my motor is the turbo 150hp.... gonna stick with it cause i am getting it for the best price
read: crazy good deal thanks for the info though.... will definatly keep it all in mindcorvair swap question
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crack monkey
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getsmarx
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Re: corvair swap question
If you are using the old Hadley Engineering kit, then you will need to use the Corvair engine, trans, diff, swingaxles, rear brakes and shifter.crack monkey wrote:so i am getting a corvair conversion for my next project. the conversion uses both corvair motor and trans.
it is currently on a swing axle chassis. rear suspension and all the brackets are part of the kit it seems
what do i need to do to put this in an irs chassis? do i need to switch the spring plates or is it a possible that it just bolts right in?
any info on this one would be killer.
thanks
The kit that they offered back in the early 1970's included a big cage that reached from the torsion tube all the way around behind the engine.
You will have to cut off the frame horns as well as much of the rear body. Once you do this, changing it back will be very difficult.
I believe that Hadley Engineering is still in business in Costa Mesa. The last I heard, they made there money installing GM engines into Jaguars.
I came very close to buying a Baja with this kit about 12 years ago. If the owner could have gotten it to start, it would be mine today.
Charles
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Guest
Hey Corvairguy. Slick install. I particularly like the way you've painted the Corvair tin to match your bus.
What more can I say about valve seat issues? You were lucky. Not the most scientific sample here - one person says they had no trouble, one says it's a regular problem. Maybe you live in a warmer climate than I did when I ran Corvairs. My 1966 Corsa originally had the 180 hp turbo engine, which could not be started in winter except in a heated garage. It was so useless, the previous owner (a pretty 'vair-savvy guy) swapped it for a 140 hp engine, which promptly dropped a seat. I bought it, put new heads on it, and crossed my fingers.
My kludge fix for this well-known problem was to take a screwdriver and hammer to squish the aluminum all around the seats on the inside surface of the head, in an effort to get a tighter fit between the head material and seat. I can't say if it worked or not - I didn't have any seat problems for 30,000 miles or so, but I spun a rod bearing at that point, took the plates off it and caught a Greyhound, so no further data acquisition was possible.
If somebody has the wherewithall to swap in a Corvair engine to a VW, then I say that person has what it takes to go to EFI at the same time. Around +/- 1986, the Corsa magazine featured an article by a guy who had ripped the EFI from a 280ZX, I think, and put it on his Corvair. I'm sure that article is still floating around. But these days, Megasquirt would be the way to go, giving you unlimited power to tune your fuel supply.
The Rochesters can be made to work, but the factory linkage is cheap, and the wear and slop that develops makes it very hard to balance the carbs. I noticed from your photos that you appear to have the stock throttle linkage. I think you'd pretty much have to replace all that with ball bearing fittings to make it work right. And it still wouldn't be as effective as EFI.
It's not like you could be worried about finding parts for the "complicated" EFI at Pep Boys or something. There's nothing available now for these engines anyway unless you go to a specialty place like Clarks.
Oh, and I think Clark's used to sell 4.11 rear end for these cars, so if you're determined to have lower gears than 3.89, it should still be possible.
Each to their own. Cool to see the 'vair projects still being used.
What more can I say about valve seat issues? You were lucky. Not the most scientific sample here - one person says they had no trouble, one says it's a regular problem. Maybe you live in a warmer climate than I did when I ran Corvairs. My 1966 Corsa originally had the 180 hp turbo engine, which could not be started in winter except in a heated garage. It was so useless, the previous owner (a pretty 'vair-savvy guy) swapped it for a 140 hp engine, which promptly dropped a seat. I bought it, put new heads on it, and crossed my fingers.
My kludge fix for this well-known problem was to take a screwdriver and hammer to squish the aluminum all around the seats on the inside surface of the head, in an effort to get a tighter fit between the head material and seat. I can't say if it worked or not - I didn't have any seat problems for 30,000 miles or so, but I spun a rod bearing at that point, took the plates off it and caught a Greyhound, so no further data acquisition was possible.
If somebody has the wherewithall to swap in a Corvair engine to a VW, then I say that person has what it takes to go to EFI at the same time. Around +/- 1986, the Corsa magazine featured an article by a guy who had ripped the EFI from a 280ZX, I think, and put it on his Corvair. I'm sure that article is still floating around. But these days, Megasquirt would be the way to go, giving you unlimited power to tune your fuel supply.
The Rochesters can be made to work, but the factory linkage is cheap, and the wear and slop that develops makes it very hard to balance the carbs. I noticed from your photos that you appear to have the stock throttle linkage. I think you'd pretty much have to replace all that with ball bearing fittings to make it work right. And it still wouldn't be as effective as EFI.
It's not like you could be worried about finding parts for the "complicated" EFI at Pep Boys or something. There's nothing available now for these engines anyway unless you go to a specialty place like Clarks.
Oh, and I think Clark's used to sell 4.11 rear end for these cars, so if you're determined to have lower gears than 3.89, it should still be possible.
Each to their own. Cool to see the 'vair projects still being used.
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Corvairguy
Valve seats drop in the 140's because of heat issues, the aluminum heads expand and contract at much quicker rates than the seats do, when you get into the 450F to 550F heat range, the seats can and do fall out, the cure for this problem is a tighter interference fit with new valve seats, the stock fit is .002 to .003, when installing new seats have the machine shop heat the cylinder head(s), chill the seats and press fit them at .005, this will prevent such occurances from happening.Hey Corvairguy. Slick install. I particularly like the way you've painted the Corvair tin to match your bus.
What more can I say about valve seat issues? You were lucky. Not the most scientific sample here - one person says they had no trouble, one says it's a regular problem. Maybe you live in a warmer climate than I did when I ran Corvairs. My 1966 Corsa originally had the 180 hp turbo engine, which could not be started in winter except in a heated garage. It was so useless, the previous owner (a pretty 'vair-savvy guy) swapped it for a 140 hp engine, which promptly dropped a seat. I bought it, put new heads on it, and crossed my fingers.
My kludge fix for this well-known problem was to take a screwdriver and hammer to squish the aluminum all around the seats on the inside surface of the head, in an effort to get a tighter fit between the head material and seat. I can't say if it worked or not - I didn't have any seat problems for 30,000 miles or so, but I spun a rod bearing at that point, took the plates off it and caught a Greyhound, so no further data acquisition was possible.
If somebody has the wherewithall to swap in a Corvair engine to a VW, then I say that person has what it takes to go to EFI at the same time. Around +/- 1986, the Corsa magazine featured an article by a guy who had ripped the EFI from a 280ZX, I think, and put it on his Corvair. I'm sure that article is still floating around. But these days, Megasquirt would be the way to go, giving you unlimited power to tune your fuel supply.
The Rochesters can be made to work, but the factory linkage is cheap, and the wear and slop that develops makes it very hard to balance the carbs. I noticed from your photos that you appear to have the stock throttle linkage. I think you'd pretty much have to replace all that with ball bearing fittings to make it work right. And it still wouldn't be as effective as EFI.
It's not like you could be worried about finding parts for the "complicated" EFI at Pep Boys or something. There's nothing available now for these engines anyway unless you go to a specialty place like Clarks.
Oh, and I think Clark's used to sell 4.11 rear end for these cars, so if you're determined to have lower gears than 3.89, it should still be possible.
Each to their own. Cool to see the 'vair projects still being used.
I originally purchased the Hadley kit from Clark's Corvair parts inc. (They purchased the business from OTTO parts who had purchased it from Hadley), this kit in my opinion stinks, the problem lies in the way the rear engine mount is fabricated, it bolts directly to the block through the oil pan and considerably lowers the ground clearance, because I take my bus camping on a weekly basis, this was not acceptable, I forgone that part of the installation and instead fabricated a new sunframe, welded it in place and mounted the stock Corvair rear motor mount to it, this solved two problems ;
(1)Rear ground clearance.
(2)Eliminates the cutting of the factory oil filter mount.
Just to let evryone know, my zero to sixty times are as noted (Fully loaded Westy, 5,000 lbs)
Before engine swap (Stock engine and tranny) 0 - 60 = 39.5 seconds
After engine and tranny swap 0 - 60 = 14.5 seconds
A huge improvement, plus it considerably lowered my R.P.M.'s, at 65 m.p.h., I now turn 3,200 r.p.m.'s, gas mileage is the same on the higheway and 1 m.p.g. less in the city.
I also fabricated a custom heater box from a 1991 Plymouth Acclaim, this I mounted under the back seat, I channeled the new found heat from the Corvair engine through a new insulated 3 inch tube I mounted underneath, now I have all the heat ever need.
I did encounter one problem though, the first year I had this installed (winter), I came out, fired up the Bus and turned the heat on to defrost, I came out 10 minutes later to find a cracked windshield
, since then, I have added a cold air duct with a door so as too cool the intense heat coming out of my defroster ducts.If anyone is interested or needs assistance with such a swap, or have any questions regarding Corvair flat sixes, email me
Here is the fuel injection kit Clark's Corvair sells ---
http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog ... IN&page=63
Here is the Corvair engine to Bus conversion kit they sell ---
http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog ... n=previous
Here's the 4.11 rear end gears, they are still available ---
http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog ... ction=next
If anyone is interested, I still have the lower motor mount from this kit, if anyone wants it, let me know, just pay shipping.
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Corvairguy
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Guest
Wow, $2500 to $3000 for the Clark's EFI? And that's with used parts?!?!?!
That's totally insane. It could be done for a few hundred bucks with Megasquirt, and used throttle bodies mounted on the existing carburretor pads (instead of that crazy plenum thing in the Clark's photo).
Check this site out: http://corvair.ca/EFI.htm
This guy started with the common 110 hp engine, 164 cu.in. He used two late 1980s GM 2.2 liter (four cylinder) throttlebodies, one on each head, mounted direct to the carb pads on the heads. It is WAY, WAY simpler than the Clark's craziness with the $$$$$$ plenum. He even kept the stock ignition, but if it were me, I'd go for something electronic (maybe MSD or Crane).
That's totally insane. It could be done for a few hundred bucks with Megasquirt, and used throttle bodies mounted on the existing carburretor pads (instead of that crazy plenum thing in the Clark's photo).
Check this site out: http://corvair.ca/EFI.htm
This guy started with the common 110 hp engine, 164 cu.in. He used two late 1980s GM 2.2 liter (four cylinder) throttlebodies, one on each head, mounted direct to the carb pads on the heads. It is WAY, WAY simpler than the Clark's craziness with the $$$$$$ plenum. He even kept the stock ignition, but if it were me, I'd go for something electronic (maybe MSD or Crane).
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crack monkey
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crack monkey
- Posts: 1358
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