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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!