63 Monza on the road after 51 years sitting idle

[paulsgt]

Pete, that IS interesting because I helped the guy that bought the red one open his trunk for the first time and all that was in there was the wheel covers. (no carpet) If I remember correctly, the red car already had the carpet installed(?) And the antenna too I'd guess.

[pete]

Yes I agree about the red car, since it had the antenna installed by dealer it has some "dealer prep" and maybe that's when the front carpet was installed. If you recall that carpet was quite soiled for being new. Just a thought.

[truckin-on]

Thanks Pete - I would never had thought that the carpet would be shipped un-installed. Wheel covers certainly, but carpet is a surprise. On the antenna, was the hole in the fender already cut for it by Fisher or did the dealer actually do that? If already cut, did they have a plug or tape over it to keep out the rain? Surprising that a factory radio would require the dealer to install the antenna. Thanks again for sharing your experience with us.

[Kayvair]

Awesome story and an awesome car !

[Scott H]

Pete,
It is an honor to have you and the car here.
Thanks you so much for sharing the experience and all the pictures with us. It's one of those "once in a lifetime" moments.

[pete]

thanks guys, like to share knowledge of these cars, helps us all. The fenders were not drilled at factory for antenna. The dealer antenna kit has a paper template that was to be taped to fender to identify the drill and cut locations. Detailed instructions are also provided. I will take a picture of these contents and post.

[Skrain]

Pete, are you planning on entering your car in Corvair of the month?

[Crazy George]

What a fine and amazing piece of history, Nice job and thanks for sharing... Truly this car should be in the car of the month for sure if you have more pictures to share don't be shy.... CG

[pete]

Good morning all, I will enter this car in COM sometime this year, I have an all original greenbrier that I will enter as well.

I have been asked to further describe the process I used to get the car cleaned up and running after being layed up for 50 years. I will discuss the exterior process today with pictures and take care of the mechanicals (more interesting to me) in the days to come.

The car had sat in the dealer for all those years and never cleaned. Bird crap, leaking oil from the HVAC unit above and who knows what else was setting into the paint, really well. This dirt could not be "washed off" was very hard and deeply imbedded in the lacquer paint. The glass and trim was an issue as well, did not want these items scratched during the cleaning. I experimented and found that dish soap and water and WD-40 on the really tough areas including glass and some trim. The soap was painted on in small areas with a brush and allowed to sit. This was repeated multiple times and cleaned until most loose stuff removed. The front lid and RH side were most troublesome. After all stuff removed the paint was kind of grey looking. I would then "paint on dish soap again and let sit. This slowly remove most grime from the pores of the paint. Need a lot of clean cotton rags for this. When the entire car was completed I hit the paint (by hand) with Meguiars rubbing compound, following by polishing compound and then three coats of carnuba wax. The original paint is so hard that no paint was removed during this process. I worked on this every day (at least 8 hours each day) for about 45 days. The front lid took about 5 days alone and I'm still not happy with it.

I removed the trim to ensure paint and trim items cleaned fully. The rocker molding were completely full of dirt and oil on the inside. There was 1 inch of debris in the front cowl. I was able to remove the cowl lid for cleaning without removing trunk lid after multiple attempts.

I did help help

RH side very bad, saved that for last

was able to remove without lid coming off. I vacuumed and then flushed cowl through bottom drain holes.

rocker molding clean, both have some minor dents in lower portion, probably from items being rolled into car over years in shop.

note bottom of rocker "blacked out" and cowl drain.

I really did do some of the cleaning

sweet

very sweet, note exhaust tip. Its hard to see in this pic but there in a red "X" in crayon where the rear plate goes...I was able to preserve that.

for discussion about antenna kit, the kit was found opened but not installed. I am showing the template and instructions that are part of kit. The template was to be taped in position and then holes drilled in proper location.

[Corventure Dave]

Wow... what a huge cleaning project!
One thing I like about your 63 is that it is almost the same Corvair my Mother bought new in 1963. It all looks the same but for the fact that Mom's was black. Her's had a windshield washer. My Brother and I learned to drive in that car. We abused and used it for many years. That started the Corvair enthusiasm that continues to today.

Thank you for acquiteing and bringing this fine part of history back. Enjoy and it's nice to hear you have a Corvair FC also.

Corventure Dave

[flat6_musik]

Oh I know you're going to treat us to a video of its first fire-up!! Come to think of it, that is actually fully worthy of being on the evening news or one of the car TV shows!..........Hello, Leno?

[VairGrl Missy]

THIS POST MAKES ME SOOOO HAPPY!!!
My first Vair was a 63 Monza PG, with the same color scheme. I KNOW how pretty she was when we cleaned her up. (mine had sat half in a "barn" for 28 years) But to see what she would have looked like brand spaken' new, well that's a thing of BEAUTY!!!! Thanks for sharing and for saving her!!!


Miss

[JONSHOW]

That's incredible. What a beautiful find and polish!
Thanks for sharing!

[BIGTWIN]

I wonder if they put a different plug in the #3 cylinder to compensate for a temperature difference in that cylinder because of air flow. It seems like I've heard something about an air cooled engine in something that had a "hot" area because of the cooling air flow. Don't know, just a buzzing going on in the back of my head.Maybe I'm in a completely different ball park. Anybody else ever seen a different plug in a new one like that?

[pete]

Good afternoon all, I will briefly discuss the actions that were taken to get a 50 year old engine running after sitting idle for 50 years. I will post some pics as well.

When I first got the car home the plan was to get the exterior and interior cleaned up and completed prior to tackling the mechanicals (engine, fuel system, brake system, drive train and controls. The first day I got the car in the shop I did pull the left valve cover to see what was ahead. It was absolutely new in there, gave me hope that the engine would be able to brought back to life without disassembly. I pulled all the plugs and "squirted" two shot of marvel mystery oil in all cylinders. I then rotated the engine every day (for 45 days while I worked on the exterior) about 90 degrees. If the rings were stuck this should help.

I first completed an internal inspection of the engine without disassembly. This involved visual check of each cylinder, valve rocker areas, oil fill tube and fuel pump area and inspection of oil drain fluid. Note: in a dark area with focused bright light a very good inspection of cylinders can be complete, almost all of piston travel can be observed via spark plug opening. Al the cylinders looked amazing, new with shiny walls and very clear hone markings. All the other area showed new castings with no signs of corrosion at all. The oil drained from the crankcase and filter (previous pic of that) was allowed to settle and no contamination observed. I then performed a compression check and all readings were in spec (previous pic of that). Even though the oil was put in cylinders 2 months prior, I feel these readings were accurate based on altitude (7500 feet where I live) and differential between each cylinder which is really most important. Based on all these observations I concluded that the engine would be returned to service without disassembly.

I then rebuilt the carbs, replaced the fuel pump, air filters, checked/cleaned PCV valve, replaced belt, spark plugs, oiled up generator cups (bearings), inspected and cleaned ignition wires, disassembled distributer (cleaned, lubed both advances) and set points. I flushed all engine bay fuel lines as well. Following the brake and fuel system work (will review at later date) the day came for first start. A lot of "vale clatter" until the lifters filled with oil (1-2 minutes) and some smoke out top of shroud until the dust dirt and oil that had collected for 50 years burned off. After 15 minutes (dwell and timing set, carbs synched and idle mixture set) the engine was idling smoothly at 600 rpm and accepting full throttle with no hesitation. The car has been running for 3 months now with no issues and no leaks, amazing.

engine bay at auction, air cleaners removed.

1st pic at home in northern Arizona. Note the rubber PCV line to the RH air cleaner is straight with no curve set indicating the air cleaners were remover very early on

LH rocker area, new condition. Note yellow marking on springs, undercoating spray on lower shrouds. There were oil drops still on rockers....oil has some amazing properties!

Engine bay cleaned. Carbs, belt, fuel pump, wires etc removed for rebuild/replacement. 1 day to clean bay of factory "spray oil"

note weatherstrip length and offset to left. Also note grounding clip just visible behinmg RH lid hindge.

LH carb prior to being cleaned. Need to pay particular attention to idle circuit and venture cluster for these to idle properly.

All my parts come from NAPA. These are on shelf or received next day. Most parts made in USA. These guys know what they are doing and can get those obscure parts with no issues. They even have GL-4 (90 W) gear lube on shelf!!!

New fuel pump (this was on shelf at NAPA and new, not siting for years)

ready to go back on. That little baggy by the wiper arms was in the glove box, guess what in it. (all the corvairs at auction had this in glove box)

almost complete, note original vacuum advance hose with white stripe.

ready fore 1st start

Note original Packard wires, these were cleaned and checked good. Expected since wired never subjected to heat environment. Date 2nd quarter 63.

all complete, yes it is possible to bring engine back to life (without rebuild) after many years.

[bbodie52]

I feel like I'm looking through a time warp. I'm not used to seeing a Corvair look so new!