Buick V-8 & VW transaxle

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sailadams
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Buick V-8 & VW transaxle

Post by sailadams »

What I am imagining is a LM Corvair with a Buick/Rover 215 V8, possibly stroked to ~285cid, matched up w a VW IRS bus transaxle courtesy of a Kennedy adaptor. Would have to fab a motor mount / cage & a way to fasten the VW bus transaxle to the Corvair rear suspension & a splice of VW joints to Corvair axles.

Crazy? You bet.
1966 Monza coupe, 1967 Buick Special Deluxe hardtop coupe, 1967 MGB GT, 1976 MGB roadster, Kurzweil PC3, Martin 0 custom, Martin 00 Tweedie, Larrivee OMV-9, 1996 Parker Deluxe
notched
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Re: Buick V-8 & VW transaxle

Post by notched »

It would be much easier to attach it to a Corvair transaxle. Craig Nicol over on corvaircenter.com has a sweet black sedan with a bored and stroked 215 based engine bolted to a Corvair transaxle. http://corvaircenter.com/phorum/read.ph ... 777,page=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
1966 Corsa turbo
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66vairguy
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Re: Buick V-8 & VW transaxle

Post by 66vairguy »

Rover/Buick engine weight is nearly the same as Corvair engine. Craig N. has a reverse rotation rear mounted 215. Dave Stratland MobileCorvairSvc@sbcglobal.net also has a very nice rear engine 215. The 215 has also been mounted midship via Kelmark or Crown conversions.

The stock Corvair 66 or later transaxle is more than adequate to handle the 215 horsepower and torque, you just have to use reverse rotation engine parts to hang it out the back.

As far as the VW transaxle - Remember the Corvair transaxle uses the half shaft as an upper suspension arm and I'm not sure the VW transaxle will tolerate the side loading, not to mention getting the geometry correct.
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Re: Buick V-8 & VW transaxle

Post by sailadams »

What c nicol says in that thread: "Just a head's up before everybody get all hot about 215 conversions...

The usual approach is to put the lightweight 215 engine in the rear but to do so requires either a reverse-rotation engine or a different transaxle, such as a Porsche 915.

It would seem to be much simpler and cheaper to use the Corvair transaxle, and that's true, however the required reverse-rotation camshaft and reverse-rotation accessory drive gears are nearly impossible to locate and I doubt that the required bell housing adapter and flywheel are available from Kennedy anymore either.

It's relatively easy to come up with a 215 Buick/Olds/Rover core so I would locate the reverse cam and bell housing adapter as STEP ONE, 'cause if you can't find those pieces, it's game-over.

On the other hand, 215>Porsche adapters are out there and with the common Porsche 915 transaxle you avoid the need for the impossible 215 reverse-rotation cam and all of the rev-rot hassles.

Once you step up to the Porsche transaxle, the 215/Rover concept is tons more do-able... but then the LSx looms as a more modern alternative to the 215."

I wondered whether the Corvair transaxle could handle a stroked 215, too. The Porsche transaxle and the VW bus (not the bug) are known for strength by the sand rail people. But I don't know....
1966 Monza coupe, 1967 Buick Special Deluxe hardtop coupe, 1967 MGB GT, 1976 MGB roadster, Kurzweil PC3, Martin 0 custom, Martin 00 Tweedie, Larrivee OMV-9, 1996 Parker Deluxe
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Re: Buick V-8 & VW transaxle

Post by notched »

Corvair transaxles can handle a lot more than people give them credit for. The thing that hurts all of the transaxles is the weight of the car. Yes, the sand rail and dune buggy guys use them with success but you also have to remember that a lot of those rails are under 1200lbs. The other thing is to NEVER dump the clutch. The VW bus transaxles won't take clutch dumping either. As a matter of fact, a good friend of mine drag races an all steel 68 bug that runs mid 10's in the 1/4 and it still has the Type 1 trans. The secret that the successful VW racers do is setting the correct break away torque on the clutch so that there is slippage. You are in for a lot of work adapting the VW or Porsche transaxle. If you are going that far, I would do an aluminum LS engine.
If you want to do the 215 to a Corvair, you could always make your own adapter just like Art Silva did back in 1967 when he did the first 215 swap into a Corvair.
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sailadams
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Re: Buick V-8 & VW transaxle

Post by sailadams »

What are we talking about weight-wise for an LS? I'm not thinking in this direction to use a VW or Porsche transaxle, just thinking that's a more straight-forward way to use a 330# Buick 215.
1966 Monza coupe, 1967 Buick Special Deluxe hardtop coupe, 1967 MGB GT, 1976 MGB roadster, Kurzweil PC3, Martin 0 custom, Martin 00 Tweedie, Larrivee OMV-9, 1996 Parker Deluxe
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Re: Buick V-8 & VW transaxle

Post by notched »

Aluminum LS is under 400lbs. Weight can go up or down based on whether it has cast iron manifolds, manual trans flywheel or automatic flex plate. Look for Chance Parker on Johnathan McCreery on the other message board as they both have performed the swap. As a matter of fact, the 215 engine and swap components Craig Nicol has in his car were removed from Johnathan McCreery's car when he did the LS swap.
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Re: Buick V-8 & VW transaxle

Post by sailadams »

Seventy extra pounds doesn't exactly thrill me, but it's obviously not undoable.
(However, that's even more than the saddle bags I'm carrying in my current overweight state.)
Then again, for that $$$ I think I might explore the aluminum Buick V6 from TA. With a standard twin turbo set-up, that would be way more power and less weight than either of the previous options discussed.
Too much, in fact! Yowza!!

But back to reality. I have Buick 215 I would like to put in a Corvair as a rear engine. Not much heavier than the Corvair motor. Just exploring alternative routes to getting there that do not include reverse rotation. Not too much knowledge about VW bus / Porsche transaxles is available relative to this engine or Corvairs except from the dune buggy dudes. Looking for more.
1966 Monza coupe, 1967 Buick Special Deluxe hardtop coupe, 1967 MGB GT, 1976 MGB roadster, Kurzweil PC3, Martin 0 custom, Martin 00 Tweedie, Larrivee OMV-9, 1996 Parker Deluxe
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Re: Buick V-8 & VW transaxle

Post by notched »

That TA block is $4k and the aluminum heads are $1800. So $5800 without a rotating assembly, intake, plumbing, etc.
I am a Buick guy. The guys I know that have a TA V6 engine have way over $10k into them.
They will make more than enough power with a turbo to splatter a VW bus trans. The only trans that would handle that kind of power would be a Porsche G50. Like I said, you should look up the guys I mentioned earlier. You could also look up Ken Arnold who is in the Atlanta area and talk to him. He has had several 215 powered Corvairs from what I hear.
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Re: Buick V-8 & VW transaxle

Post by sailadams »

notched wrote:That TA block is $4k and the aluminum heads are $1800. So $5800 without a rotating assembly, intake, plumbing, etc.
I am a Buick guy. The guys I know that have a TA V6 engine have way over $10k into them.
They will make more than enough power with a turbo to splatter a VW bus trans. The only trans that would handle that kind of power would be a Porsche G50. Like I said, you should look up the guys I mentioned earlier. You could also look up Ken Arnold who is in the Atlanta area and talk to him. He has had several 215 powered Corvairs from what I hear.
Like I said, $$$, TOO MUCH. YOWZA!
$$$ TOO MUCH YOWZA
Seriously, I was talking tongue in cheek. Since you know the TA block and pieces, you know the $$$ & too-much-power & yowza I'm JOKING about.
1966 Monza coupe, 1967 Buick Special Deluxe hardtop coupe, 1967 MGB GT, 1976 MGB roadster, Kurzweil PC3, Martin 0 custom, Martin 00 Tweedie, Larrivee OMV-9, 1996 Parker Deluxe
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