1966 Corsa Convertible

[JohnDB]

Wow, interesting set of issues and quickie fixes. I’m sure you will love the improved shifting when you’re done.

I was really surprised by all of the tape I found. I'm not really sure how it shifted at all...

Nice job on all the troubleshooting. I've got to do the shift tube in my future as well.

Thanks - it's not a hard job, but it does take some time to work through everything and make sure all the parts are working properly together.

I had a little time over the past few days to put the shifter back together and get it ready to go back in the car:

And finally had some time today to get it back into its home:

Everything went back together nicely and I closed up the tunnel again:

I tested the shifter while the car was still in the air and it feels A LOT better! All gears are easy to find, including reverse which was previously a bit tricky sometimes. After I got everything cleaned up I had to take it for a drive - it is like a different car! This was well worth the effort and I'm glad I finally got around to it.

Looks like next on the list is torque arm bushings and strut rods - lots of old rubber parts that need to be replaced...

[gbullman]

You are definitely motivating me to get started on my winter projects!

[JohnDB]

You are definitely motivating me to get started on my winter projects!

Go for it! I got a few more miles on the Corsa last week before the snow, so it looks like it'll be in the garage for a bit now. Ordered some bushings from Clark's and strut rods from PMT Fabrication - waiting on parts and that will be my next project.

Had a few minutes in the garage today and decided to put the AM radio back in. Out with the 80's tape deck that didn't work and back in with a factory AM

Out with the old:

In with the older:

[JohnDB]

Been a quiet and cold couple of weeks - mostly waiting on parts. My new strut rods from PMT Fabrication arrived on Friday, so I took some time today to get some prep done.

These things are really nice - plan is to install the Johnny Joints in the diff brackets and the poly bushing at the wheel. I'm working on some square washers to eliminate the camber bolts since I should have enough adjustment in the rods:

Got the car in the air and pulled the rear wheels to start soaking some of the bolts today. Lots of undercoating on the torque arm brackets:

Some work with a wire wheel and scraping with a screwdriver seemed to do the job and I was able to get a 6 point socket on all of the bolts. I hit them with some Kroil and let them sit a while - then came back and was able to loosen one at a time and then retighten. All 8 came loose! I hit them with more Kroil while each was loose and put it all back for now. I'll mark the top and bottom of each bracket when I'm ready to pull them off the car.

Passenger side bushing, rubber is very soft and I think might be torn inside as well. Also finishing up a tool similar to the factory tool to remove and replace these while the torque arm is still on the car.

[JohnDB]

Great weather the past Saturday as we got into the 50s. Would have been a great day to work on suspension, but I put it back on the ground and drove it to a Philadelphia Corvair Association club meeting instead. Was at a club members garage where he has an alignment rack and we talked about corvair suspension for a while. Once I get the parts swapped out I’ll make an appointment with him to align it.

Seems like my engine mount is no good, so I ordered that and trans mounts too.

[gbullman]

I unexpectedly had my Corvair out on Saturday too, my buddy came by with his recently acquired 64 Corvette and I couldn't not let him experience the Corvair. I drove the Vette and had a blast, a bit more pep than my 140 Corsa.

Also now I know I need to re-hang the left muffler before any more serious driving.

[County98]

Very cool!

[JohnDB]

This should keep me busy for a few minutes

[JohnDB]

Started with the rear engine mount, old one looking pretty bad:

Took the opportunity to pull the skid plate/black hole for a cleanout, some oil but nothing too serious. Also wiped everything down a bit and made sure the oil pump bolts were tight.

old mount vs. new mount:

New mount went in fine and the engine is sitting higher now - so much that I'm going to need to adjust my exhaust again.

Next up I started to attack the trans mounts. These are not fun. After several hours I had to give in for the day. I've almost got the first one out, but having a hard time holding one of the nuts. I was using a distributor wrench, but it wasn't up to the torque/impact and the wrench stripped out and won't grip. I have a wrench to take to work tomorrow to bend, hopefully it holds a bit better. These mounts have been in here for a long time:

[JohnDB]

Got back to the trans mounts today - NOT a job I want to do again, but it's done. Ended up having to drill out one bolt on each mount:

One of the old mounts vs. new:

All back in place and supporting the trans again:

Now that the mounts are all back in place I'll work on the torque arm bushings next.

[JohnDB]

It warmed up a little bit today and seemed like a good time to work on torque arm bushings. The bolts from the bracket to the body all came out nicely and I had good access to the bolt through the bushing.

No luck on getting the nut to move with impact or a breaker bar with a big cheater pipe. I have a nut splitter, but it isn’t big enough to fit. I ended up drilling into one of the flats on the nut down to the bolt. After that it let loose with the breaker bar. Sadly, that’s about as far as I got as the bolt is very much frozen in the sleeve and no amount of pounding, prying, or penetrating oil did anything. I decided to chase the threads for the bracket bolts in the body and put them back in. Will reach out to my mechanic on Monday and see when they can do both bushings. Once the bushings are done I can move forward with the strut rods.

I feel a bit defeated, but I know I don’t have the right tools to get these out safely. I did take a few minutes and adjust the exhaust, so at least that is done.

[JohnDB]

The Corsa has an appointment on Tuesday to get the torque arm bushings replaced. I suspect a torch will make pretty quick work of the stuck bolts.

It warmed up nicely today and I was able to put some hours in to finish up the strut rods. Started out on the driver's side and promptly broke the nut off the camber bolt, but not too much of a surprise. The camber bolt then decided to hold firmly in the sleeve and did not respond to many blows with a BFH. The sawsall made an appearance and I was able to cut the remains of the bolt and get the strut rod out of the car.

Pulled the bolt from the bracket on the other end and there is a pretty good groove worn into the bolt:

The adjustable rods I put in from PMT Fabrication are fantastic - and easy to put back in the car since I was able to make them long enough to get the bracket on the diff to line up nicely. Then I adjusted them back to about where they need to be. A new bolt in place of the camber bolts and square washers on each side to keep it in the middle of the slot:

Then onto more of the same on the passenger side (camber bolt snapped, but did pop out with the BFH ):

Passenger side seems to be in worse shape, the sleeve in the diff end was cracked and the bolt had a bigger groove in it. It also seems to have a bit of a bend in it (passenger rod on the left in the picture):

I did a rough adjustment for camber and it looks to be in the ballpark. After the torque arm bushings are done, I'll get a 4 wheel alignment by a club member - he's got an alignment rack in his home garage (pictures a few posts back). I put about 10 miles on it late this afternoon and it drives pretty well - no strange issues with new mounts or squeaks out of the new strut rods. Sadly, I think I'm going to need to adjust the driver's side muffler again - when I started to put the lower grill back on it was touching the tailpipe.

[gbullman]

Really good progress, that is not an easy project! Hopefully within next month or so I will change all 4 springs and shocks. My front end was completely rebuilt before I bought the car. I suspect my rear bushings may be original or at least pretty old (need to recheck maintenance records).

I imagine you are noticing sizeable improvements as you complete each of these projects.

[Project65]

Great information on the rear suspension work. I’ll be rebuilding mine hopefully sometime soon. All of those bushings really look like a bear. You’re doing a great job.

[JohnDB]

I picked up the Corsa from the mechanic today - new bushings and bolts installed! Can't see it from this angle, but I had him put a couple of tack welds on each to make sure they don't move around.

There was a small casualty - the passenger side rubber brake hose didn't like being stretched while the bushings were done and split. I had them go ahead and replace both soft lines and all the hard lines in the rear while they were in there. It was on my list for this summer, but now I don't have to get covered in brake fluid :)

Really good progress, that is not an easy project! Hopefully within next month or so I will change all 4 springs and shocks. My front end was completely rebuilt before I bought the car. I suspect my rear bushings may be original or at least pretty old (need to recheck maintenance records).

I imagine you are noticing sizeable improvements as you complete each of these projects.

Haven't put too many miles on yet, and I still need to get it aligned, but it is much improved. The rear used to feel a bit loose, nothing drastic, but it didn't always feel planted. I think most of the squeaks are gone now too, which isn't too surprising considering the grooves that I found worn into some of the bolts!

Great information on the rear suspension work. I’ll be rebuilding mine hopefully sometime soon. All of those bushings really look like a bear. You’re doing a great job.

Some of them aren't too bad, but some are pretty terrible! At least they won't need to be done again for a long time

[JohnDB]

Finished up the last parts of the rear suspension update on the Corsa. Very glad I bought "Stabilizing Rods" (as Clark's calls them), or front strut rods according to the service manual. I knew one of my old ones was bent, but both snapped when trying to remove the bracket:

And a new one installed on the driver's side (no picture of the passenger side, but it looks the same):

Need to schedule an alignment and I think I'll be in good shape for a while. Except for the valve cover gaskets I need to change, and probably another gasket for the alternator mount to fix that leak (I hope), and an oil change, and.....