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Post by Volktales on Jul 4, 2021 19:10:44 GMT -8
Sooo, continuing on... The first thing accomplished was finally registering the Corvair in my name! This procedure went smoothly this time, again with help from Mark Zomar. As mentioned in the past, this guy specializes in getting your vintage/rod-rod/hobby car registered in your name. This is the third time I have used his services, and have been happy. If you need his services, contact him at mazing1932@hotmail.com; Was doing a variety of things on the Corvair this extra long weekend, including breaking out the Krud Kutter rust remover once again. As previously mentioned, this stuff is not fast, but highly effective. You can see what that glove box door looked like before... Here we are doing the other side now. This took about an hour of sitting, and some re-application of the fluid before the rust was gone. Still impressed with how it works. The end result is OK, but as you can see there is some areas where all the original paint has disappeared. Will be adequate for now... Also cleaned the corrosion off the chrome parts as well. Effective, but unfortunately the pits don't magically disappear... Continued...
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Post by Volktales on Jul 4, 2021 19:26:41 GMT -8
While waiting for the rust remover to do its thing, I did some more mechanical repairs. The throttle linkage was sticking, and would not return to idle position. The problem was traced to the pedal pivot itself, and this should have been straightforward to repair, but wasn't. In theory the pedal could be unbolted from the pivot, then the hinge pin simply slid out of the bushings. Except the nut was nicely seized in place. Given the car is parked over loose gravel, I did not feel like disconnecting the linkage from underneath either. In the end I unbolted the hinge assembly, and worked it back and forth hundreds of times. Not fun, but eventually it worked... Interesting thing about this car is comparing it to VW and how they did things differently. All the air-cooled VWs use a cable to operate the throttle and pull the throttle open. The Corvairs use solid rod linkages and push the throttles open... Lots of link points to lubricate, but you won't snap that cable, will you??? This device caused a LOT of grief. Corvairs use this odd hand operated park brake mechanism located under the left side of the dash. This style was fairly popular on some American cars in the '60's, and it can work OK. In reality a handbrake lever between the seats would have been MUCH better, but some models of Corvairs featured bench seats, so that position was unavailable. Instead the under-dash handle requires a really long cable and lots of pulleys to make the system work properly. In my case the handle assembly was seized up nice and solid. It was a pain to remove it from under the dash too. Once on the bench, the various components were unseized with Moovit followed by a good dousing in Fluid Film. The handle contains the ratcheting mechanism, and seemed to work fine on the bench. Reinstalling it was a royal pain in the ass however... Normally you loosen off the park-brake cable adjustment when installing a handle. Except the adjustment is under the depths of the car, and again I don't want to use jackstands on the unstable ground the car is currently parked on. So installing the handle with the cable under some tension was a character building exercise. Got there in the end, but may have said the odd choice word or ten... Said a few more of them too once the mechanism was FINALLY reinstalled and then the ratchet assembly would not engage... Will have to go back to that later to avoid throwing things... Continued...
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Post by Volktales on Jul 4, 2021 19:57:16 GMT -8
I had cleaned the fuse-box somewhat with rust remover earlier, then it was time to see if the electrical system on the car would function. The first thing tried was the lighting system, and the above picture shows the result... Yup, the left front park light is the only one on the whole car that actually works... Bit of a bummer then... The radio crackled a bit when turned on, but a broken antenna is not very effective at bringing in any stations, is it??? The signals, fuel gauge, and blower fan are dead too, and didn't even bother trying the wipers due to non-existent blades. Generator is dead too, as is the warning light for it. Horn relay clicks, but horns dead as well. But the oil pressure and temp sender lights lit up, and the engine turned over on the key! So would it start??? You bet it did. Idled reasonably ok too, and after awhile I put it into Drive. The park-brake ratchet doesn't work, but the brake itself does and was able to control motion. I could have driven the car from its resting place if I was ready. However there are issues.... Today I cleaned the replacement crankcase ventilation hose and orifice and installed it. This revealed the engine is producing too much blow-by to drive it. I am hoping it will go away with use, but so far that is not happening. ( I have run the engine multiple times now.) It is not as bad as the spare engine, but is at unacceptable levels. In reality the piston rings are likely stuck from sitting all those years and want to remain so. There are some chemical products out there that MIGHT fix this sort of thing. If you watch Vice Grip Garage on Youtube, you will see that Derrick likes using a product called Berryman B12 and dumps it down the carb while running. It has been very effective on the many junkers he gets running after sitting for years... Specifically it loosens up stuck rings and works quite well. Naturally it does not seem to be available in Canada... Seafoam also makes a product for the same purpose. There are lots of internet based Seafoam VS Berryman discussions. Moot point, but Seafoam is available at Canadian Tire and I might have just got myself a can... Going to be extra smoky in Harewood soon...
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Post by CrazyBrit on Jul 4, 2021 22:04:28 GMT -8
I thought it was always smmmoookkkeeyyy in Harewood. Or is that just Nanaimo and BC in general?
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Post by Corvairs For Sale on Jul 8, 2021 10:42:16 GMT -8
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Post by CrazyBrit on Jul 8, 2021 16:52:07 GMT -8
Russ' 2 door looks way cooler than the 4 doors, IMHO.
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Post by Volktales on Jul 8, 2021 19:37:38 GMT -8
Those two have been for sale on and off for quite awhile. Kijiji seems to have the most Corvairs listed for sale and it seems LOTS of them are from Alberta for some reason. BC cars have been quite tough to find it seems...
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Post by PICTUP on Jul 9, 2021 21:55:45 GMT -8
Russ' 2 door looks way cooler than the 4 doors, IMHO. I agree, but you gotta admit, the first generation's back window in the 4 door is pretty darn cool looking
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Post by Volktales on Jul 11, 2021 20:21:39 GMT -8
The "flat-top" four doors were not limited to Corvairs. General Motors applied this roof-line as an option on it's entire model lineup in 1959 and 1960, and to a lesser extent in 1961. Here is an example on a 1960 Buick. Interestingly Corvair was the only model where this roof-line was standard on all the four doors...
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Post by Volktales on Jul 11, 2021 20:29:07 GMT -8
Sooo, once again back on the Corvair project... But wait! Where did it go??? Nothing but some wilting weeds and a bunch of oil spots to mark that it was ever there... WTF??? Nothing to get worried about. I just fired it up and moved it to it's new resting place for now. Got very tired of trying to work on it in the hot sun on the weekends, so moved it up into the "truck carport" for now. It's first "drive" in over 20 years... And now onto more work. First up is getting rid of this terrible condition pulley on the cooling fan... Luckily the one from the parts engine was in very nice condition... Also swapped over the tensioner, and alternator from that engine as well. This part of the job went ok... Continued...
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Post by Volktales on Jul 11, 2021 20:54:25 GMT -8
While I had the alternator out, it made sense to check to see if the oil cooler was all plugged up with rat nastiness like the spare engine. Nope, perfectly clean. Nice. Although obviously not visible, I did finally get around to properly setting up the carbs to initial specs, exactly following the manual. Lots of fiddling with the linkages, but everything set up fine. The right choke is faulty however, and will have to be swapped with one from the spare engine. This is not as easy as you think, and will be shown later... After doing the setup, I also fiddled with the rusty connections to the voltage regulator as well as dealing with a loose and rusty ground on said regulator. The charge indicator light would still not light up though... Further testing revealed the bulb itself was not working, and it was just possible to weasel it out of the dash once the heater controls had been removed. Then it was time to see if it would charge! Well the engine started nicely after the aforementioned work, and the charge light went out immediately like it should. I ran the engine for several minutes, and it ran quite well. The alternator seemed to be getting hotter then I would have thought, so shut it down. The charge light once again would not function, and I am suspecting the voltage regulator. The old style mechanical regulators don't like to sit around for years, and I have a feeling it is not happy. I will remove it and have a go at checking it out internally before buying a new one... Nothing else electrically wants to work, so the fuse-box is the first port of call after checking the battery connections. I knew it was not in very good condition, but had a closer look this time... Yup. It's a goner. Notice that the fuse contacts have completely rotted away... It is interesting comparing this car to how VW did things. Volkswagen fuse boxes all feature brass terminals and connectors. GM cheaped out and used thin plated steel. This has all rotted away and will have to be completely replaced. I think I will wire in a generic aftermarket fuse panel for now as this is the simplest and cheapest way forward. This can be replaced with the proper part in the future if I can find one. The fuse box on these cars is part of the dashboard harness and is NOT serviced separately. That is a bummer then... The backside of the fuse box reveals yet more terminal corrosion (see what I did there???) The tricky part of this is the factory Corvair manual has pretty poor wiring diagrams, so this is going to be a bit of fun to repair this... Oh well... And finally to borrow a line from Derrick at ViceGripGarage on YouTube, "Let's pretend we didn't see that..." The hinge pillars are a Corvair specific rot spot, and this car is no exception. Repair panels are not available, but good sections cut from parts cars can be found from California. Apparently... Looking at this area carefully, it was previously "repaired" using the bash in the rust and cover it up with Bondo method. And that was done 33 plus years ago... More new skills for me to learn to make that issue go away...
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Post by Volktales on Jul 11, 2021 21:17:16 GMT -8
Just looked it up. The correct reproduction dashboard wiring harness is available including correct style fuse box. Only $420 USD plus lots of shipping! Well that just ain't going to happen now, is it?!!!
I think I see a VW fuse box in my future!!! And I also have a nice Tercel one kicking around too...
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Post by CrazyBrit on Jul 12, 2021 7:56:09 GMT -8
Is it possible to rebuild the old fuse box using parts from another vehicle or brand?
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Post by Volktales on Jul 12, 2021 11:14:06 GMT -8
Is it possible to rebuild the old fuse box using parts from another vehicle or brand? Don't think so. Leaning towards the Tercel idea at the moment. This is due to a lack of variety of available ceramic type fuses in several amp ratings for the VW fusebox.
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Post by Volktales on Jul 12, 2021 19:31:50 GMT -8
The solution is to use the core of an old Tercel fuse box. This will allow me to use the better ATC fuses. And it won't cost me anything at all which is quite nice...
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