Cad-kid's 65 Monza - my first Corvair

[cad-kid]

Hi everyone Today I picked up my 65 Monza from the shipper It was a good feeling to be driving my Corvair in my city and state (Wausau, WI). The drive revealed several things that need work but the most important note is - I have a great foundation with this car (body in nice condition). And the icing on the cake for me is the 140

Unfortunatly here in Wisconsin it is past due to put our toys away and wait until winter is gone until we can play again So off to storage it wil go (fresh tank of ethonal free gas and stable - check!)

I purchased the car from the McFarland family. Ralph purchased it in 1977 from a Circle City Corvair club member (Indianapolis). Ralph used it as their show car (I understand he owned many driver and parts Corvairs). It is obvious this car has been well cared for throughout the years. It was last driven in 1993 sometime after that Ralph passed away and the car sat garaged until this year when the gas tank was cleaned to make the car operational. Not much else was done so there is some maintance and troubleshooting for me to do. That's the part I like anyway

Enjoy the photos.

[mart]

Looks nice and solid, I'm jealous, Its a shame about the paintwork, its going to have to be taken down to the bare metal to cure it

[Crazy George]

Yeah Mart, I quess you would be JEALOUS She looks like a real nice fine...... You must be relieved now that your in the seat........... lots of luck and just in time for X-Mas CG

[bbodie52]

A very clean start to a beautiful friendship. I certainly don't envy you your cold climate, but I guess whatever cold you have to deal with, the Canadians have it a little worse! In the mean time your Corvair gets a break until spring. But what a great spring it will be!

Too bad you can't fit it under the Christmas tree!

Since you posted pictures of your VIN and Body Tags, I thought I would break them down for you...

Here is a breakdown of the information on the body tag you provided...
BODY TAG INFO:

Body Build Date: 06D = June (06) Fourth Week (D) Interior Paint Code: D

ST = "Style" 65-10537 = 1965 (65) Chevrolet (1) Monza (05) 2 Door Sport Coupe (37)
WRN = Willow Run, Michigan Plant, Body Production Sequence No: 67804 BODY (67804th 1965 Monza 2-Door Coupe built at that plant)

TR = "Trim" 785 = RED (Interior Color)

Red
Lucite® Code - 9183LM (semi-gloss)

R-R = Lower (Body) color: RED (Regal Red); Upper (Body) color: RED (Regal Red) PAINT

Code R-R - Regal Red (Example on 1965 Corsa)

R - Regal Red
Lucite® Code - 4625LH
Dulux® Code - 93-97540H

2L5W

1st Group
N/A

2nd Group
L = RPO M20 - 4 Speed Manual Transmission

3rd Group
N/A

4th Group
N/A

5th Group
W = RPO A49 - Custom Deluxe Front Seat Belts with Retractors

VIN: 105375W255324

Chevrolet (1) Monza (05) Two-Door Coupe (37) 1965 (5) Willow Run (W) 155,324th Corvair made there that year (255324) (Numbers started at 100,000, so subtract to obtain the actual production number)

[Scott H]

Car looks really good. Nice solid car.

[cad-kid]

Thanks everyone for the great response and great information The main lesson learned from this forum is - take your time and don't rush out and pick up the first Corvair you see (this one is about the 10th car I considered) . I am glad for all the research I did before purchasing this car. I am very happy with the car and really enjoy troubleshooting problems and making something better.

This car is my Christmas gift - yes.. I purchased it... but I do think things alligned nicely when it came time to get it home. I can't wait for spring after I get the engine performing like it should

[flat6_musik]

Great buy! Looks like an excellent, solid foundation to start with! I'm sure loving that interior! Let us know what exactly you find that it needs.....gee, it's an ex-show car, nice.

[sam60]

Nice Car

[cad-kid]

I worked on the engine this morning. It was the last chance I had to putz before the car went to storage. I checked the plugs to see how they looked after a trip though town without the chokes stuck on 3/4. Five of the 6 cleaned up great. I also did a compresson test the results are cyl 1-145, 2-135, 3-30, 4-150, 5-90, 6-160. Now I know the cause of the low power

This news doesn't bum me out at all - I now have something to look forward to for spring I really do enjoy working on these issues - I am lucky this Corvair is a hobby car and not my only vehicle. I have watched some of Dave mothoheads vids - great information!

Of course I took some more photos, enjoy.

[cad-kid]

Flat 6 suggested I make a video - here is a video just showing a basic walk around the car. Enjoy

[cad-kid]

I got some advice yesterday that I should try backing off the valve lash adjustment 1 turn and recheck the compression. That got me thinking so since it was a rare Devember day above freezing I fired up the Corvair from it's slumber in my neighbors garage, drove it across the street and started working. I was fortunate that with the current exhaust there was enough room for me to remove the valve cover. Imagine my surprise when I found three rockers loosened up and siting sideways - not even touching the valves! I also found one broken push rod - probably just hit the rocker when it was starting to tilt sideways.

At first I thought the adjustment nut had backed off or perhaps a valve got stuck in the open position and the rocker just got out of wack. But what I found was the rocker stud had loosend up. I decided to check the other remaining studs and they were all about finger tight!

I put things back together (apart from the rocker that mates with the broken push rod). I ran the engine and rechecked the compression- it was zero. I probably had the valve lash too tight but it was time to button things up and put the Corvair away for the rest of the winter.

I am looking forward to working on this problem come spring.

[bbodie52]

I have never seen something like that before. Do you think the studs unscrewed from the engine cases or did the pull out of the aluminum cases -- taking the threads with them???

Here are some tips from Clark's Corvair Parts online catalog, page 173, that you might find useful...
http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog ... N&page=173

Engine Case Studs Tips - Clark's Corvair Parts Catalog Page 173

Clark's Corvair Parts - Push Rods - Online Catalog Page 19
http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog ... IN&page=19

[cad-kid]

They seemed to tighed up properly (tightened down in steps). I was worried about the studs pulling also. We will see how it looks after it sits for a few months

[malibusled]

I would say the cylinder head was not torqued correctly in the first place.

With a proper torque on the head I'm sure that when you do another valve adjustment on it in the spring you'll see solid compression numbers.

You might want to consider backing the torque off the rocker studs and the nuts on the upper studs and re-torquing the whole cylinder head. If you go that route, order some new head nuts for the upper studs.

[cad-kid]

Thanks Ed, I like your idea on replacing the head nuts and re-torquing everything.

[cad-kid]

Small update - When I took my relatives to where my Vair is stored I noticed a small leak from the gas tank area The next day I put the front end on jack stands and found the sender o-ring was leaking. After siphoning out the gas (I used a mighy-vac to get things started ) I took the chance to inspect the underside of my Vair. To say the least I was impressed Just some surface rust - nothing bent out of shape. The front end rubber is toast but I knew that already.

The fuel leak repair should be pretty straight forward with a new o-ring and lock ring. But that will have to wait until spring.