Corvair Forum

Bought my first corvair a few years ago. 1965 Monza two door coupe. I bought it for a fun vehicle to play with and take to car shows. It runs but smokes. It sounds like a burned valve. I think I got a line on a guy in the area that can look at it and fix it. I spent a couple hours reading posts before joining and there's lots of good information here. I have a question regarding exhaust smoke coming in through the heater that I can't figure out how to stop. I guess that's a good question for the tech section.

Welcome!

Yes welcome Harley

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Going to expand some on my experience and vision. I bought the Vair basically because I saw another corvair locally and it brought back some fond memories of my youth. I almost bought a corvair for my first car at 15 years old but at the last minute the owner backed out. That car wasn't really for sale anyway, I just tried talking him into selling it. Fast forward 35 years. I found the 65 on ebay and the guy was really wanting to move it. He was an individual that dealt in buying and selling. He lowered the price for me and I bought it. He even delivered it, for a fee, of course. I have what I would say is average experience working on autos. It's a hobby and in the past sometimes a necessity. Mainly old V8 motors. Chevy smallblocks, ford 302, and a handful of mopars. Minor body dents, etc. Luckily, the body of this is in fairly good condition. A previous owner had replaced the front fenders and repainted the trunk area. He had pictures included of the dented original fenders. And then painted the car with a cheapy job. My plans for now are to fix the smoking problem, recover the seats and repaint it. Some of the work I will tackle myself and some of it I will have done elsewhere. I don't have my own garage for the work. I keep it in a storage unit, so when I work on it, it's in the driveway. I live near Wichita Kansas and there is a corsa club in the area. When I can, I will check them out.

Welcome from Southern California! Hopefully the smoking problem won't be a major one!

Smoke in the exhaust and smoke in the heater are completely different animals. Smoke in the exhaust, as I'm sure you know, indicates a ring or valve seal problem - most commonly rings. A leak-down test (similar to a compression test) will pinpoint the source.
Smoke in the heater is caused by an external oil leak, most commonly push rod tube seals and/or valve cover gaskets. Replace the pushrod tube seals with Viton o-rings (do one cylinder at a time to maintain head torque), scrub the engine with dawn, and that problem will be cured. There are some tricks (oil only, no sealant, damage-free push rod tube removal methods) so feel free to ask about that.

If your pushrod seals are as old and bad as mine the tubes will slide on out easily. I just did mine... The right side of the engine were even in the wrong way. Make sure the longer end goes towards the head.

This is something of a duplicate of the same question. I posted an answer to your question here...

viewtopic.php?f=55&t=12117&p=82752&hili ... nts#p82752

I appreciate the help. All good suggestions. It will be a work in progress. This is what I saw here. People sharing their knowledge, which is what I need. It's hard to believe that there aren't any corvairs entered in car shows around here. There are plenty of shows within a 50 mile radius. I get plenty of attention just because nobody sees them.

It's been awhile since I posted. I removed the oil pan, cleaned it up, new gaskets, etc. I bought new heater hoses and clamps from Clark's . Put some soapy water in a spray bottle and paper towels and wiped off as much grease and oil as I could. It has changed how much smoke comes through the heat ducting. Now, at first startup I get a little smoke inside but after its warmed up it virtually disappears. So for now, onto the next issue.

Hey new Corvair guy!!
If you are close to Wichita, get in touch with Terry Kalp or Ned Madson. They are major influences in the club there!Ned is in Darby, Ks. Terry is in Valley Center just N of Wichita.
Terry will be hosting a Corvair “tuna” in February.


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