Corvair Forum

take your time to get things right. If you find that a panel seems large and complex, make it in easy to manage sections then weld them together, or adapt panels from other cars/vans as I did, you'd be surprised what fits and looks right. Mine too was a genuine (???????) 2 owner car, but I guess it only takes one careless clueless idiot to screw it up

Hi Guys
It's picture time, have taken a few pictures, these shall I say, tell a story of their own, no amount of waffling will more clearly describe what you observe. All I can say my enthusiasm has taken a bit of a dip and I wonder where I am Well you look and see/tell me what you think

you cant look at the car as a whole, just pick a small area and work at that spot untill its perfect then pick another spot and do that untill its done, i would try and find a 4 door car that is fairly rustfree to cut the rear valance out of and the pices of trunk and other little bits, that would be the best way to go in my oppinion

I never thought I d ever say this, but yours looks even worse than mine These things sure know how to fall apart dont they?

mart wrote:I never thought I d ever say this, but yours looks even worse than mine These things sure know how to fall apart don't they?

I was just going to say "This sounds like another "Pennsylvania Bondo Bucket" story.

At least yours wasnt passed off as "fully restored".I havent even looked at my doors yet, but am expecting the usual botched cover up

hi henty,how you doing buddy

i know how you feel at the moment,you are luky to find yours in that condition,remember what mine looked like.keep up the good work and yes do one section complete at a time before moving on

guru.

Hi Guys
A BIG WELCOME to Garydup the legendary South African Corvair Guru, this man is a walking talking sleeping Corvair Encyclopedia Gary is "THE SA Big-Bore Builder" I might add.

OK, so first some SA history lesson!......We have a very South African saying "Ja nee Boet" translated literally, it means "Yes no Brother" which sounds a bit daft, but it's a very popular start to a sentence where woes are to be discussed. (Afrikaans is the language spoken by the other half of the white population in SA, similar to Dutch) so here goes..

"Ja nee Boet let the repairs begin" Ok so have made the first attempts at replacing some window channeling, NO! please do not ask me why I chose one of the most difficult sections to start off with, I'm a sucker for punishment . Thought, well if I can manage this I should be able to do just about anything

First used some really thin 0.45mm chromodeck sheeting to get a feel for things and get the hands warmed up etc. That worked real easy, then used some 1.0mm flat sheet-metal, cut off of the shelf-rite shelving that I cut out of the car that was welded in place as the floor, you can see them panels in the earlier pic's. No blood, no blisters, no swearing , just patience and well see for yourself. Will more than likely rip them out by the time I get to the end and my skills have improved some. Have not done this since back in '74 when I had to plug holes in my 1st car, a '65 Mini Cooper.

Well it's a start and Mart you are a true inspiration, hats off to you my man, you have determination and tenacity! I really will need a kick in the pants every now and then. I know I'm going to drift off in other directions from time to time, so feel free to kick from time to time, PLEASE. Let me know what you guys think and please give advise/thoughts etc any input is appreciated

Cheers
Henty

It's a great start!

ja swaar hows it boet. ok stop boasting now and get on with it,dont forget now car in the park on the 16 th may ,you need to fit that big bore to kens 60?ok i sent the rear section back with your friend,nice chap whish he had more time to talk ,he was in a bit of a hurry.ok im going to assemble the 65,will post some pics this weekend

guru

Hi Guys
Been a bit quiet lately, too much work. Other stuff that have needed my attention Grrrrrrrr let me not get into that

Ok!so have made a little more headway in the strip down, so I will not call it progress. However, I have been productive in the dead of night. Stress and pressure at work is massive at the moment and that means I do not get much sleep. So I get up at about 1am and work in my workshop until about 5am and then catch a 2hrs excellent sleep then its off to work until 7pm.

I am posting some pictures taken since my last posting on 24th March. I got up one night and decided I need a rotisserie to get to the underside of the car. So I started digging amongst my stash of "stuff" as it's referred to by others and put together an over-engineered but functional rotisserie. I will post some pictures of that once I have modified the few glitches I have encountered.

The rust on this car is just unbelievable, but I will fix it, I WANT a Coupe and I WILL HAVE ONE! Whilst digging the bondo out of the drip rails the RH rail has come undone along 70% of its length, so this Coupe will not have drip rails, they are GONE! The 1st picture shows the outer skin of the front RH pillar is completely rusted off. Once I started digging it was just bondo and pot scourers. Taking out the rear valence as a whole is going to be a challenge but I will keep a photographic track of how I did that. There are several panels that overlap and are spot-welded one after another but I will persevere and WILL get it right watch me!

The car is now completely stripped down and the bare shell is hanging in the rotisserie. About 1/3 of the paint is stripped down to bare metal and so far the rest of the car looks good, the entire floor pan needs to be replaced. I really hope my donors floor is still good. The car is in storage in a weather proof enclosure but man oh man its going to be a mission to get to it.

Ok! so here are the pictures will keep you guys posted on the progress, which is going to be slow as work is really hectic at the moment, I must be getting old or something

Wow I am very impressed!

hentysnr wrote:Ok!so have made a little more headway in the strip down, so I will not call it progress. However, I have been productive in the dead of night. Stress and pressure at work is massive at the moment and that means I do not get much sleep. So I get up at about 1am and work in my workshop until about 5am and then catch a 2hrs excellent sleep then its off to work until 7pm...

...progress, which is going to be slow as work is really hectic at the moment, I must be getting old or something...

It must be something in that South African air, or food, or SOMETHING! I don't think I had that much ambition, stamina or energy when I was 18!

Now, at 60...

Chevrolet built Corvairs out of steel and aluminum. South Africans build Corvairs out of RUST and aluminum!

Hey Brad

Yep never been a great sleeper, apparently I was a terror as an infant. Always did the night shifts when I was in the Military in Angola and Caprivi. Bad side to all this is I am no good company after waking up, the worlds worst, even if I have to admit it myself . The ambition! don't know about that, but when I get into something, I'm supposedly like a dog with a bone. My biggest enemy is myself, I have developed a bad habit of I WILL do it MYSELF.

But I love it and my wife, bless her soul really supports my hobby, loves the Corvairs and encourages me all the time with mugs of good strong tea. She has a passion for embroidery, quilting and patchwork. I recently imported a Nolting longarm quilter from the States for her. We are both very much into our hobbies, the only difference is she makes money and I spend it, but it balances out, when she has an overload of longarm quilting to do I do it for her, so we make it work for both of us.

Anyway Guys, thanks for the input, I always look forward to hearing from ALL interested parties, have not forgotten about the SA Chapter, still working on the guys here, thanks for a GREAT forum,

hentysnr wrote:Hi Guys

First used some really thin 0.45mm chromodeck sheeting to get a feel for things and get the hands warmed up etc. That worked real easy, then used some 1.0mm flat sheet-metal, cut off of the shelf-rite shelving that I cut out of the car that was welded in place as the floor, you can see them panels in the earlier pic's. No blood, no blisters, no swearing , just patience and well see for yourself. Will more than likely rip them out by the time I get to the end and my skills have improved some. Have not done this since back in '74 when I had to plug holes in my 1st car, a '65 Mini Cooper.


Cheers
Henty

How did you form that curved piece around the window?