Just got a 66 Monza

[Tony11]

Hi
Just got my hands on a 66 Monza ,I have been reading up on them ,any good mechanics in Calgary that will work on them ?

[bbodie52]

Welcome to the Corvair Forum!

Corvair-qualified auto mechanics are few and far between in the USA, and likely even fewer and farther between in Canada. I'm always amazed when i remind myself just how big Canada is, and how great the distances are between major cities in Canada!


10 h 14 min (972.6 km) via Trans-Canada Hwy/BC-1 W


There are two CORSA (Corvair Society of America) club chapters in Canada. I would strongly suggest you use the link below to locate the chapter closest to you and consider joining them. They can advise you concerning obtaining help from a nearby Corvair-qualified mechanic, should you choose to have someone else do the work for you. CORSA club chapters often provide technical assistance and training for the do-it-yourself owner, and members may even volunteer to assist you with doing the work on your car.

https://www.corvair.org/index.php/compo ... =9&reset=0
CORSA (Corvair Society of America) Chapter Locator

The link below will provide you with a list of useful websites that are Corvair-related. Some of the links will lead you to an extensive technical library that will allow you to download shop manuals and other technical references in Adobe Reader format at no cost. There is also a link that will help you to locate nearby CORSA (Corvair Society of America) club chapters. You will also find a list of essential Corvair parts suppliers. Clark's Corvair Parts in Shelburne Falls, MA is the biggest and oldest Corvair supplier in the world. You will find a link that can provide you with a series of videos that amount to a tour of the Clark's Corvair Parts facilities. Parts suppliers such as this truly make our Corvair hobby possible.

Common and Useful Corvair Websites

viewtopic.php?f=225&t=6007


I would like to encourage you to expand on your first post and tell us more about yourself, as well as about your 1966 Monza. Some detailed photographs of the car — including the VIN tag and Body Tag in the engine compartment — can be very helpful. If you can provide your personal assessment of your mechanical skills and abilities, that would help a lot. Members of the Corvair Forum love to be helpful in assisting other Corvair owners with technical support and advice, but it helps a lot if we have some understanding of your technical background and mechanical abilities, your Corvair-related knowledge, etc. Helping us to know more about you will help us to write comments to you that are tailored to your needs and experience.

The Corvairs are vintage 1960s technology and design — easy to learn and easy to maintain (when compared to modern automobiles). I would say that, for an experienced home DIY "shade tree" car mechanic, learning to work on a Corvair is analogous learning to work on a motorcycle. The concepts and procedures are very similar, but the details and the way it is put together is a little different. With the Corvair engine (like a motorcycle) you are dealing with a lot of aluminum. The metal is soft when compared to steel and cast iron, so the use of a torque wrench, anti-seize compound and carefully avoiding cross-threading becomes more important. Also, (like some motorcycles) you are dealing with multiple carburetors so tuning procedures are a little different. The use of Corvair shop manuals and supplements, other technical guides, and information sources like the Corvair Forum, and perhaps joining a CORSA (Corvair Society of America) club chapter can help you to quickly learn about Corvairs. Information resources, like good Corvair parts suppliers, are plentiful if you know where to look. Suppliers like Clark's Corvair Parts have been well-respected and extremely supportive since 1973, and suppliers like that make Corvair ownership more practical and much-more possible. I taught myself how to remove a Corvair powertrain, overhaul the engine, and rebuild the Powerglide transmission during my high school summer vacation in 1969, when I was sixteen years old. I was working alone (my father had been transferred by Lockheed from Northern California to Southern California, and we had not yet moved to join him). I had a shop manual and a garage full of tools. There was no Internet, no Corvair Forum, no CORSA club (the Corvair Society of America was fully established around 1970) — I was pretty-much on my own. Yet I learned and was successful (in 1972 that engine carried me and my new bride on our wedding day and on our honeymoon).

So I believe you should be able to master working on Corvairs without too much trouble — except watch out for rust and body rot! The Corvair is of unibody construction, so most body repair involves cutting and welding. The doors, trunk lid (in the front) , and engine compartment lid (in the back) and maybe the gas filler door are the only bolt-on body components. Everything else is cut and weld, and the body serves as the main chassis frame. So unless you are a master body repair technician, you need to select your Corvair carefully and avoid excessive hidden rust or a "Bondo bucket". The door frame areas, fenders, floor pan, the bottom of the trunk, lower windshield and battery area often rust and rot.

The brakes, front and rear suspension, transaxle and body were essentially identical in the Corsa, Monza, and 500. The primary differences in the cars were the instrument panel (the Corsa had more gauges), trim details, and the engine configuration option.

A Corvair can serve well as a daily driver. But I would recommend a backup car or other alternatives, since ANY breakdown can put the car out of service for days until replacement parts can be obtained (if needed). If you have the skills and ability to work on the car yourself, repairs can often be completed fairly quickly. But if you have to rely on professional mechanics, downtime can be long and possibly expensive — if you can find a good mechanic to do the work for you.

Corvairs are popular and affordable classic cars, and enjoy a good infrastructure of maintenance supporters, owner's clubs, and parts suppliers — and that REALLY helps! But I suspect that most happy Corvair owners are something of "shade-tree mechanics" and hobbyists who are prepared to deal with the risks and problems related to Corvair ownership. It requires a long-term commitment and a dose of reality to happily own a classic Corvair. The "first date" infatuation with the attractiveness and uniqueness of a Corvair will not sustain you in a long-term relationship with a Corvair. It is far-better to have a realistic idea of just what you are getting into before you "take the plunge" and buy your dream car.

The CORSA club chapter below may be of some help to you, and of course members of the Corvair Forum will certainly try to answer your questions and will use their experience to help guide you wherever possible.



http://www.westerncanadacorsa.com/

[Tony11]

Hi
Thanks for the info .....Here is a little bit about my self ,I have been interested in Corvairs for around 5 years ,I did alot of research on these cars finally got a 66 monza .The cars from a farm in BC she was sitting for about 15 to 17 Years had the usual rot around the windsheild and alot of surface rust .I got a friend to strip it down and fixed all of it .I drained the fuel tank ,rebuilt the carbs (2 Carbs) drained the oil and got it fired up .Drove it around for a week and Calgary was hit with a hail storm ..... it Damaged the brand new paint job and alot of the Windshield chrome trim.It sat in my drive way for another month and i noticed the engine was leaking oil from almost everywhere ,I ordered engine gasket kit for California corvairs and sent it to a shop to get resealed .Its now there to be worked on after that its going to the body shop agian.
I have worked on cars before and enjoy doing the work myself but nothing like this engine !!!
I have alot of learning to do .Is there any other upgrades i should do to get it running better ...

[bbodie52]

You must have a really good friend in the auto body business to fix all of your rust an decay problems, and then to be recalled after the hail storm!

...I have worked on cars before and enjoy doing the work myself but nothing like this engine !!!
I have a lot of learning to do .Is there any other upgrades i should do to get it running better ...

As I have said, for an experienced auto mechanic or hobbyist, switching to a Corvair is similar to owning and maintaining your first motorcycle. Air cooled, multiple carburetors, aluminum engine components all add to the confusion factor. Then add carburetors and a distributor with ignition points instead of computer-controlled electronic fuel injection and electronic ignition, and life becomes even more-confusing!

Late model cars tend to provide owners with increased reliability and stability, with fewer routine maintenance chores and tune-ups. You might consider a distributor upgrade by installing a breakerless electronic ignition to rid yourself of those high maintenance ignition points. for those without a turbocharged engine, I would tend to recommend a modern Stinger electronic distributor to completely replace that aging factory Corvair distributor (keep it as an emergency spare, along with the stock coil). the Stinger distributor uses modern, proven technology to upgrade from ignition points, while completely replacing that aging distributor, ignition coil, and aging spark plug wires with a fresh, low maintenance system. The total cost of the Stinger system is not much more than overhauling the old distributor and adding a breakerless Crane Cams XR700 (optical trigger) or Pertronix Ignitor or Ignitor II (magnetic trigger) to the stock unit. (The Ignitor II is not recommended for Powerglide-equipped automatic transmission cars, because the slow idle in DRIVE may cause sensor errors in the Pertronix Ignitor II. The use of a Stinger distributor is not recommended for turbocharged Corvairs, because it lacks a pressure retard device needed by the turbo engine). in any case, the Stinger distributor's reliability and stability, coupled with new plug wires and a high performance coil should help you to "get things running better" by advancing the ignition system technology by more than 50 years! Click on this link for more info...


ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTOR UPGRADE/REPLACEMENT OPTIONS
viewtopic.php?f=225&t=15101
Pro Series Distributor
viewtopic.php?f=55&t=16279&start=16


http://www.corvair-efi.com/
Modern electronic fuel injection (EFI) is also available for the Corvair, but it is much more costly and a much-more significant modification. I am strongly considering this upgrade for my 140 hp 4x1 engine in my Corvair, to be rid of those aging, cantankerous carburetors once and for all! Here is a link if you want more info, of if you are just curious.

Classic cars had a different way of doing things in the 1950s, 1960s and earlier, when compared to modern techniques utilizing sensors and computer technology to control fuel injection and ignition systems. There was a series of books that were published in the 1960s and 1970s that focus on basic principles of automobile design and function. These books covered basics associated with carburetors, ignition systems, suspension and brakes systems, etc. When I was a teenager I read through many of these books and they gave me a good understanding of the principles and functional designs that were common in the cars that I was interested in, including the Corvair. Once I read through these books, the shop manuals made a lot more sense to me as I began to understand how things function and what I was trying to accomplish in working on my Corvair. This series was published long ago (1960s-1970s) by Petersen Publishing Company, which was also associated with Hot Rod Magazine. With titles like Petersen's Basic Cams, Valves and Exhaust Systems, Petersen's Basic Ignition and Electrical Systems, and Petersen's Basic Carburetion and Fuel Systems, I was a teenager that found myself devouring much of the series to teach myself the basics that could be applied to most 1970s and earlier vehicles. The material in those books are now somewhat dated because of the change to computer-controlled electronic fuel injection and other sophisticated technologies that have been introduced in the subsequent decades. But I do feel a Corvair owner or any classic car owner could benefit from the material in these books. Many of them are listed as available on Amazon.com. If you would like to consider the possibility of reading through some of this material, the following link may help you to find what you're looking for. The cost of these books is low, and the investment in time that you might make in reading them may help you to develop a foundation of knowledge that will help you to leap ahead in your DIY maintenance efforts on your Corvair.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss ... pany+basic

ebay https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=b ... c&_sacat=0

[erco]

Welcome, Tony11! We need more Corvair-loving Canucks here! I have a '67 Monza.

I'm always amazed when i remind myself just how big Canada is, and how great the distances are between major cities in Canada!

4 FREAKIN' HARD DAYS BY BICYCLE (972.6 km) via Trans-Canada Hwy/BC-1 W

Tell me about it, that's precisely the route my friends and I bicycled from Vancouver to the Calgary Stampede some 20 years ago! Icefields Parkway near Jasper was a memorable climb on a fully loaded touring bike.