64 Monza Build Thread with Videos

User avatar
JNH Classics
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Dec 23, 2019 9:13 am
Contact:

64 Monza Build Thread with Videos

Post by JNH Classics »

Hey Guys,

I just started a Corvair Project on my Youtube channel, I think you might like this one, as well as some of my other builds.

I upload videos often.

Here's a link to the Corvair build part 1

Last edited by JNH Classics on Mon Dec 30, 2019 8:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
bbodie52
Corvair of the Month
Corvair of the Month
Posts: 11872
Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:33 pm
Location: Lake Chatuge Hayesville, NC
Contact:

Re: 64 Monza Build Thread with Videos

Post by bbodie52 »

Here is your YouTube video. They can be embedded in a post on the Corvair Forum...

VIN Tag.jpg
VIN: 40969W211990
VIN - EM Corvair Passenger Car VIN Tag Decoding.jpg

:not worthy: :clap: :wave: :welcome2: Welcome to the Corvair Forum!


Your 1964 sedan appears to be in remarkable condition as a basis for a restoration project. The engine compartment looks really good! Most of the rust appears to be surface rust covering a very restorable body. Looking forward to your future videos that will document your progress!


My parents introduced me to becoming a Corvair enthusiast in 1961, when I was 8 years old. At that time they purchased a new 1961 Corvair Monza coupe, white with red interior, with 4-speed transmission. In 1965 they considered switching to a Ford Mustang fastback, but wisely opted for an upgrade to a 1965 Corvair Corsa convertible instead. When I later turned 16 I learned to drive and tested for my first driver's license in that car in 1969. That Corvair remained in my family until I unwisely chose to sell it when I retired from the Air Force in 1996.

Image

:dontknow: I would like to encourage you to expand on your post and tell us more about yourself, as well as about your Corvair. Your personal assessment of your mechanical skills and abilities 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 if we have some understanding of your technical background and mechanical abilities, your Corvair-related knowledge, etc. Helping us to know more about you, your Corvair, and you plans for your Corvair will help us to write comments to you that are tailored to your needs and experience. Knowing where you live also helps, as your location may suggest some possibilities or solutions. Detailed photographs of your Corvair, including interior, trunk, and engine compartment would be great!

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 (.pdf) format at no cost. There is also a link that will help you to locate nearby CORSA (Corvair Society of America) club chapters. While the Corvair Forum can be very helpful as you work on your Corvair, having local friends and contacts in your region who are knowledgeable about the Corvair can also be very helpful. These family-friendly CORSA club chapters often offer picnics, group scenic drives, technical training and assistance, car shows, and competition events that can greatly enhance your enjoyment of Corvair ownership. You will also find a list of essential Corvair parts suppliers.

Common and Useful Corvair Websites

:link: viewtopic.php?f=225&t=6007

:welcome:
Brad Bodie
Lake Chatuge, North Carolina
Image 1966 Corvair Corsa Convertible
User avatar
JNH Classics
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Dec 23, 2019 9:13 am
Contact:

Re: 64 Monza Build Thread with Videos

Post by JNH Classics »

Brad,

Wow! Thank you for the response. I've had many classic cars over the years and as a result joined many different forums to get info, parts, insight... but I have never received such a warm welcome.

Really, Thank You!

I'm not sure yet what I will do with this car, but I really liked the look and overall condition of it and as it turns out I was the only bidder on it on ebay so I got what I think was a good deal when I paid $2,000 for it.

Normally I buy cars that have sat for many many years and get them back on the road, some end up being full restorations but most are just mechanical restorations with some cleaning and refurbishment of the interior exterior. I prefer to have an old car that shows its age but is still presentable.

I have a new video of this car coming out tomorrow where I replace the starter and go for a drive. I will post the link once its up on youtube.

I'm a big fan of aircooled engines, but this is my first Corvair. I'm really liking it.
joelsplace
Posts: 1950
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2010 12:51 pm
Location: Northlake, TX

Re: 64 Monza Build Thread with Videos

Post by joelsplace »

Looks like a good deal.
You need to fix that starter before the ring gear is ruined if it isn't already. Not much fun to replace since it's welded to the converter.
If it isn't totally gone you can take the converter bolts out and rotate it 1/3 turn since the engine stops in the same place most of the time you will move the bad spot to a mostly unused area. You can also select fit starter parts to make sure the gear moves out as much as possible. I did both to my '61 Lakewood and the starter hasn't missed once since. It had maybe 2/3 of the tooth width ground off in a couple of spots and sounded just like yours.
157 Corvairs, 5 Ultravans and counting
Northlake, TX
User avatar
JNH Classics
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Dec 23, 2019 9:13 am
Contact:

Re: 64 Monza Build Thread with Videos

Post by JNH Classics »

here's Part 2 hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for the great info

User avatar
bbodie52
Corvair of the Month
Corvair of the Month
Posts: 11872
Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:33 pm
Location: Lake Chatuge Hayesville, NC
Contact:

Re: 64 Monza Build Thread with Videos

Post by bbodie52 »

After watching you jack up the rear of your car, I felt it important to point out the CORRECT WAY to jack up a Corvair!
bbodie52 wrote:
bbodie52 wrote:Not a Good Idea!

Image
While it seems like a natural jacking or lift point (I used to do it too), jacking a Corvair or placing jack stands under the differential is not a good idea! The engine and powertrain are isolated from the chassis by rubber engine mounts — two in front of the transmission and one at the rear. These are strong rubber and steel mounts designed to hold the weight of the engine and transaxle as they hang from the chassis. When you jack up the car by placing a jack or jack stands under the differential, you reverse this load and you have the entire weight of the rear portion of the Corvair hanging from the engine mounts! The mounts were not designed for this, and the rubber that holds the mounts together can be compromised or weakened by placing this kind of unusual stress on the engine mounts. This could shorten the life of the engine mounts and ultimately result in an engine mount failure.

No Corvair shop manual shows the Engine/Transaxle as an approved or recommended lift point when jacking the car off of the ground, as shown below...

Image
Early Model (1960-1964) Corvair Lift Points

Image
Late Model (1965-1969) Corvair Lift Points






Image

actual pics of jacks in proper locations
Image


:link: http://corvaircenter.com/phorum/read.php?1,665888


Most jack stands will fit inside the triangular area at the rear. There are pleanty of lifting points in the front.

I keep a pair of these compact jack stands in my trunk. NEVER TRUST A SCISSORS JACK, HYDRAULIC JACK, ETC. TO SUPPORT YOUR CAR IF YOU ARE GOING UNDER IT! Also, never use concrete cinder blocks to support your car. They can fracture or crush under the weight without warning!

Image

Compact Jack Stands:
Torin T43004 3 Ton Aluminum Jack Stands (Sold in Pairs)
:link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007X ... PDKIKX0DER

Image
I have a little scary and bad experience with using a manual scissors jack. Here is my tale that I posted some years ago...
bbodie52 wrote:
SteveH wrote:...My car came with its original scissor jack but it was a solid immobile chunk. it works great now. I shot a coat of paint on it last night, just because I was so happy that it works now.

Your mention of an ancient scissors jack brought forth a shudder, as I remembered the last time I used an original Corvair scissors jack in the early 1980's. A failed rear axle bearing in my 1965 Corsa coupe during a cross-country journey in 1981 brought about a potentially fatal experience while passing through Cheyenne, Wyoming. Although I've told this story on the Corvair Forum before, I thought that you might enjoy hearing it. If you will bear with me for a few paragraphs...

::-):
bbodie52 wrote:A failed rear axle bearing was the only breakdown event where I've ever been stranded with one of my Corvairs while on a long journey. My family was with me as we were traveling from Thousand Oaks, California to Incline Village, Nevada — Lake Tahoe (573 miles), and then on to a shipping port in New Jersey, near McGuire AFB. We were shipping our 1965 Corsa coupe to Germany, to drive there during our three-year tour of duty with the Air Force near Ramstein Air Base.

My wife and two young sons (ages 5 and almost 3) were with me in September 1981. The journey was uneventful as we drove across a lot of barren and desolate country from Lake Tahoe, across Nevada, past the Bonneville Salt Flats, and spent the night in Salt Lake City, Utah (551 miles). The next day we traveled on to F.E. Warren Air Force Base, at Cheyenne, Wyoming (436 miles). Upon our arrival, we found overnight family quarters available on base. We were leaving the base to get a meal when I heard it: a squeaking, grinding sound from the right rear wheel! The wheel bearing was failing!! In something of a growing state of panic, I grabbed a phone book and began calling local auto junk yards in the late afternoon. Believe it or not I found a junk yard where the person on the phone thought he had a late model Corvair back in the yard somewhere. Leaving my family in the transient family quarters, I grabbed a taxi to the junk yard, and anxiously followed the manager out to the Corvair. It was a stripped vehicle with no powertrain and no wheels, sitting with the body on the ground. The right side was up against an adjacent junked car. The left rear wheel bearing assembly had already been removed, but I could see that the right-side bearing assembly was still in there! I couldn't reach it, but I could see it!

The manager loaned me some tools and a flashlight (it was getting dark, and the salvage yard was closing). I jacked the body up off of the ground using a bumper jack jammed into the body opening — where the engine normally exhausted heat. With the rear up in the air, I pushed the car to the left so that it fell back on the ground — but this time a foot or so from the adjacent wrecked car. Another turn with the bumper jack produced another foot of clearance for me to work in. The bearing hub seemed to turn smoothly, so I assumed that I had a good one!! I grabbed a socket wrench and an extension and removed three of the four nuts that secured the bearing assembly to the rear suspension. But then... DISASTER! The fourth nut was not coming off! It just kept turning while the blind stud that was not supposed to move was turning! I ended up working into the evening darkness with a flashlight, chisel and hammer, desperately trying to chisel the nut to release the bearing assembly from the stud that did not want to let go. The manager of the junk yard was waiting long past closing on a Saturday night as I labored to get the bearing assembly from the junked Corvair. Finally the nut split and I was able to remove it and the bearing assembly. I paid the manager and he agreed to drive me back to the Air Force base, where I went to sleep — cold, tired and dirty. I don't believe anyone in the family ever had any dinner that evening — we just went to bed tired and hungry.

But there is more to this story! On a cold Wyoming Sunday morning I went out to the parking lot and jacked the right rear of the Corvair into the air using the old scissors jack that came with the car. I had no jack stands to hold the car in the air, so I just decided to risk working on the car with only a 16 year old factory scissors jack holding the car up. :nono: The scissors jack worm screw squeaked as I raised the car, but I ignored it. I removed the wheel, half shaft, and worked to remove the bad wheel bearing assembly and brake backing plate. It was cold and the work went slowly because my fingers didn't work well in the cold. I was laying at times under the engine with nothing holding the car up except that jack. The right wheel and brake assembly was sitting on the pavement. Finally, after some hours in the cold I finished re-installing the "new" bearing assembly.

Image

With the rear wheel and tire back on, I began to lower the jack. I gave it about ¼ turn counter-clockwise, heard another squeak, AND THE JACK COLLAPSED!! The threads in the fixed nut that held the worm screw mechanism pulled right out of the nut!

My life had quite literally been hanging by a thread! If that jack had collapsed with me under the car, I would probably have been crushed by the heavy engine and powertrain. For much of the time when I was under the car, removing and re-attaching the half shaft between the differential and the bearing assembly, I was laying under the car with only a brake drum and my body there to support the car when it would have hit the ground.
:whoa: :eek:
After I quit shaking, I examined the broken jack. The worm screw moved freely back and forth through the now-stripped fixed nut, with no threads in the nut to prevent its movement. The scissors mechanism moved freely up and down.

There was an opened dumpster some distance away, and I hurled the broken jack into that dumpster — never to be seen again. I cleaned up, packed up, and we began travelling the remaining 1,743 miles to McGuire AFB, New Jersey. (I did stop at a Sears to pick up a replacement jack for the car, and I also managed to get two speeding tickets in Iowa on the next day! But otherwise there were no more significant events during our journey).

Now you can see why I stress safety when working on a car, and I ALWAYS secure the car with jack stands before I work under it! I was foolish that day, working unsafely out of necessity. Obviously, the risk was not worth it.
I had another bearing fail on my 1965 Convertible in the middle of winter when I was stationed near Ramstein Air Base, near Kaiserslautern, Germany (1980-1983). My father shipped a replacement bearing assembly from California to West Germany. I replaced it (using jack stands, this time) while sitting on a pile of snow in a Kapaun Air Station parking lot near the military post office mail room.
Brad Bodie
Lake Chatuge, North Carolina
Image 1966 Corvair Corsa Convertible
User avatar
JNH Classics
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Dec 23, 2019 9:13 am
Contact:

Re: 64 Monza Build Thread with Videos

Post by JNH Classics »

Thank you! I was very puzzled as to how to jack that thing up. I actually came in and googled it that were I saw a pic of one resting on a jack stand in the location that I jacked it up from.

Thanks for the info!
User avatar
JNH Classics
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Dec 23, 2019 9:13 am
Contact:

Re: 64 Monza Build Thread with Videos

Post by JNH Classics »

I just posted a Garage Tour Video, here’s the link

User avatar
JNH Classics
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Dec 23, 2019 9:13 am
Contact:

Re: 64 Monza Build Thread with Videos

Post by JNH Classics »

Part 3 is now up

User avatar
JNH Classics
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Dec 23, 2019 9:13 am
Contact:

Re: 64 Monza Build Thread with Videos

Post by JNH Classics »

Hey Guys,

I'm selling the Corvair!

I really like this car but I have to many other projects and no room to store this one.

I've listed it on Ebay NO Reserve starting bid is just $1.00

Ebay listing:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/143531449938

Here's a link to the latest video:
Post Reply

Return to “Corvair Video and Photo Threads”