64 Corvair caught on fire bigtime! What do I do now?

[64CorvairEd]

Marty: I sent the old fan bearing / cover last week. Let me know when you get it. Thanks again!

[64CorvairEd]

Hot!

[cvair4life]

And it was worth every passing second of those 4 hours Ed.

[64CorvairEd]

And it was worth every passing second of those 4 hours Ed.

Thanks Zach! Unfortunately it rained that night. Ha! I'll do it again, plus wax next time.

Made quite a bit of progress today! Tomorrow I put on the carbs, search for an alternator, and oil the air filters.

[Bobby65]

that spark plug hole looks kind of nasty, you might be able to have it welded up on the car, or you might try drilling it out and helicoiling it, i would try to heli coil it first

[64CorvairEd]

that spark plug hole looks kind of nasty, you might be able to have it welded up on the car, or you might try drilling it out and helicoiling it, i would try to heli coil it first

I'm not too familiar with either of those processes. I'll do some research. Thanks Bobby!

[Bobby65]

heli-coil is about $25, then get the right size drill bit and if you have a drill, it would only take 10-20 mins, essentially you drill the hole bigger tap it, screw in this insert that comes with the kit and your done, but it may not be big enough to get rid of that chip in the hole, you may have to find somebody that welds aluminum and have them weld that chip up and re drill it then tap it but i would try the heli-coil first, it sucks because that area gets so hot, you really don't have many options

[Bobby65]

as for a fuel pressure regulator heres what i use on my turbo, i tried one exactly like you had but it didn't let enough fuel through to run above an idle, even set all the way up, i could barley make it to second, then it started leaking, im almost certan that was the cause of your fire, but this one ive found works amazing and is easy to adjust, and cheap, and its a holly so you know its not going to fail http://www.ebay.com/itm/Quick-Fuel-Carb ... 2c5d457842

[miniman82]

I'd take that head off and have the plug thread repaired, if you try to cheeze dick the repair it's just gonna fail later on.

[Honda750Guy]

now this is just judging from my experience from inline 4 motorcycle engines... I would run with that myself, it looks like a weird key hole and looks to regular to appear to be a chip. It looks like the crush washer / plug goes past that point. that is why i would run it. if it went closer to the edge of the indent the spark plug made i would then take the head off and fix. You said it was running well before the fire, i doubt that caused or started it... (again just with my 5 years of motorcycle experience and bodging)

[64CorvairEd]

Hey thanks guys. My choices are either to roll with it or do the heli-coil. I think I'm going to wait until it is running (hopefully this weekend, fingers crossed) and see what happens then. I can't take it to get repaired right now. I'm in a tight cash situation (have to wait until friday payday to have the $50 to get an alternator....). I will more than likely pick up one of those pressure regulators as well. Bill wants to be sure it needs one first. So when we jack it up, we're going to look and see what my electric fuel pump pushes out.

I'm so ready to drive this thing its killing me! I'm going to video what will hopefully be the first start since the fire....I'll post it, of course. Hope everyone is having a great week!

[145236]

When will it ever be easier to remove the head than now? Whatever repairs cost will likely never be cheaper either. Looks like a fair amount of metal has been removed from the chamber side of the head and blown out next to a very loose spark plug. Might last a while, wouldn't bet my own money on it. Guessing there isn't enough meat left for a helicoil either.

[Crazy George]

Hey Son, got your email the other day and sent you one back. The engine is looking good. I know is a issue, and every one has the thoughts over that plug hole, only you and Bill can really tell........ I know that there is no way that you can remove the head off the car where your living. We both know that you have been quite lucky no complants. If you both deside that the head needs to come off. I hope that you get it over to Bills for that issue even if you have to have it towed.......Your doing a good job. Hope you guys do get her running this week end and in any case , so long as Bill is OK with it, get it over to his place to decide what needs to be finished up or done....... What are we doing on the alternator issue? Are we decided on which one route your going to take locally or get the one in Tenn. I told you about thats New? Back to work, been real busy, you know the routeen, tag your it ..................CG

[64CorvairEd]

Hi George and everybody!

I got the carbs, accelerator linkage, and most of the gas line on. Bill found a couple alternators on craigslist that should work and be quite a bit cheaper than a new one so I'm going to try to go pick one of those up tomorrow. I also found a Holley fuel pressure regulator on CL for $15 so I want to pick that up too. I'll need to pick up some fuel line to connect it to the rest and then hopefully I'll have all the pieces we need to get her running. I'm not sure which way to go on the spark plug situation. Can leaving it as is lead to much bigger problems later?

I'm going to try to get a video of the first start :) I'm trying not to get too excited incase it is a huge bust! Thanks again guys for all your help. Bill is dropping off jack stands so I can raise her up saturday morning. I'm going to change the oil and filter.

I'm also expecting a call about a new job tomorrow so that could be the solution to quite a few problems right there!

[flat6_musik]

Hey Ed!.....looks like she's comin' along pretty well there! Boy, that spark plug hole sure ain't lookin' pretty though, is it? It appears from the coloration that there was some leakage and some heat built up right there too. Hmmmm....not good. I guess if it were mine and I was young again (and I was a tight budget) I'd put in a spark plug and drive it and just monitor it to see if appeared to be leaking. Just don't overtighten the new plug!

BUT!.....my official opinion is "do it the right way" and yank that head. But man, I know that feeling.....you're dyin' to drive it again and all this fire damage B.S. was bad enough to get through. Trust me, I know.....

Since I'm older now, I do everything the right way, no matter how long it takes.

[azdave]

With limited funds and work space I would say install the spark plug carefully and then drive it. You drove it most of the way from Cali like that didn't you? Pulling the head later is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

BTW, what are your skills? You mentioned a possible new job. What do you do for a living and what are you looking to do in the future? You never know who might read this and have a connection.