Cfinley 65 Rebuild

[Cfinley2001]

Hey guys, hope you've been well, I'm just trying to get through cleaning the garage, but we're going to try to get the '67 to run, so we have one running motor.

[Project65]

Hey. Good luck with that. I was able to get mine running after sitting for 30 years. Mine was nearly seized up, but I has slight movement, so it eventually freed up. After that, It was a new set of new plugs and points.

There’s some good precautions you should take like turning the oil pump with a drill and turning the engine over by hand. See the attachment. I followed it and it worked for me.

Also, if you need to prime the fuel lines and pump, I used a 6’ fuel hose and a small funnel, then cracked the lines at the carbs to flood the lines all the way. Once bled and tightened, I had it running and ran it from a gas can through the hose.

Believe it or not, it ran great on the old carbs. Not even rebuilt. Just had to free up the rusted linkage. Even the fuel pump worked. I pulled it and checked it out. It made a good sucking sound.

Good luck.

[Cfinley2001]

Update for today; I had listed the cars for sale for a time on Craigslist, hoping I could get some money to buy another car I had seen. Only tirekickers and scammers replied to the ad, so I pulled it down today. I've decided that the energy put into them already is worth a shot at starting them, and have thusly removed the carbs for the '65, and the distributor from the '67, and will be trying to start it in situ. Once that's done, then work will really start picking up. I'll share photos this evening.

[Cfinley2001]

Before...

And after!


It's not much, but I've managed (with help) to remove the carburetors, and sufficiently plugged them with towels. Otherwise I have pulled the ignition coil and distributor (sans cap) from the 1967. Going to try to have it running soon.

[erco]

Obviously those are the wrong spark plug wires. Never use those! Without those seals, a LOT of cooling air was wasted blowing out those holes and never did the engine any good. Hopefully the poor motor survived the last owner and you'll right that wrong.

8mm-plug-wires-pink.jpg (25.92 KiB) Viewed 1433 times

[Cfinley2001]

Obviously those are the wrong spark plug wires. Never use those! Without those seals, a LOT of cooling air was wasted blowing out those holes and never did the engine any good. Hopefully the poor motor survived the last owner and you'll right that wrong.

8mm-plug-wires-pink.jpg

We had noticed that discrepancy. I hope the motor has survived as well, as our '67 motor doesn't turn. That one has the seals.

[erco]

Another potential upper shroud cooling air leak is the fresh air hose outlet in front of the #5 cylinder. If the hose is broken or disconnected, that's a huge hole for large volumes of precious cooling air to leak out. To the point where people notice that #5 cylinders in particular overheat. Many people just block it off with a plate.

[Cfinley2001]

Howdy all, hoping to try to get it running by the weekend, then it'll be time to move the car into the garage and get to work.

[Cfinley2001]

We got it turning! The motor, with a few mechanical issues solved, now spins. Now we just need working carburetors and it should run (though I don't have steering, so that's a no-go for driving yet ) But otherwise it's doing well. I'll upload a Youtube video of it soon.

[Project65]

Hi Conner. Just want to suggest a word of caution before you get it running. If you have any concern that there might be any possibility of air restriction under the shroud, (such as an old critter nest like was in my engine) you might want to remove the top shroud and clean between the fins. I used a coat hanger and a shop vac with a necked down crevice tip. A hacksaw blade would work well also. If you get it running without good airflow, it might risk overheating. This includes any lower side restrictions.

Also, my carbs linkages were seized up solid. They hadn’t run in 30 years. After a lot of PB Blaster they loosened up with pliers. Without even being rebuilt, they miraculously ran great. Idled smooth and revved strong. Even the auto choke pull-offs worked like they should. I didn’t adjust anything.

If you tip the carbs upside down and hear the floats rattle, you might be in luck. .

Any other opinions on this from the forum to offer?

[Connors.conscience]

Hi Conner. Just want to suggest a word of caution before you get it running. If you have any concern that there might be any possibility of air restriction under the shroud, (such as an old critter nest like was in my engine) you might want to remove the top shroud and clean between the fins. I used a coat hanger and a shop vac with a necked down crevice tip. A hacksaw blade would work well also. If you get it running without good airflow, it might risk overheating. This includes any lower side restrictions.

Also, my carbs linkages were seized up solid. They hadn’t run in 30 years. After a lot of PB Blaster they loosened up with pliers. Without even being rebuilt, they miraculously ran great. Idled smooth and revved strong. Even the auto choke pull-offs worked like they should. I didn’t adjust anything.

If you tip the carbs upside down and hear the floats rattle, you might be in luck. .

Any other opinions on this from the forum to offer?

We appreciate the suggestion. It’s a good one to clean inside the shroud.

We do have the carbs off. I have heard the floats rattle but don’t yet have the tops pulled. I want to blow some cleaner through the bowls, jets and bleeders before we run them.

[Cfinley2001]

Hi Conner. Just want to suggest a word of caution before you get it running. If you have any concern that there might be any possibility of air restriction under the shroud, (such as an old critter nest like was in my engine) you might want to remove the top shroud and clean between the fins. I used a coat hanger and a shop vac with a necked down crevice tip. A hacksaw blade would work well also. If you get it running without good airflow, it might risk overheating. This includes any lower side restrictions.

Also, my carbs linkages were seized up solid. They hadn’t run in 30 years. After a lot of PB Blaster they loosened up with pliers. Without even being rebuilt, they miraculously ran great. Idled smooth and revved strong. Even the auto choke pull-offs worked like they should. I didn’t adjust anything.

If you tip the carbs upside down and hear the floats rattle, you might be in luck. .

Any other opinions on this from the forum to offer?

We appreciate the suggestion. It’s a good one to clean inside the shroud.

We do have the carbs off. I have heard the floats rattle but don’t yet have the tops pulled. I want to blow some cleaner through the bowls, jets and bleeders before we run them.

I told you we needed to clean the shroud... Haha!

[Connors.conscience]

Just a little update. First our garage has a Western exposure and when the sun comes over the house it gets very hot on the Concrete and in the garage. We’re kind of limited to working in the morning or late eve.

As Connor said, we turned the engine over by hand. I had him oil all the cylinders. It sat for a week or so before we got a battery in it and spun it on the starter. I got the distributor cleaned up and working properly. A new set of points and condenser was required. The cap, rotor and wires in the 67 were relatively new when installed but old from sitting. Got #1 on TDC and installed the distributor.

On Saturday I did a sidewalk rebuild of both carbs. The good news is they would probably have worked having only small amounts of varnish in the bowls. Accelerator pumps may not work at first but is an easy replacement.

I’m finally very anxious to get this one running to move on to something else. So every night this week when I come home I’m going to do something that will result with it running by Friday.

Connor is going to start a YouTube channel with his pursuits. It will be called Connor Learns…. Our efforts to get it running once back together is the planned first video.

We sold the El Camino and I need to sell the 70 Mach1 for garage space. I’m working on getting some rental space to store the two vans and want to bring the ‘61 Sedan home. We purchased another sedan out of OK for the broken glass. There’s been things going in but we have been ‘constipated’ to get things completed and out.

Again, thanks to the forum members here for your support and interest. Hopefully it continues to become more interesting.

[Cfinley2001]

Connor is going to start a YouTube channel with his pursuits. It will be called Connor Learns…. Our efforts to get it running once back together is the planned first video.

Channel is up on YouTube now!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFSjg9 ... NvD7XBG2uA

[Cfinley2001]

First update in a while; We got it running! It ran for about as long as fuel was in the carburetors, which wasn't long, but it seems Cylinder 5 has lower compression, 92, if I recall.

[bbodie52]

Cylinder 5 is often the one cylinder that runs hotter than the others, due to its proximity to the heater system connecting hose at the upper- right front part of the upper sheet metal shroud. If the connecting hose is missing, or is leaking air, cylinder number 5 may receive less cooling airflow than the other cylinders.

You don't want a missing or torn hose that would starve that region of the cylinder head and cooling fins from receiving adequate cooling air. Even diverting the air from that area into an open duct air passage into the heater system takes cooling are away from cylinder no. 5, and dropped valve seats from the head are a known problem you don't want to become familiar with!

» Sun Jul 19, 2020 9:31 pm

Not a bad idea. Air that could otherwise cool the engine is lost in this fresh air hose that really serves little purpose as far as the function of the heater system. Blocking this will increase airflow at the #5 cylinder particularly which runs a but hot and is more prone than other cylinders to drop valve seats because of this heat. You can easily fashion a block of with a piece of thin sheet metal ( a piece of aluminum soda or beer can works great). Take the little outlet piece off the shroud and lay the flange that it bolts to the engine with on the sheet metal. Trace around it, cut out, drill 3 holes, and install between the hose outlet piece and the shroud. If you cut the outside of the piece just a little smaller than the tracing , once installed you will not see it. You then install the hose like it was and it looks completely stock.

https://ssl.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalo ... w_page=102

Part number C9222: FRESH AIR HOSE BLOCK OFF PLATE 61-69** **EXC 65-66 TURBO

Weight: 0 lbs 4 oz
Catalog Page(s): 102(2),OTTO-35
Price: $ 16.00




If cylinder number 5 repeatedly shows significantly low compression, a cylinder leak down test may help to reveal the actual cause, such as a burned or damaged exhaust valve in that cylinder..