140 engine rebuild

[66vairguy]

I asked Clark's about that. As time has passed there have been fewer and fewer machine shops willing to do Corvair headwork and now there are none on the East coast. They referred me to Corvair Ranch in CA.

That can't be right. Not near you, but someone in Florida recently posted about using a local shop. East-coastish anyway.

There are machine shops that say they will do Corvair heads, but ask them when they last did a pair and you get DUH!!! In the last decade two machine shops closed in my area and another has scaled back to just "minor" work. A number of reasons, but today most hobby guys just install a crate engine from the big manufactures and use a modern new transmissions.

I ran into this with the Corvair pressure plate. I got dozens of leads and EVERY SHOP I CALLED said "Oh we can't replace the diaphragm spring as they are NOT available. We test them and if they are bad you have to find another pressure plate"!!!! Someone posted on the CORSA forum that Clark's no longer has the rebuilt pressure plates with the near stock 1,500lb pressure plate diaphragm. They only have the 1,800lb pressure plate diaphragm and it requires some good leg muscles to use based on responses to the post. No Clark's will not sell the pressure plate diaphragm separate, you can only get it by buying a rebuilt pressure plate from them. Can't say I blame them, but even that option seems to be going away.

[Dennis66]

I'm in Florida. I don't know if they do Corvair heads or not, but I've used Clearwater Cylinder Head aka Odessa Cylinder Heads. Ive had them do 4 valve Subaru heads that were cracked and they fixed them. Had them do Isuzu heads. They are GOOD. You could look them up and give them a call. I actually may be near there tomorrow, but don't know if I'll have a chance to stop or not. Dennis

[SpiderMan]

I've done alot of research and have benefitted from all the advice here on the forum. I've concluded the following.
One can remove and replace worn valve guides with a special punch.
Yes, the new guides may be slightly not concentric with the existing valve seat but that's all it takes to loose compression.
The amount of non-concentricity typically can be addressed by re-cutting the valve seat. The special cutter and tapered guide thingy are available from Neway for example. The existing seat can be cut since very little will need to be removed typically.
Or........ there's a guy selling rebuilt heads with new valves/seats/guides on E-bay with stacked or deep seat that are reasonable $ considering the labor.
I'll probably go for the later since staking or machining for deep seats is beyond my reach and no machine shop within a 1000 miles is capable or willing to do the work at a price that's competitive.

[66vairguy]

At one time "staking" the seats was thought to be a good idea. Over time folks reported that staked seats DO COME LOOSE occasionally.

No matter how tight you try to get the standard seats to fit in a head, the repeated thermal cycles and expansion can make a standard seat come loose. Valve "wiggling" from a worn guide adds to the problem as does overheating a head.

The only fix that has a track record of working is a deeper seat (more contact area between head and seat) and new valve guides.

If the ebay ad is from Star Cooke I would be cautious. I've never dealt with him, but some say his workmanship is poor, others say he is the best. I don't know why there is this contradiction. I do my research and deal with a shop that has no complaints.

Bottom line a properly rebuilt set of heads (seats, valves, springs, guides) starts at about $1,000.00. If you find a bargain price for rebuilt heads --- well if it too good to be true, then it probably is! Rebuilt means a lot of different things to folks.

[erco]

If the ebay ad is from Star Cooke I would be cautious. I've never dealt with him, but some say his workmanship is poor, others say he is the best. I don't know why there is this contradiction.

You're always quick to slam Starr even though you've had no personal dealings with him. I've been down to meet him at his amazing home shop and bought a spare set of 140 heads. Everything I saw indicates that he's a standup guy and real Corvair enthusiast. Sounds like he's getting to be one of the few options left for cylinder head work and mail order sales too. His prices are some of the lowest anywhere. He's already very successful and well off, he doesn't need the Corvair money. IMO he does it because he's good at it, he enjoys it and he has all the shop tools necessary. Like most of us, he's not a young man (but a healthy outdoorsman and professional guide). I would call a community asset, not a suspicious character. If someone has firsthand experience (good or bad), let them tell their story here.

I do my research and deal with a shop that has no complaints.

Good luck with that. Customers have different expectations and abilities, there is no shortage of people who are quick to blame the shop instead of admitting they made a mistake. I'm sure Starr has had customers like this.

[66vairguy]

If the ebay ad is from Star Cooke I would be cautious. I've never dealt with him, but some say his workmanship is poor, others say he is the best. I don't know why there is this contradiction.

You're always quick to slam Starr even though you've had no personal dealings with him. I've been down to meet him at his amazing home shop and bought a spare set of 140 heads. Everything I saw indicates that he's a standup guy and real Corvair enthusiast. Sounds like he's getting to be one of the few options left for cylinder head work and mail order sales too. His prices are some of the lowest anywhere. He's already very successful and well off, he doesn't need the Corvair money. IMO he does it because he's good at it, he enjoys it and he has all the shop tools necessary. Like most of us, he's not a young man (but a healthy outdoorsman and professional guide). I would call a community asset, not a suspicious character. If someone has firsthand experience (good or bad), let them tell their story here.

I do my research and deal with a shop that has no complaints.

Good luck with that. Customers have different expectations and abilities, there is no shortage of people who are quick to blame the shop instead of admitting they made a mistake. I'm sure Starr has had customers like this.

I'm glad you had good luck with Starr and was impressed with him. Many are, but I've talked to folks who are reliable and had nothing against Starr, but the parts and work from him was subpar. I'm sure he is a great guy, but I've heard a few too many complaints.I am a bit surprised you haven't heard about Bruce at Engine Machine in Inglewood, CA. Years ago I asked some of the local Corvair mechanics and vendors who sent heads to Bruce for rebuild if there were any issues and there were zero complaints. When I took my heads to him he took the time to explain things and when a head not worth spending money on he told me.

[erco]

Of course I've heard of Bruce. I'm sure he does good work too, even though I've never met him. Kind of the opposite of you and Starr.

While you're dropping names, please tell us exactly who has had issues with Starr and provide specific info. Without that it's all hearsay.

A quick Google of starr cooke corvair brings up good things from what I see.

[Wagon Master]

You sir are in my humble opinion in the minority on this subject. I/we would be interested as to his response to why he had to open an EBay account under his wifes name for awhile.

[66vairguy]

Of course I've heard of Bruce. I'm sure he does good work too, even though I've never met him. Kind of the opposite of you and Starr.

While you're dropping names, please tell us exactly who has had issues with Starr and provide specific info. Without that it's all hearsay.

A quick Google of starr cooke corvair brings up good things from what I see.

First you say "good luck finding someone" so I mention Bruce and you say "Of course I've heard of him". So why didn't YOU mention him?

Well I guess some folks just like to argue. Maybe you are Starr's buddy or relative.

[erco]

Names or it never happened.

[erco]

You sir are in my humble opinion in the minority on this subject. I/we would be interested as to his response to why he had to open an EBay account under his wifes name for awhile.

Somebody answered that a while back. Google's your friend.

[erco]

Haterz gonna hate!

[erco]

Sorry for the hijack, SpiderMan. As you can seen here, some people get defensive if you challenge their opinions and must always have the last word.

Back OT, I found Starr to be an enthusiastic and affordable Corvair resource, as have many others. In the absence of any contrary evidence you get to decide for yourself. Deep seats are definitely better and cost more as well. Plenty of us are fine running stock seats in our low-mileage hobby cars. If you're building a daily driver or race engine then definitely pony up for deep seats.

Keep us informed on your build progress, I'll do my best to stay on topic.

[SpiderMan]

Thanks for the advice Erco.
I'm saving up the money to do something.
I think Goodson has the tools I need if I go the DIY route.
I have to price this all out first.
I need seats/springs/thermistor/pressure sensor/choke thermostats. If this plus the cost of tools comes close to what I would pay for rebuilt heads I'd just buy rebuilt heads.

[belaraphon]

OK, I'll throw in my 2 cents. I don't want to add to the flame war, but I also purchased a few used items from Starr Cooke and they were as represented and I was happy with them. In case you wish to look at alternatives I had my 140 heads rebuilt by Keith Wood of keith@corvairspecialties.com. That was almost 3 years ago and I think the work was well done and competitive in price. He was also good to deal with. I have put about 300 miles on the engine since getting the car back on the road recently. Also, I grossly over packed my heads and paid too much in shipping. He was able to save lots of money when he shipped them back by repackaging them which I found to be a nice touch.

I have also purchased used items from GoVair, a guy named Titus and he was very cool. I picked up a used 4 speed and transaxle. Bolted them in and no problems. Also purchased used items from dianexxx (can't remember the full name) with good results. Finally, I had my carbs rebuilt by Wolf Enterprises (Grant Young) and he was great at answering questions and the carbs work well. He replaces all the wear parts and makes them pretty. He even jetted them for high altitude at no extra cost and it starts and runs well.

[65Monza140]

Belaraphon,

Are any of the guys/shops you mention in Arizona, by chance? I can't get my 140 crank unfrozen so it's going to be a bear to tear down, and I dread what I will find after reading the good stuff to think about in this thread....

I will need a close, reliable, experienced machinist.... and a printing press!

Thank you all for sharing your experiences. Really helps us weekend wrenchers.

Drooling to drive it