Help - New Owner

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Pippin74
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Joined: Sat Aug 03, 2013 12:55 pm

Help - New Owner

Post by Pippin74 »

Hello. I just swapped a 79 Fiat for 2 1963 corvairs...one Monza convertible and a coupe with the shifter on the dash. The convertible is in good shape but the speedometer and gas gauge are not working. Gas gauge reads full + and the speedometer will not read at all. Any things I can look for? Thanks!
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flat6_musik
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Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:03 am
Location: Hesperia, CA

Re: Help - New Owner

Post by flat6_musik »

I would drop the gas tank, clean it out and buy a new fuel sending unit to start with. The speedometer runs off a cable from the left front wheel, so it may be snapped or just not connected right.
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bbodie52
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Re: Help - New Owner

Post by bbodie52 »

:welcome2: :wave: Welcome to the Corvair Forum!

We could provide a better answer for you if you provided more information about yourself and the Corvairs. As it stands now we are pretty-much pulling ideas out of thin air. The more you tell us the better we can do in providing guidance that would be helpful to you.

Concerning your background... Have you ever owned a classic car or a Corvair before? Do you have any mechanical experience, tools, and a place to work? How would you evaluate your own mechanical experience and abilities? Where are you located?

Concerning the Corvairs... Can you post some detailed pictures of the cars for us to look at? If so, please include the engine compartment, interior, body from different angles, trunk, and maybe the undercarriage if you can get some of that. If you don't have prior experience with Corvairs, your pictures can tell us a lot.

Car history... do you know when these Corvairs were last driven or running? If they are not running now, the condition of the fuel tank contents, oil, brake fluid, etc. is unknown, you should not trust it. Don't try to start the car with badly aging fuel. You don't want to draw those liquids into the fuel lines, fuel pump and carburetors. As mentioned earlier, drain the old fuel, and if the tank is really rusty or in poor condition, you might consider replacing it.

Check the oil in the Powerglide automatic transmission. Does it have a burned smell or is it discolored brown (should be red)? Corvair automatic transmissions have a pretty good reputation for reliability, as long as the oil level is properly maintained. A burnt smell or brown color can be an indication of internal wear or slipping bands and clutches within the transmission.

What are your goals and objectives with these cars?

The Corvair Forum link below will guide you to some free downloadable shop manuals and other valuable technical references to guide you. A list of Corvair parts suppliers, and CORSA (Corvair Society of America) club chapters around America and other parts of the globe are also included.

Corvair Forum :link: viewtopic.php?f=225&t=6007
Brad Bodie
Lake Chatuge, North Carolina
Image 1966 Corvair Corsa Convertible
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gwydionjhr
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Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2010 9:30 pm

Re: Help - New Owner

Post by gwydionjhr »

Small correction. The speedo cable on the '63 is a loooooong SOB. It's sticking out of the driver side of the differential. Disconnect it at both ends and spin the cable while someone watches the other end to see if it spins as well. Sometimes during this test it will still spin despite the fact its broken, a small tug at one end will pull the two halves apart enough to prove whether it's broken or not.

Correct me if I'm wrong here guys.

The Corvair speedo cable has a left hand twist and many of the replacements are done with a right hand, which can lead to premature failure. I'm 99% positive this applies to the LM cables, but can't be sure if it does for the EM ones as well.
Regards,
Joel
1961 Rampside w/Deluxe Scamper Camper
1966 Corsized Cdn Monza Coupe
1967 UV #292
"Kick the Hell out of the Status Quo" - Ed Cole
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flat6_musik
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Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 10:03 am
Location: Hesperia, CA

Re: Help - New Owner

Post by flat6_musik »

gwydionjhr wrote:Small correction. The speedo cable on the '63 is a loooooong SOB. It's sticking out of the driver side of the differential.

Oops, yeah, my bad....you're right. I sort of mostly speak LM......sorry 'bout that.
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