'65 '500' sedan project from the dry Central Valley, CA

[VairsRule]

The new seats look great!

FYI, pretty sure Discount Tire still sells both BF Goodrich TA radials and Cooper Cobras, in 14-inch diameter. I prefer the Cobras because they cost less and handle better on the cars I've used them on.

Too bad about the air filters. I'd love to replace the stock air cleaner on my 140 with K&Ns, but a set of 4 K&N filters of the correct size and housings to fit them in would cost a bundle. Not crazy about smaller paper filters, which whistle like crazy and tend to be too restrictive. And foam filters just seem "wrong" for street use. I'm surprised Seth Emerson does not offer air cleaner solutions!

[viewmaster]

WOW!!!! Been over a year since last post. I suppose that is good, since I have beeb driving it daily. But...not without obvious challenges. Daily driving a 55 year old vehicle has its issues.

So, I have been dealing with points ignition wear and tear and adjustments, as well as the weak link of the cam bolts in the rear strut rods. Having one slip regularly, and not being able to torque them properly. I made my own, for the slippy side, by machining down a grade 8 bolt and deconstructing a cam bolt to use the special cam washers. Worked well for a while...but, finally went with the C4 Corvette strut rid kit. With some augmentation and purchase of longer bolts, and more shim washers, to work with the Corvair yokes. Just installed yesterday, so testing will commense. I will post results here. (pics to come)

[BeenFreeO2since71]

Nice air cleaners ,but l am thinking about not enough air flow


Sent from my iPad using Corvair Forum mobile app

[viewmaster]

Nice air cleaners ,but l am thinking about not enough air flow

Yeah, @BeenFreeO2since71....they were WOEFULLY inadequate on airflow, and starved the engine. Gonna get some individual K&N or similar soon.

-m

Well....as some (or most) here were prolly figuring to themselves, the air cleaners used were a bit more than a little restrictive. Went back to stock this A.M., and mopped up the oil mess.

LOL Back to the drawing board and message board.

-m

[viewmaster]

Just went out to snap a couple quick pics of the American Motorsports, Corvette C-4 rear strut rods installed. A little trim of the square washers to fit, and longer bolts for both ends, as well as more shims (washers) to take up space.

-m

p.s. No more crummy cam bolts to mess with. YAY!!!

[steve57]

Those look good. Think I will eventually go this route as the rubber bushings I installed in my original struts are already failing.

[GasDaddy140]

You are pretty awesome man. And that looks pretty awesome.

[viewmaster]

Been driving daily, and working around ignition issues, and swapping distributors and points plates here and there, from the stash. Have a good combo going now, and its running as clean and strong as a tired old 110hp can run. I am only limping it along because I am awaiting my kit from Ray Sedman at AmericanPi. He is building me a distributorless,crank-fired, throttle body fuel injection system. This, when finished and installed is gonna be a gamechanger for this car, and my daily commute and reliability.

In the meantime, I have built up a repower engine, using 95hp heads and +.30. I am hoping that these heads will allow me to run lower octane fuel. Also, it will have fresh rings, so it wont burn oil, and I can run 10w 30 motor oil. She is almost finished. Hope to get her installed this weekend.

Cheers

[azdave]

FI is a real game changer on any old classic. I think you will like that for sure. Ray does nice work.

[viewmaster]

I did a thing. I actually taped (temporarily) some tell tale ribbons on the rear window, from halfway up the window, down to the vent cowl between rear window and decklid. Preliminary road test showed that there is significant air that goes straight down the rear windshield, toward and into the rear vent cowl...and presumably into the gap opened by my decklid prop. Center if rear windshield had much turbulance, and didnt seem to have much air streamlining down toward the vent cowl.

I wish I had a wind tunnel.

-m

[viewmaster]

FUDGE!!!!!

All that cleaning and painting...

[joelsplace]

The good thing is all you need is a new cooler cover. The only difference in the top shroud is the area with the 2 holes is cut off for the 12 plate cooler.
But you already knew that.

[viewmaster]

The good thing is all you need is a new cooler cover. The only difference in the top shroud is the area with the 2 holes is cut off for the 12 plate cooler.
But you already knew that.

[viewmaster]

Okay...finally getting back to this rebuild swap. This morning, got all the final tin and brackets transferred, and the old beast tucked away for a teardown at a later date. The fresh 95 head rebuild is down on the transmission jack, and ready for hoisting up into the engine bay first thing tomorrow morning. Had to make some duct work for the heater system before I make it more impossible to do, once new engine is in. UGH!!! But, with some luck, she will be on the road again soon.

-m

[viewmaster]

Out of garage, around two corners, about 20 yds. of travel...on my makeshift, leapfrog panels runway. LOL. Took about 10 mins., and she is now nestled under 'whitey', the 65 110 PG Sports Sedan, ready for install and deployment.

-m

[viewmaster]

Got it put in...after getting everything buttoned up and realizing that I didn't put the flex plate bolts in. UGH!!!! (I'm getting some deja vu here) backtracked, and re-assembled. Took the drill and primed the oil system. Found a leak, which I thought may be,in my oil cooler. I saw some oil in the corner of it, as I was cleaning and straightening fins. Yep....small hole in outer bottom corner. Dang. So....had to go with the 12 plate cooler, since I had no spare 8 plate. But.....I looked in the stash, and found a 12 plate cooler cover, AND ITS CHROME,...and doesn't leak I'm stoked about that. Runs great, so far. Will take a shake out ride down the hill, into town and back. I'm confident that all will be well.