gob smacked to say more. all the best, looking forward to the next installment. Take care and peace out!!
Once upon a time I was involved in a 66 Corvair Crown conversion. At that time I was simply a mechanic with fab skills. Now, I appreciate & participate in machining processes as well. Your vision drives you to make it as you see fit. All I can say is, "Hope it exceeds your expectations!"
You Sir are genius, and I'm not, for the quality of work you do, nobody could afford a kit, however nice it is to think 🤔 about. Outstanding beautiful welds, everything is top notch
Tune up shop in Glendale Az had one as a mid engine quarter-mile dragster with crinkle walls did a wheelie through the intersection on the way to pick up parts😂👍
Man, I love what you're doing with that Corvair. Don't let the negative comments bring you down. I put a jet engine in my Mustang last spring, and the chicks really dig me.
I enjoyed the drive axle and sprocket idea. I think a Hayabusa swap would make a lot of sense here. after months of welding you would end up with exactly the same horsepower as before :)
John Reynolds, You know what amazed me you are making the parts that you planned long time ago and you know already how to make the next suspension parts that can handle the massive engine torque that is going to be transferred to the rear wheel. Excellent fab. Thanks for sharing.
The way you weld a tight radius ellipse into the swing arm for the rear suspension is to bend the tip of the tungsten and extend it so that you can fit it into that small radius, get a bigger cup and then turn up the gas supply. If you can build up a non-combustible dam around the area of the weld to constrain the gas flowing out of the cup from flowing out of the area, so much the better. It isn't a wonderful way of doing it, but it is functional and gets the job done.
I found ya thru miss Nicole and the SUPER DOOPER BEETLE, and I have to say that you are an awesome fabricator and I love your vision, man. Thanks for bringing us along
NASA would probably love to have you building things, top notch you are right up there 👆 with the greats in welded made things, nice 👍 thanks BigAl California.
As a Aerospace TIG Welder for over 40 years - You need to use Backup Argon Gas then you can put your Tungsten out as far as you need to Weld. Make like a Tent out of Aluminum Foil or any non flammable material to keep the argon gas into place.
Good point about the shielding gas. The bigger problem was that the torch would have to be nearly horizontal to the joint. I've heard of ppl bending the tungsten to do such a job but a mid plate was a easier solution.
Love the idea, once owned a Corvair like this one. Had to subscribe and will follow this project closely. Work is top notch and I am excited to see it being built. You are a craftsman for sure.
I have a freind that put a 327 in the front of a corvair and put the floor and the hump of a s10 in with a rear axle turned out really nice. Made a nice 1/4 machine
John, it's been 3 weeks I'm looking for another update, welding fabrication, talking what ever you've got. I can only watch this video so many times. 😂 🤣👍
Watched the Volkswagen test drive with Nicole Johnson, then a few others and now the Corvair series. First video that reminds me of Ronald Finger videos. Funny parts.
Porsche got around trail arm twist strengthening by putting tubes along the length of the trail arm to join both sides together . Welded outside . I would stitch weld inside also but I’m a back yard engineer from a country seaside town in Australia and don’t speak German.
The best bet as far as keeping everything lined up and turning freely is simply to have a reliable assistant spin the rear wheels as everything is tacked into place. If it all lined up initially then it still should provided the "poor man's jig" tip is followed faithfully. Lots of thought to your engineering. My choice when confronted with access issues when welding is adequate gap to weld thru into a copper or brass backing strip which is then sacrificed and cleaned up to smooth at those spots. Also have used ceramic tape for 100% backup strip. "I know, lets show some heat straightening and annealing with a torch and wet rag video".
This is fascinating. I have a 65 Corvair, but the body is set on an 88 s10 Blazer chassis and will be front engine. The mid-engine looked like way beyond my fabrication skills.
When I installed a B-61 Hydrogen Bomb in the tail of my Fiat 850 Spyder I just used Advanced Search on Ebay and found a set of control arms to fit it for only $5 apiece, free shipping !
Oh yeah, you should build a kit, if possible when finished, an old friend (r.i.p.) had several corvairs and I have always been a fan of those. Screw Ralph Nader, real men love danger
Just a tought, When trying to position the caliper, what if you put the caliper in place, use some compressed air to tighten the pucks on the rotor, then the caliper will be in it's position, then tack and weld. Hard to explain in english I Really enjoy your work.
@@JohnReynolds661 I have used 180PSI to center & hold the caliper while welding caliper mounts for years. Works great, fast & easy.Caliper is not spinning so if it is off be a 0.005 or so not a big deal, pistons will correct any minor misalignment. Great work on your build sir.
@ Michel Party, It will work if the caliper is one sided piston design but if the caliper has pistons on both side the caliper has to be aligned equal distance to both side of the rotor before welding the hanger.
@@b-lopez394 I center 4-piston and 6-piston calipers with 180lb compressed air. You should confirm correct centering with a feeler Guage, but most often I find it very close, just like when you apply the brakes.
Holy shit John! I had no idea this was your vision when you were talking about your suspension design ideas when you first started this project. Beautiful work! Really enjoying your progress on it.
I've seen an Oldsmobile 455 Toronado engine and TH425 transaxle installed in the rear of a Corvair. The engine was in where the back seat used to be. Pretty sure they used the front suspension as the rear suspension for the Corvair. Unfortunately I didn't get to see it go anywhere. I imagine it probably went pretty good.
The rear end suold have 2% toe in, rite , loll, nice a mock up straight axle, is straight, right, lol, nice you put some adjustments in place to get the 2% toe in, if you don’t have that , the real of the car will fish tail, it will vary easily swap ends, loll,nice thanks BigAl California. I’m buggy I built way way back in the day with no toe in on the rear end coused it to fish tail all over the place , nice roller coaster 🎢 ride , lololol, nice you will love it thanks BigAl California.
If halfshafts are part of the trailing arm suspension,trailing arm pivot points have to have some give. "Up and down" motion of trailing arms will pull in an in and out "at the halfshafts. Unless, halfshaft ends can slide "in or out" as trailing arms go in an "up and down" motion, due to road surface conditions.I owned a corvette C3 and trailing arm pivot points cpuldn`t be solidly bushed at pivot points. I hope you solve this situation and come up with something better than the old corvette style rear end.
Yes, the C3 and original Corvair rear suspension are similar in that they rely on the half shaft as one of the fixed suspension points. My arrangement uses inner and outer plunging CV joints and two lateral control arms so the axles have plenty of room to breath.
Hi, if you would be interested I saw a guy that took a second gen. and made it a hatchback maybe you'd be interested it looked cool and gave more room and looked factory the way he did it.
If you did one inch long stitches every three inches and working cold bits before moving back to hot bits until every panel has a stitch every three inches you can then close up the gaps with the work pieces experiencing minimal distortion. An alternative to the center plate or in addition to would be to get some thick wall half inch or 10 mm tube and pass it through so it transects the bend then weld the tube to the walls it intersects with.
Those are other ways to do it I suppose. It been my experience that no matter how you put 5’ of weld on a fabricated structure, it’s going to shrink and warp. Pretty common to use fixtures when doing this kind of work. Thick wall tubing is certainly strong enough if you’re not concerned about weight.
How many things u take apart when you was little? Just to see how it worked? What was or is your job? Do you have any video of that truck in garage? In first video I think you see it when going to look at transmission and engine.
The main objective with the motor mounts is to make it easy to drop out of the bottom, 'cause, you know, it will probably be coming out for various reasons.
Damn, sprocket drive would have been so cool. Those yellow numbers look like the same kind as we use for transformer numbers. You work for a power company?
👍👍😎👍👍…… weld, weld, weld, weld, weld, weld…… 🤣😂🤣. To me it’s all about seeing how others fixture, setup and tack, yet it was really helpful to see the arm rest in action. I imagined how well they might work and now I’m convinced the smooth action arm rest could help a lot, again, depending on the setup. Thank you. Is the tubing notcher something you made or purchased?
You must be thinking of the earlier Corvairs and other common cars such as Volkswagen Beetles, Triumph Spitfires, Porsche 356s, Renault Dauphines, etc. This is a 2nd gen Corvair John is building that had suspension with minimal camber change with up/down wheel travel.
Lololololololol hahahahehehe big ⚙️ nice , looks great , are you kidding, nice 👍 beautiful workmen ship, the welds looks fabulous, thanks BigAl California.
John,First off,I'm living a fantasy through you..."group 7 ish" V8 Corvair... I've noticed a fixture you use to steady your arm when you weld...Is that something you've made or is it available to buy somewhere? Your Corvair should be a real animal when you're done! Great videos! Thanks...
I got it from Amazon but it's currently unavailable there. Here's the same thing form Arc-Zone. There very handy. www.arc-zone.com/welding-arm-rest-ara18
Your comments are priceless.
I have a L-5 & L-2 Burst fractures & fusions w/ chronic pain . Please don't stop video of your projects, only way I can escape besides drugs.
Your important to me for learning & MENTAL HEALTH !
Thank You John.
"If I don't know, I'll just make something up" words spoken by real men everywhere
Don't forget "you made it to the end" wish my wife would say that... hehe
Sometimes watching the cutting, grinding, and fabricating is just so relaxing.
Exactly ! Very SATISFYING watching...
I find your welding, fabrication & machining skills, as excellent as they are, easily eclipsed by your ingenuity and thoughtfulness. This is a wonderful series and I can't wait to see the bodywork all painted and shiny, ready for that mahoosive motor!
Engineering/Fabrication - AWESOME! Glove caught in the clamp - PRICELESS!
Do you also enjoy the adventures of project binky?
Build me a Corvair
My dad was a pilot who loved building engines. So, of course his retirement business was a full machine shop. 30 years later I still can't get enough. I love this kinda thinking.
I always thought these cars could have been so much better if only someone would have put a little more effort into them. Holly cow this is going to be a beast.
That is the way I have always thought ! Just imagine what could have been done to upgrade this car !
You are truly a genius!! love how you keep adapting to the 'new problems" Sounds & looks like you were once a Marine, "Improvise, adapt, and overcome"
Nice engineering I really like the swing arm toe adjustment angle Chevy should have done that years ago.
I wish you were my neighbor so I could just come over and visit while you work. A joy to watch.
Very nice. When I was in high-school a local racer took the front wheel drive from a 455 Toranado and made a mid-engine Corvair. Wickedly fast and fooled many unsuspecting street racers.
In the late 80s there was a corvair with the same set up terrorizing the streets of Las Vegas. That thing smoked what my buddies and I had!
Your weldments should be in a museum, priceless workmanship. I am gob smacked to say more. all the best, looking forward to the next installment. Take care and peace out!!
Once upon a time I was involved in a 66 Corvair Crown conversion. At that time I was simply a mechanic with fab skills. Now, I appreciate & participate in machining processes as well. Your vision drives you to make it as you see fit. All I can say is, "Hope it exceeds your expectations!"
You Sir are genius, and I'm not, for the quality of work you do, nobody could afford a kit, however nice it is to think 🤔 about. Outstanding beautiful welds, everything is top notch
very cool! back in the 80's i saw one a guy had that was mid engine and it was awesome! hope yours is even better!
Tune up shop in Glendale Az had one as a mid engine quarter-mile dragster with crinkle walls did a wheelie through the intersection on the way to pick up parts😂👍
Awesome shop. Tools, tools, tools!
Great respect for a guy that has the skills to put them all to use!
Man, I love what you're doing with that Corvair. Don't let the negative comments bring you down.
I put a jet engine in my Mustang last spring, and the chicks really dig me.
I love this kind of " garage engineering" you are brilliant,
And I'm going to keep following.
Not to mention, I want to do a corvair as well.
Your trailing arms remind me of single-sided swingarms on motorcycles. A very elegant solution.
Still watching. Love the workmanship !
I enjoyed the drive axle and sprocket idea. I think a Hayabusa swap would make a lot of sense here. after months of welding you would end up with exactly the same horsepower as before :)
Thank you for your videos. Your efforts are an inspiration. I’m very impressed with your fabrication skills and garage engineering.
John Reynolds, You know what amazed me you are making the parts that you planned long time ago and you know already how to make the next suspension parts that can handle the massive engine torque that is going to be transferred to the rear wheel. Excellent fab. Thanks for sharing.
You really doing a nice job John.
Impressive design and workmanship in limited space
The way you weld a tight radius ellipse into the swing arm for the rear suspension is to bend the tip of the tungsten and extend it so that you can fit it into that small radius, get a bigger cup and then turn up the gas supply. If you can build up a non-combustible dam around the area of the weld to constrain the gas flowing out of the cup from flowing out of the area, so much the better. It isn't a wonderful way of doing it, but it is functional and gets the job done.
John, you are one heck of a Fabricator, sir! this car is shaping up really nicely!
Your fab skills are just something else. Truly amazing work!
I found ya thru miss Nicole and the SUPER DOOPER BEETLE, and I have to say that you are an awesome fabricator and I love your vision, man. Thanks for bringing us along
NASA would probably love to have you building things, top notch you are right up there 👆 with the greats in welded made things, nice 👍 thanks BigAl California.
Really enjoying this the details and your engineering design thoughts during these build videos
As a Aerospace TIG Welder for over 40 years - You need to use Backup Argon Gas then you can put your Tungsten out as far as you need to Weld. Make like a Tent out of Aluminum Foil or any non flammable material to keep the argon gas into place.
Heh - heh . . . Grey Hair for the WIN !
Good point about the shielding gas. The bigger problem was that the torch would have to be nearly horizontal to the joint. I've heard of ppl bending the tungsten to do such a job but a mid plate was a easier solution.
Always fun to watch it done the right way, great ideas too
Master craftsman nodout.
I enjoy your video's. Thank for taking the time take them.
This man and this build are mindblowing. Period.
Love the idea, once owned a Corvair like this one. Had to subscribe and will follow this project closely. Work is top notch and I am excited to see it being built. You are a craftsman for sure.
Was wondering how the progress was going. Those arms are artworks. Thanks for the update!
I wish I could work on cars like John. His work and design is top notch !
Having all full machine shop with lathe and milling machines helps.... A LOT!
I have a freind that put a 327 in the front of a corvair and put the floor and the hump of a s10 in with a rear axle turned out really nice. Made a nice 1/4 machine
Love these keep them coming. I am inspired to do a similar conversion with my 66
John, it's been 3 weeks I'm looking for another update, welding fabrication, talking what ever you've got. I can only watch this video so many times. 😂 🤣👍
Thanks, I got side tracked but should have next update by Monday. There's 50+ hours of work on the project between videos.
Your welding better that Factory welding. Perfect..
Very nice craftsmanship
Love how this is developing
Watched the Volkswagen test drive with Nicole Johnson, then a few others and now the Corvair series. First video that reminds me of Ronald Finger videos. Funny parts.
This man John Reynolds can build anything .
Impressive!
You are an awesome fabricator
Porsche got around trail arm twist strengthening by putting tubes along the length of the trail arm to join both sides together . Welded outside . I would stitch weld inside also but I’m a back yard engineer from a country seaside town in Australia and don’t speak German.
The best bet as far as keeping everything lined up and turning freely is simply to have a reliable assistant spin the rear wheels as everything is tacked into place. If it all lined up initially then it still should provided the "poor man's jig" tip is followed faithfully. Lots of thought to your engineering. My choice when confronted with access issues when welding is adequate gap to weld thru into a copper or brass backing strip which is then sacrificed and cleaned up to smooth at those spots. Also have used ceramic tape for 100% backup strip. "I know, lets show some heat straightening and annealing with a torch and wet rag video".
very cool stuff you're doing, Wish I had all of those toys!
Average person:- “You can’t put that engine and trans combo in there “ John Reynolds:- “Hold my beer”
Ive seen a Olds Tornado drive train in the back of a Corvair..
Yes the 455, it was in the 70s
Thanks for the show
Holy cow that shop is huge!! Nice work tho!!
Very very nice job, thanks.
Looking good, thanks John
This is fascinating. I have a 65 Corvair, but the body is set on an 88 s10 Blazer chassis and will be front engine. The mid-engine looked like way beyond my fabrication skills.
I love your work. I should be with you have a look your work.
This guy is amazing!
the sprocket joke was really funny lol
i said this on the bug video and ill say it again... you're a genius !! well well weld ! LOL
Have you saw Mat's Off Road Towing .? He Took a 700 Four Door Made It Egn. In front 4x4 Rock caller . He Called The Morevair.
Ingenious.
When I installed a B-61 Hydrogen Bomb in the tail of my Fiat 850 Spyder I just used Advanced Search on Ebay and found a set of control arms to fit it for only $5 apiece, free shipping !
Oh yeah, you should build a kit, if possible when finished, an old friend (r.i.p.) had several corvairs and I have always been a fan of those. Screw Ralph Nader, real men love danger
Sure wish my hubs were that precise, had to shim my wilwoods with some washers for my sandrail with a Subie of course!. :)
Yeah, we do what we have to do. Shims aren't a bad idea.
Just a tought,
When trying to position the caliper, what if you put the caliper in place, use some compressed air to tighten the pucks on the rotor, then the caliper will be in it's position, then tack and weld.
Hard to explain in english
I Really enjoy your work.
That's a good idea.
@@JohnReynolds661 I have used 180PSI to center & hold the caliper while welding caliper mounts for years. Works great, fast & easy.Caliper is not spinning so if it is off be a 0.005 or so not a big deal, pistons will correct any minor misalignment. Great work on your build sir.
@ Michel Party, It will work if the caliper is one sided piston design but if the caliper has pistons on both side the caliper has to be aligned equal distance to both side of the rotor before welding the hanger.
@@b-lopez394 I center 4-piston and 6-piston calipers with 180lb compressed air.
You should confirm correct centering with a feeler Guage, but most often I find it very close, just like when you apply the brakes.
Holy shit John! I had no idea this was your vision when you were talking about your suspension design ideas when you first started this project. Beautiful work! Really enjoying your progress on it.
Love the content and the build !
Any way we could get more footage close up while welding
TH-cam really wants me to watch your V8 Corvair video. No idea why.
I thought I was hot stuff because I can do a brake job, talk about feeling inadequate! Lol
I've seen an Oldsmobile 455 Toronado engine and TH425 transaxle installed in the rear of a Corvair. The engine was in where the back seat used to be. Pretty sure they used the front suspension as the rear suspension for the Corvair. Unfortunately I didn't get to see it go anywhere. I imagine it probably went pretty good.
16:50: I am SO glad I am not the only one that does that...
Bravo maestro
Ford Courier 4 x 4 front lower control arms were bending, the fix was to replace them with arms with mid plates. so it is proven to work
The rear end suold have 2% toe in, rite , loll, nice a mock up straight axle, is straight, right, lol, nice you put some adjustments in place to get the 2% toe in, if you don’t have that , the real of the car will fish tail, it will vary easily swap ends, loll,nice thanks BigAl California. I’m buggy I built way way back in the day with no toe in on the rear end coused it to fish tail all over the place , nice roller coaster 🎢 ride , lololol, nice you will love it thanks BigAl California.
Engrish is hard!
You have a nice shop and some great tools and the car is looking good I always liked the late model vairs what motor is it 1,2, or 3 ls
Excellent work! Thanks for sharing. Why no foot pedal for your drill press?
T
2 or 3 1.5" tubes between the arm skins would have been strong enough!
It's just too good, but maybe needs more tire to swing arm clearance, can't wait for the next episode!
Hard to see, but it has nearly a half inch clearance. As long as I stay out of the mud I should be fine.
@@JohnReynolds661 High load sidewall deflections ? Nice work don't tell Noam.😉
You can run narrower tires in the winter so you have room for tire chains. 😁
If halfshafts are part of the trailing arm suspension,trailing arm pivot points have to have some give.
"Up and down" motion of trailing arms will pull in an in and out "at the halfshafts. Unless, halfshaft ends can slide "in or out" as trailing arms go in an "up and down" motion, due to road surface conditions.I owned a corvette C3 and trailing arm pivot points cpuldn`t be solidly bushed at pivot points. I hope you solve this situation and come up with something better than the old corvette style rear end.
Yes, the C3 and original Corvair rear suspension are similar in that they rely on the half shaft as one of the fixed suspension points. My arrangement uses inner and outer plunging CV joints and two lateral control arms so the axles have plenty of room to breath.
phenomenal ;-)
Hi, if you would be interested I saw a guy that took a second gen. and made it a hatchback maybe you'd be interested it looked cool and gave more room and looked factory the way he did it.
If you did one inch long stitches every three inches and working cold bits before moving back to hot bits until every panel has a stitch every three inches you can then close up the gaps with the work pieces experiencing minimal distortion.
An alternative to the center plate or in addition to would be to get some thick wall half inch or 10 mm tube and pass it through so it transects the bend then weld the tube to the walls it intersects with.
Those are other ways to do it I suppose. It been my experience that no matter how you put 5’ of weld on a fabricated structure, it’s going to shrink and warp. Pretty common to use fixtures when doing this kind of work. Thick wall tubing is certainly strong enough if you’re not concerned about weight.
Also, even though I welded each arm with 6 opposing sections, I prefer to weld the entire project in one session to avoid repeated heat cycles.
How many things u take apart when you was little? Just to see how it worked? What was or is your job? Do you have any video of that truck in garage? In first video I think you see it when going to look at transmission and engine.
i really want to build a Corvair with a Subaru flat 6 and maybe a 996 C2 transaxle.
I was wondering if motor mounts could pivot with trailing arms a bit it might solve side pressures.
I like your project though, quite inivative.
The main objective with the motor mounts is to make it easy to drop out of the bottom, 'cause, you know, it will probably be coming out for various reasons.
I'm curious if you need an heir? I'm particularly fond of that Super Beetle
Great!
Damn, sprocket drive would have been so cool. Those yellow numbers look like the same kind as we use for transformer numbers. You work for a power company?
I am never lost when I have a full tank of gas.
👍👍😎👍👍…… weld, weld, weld, weld, weld, weld…… 🤣😂🤣. To me it’s all about seeing how others fixture, setup and tack, yet it was really helpful to see the arm rest in action. I imagined how well they might work and now I’m convinced the smooth action arm rest could help a lot, again, depending on the setup. Thank you. Is the tubing notcher something you made or purchased?
Weld, weld, weld, weld... Hahaha.
Those control arm pivot points are going to be under a lot of stress.
How will the rear control arms swing to 25 degrees positive camber, ya know, just to keep the handling "factory"
Nice fab work, keep the vids coming!
You must be thinking of the earlier Corvairs and other common cars such as Volkswagen Beetles, Triumph Spitfires, Porsche 356s, Renault Dauphines, etc. This is a 2nd gen Corvair John is building that had suspension with minimal camber change with up/down wheel travel.
Of course, it needs to retain the factory unsafe at any speed. The car needs to have at least a little chance to kill me.
@@JohnReynolds661 lol
ok, now, make me a set!! 🤣
Lololololololol hahahahehehe big ⚙️ nice , looks great , are you kidding, nice 👍 beautiful workmen ship, the welds looks fabulous, thanks BigAl California.
Thanks 👍
John,First off,I'm living a fantasy through you..."group 7 ish" V8 Corvair... I've noticed a fixture you use to steady your arm when you weld...Is that something you've made or is it available to buy somewhere? Your Corvair should be a real animal when you're done! Great videos! Thanks...
I got it from Amazon but it's currently unavailable there. Here's the same thing form Arc-Zone. There very handy.
www.arc-zone.com/welding-arm-rest-ara18