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Post by Volktales on May 16, 2021 20:40:04 GMT -8
Also I managed to squeeze some Corvair time into my schedule... First up was pulling off the spark plug wires, and blowing any dirt out of the holes with compressed air. Actually was not that much ick in there; only a few seeds and pine needles. Then time to try out the Marvel Mystery oil. It is often used as a "top end lubricant" so why not? First I had to get those spark plugs out though. The left bank plugs came out easily, as the threads had some lubricant on them. Unfortunately nobody thought about doing this on the right bank. Two of them came out without drama, and the threads were very dry. Cylinder number 3 plug did not co-operate, and had no give whatsoever, even with a fairly long ratchet. Fortunately all the plugs were ancient, but unworn AC brand and the appearance indicated the engine was running a bit rich, but not excessive. That plug will be left in place for now. Meanwhile all the other cylinders received a generous dose of Marvel... And then I cranked over the engine by hand. It turned easily, and there did not seem to be any suspicious tight spots or clunking. So far, so good. The excess Marvel spurted out nicely from each cylinder even under hand cranking... And with this engine, you must remember it turns counter-clockwise, which is opposite of most of the world's engines... Except earlier Hondas that is... Notice the difference in this picture? Probably not, but the rear decklid is actually latching again. Had to remove the latch an unseize it on the bench, but it works fine just now. Also removed the passenger door latch (a bit fun), and working on it, but heat is going to be necessary for this to work properly... Even got the door lock to work again, so things are moving forward... What is not moving forward is that Dad is once again in the hospital, and things could be better. He really wants me to get into this project; so was happy when I phoned him (no visiting possible of course) and gave him the updates on the Corvair. Lets hope I will get it running as soon as possible...
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Post by CrazyBrit on May 17, 2021 11:49:58 GMT -8
Sorry to hear that you're Dad is in the hospital. Hope he's out soon and driving his fantastic cars again soon
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Post by Volktales on May 17, 2021 21:25:12 GMT -8
Sorry to hear that you're Dad is in the hospital. Hope he's out soon and driving his fantastic cars again soon I hope he can come home too. Old age is just not much fun...
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Post by Volktales on May 17, 2021 21:39:26 GMT -8
Sooo, did not get anything done on the Ghia tonight, but the Corvair saw a bit more attention. As the engine inches closer for a potential startup, I have been taking stock of what might be missing. And today discovered a couple of things I will definitely need... Items number 4 and 8 are not present. I assume these were attached to the original carburetors when they were removed. What it look liked happened, is the original carburetor throttle shaft bushings failed, and the carbs were removed and disassembled in anticipation of being rebuilt. This did not occur, and most of the parts were subsequently lost. The good news is, replacement carbs were obtained and they looked like they were rebuilt versions. These have seized up from sitting around, but should clean up nicely. New gaskets were in the box of parts too. The only other thing missing is item 7, which is part of the crankcase ventilation system. It contains a metered orifice which acts as a crude PCV valve. This was likely in the front trunk along with the rest of the air cleaner assembly, but probably fell out of the large rust hole in the trunk floor. Could be virtually anywhere by now... I have a couple of potential local sources for these parts lined up and we will hopefully be successful... None of these items will prevent a start up attempt however... Both mufflers are missing completely, presumably thrown away as they had been unbolted, not rotted off. These are available in different formats... Again we don't need these for a start attempt. Wonder what an exhaust deficient flat six will sound like???
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Post by magikbus on May 18, 2021 6:42:01 GMT -8
Let me know when you do your "sans-mufflered" startup I'll go out on the deck here in Ladymsmith and see what it sounds like from here. ;-) Stan
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Post by Volktales on May 24, 2021 18:51:36 GMT -8
Didn't get too much done this week, but did get a few things done... This is the passenger side door latch assembly which was seized up nicely. A good soaking in Moovit and Fluid Film helped it most of the way, but again some persuasion on the bench was needed. I thought I would need to do some torch action, but the penetrating fluids eventually did their thing and the last stuck mechanism began to move freely. Cleaned the unit up a bit, re-lubed it and reinstalled. Pretty easy actually. And now the door latches easily. Even the lock cylinder works fine now. The window guides and mechanism was previously lubed, and glides up and down nicely. What could be better is the alignment of this door is poor. The lower hinge was replaced at some time, and I don't think much effort was put in to adjust things. Doesn't matter much as that door will have to come off for welding eventually... In good news, tomorrow after work I am off to check out some Corvair parts that are available. The guy believes he has the missing carb linkage and breather pipe that I need. I hope so!!!
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Post by Volktales on May 26, 2021 21:17:31 GMT -8
Sooo, I did check out some Corvair parts that are for sale. The owner has his own Corvair, and decades ago had been converted to mid-engine V8 configuration. He has fully redone this and is currently in the "dry build" stage. It does run though, and sounds pretty wild when he fired it up! Anyway he used to have a 1965 parts car (since scrapped), but did save the drivetrain out of it, including the complete 110 engine. This he would love to sell to me complete, but I don't want it quite yet. It supposedly ran when parked, but he has not fired it up in his ownership. It does turn over freely, though. I don't really want to fork over the asking price of $500 quite yet, but in reality that is probably fair for a fully complete engine. We will see...
I don't want to spend much cash on this until the registration is completed. This is not my first rodeo in dealing with this sort of thing, but it still is always a somewhat of an unknown if everything will be OK. At least this one is a genuine BC car, so at least it should not require a full inspection like the last Savannah Beige Beetle... And I already know the last known owner does not live at his former address, but don't know if he registered the car in his name when he bought it. Should be interesting...
The guy with the motor for sale did have some other odds and ends available. Luckily he did not throw out the old rims from the parts car, and these I certainly need as mine just are not good at holding in any air... Should be picking up what I need on Friday... I hope.
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Post by Volktales on May 30, 2021 21:46:54 GMT -8
Sooo, the guy with the Corvair parts has not had a chance to collect the linkage and breather pipe that I need yet (he runs a shop and was very busy this week). I did manage to get the rims and tires he had however... As you can see, the tires the car came with just won't hold air for any length of time. I don't likey this... But the replacement rims are in MUCH better condition, and the ancient old bias-ply tires still seem to hold air. This is a correct size tire, and has much higher sidewalls then radial replacements. These old tires fill up the wheel arches, and do not look small like modern radials. These rims had been blasted in the past and were bare metal, so I did a very quick spray job to halt any rust for now. And of course I cleaned up the white-wall... Check out that gnarly twin pinstripe snowy on the back! These tires are from the '70's so you can imagine how hard that rubber is by now. The other two rims had Romanian made radials on them, so ancient and cracked, that you can't even make out the brand name. So far they are holding air however... I also did some more vacuuming out of the engine compartment in anticipation of carburetor and distributor fun..,.
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Post by busaddict on May 31, 2021 12:14:00 GMT -8
Looks good, thanks for the update
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Post by Volktales on Jun 6, 2021 21:02:46 GMT -8
Sooo, due to other non-fun projects this week, I did not get much done. But I did get some things accomplished... Time to investigate those carburetors. These two are the originals from the car, and they are most definitely hurting... All the internals are missing, and this is what remains of the steel parts. All junk, except that neat original tag in the centre of the photo. I might try to re-use that... Luckily the car came with two much better replacements, that Reagh found sitting on the seat inside the car. He soaked these in penetrating oil, as the spindles had seized up from sitting. I was able to get things moving with relative ease, then it was time to see what the insides looked like... And the verdict was.... excellent! It was pretty apparent these carbs were fully remanufactured and never used. There was no sign fuel had ever been inside these... Everything was perfectly clean, and the troublesome accelerator pump seal (shown here) is still soft and supple. The only issue was that powdery corrosion that forms in damp environments. This was removed with some rust remover and is all fine now... Even the original type sintered bronze fuel filters were present and like new. This part of the project should be quite easy, and the carbs will be going back together tomorrow. Then the next thing is to see if the starter will crank the engine over... Fun!
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Post by Volktales on Jun 10, 2021 21:33:49 GMT -8
Did you hear it??? DID YOU HEAR IT???
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Post by lazy rj on Jun 10, 2021 22:55:43 GMT -8
you love to keep us in suspense. Please tell us, it started and no knocking haha
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Post by magikbus on Jun 11, 2021 8:34:44 GMT -8
I did sense a disturbance in the force! Stan
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Post by Volktales on Jun 11, 2021 17:20:05 GMT -8
More pictures and info will be up tomorrow... Hopefully a video as well... Fun!
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Post by Volktales on Jun 13, 2021 19:02:58 GMT -8
Sooo, here we go again.... Both carbs all assembled and ready for action. All the adjustments had been set correctly by whoever had rebuilt them, so that was nice. Really no work at all other then cleaning was required... Just for fun, note the 34 PICT-3 on the left, and the Rochester on the right. Pretty small bore, isn't it. Corvair performance was limited by the carburetion, which is why the higher powered versions had more carburetors, or a turbocharger to force more air into the cylinders... And here we see one of the two carburetors mounted directly to the cylinder head. There are no intake manifolds at all, as the carbs mount directly to the heads. Because of this, carburetor icing must not be an issue and there is no preheat system at all for these models. Note the remote choke on this design. The choke coil (not visible) is mounted directly on the cylinder head and attaches to the carb via that linkage rod visible in the centre of the picture. Interesting set-up... And here are the two carbs installed along with what remained of the linkage. Still need the end links however to make the system controllable. But this will not prevent a start-up however... A few items were needed to make this a success. Note the big-ass battery charger connected, the spray bottle with gasoline at ready, and the bench starter console all hooked up... My favourite 1959 fuel tank has been put to good use once again... Not going to trust the one on the car just yet... And the bench starter has been put to good use. Not ready to trust the car's wiring harness just quite yet. Although the bench starter was not built with Corvairs in mind, it works just fine for something like this. The alternator was not hooked up for this test, but could be in the future... Now time to see what would happen... Continued..,.
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