Parked out front.

Parked out front.

Saturday, November 27, 2004

No progress on repairs!
Well, I'm a little bugged with myself. My last post was in July and here it is November and nothing has been done. Granted, I have a lot of stuff going on in my life. I recently got married, we had a honeymoon, work has been out of control, I have a lot of work around the house. Enough said. I'm determined to get the Corvair out of the garage soon! My first step is to call my mechanic and get working on the clutch. That's the main problem with the car right now. After that its the alignment and suspension. I will contact him within the next 2 weeks to set up a time!


Friday, July 23, 2004

New Problems (again)

Well, just when things are coming together, something new breaks. Its been a while since I wrote anything here. A few days after I changed the motor mounts, the clutch started to feel funny. It gave me a thunk and that was it. I let it be for a month until last week. The clutch is now slipping.

The transmission is out of my comfort zone so I'll be calling the mechanic to check it out. We'll see what he has to say. Hopefully its not a huge deal. Like everything else, it can be fixed.

Heat Shield on and off.

I also tried JB Weld to hold the heat shield on the brackets that bolt on to the turbo. I didn't think it would work, but what the heck. If fell off after a few days. I need to get access to a welder or find a way to bolt it together.


Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Suspension still high
I installed coil spring compressors on the front end of the car recently. Although the spring was 1 inch shorter, it didn't lower the ride height of the car at all. I posted my results on the Corvair Center forum and the basic answer I got is that I need to cut off 2 coils of the spring. They say it can be done while still in the car. That's a little scary to me, and I don't have the cutting torch needed so it may take a little while before I do this. I will probably call my mechanic and have him do it. We shall see.

I still have yet to put on the speedometer. I have that fear of pulling the steering wheel off. I just need to suck it up and do it!

Monday, June 07, 2004

New Motor Mount installed



It wasn't too difficult to do and it was badly needed as you can see from the photo of the good and bad mounts together. My one snag was that whoever put the mount on before me used an SAE nut and a Metric nut to hold the engine to the mount. I had made one trip to pick up some deep SAE sockets, got home, pulled one nut off and then had to go out again to pick up Metric deep sockets. While I was there I picked up some new matching nuts to hold the whole thing together. Aside from that, it was a little time consuming. I had to jack up the engine so it wouldn't fall when I removed the old mount and then I had to jack it up some more to meet up with the new mount which was much higher. The bolts on the mount didn't even come close to going through the mount holes on the engine until I jacked it up a bunch more. The mount compressed some once the engine weight was on it, but it is definitely sitting higher than it was which is probably a good thing.

Saturday, May 22, 2004

Time for preventative Maintenance

Well, now that the car is running well, I think its time to think about a few pending repairs that were put on the back burner while the car had a hard time running. First thing is the rear motor mount. It is definitely in need of replacement. The process looks pretty easy. I need to jack up the engine so that the pressure is off the rubber part of the mount. Undue the bolts and replace. Its definitely something that should be done soon. Time to order the part.

Most oil leaks gone

When I replaced the oil line to the turbo, I sealed the oil return line and added a gasket to the oil filler cap. Since then, oil leakage has seemed to come to a minimum. I will continue to monitor the oil. I do need to change the oil. I have the oil filter, I just need to do it.

Wednesday, May 19, 2004




New Wires are in!

I got the new wires today and installed them. The car is running GREAT! I took it to work today and it didn't have a single misfire. It also boosted like it used to before I got the mag wires that turned out to be bad! The new oil line is looking good, no leaks. I also fixed a leak by the turbo, so there should be less oil loss from now on. We shall see!

I think I'll drive it around for the next few days to see how it does and then consider putting the speedometer in.

Monday, May 17, 2004

New Oil Line in




While I'm waiting for new plug wires to come in I thought I'd put the correct oil line to the turbo in. The job turned out harder than it looked since the old line was wrong, I had difficulty pulling it out. I had to remove the fuel lines from the pump and the oil sensor before I could get the old line out. It turned out looking good though. You can see the new line in the picture. I also replace the pressure retard line with the yellow hose. It will match the new yellow wires that should be here in a day or so. Hopefully we'll be up and running again by the end of the week.

Sunday, May 16, 2004

Not a good day for wires

I went to swap the boots on the cables today and had gotten through most of them when I managed to pull off the crimped connector that's inside the boot from 2 of them. Looking at the wire, its not hard to see why. I'm sure pulling on all of the boots stressed all the wires and the jacketing of the wire is very soft. The crimp pulled right off. Needless to say, I have a new set of wires on the way along with a note to the vender complaining about the quality of these Mag Wires. It totally ruined my day. It will be interesting to see if the new wires make a difference to the misfiring problem. I sure hope so. I'm running out of ideas.

Thursday, May 13, 2004

Another possibility arrives in the mail

So Check this out. I get a package from Clark's Corvair that was unexpected. All my orders were already delivered. Inside the package are 6 spark plug wire boots. Apparently the boots that came with my newly purchased mag wires were faulty. They were made with the wrong rubber. These faulty boots could cause "Skipping and Arcing". So now I have something new to try and see if the problem was the new wires I just installed into the car. The change will probably happen this weekend.

Monday, May 10, 2004

Still no luck

I've replaced the diaphram on the carb yesterday, but I still seem to have misfiring problems. I'm back to thinking the problem is electrical. My next step is to jump to the coil so I know the wires are okay. There is a resister that drops the voltage down to 6volts. Many people bypass that resister to get extra power to spark. I may end up doing that as well.

Sunday, May 02, 2004

Misfiring still a problem



I've replaced the coil, the points with an electronic ignition, the plugs. No true success with the misfiring problem. I thought I had it once or twice, but after some initial success, the car started to misfire again. After some discussion on the Virtual Vairs discussion list, It looks like I'll be pulling the carb apart again to check the pump diaphram. It seem that this rubber part dries up and malfunctions causing an overly rich mix in the engine. That rich mix causes misfiring. I've ordered another diaphram before I take the carb apart because I don't want it sitting in pieces while I get the part. This way, I'll have it apart and together in the same day. On the included picture (courtesy Clark's Corvair - www.corvair.com) the part is labeled #9. Hopefully, this will be my solution.

Sunday, April 04, 2004

The New Coil is in

Well, I replaced the coil today. I'm not sure if it was my problem or not. As I was working on it, the hose that goes to the pressure retard unit was so loose, it fell right off. I'm wondering if the lack of any kind of seal would cause my misfiring. The pressure is come right behind the turbo so if if there is not a good seal, that would be gas blowing out of the hose. It could also explain my huge knocking problem. If there was in fact no seal, there was no pressure to retard the timing cause the spark detonation when I boost. Its a theory at least.

Saturday, April 03, 2004

New Coil is in
My new Flamethrower coil is here now. Replacing the old one should be a snap. I also picked up an electronic ignition or electronic points system. That may take me a little longer to get installed. Once I do, I won't need to worry about new points ever again.

Water injection
I've been looking into a water injection system for the turbo so I can eliminate detonation problems I'm having. If this doesn't work, it looks like I would be looking at a $600 safeguard system to take care of the problem. One of the reasons for the problem is my turbo setup which has an EM turbine and a LM impeller an housing. This combination gives me more boost faster, but the engine is now operating outside its design parameters. Perhaps with water injection, I can fix the problem!

Thursday, March 25, 2004

New Problems
On the way home from Mesquite, the car had some mis-firing problems. I'm thinking that the coil has gone bad. The wires and distributor were already replaced. I can also change the points although I'm thinking about going to electronic ignition. I'll Order the parts in the next day or so and see how it goes.

One Hot Car
On the drive home, the car was pushing 500 degrees and would knock when the turbo started to boost. I took it easy not boosting the car at all to prevent knocking, but I need to do something about it. There are several engine cooling strategies available to me. Also, I'm wondering if the pressure retard system in the ignition is actually working. Its possible that if its not, then the timing is too advanced for the boost and causing the knocking. We shall see. I'm also looking into a water injection system that will inject water into the heads when I boost.

Fuel Pump Anyone?
An interesting observation I made in Mesquite was that the majority of cars have had their mechanical fuel pump removed and replaced with an electric pump at the gas tank. I found out later that when the old pumps fail, they can be very dangerous, very destructive or both. In one scenario, when the pump dies, gas is pumped into the crank case, not a good thing. Another scenario is that a stream of gas could be shot at the very hot engine starting a fire! So now on to my list of upgrades for the car is an electric fuel pump.

Saturday, March 20, 2004

Back from Mesquite

What a great time. Here are the pictures pomised. just click on
Corvair Gathering 2004 and check it out.

Friday, March 19, 2004

5th Annual Corvair Gathering
Well, here I am in Mesquite, NV attending the 5th annual Corvair Gathering. I'm having a great time meeting other Corvair nuts. I've gotten lots of great advice on improvements to the car as well as some praise on the Corvair. There are some beautiful cars here. I've taken a bunch of picture and will post them as soon as I get to my computer to download them from the camera.

Tomorrow will be the car show. My car has been entered, but I doubt I'll be winning anything with some of these other cars here. I'm looking forward to a good time. Until then...

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Car is running once again
At least I can say that nothing I fixed has failed again! The new wires and distributor cap seemed to do the trick. It took a while for the car to start though. I had to jump start it with my other car and it took a few attempts. Once it got started though, its seems pretty strong. I drove it around all day yesterday running errands and it never had a problem starting again. Is it ready for a longer trip to Mesquite? I guess we'll find out in a few days. I'll have to get my AAA membership up to date to be safe, but I'm pretty confident that she'll make it. The car left me stranded once, but that was after a few days of owning it before any work was done. I'm thinking I'll get there and back okay!

Turbo Heat Shield
Well, I have a heat shield for the turbo, but naturally it has no mounting tabs on it. I have new tabs, but mounting them might prove tricky. I don't have access to a welder of any type, so I'm going to drill and screw the tabs on it. With the proper hardware I don't think it will cause any problems.

Monday, March 15, 2004

More Parts In
The New Wires are here. They should be in the car in a few hours. Hopefully, this will be the solution to my non-starting Corvair. Looking through the Clark's catalog it mentions that old wires are susceptible to moisture and I definitely had a lot of moisture in the trunk the last time I drove the car. Buckets of steam is a better description of what was going on in the engine compartment. One of my future projects will be to seal the compartment. That will be difficult because It looks like I need to pull apart the turbo and exhaust system to install the brackets and heat resistant seals. I may have to come up with a more workable solution. Luckily I know some people who work with metal so I have some resources to get it done.

Saturday, March 06, 2004

Long Delay
I know. By now I should have the speedometer in. Unfortunately, the car won't start and I don't know why. I'm thinking its electrical. I mentioned I took the car out in the rain a little while back. Its been humid and wet since then and I think that since the engine compartment is not sealed I may have gotten some moisture into the distributor. It off right now. I'm hoping a few days in open air will dry it out. I'll be purchasing a new cap as well as new wires. It can't hurt.

I need to get the car up and running again for the gathering in Mesquite in 2 weeks. Hopefully its something simple although I'm not really sure where to start if its not moisture in the distributor. We'll have to see.

On a side note, I bought a slightly dented turbo heat shield. It needs brackets to connect it to the turbo, but it doesn't look too bad. I'll have to take a picture and post it.

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll have good news soon.

Monday, February 23, 2004

The New Speedo



So I'm ready to toss in the new Speedometer! Its funny because this was the first part I purchased for the car. That was back when I thought the guy who sold it to me was honest about what the car needed. A lot of things "came up" before I was able to consider putting this in. To be fair, I did try to install the speedo much earlier, but you need to pull the steering wheel to get the dash off far enough to install it. At the time, I didn't have the proper tools needed to get it done, but now I do. I'm not exactly crazy about pulling the steering wheel off, but I also wasn't crazy about pulling the plates off the tunnel underneath the car to put in the fuel return line and that turned out okay. Its got to be done.



Here's a diagram of the back of the dash. Click on the picture to see a larger version of it. If you look closely there is a part labeled "9" that I have a feeling I'm missing. Its the trip odometer reset cable. Yep, you reset the trip odometer from under the dash. I think I can get the part out of Clark's, but Its not a high priority right now and I'm not going to wait for the part to put the speedo in. Hopefully, this will be an easy job. I may even try to replace the clock since I have the parts. We shall see.

Another Rain Observation
So I went out for another run in the rain tonight and it was interesting. Armed with my one windshield wiper, I turned on the defroster and headed out of the garage. Las Vegas drainage isn't the best so there was a huge puddle at the end of my street. I drove through it not thinking about it too much, but then my windshield instantly fogged up. It was amazing. I had to pull over for a moment and clean off my windshield. It turns out that because the defroster gets it air directly from the engine compartment, any water that gets up there is turned to steam and blown on my windshield. I drove over the puddle a few more times for testing and every time the windshield would fog up for a moment and then clear up.

I'm not sure if this is because my engine compartment is not sealed completely or even if it should be, but it doesn't seem like the best design. Luckily for me there is very little rain in Las Vegas and I wouldn't normally go driving in the rain with the Corvair.

That Sizzling sound!
One very cool observation I had is that once I parked the car back in the garage, I could hear sizzling from the engine compartment. This came from any water that fell on the engine. Since the engine runs at a much higher temperature than water cooled cars, the water was instantly boiling off the block making a great sizzling noise as the car sat in the garage.

Sunday, February 22, 2004

A little bit of silliness
It was raining today so I thought it would be a good test for the Corvair in the rain. Living in a desert it was a rare opportunity to run the car on a short trip. It would be better than if I were on a long drive and got caught in the rain and something didn't work. It turned out to be a good plan. Halfway on our way to dinner, I hit the windshield switch and the passenger side windshield wiper simply fell off. It was pretty humorous. I haven't taken a close look at it yet so I'm not sure why it fell off.

Thursday, February 19, 2004

A different fuel leak
Driving the car to work the other day, everything was going great except that when I hit the gas to engage the turbo, I get the old gas smell. It only happens when the turbo is boosting so I'm guessing I have a small leak somewhere between the turbo charger and the manifold. There aren't too many places for gas to leak out there. It also must be a small leak because I still get plenty of boost. Its just difficult to diagnose because I need to be doing 70 miles per hour to get the leak to start. I'll try one or two things and see if the smell goes away.

Also an oil leak
The turbo also seems to be leaking oil from one of the connections to the oil system. I may just need some thread sealer of some type. I wonder if Teflon tape can take the kind of heat the turbo puts out. That requires a little more investigation. All in all, the car is running really well. It got me to work and back the other day with no problems.

I have some little projects I can do while I save up some money for the bigger projects.

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Possible Solution to Turbo Heat Shield
I was talking to a guy at work who's girlfriend works with metal and he seems to think that building a custom heat shield for the turbo would not be that big of a deal. The question is, do I want to have one made that looks stock? Or since it would be a custom job, to make something different all together. The biggest thing is to make sure the tire would fit since the car no longer has stock wheels on it. I've called a couple of vendors about getting a stock shield, but have not had any luck yet. This may be my best option. Since its a low priority, I have to to do more searching before I commit one way or another.

Monday, February 16, 2004

Return Line Work Done!!!
I took the car out for a test drive today. Every thing is looking good on the fuel side of things. I had a small leak, but I think a strategically placed hose clamp fixed it. I'll double check it tomorrow. I'll take the car on the freeway to give it a real test! Next job looks like the speedometer since I have those parts in. I also have the steering wheel puller so I can get the dash off to do it. The next big thing on the list is definitely the front suspension. I'm not even sure where to start on that. The right front wheel definitely has some issues with bumps and the car pulls to the left. We'll take a closer look later.

Sunday, February 15, 2004

Return line work continues
I wish I had a car lift. That would make this job so much easier. I had a success getting the fuel line to the tank, so that end of things is pretty much done. I have to tie up the line in a place or two. I did have the engine side all connected, but I had to pull it out because I didn't have enough steel line to make it from one end of the tunnel to the other. Oh well. This was a case of following the line in the Corvair manual a little too close. The kit from Clark's doesn't use as much solid line as the original factory line. I should have started in the middle. Oh well. The job is almost complete though. All I have left is the filter side of the return line and to put the cover plates back on the underbody of the car. This is where the car lift would have helped. I'm finding myself having to put the front end on jack stands for a while, then lower the car to raise the back end to do some work. I've probably jacked the car up a half dozen times at this point. It slows things down a lot. Hopefully I'll be done tomorrow. I'm looking forward to a test drive.

Saturday, February 14, 2004

Carburetor fixed!!!
The float was bad! I pulled it out today and it was half filled with gas. I put the one in from my early model carb and no leaks. The car ran great at high RPMs and idle. No gas to be seen anywhere! For the life of me I can't find the leak in the bad float though. I'll have to put it in some water and squeeze it. Maybe some bubbles will appear.

So that leaves me with getting the return line done and the car will be drivable once again! A project for this weekend.

Friday, February 13, 2004

Pressure Regulator not the solution
Well, the pressure regulator is finally in and working after some initial problems. I managed to cross-thread the fuel line to the fuel filter and gas was shooting all over the place. Luckily I had another set of fittings and had the thing back together in no time. Unfortunately, the carburetor is still leaking. At 2000+ rpm, there is no leak, but at idle gas is all over the place. This is when the regulator is set at 2 pounds. Anything higher then that and the carb is leaking all the time.

Looking for the problem
So after some more discussion on Virtual Vairs, I've decided to check the float on the carb. If the float has a leak, it will fill with gas and sink to the bottom of the bowl. The bowl holds the gas just before it is pulled into the carburetor. The float is connected to a valve that allows gas into the bowl. With the float all the way at the bottom of the bowl, the valve will be open letting more and more gas in until it overflows the bowl and starts to leak all over the place. Luckily I have another float from the carb that I replaced. If you're wondering what the float looks like, look at the picture below.


And here's a picture of a carburetor with the bowl cover off showing you where the float would go.


I'll be pulling out the float from the installed carb and sticking this one in there.

Thursday, February 12, 2004

The First Pressure regulator a Failure!
I picked up a pressure regulator at the local Pep Boys and installed it. The thing was a piece of garbage. I had the car running for about a minute when it died. It was starved for gas because the dial setting on the regulator vibrated to 1 pound. No gas was getting to the carb. It turns out the spring in the regulator was dead and could hold any pressure in the settings dial. Its frustrating. I picked up another regulator and should have it installed in the next day or two.

The return line is another story. I still need to find a way to get the line to the tank. I'm not at all excited about the prospect of dropping the gas tank to get this line in. I've been brainstorming and we'll see what the solution is in the next week or so.

Monday, February 09, 2004

Maybe a Solution
A quick question on the Virvutal Vairs mailing list and someone suggested putting on a fuel regulator to hold back the pressure on the carb. I'll be heading down to Pep boys today to pick up some jack stands and a jack to get under the car to work on the fuel return line. While I'm there I'll see about a fuel pressure regulator.

Sunday, February 08, 2004

And a Setback!
Well, I have the filter in, but now the carburetor is leaking like nothing I've ever seen. There is a stream of gas flowing out of the carb when I get the engine running fast. Man this is frustrating. I feel like I've taken 2 steps back.

Now I'm looking into getting a whole different carb setup, but its expensive and I'd rather spend my money elsewhere, but if I have to get another rebuilt carb, I don't see much point in getting another one of the Carter YH carbs, they really don't seem to be up to the task!
Fuel Filter Success!

By adding the fuel filter to the engine, the car no longer floods out. It was amazing the amount of gas that was being pushed to the carb that it didn't need. The car runs great now. Below are a few pics to illustrate the difference.


Here's the fuel line before. It goes from the pump (blue) to the Carb (green). The Yellow marks where the fuel filter should be. The filter regulates the amount of gas getting to the carb. Without it, the pump is pushing too much.


Here's the newly installed fuel line. Note the new path and fuel filter in place (yellow arrow)). Right now there is a black tube(red arrow) that goes out the back. Now that the fuel filter is in place I need to run that black tube through a hole in the fire wall (green dot) to a solid line, under the car and to the gas tank. I don't know if that line is still there or not, so that's my next job to get this car running.

Below you can see how much gas is flowing that does not go to the carb. No wonder the car was flooding out so bad.


Thursday, February 05, 2004

The fuel return line is looking like a bigger deal than I originally thought. Naturally, the return line goes to the top of the gas tank in the front of the car and on early inspection, it looks as if all the old lines have been removed. I need to get ramps so I can get the car up. I need to remove a plate that runs the full length of the car to expose the fuel lines.

First things first, I'm going to install the filter and run the return line to a gas can to see if the car will idle with the filter in place. Currently, the car floods out after a few seconds. From there we'll see what happens next.

I'd like to get this thing up and running for the March gathering in Mesquite, NV. So the pressure is on!

Thursday, January 29, 2004

The parts came in the other day. The car pretty much decided what I need to do next. Yesterday I started it up to take to work and the carb completely flooded out. Gas was draining all over the place. Apparently, the pump is too powerful for the turbo carb and pumps too much gas into it. To fix the problem, a return line is placed from the fuel filter back to the gas tank to handle the overflow. My car is missing the fuel filter and the return line so the gas has nowhere else to go but the carb. That's the theory at least. I haven't had a chance to get under the car yet to see if the return line is still there or not. I have the whole kit here, so I should have everything I need to install the fuel filter and return line. It will give me a chance to see what underneath the car looks like as well.

Sunday, January 18, 2004

I just ordered more parts for the car. Parts in are marked in red, parts on order are in blue. Unfortunately, the turbo heat shield is going to be a hard find. Clark's doesn't have it and a few inquiries at other venders has not been sucessful.

Wednesday, January 07, 2004

So I put together a list on the sidebar. I'm sure its not complete. What started as just a few things is quickly ballooning up to a sizable list. A lot of the stuff is not critical. I can get by without a stereo for some time and my headlights are mostly working. Other stuff needs to be looked at soon. The suspension/alignment is top on the "big projects" list. The list is more of a reminder to me than anything else. Hopefully I'll be able to put a sizable dent in the list over the next few months, time permitting.

Monday, January 05, 2004

IT IS ALIVE!!! The new Carb and turbo assembly are in and the car is running great. I had to purge a bunch of oil out of the engine and muffler from the leak, but within a couple of minutes, most of the oil was burned away and the car is running pretty much smoke free. There may be some residual oil left in the muffler that still needs to burn away, but things are looking great.

Upon re-installing the carb and turbo, we discovered that there is no fuel filter on the fuel line. That will be a top priority. I just need to splice in an aftermarket filter into the line. I have to sit down and build a list of what I would like to do. Once that's done, I'll post on the side bar and start checking off items as they are done.

Regardless, I'll be taking the car out for a cruise today!

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