Hello from the Florida Panhandle!

[loud41]

Hey guys! So I've perused these forums for a while now and finally decided to:
1. Purchase my first Corvair
2. Become a little more active as a member now that I'm an owner.

My name is Dave and I live in Fort Walton Beach, FL. I just bought a 1963 Monza from a very kind gentleman from South Dakota. The car spent most of its life in Colorado Springs where it was originally purchased (still has the old dealer tag on the back despite a respray). It was then purchased by an individual who meant it to be a father-son project. Unfortunately father was the only one interested, so it was then sold to the gentleman I had bought it from in South Dakota. He held on to it for 15 years and said he had put about 2,000 miles on it the entire time he owned it. I bought it sight unseen off a Craigslist ad he had posted because he had priced it so well. I then drove it the 1,300 miles or so (20 hours) from Sioux Falls to where I live in Fort Walton Beach. When I bought it, the car ran beautifully. The idle was set incredibly low, and the exhaust had Cherry Bombs on either side making it sound more like a foreign market motorcycle than anything else, but boy did it run well. So we shook hands and I was on my way.

The interior seemed mostly original with a few exceptions. The headliner looked new along with the carpets. The seats looked original, but in great condition. The speedometer couldn't decide whether or not I was sitting still or traveling at 100 mph for the first hour of my journey. All of the lights worked, the steering was straight, true and very responsive, and the brakes were flawless. No pull to either side and lots of stopping power. Being a 4 speed manual, the shifter was vague at best with tons of slop in the handle even in gear, but the synchros seemed to work as intended and changing gears was as smooth as a loose shifter could afford. The engine compartment was clean housing the 102 hp engine. Being my first 'vair, I checked the oil at my first stop (a gas station) and noticed the oil level just above ADD. So I added a quart up to FULL. The tires were all at 32 psi so I let air out of the fronts to a nice 20 psi. I then drove about 250 miles to my next gas station and put 10 gallons in the tank. Pulled the dipstick and noticed the oil level back at just above ADD.

Great, I thought... The engine leaks like a sivve... There was oil slung everywhere in the engine compartment. Yet, no blue smoke, or any smoke of any kind... Strange... So I filled her back up to FULL and was back on my way. I did this allllllll the way back to Florida where, half deaf and dead tired with a sore back, I finally looked up what the high oil consumption was all about... She now rests easy at just above ADD with no changes at all.

The speedometer is now spot on with hardly any movement. The generator nuked itself right as I arrived home. The two bolts holding the housing together had not been torqued properly, so they had backed alllllllllll the way out and the housing had come apart, destroying the bearings and who knows what else... Still charges though, hehe! Guess it's a good time for the updrade... It sounds like my flexplate/pressure plate is loose with light rattling in the back that disappears as soon as I hit the clutch. I heard this as soon as I had picked up the car. Something I'll have to address sooner rather than later. All on all, it was a fantastic journey that I absolutely loved!!! I always had wanted an EM Corvair since I was a little kid. I saw a show that had old footage of a Corvair flipping over and over and over, and the narrator said it was the one car accident unsafe at any speed, yet hundreds of thousands were sold. I was hooked!

Well hope you guys enjoyed my novel. Sorry... I'm excited to be a member and hope to contribute!

[64powerglide]

Very nice looking 63, clean up that oil & see if you can pinpoint where it's leaking from. One thing you might want to check is the oil sending unit, it's to the left of the filler tube behind the fuel pump.

['stitch']

There are different length dipsticks also. Who knows what has been swapped out in over 50 yrs. My 4 door was always happiest just over the "Add" mark. No matter how many times I put it up to "Full" it would always go down to just over "Add" and wouldn't go any lower.... Then I got the correct dipstick!

[loud41]

Very nice looking 63, clean up that oil & see if you can pinpoint where it's leaking from. One thing you might want to check is the oil sending unit, it's to the left of the filler tube behind the fuel pump.

I'm actually going to be switching out my generator for an alternator. It certainly looks like it's leaking from somewhere around there. When I switch that entire bracket I'll do a good look over everything around there.

[Bruins_Fan]

Nice Vair! Like you, I wanted a Corvair for a long time. I finally bought one myself last fall, took a long time to happen, but no regrets!!

[bbodie52]

Welcome, Dave, to the Corvair Forum!


So you bought a Corvair! No more free grazin' for you!!

I just bought a 1963 Monza from a very kind gentleman from South Dakota... He held on to it for 15 years and said he had put about 2,000 miles on it the entire time he owned it. I bought it sight unseen off a Craigslist ad he had posted because he had priced it so well. I then drove it the 1,300 miles or so (20 hours) from Sioux Falls to where I live in Fort Walton Beach. When I bought it, the car ran beautifully. The idle was set incredibly low, and the exhaust had Cherry Bombs on either side making it sound more like a foreign market motorcycle than anything else, but boy did it run well. So we shook hands and I was on my way.

20 h 27 min (1,380.3 mi) via I-65 S


I have driven Corvairs loaded with the wife and kids coast to coast, and all over the USA while serving for 24 years in the Air Force. I purchased our current 1966 Corvair Corsa convertible from a classic car dealer in Lakeland Florida. My wife and I purchased this car in 2012 for our 40th wedding anniversary. I spotted the car on eBay and negotiated the purchase over the phone. Trusting that the car would have no problems with a return trip, I purchased a bus ticket from Atlanta to Lakeland Florida, completed the transaction, and drove the car 565 miles back to our home in North Carolina... So you can see why I admire your gutsy and somewhat courageous acquisition effort!

The engine compartment was clean housing the 102 hp engine. Being my first 'vair, I checked the oil at my first stop (a gas station) and noticed the oil level just above ADD. So I added a quart up to FULL. The tires were all at 32 psi so I let air out of the fronts to a nice 20 psi. I then drove about 250 miles to my next gas station and put 10 gallons in the tank. Pulled the dipstick and noticed the oil level back at just above ADD.

Great, I thought... The engine leaks like a sieve... There was oil slung everywhere in the engine compartment. Yet, no blue smoke, or any smoke of any kind... Strange... So I filled her back up to FULL and was back on my way. I did this allllllll the way back to Florida where, half deaf and dead tired with a sore back, I finally looked up what the high oil consumption was all about... She now rests easy at just above ADD with no changes at all.

Let's see... High oil consumption on the highway... 1963 Corvair... Oil all over the engine compartment but no blue smoke and appears not to be burning the oil... POSSIBLY A CLOGGED PCV VALVE? A sealed crankcase and 1963 was the first year that a Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) system replaced the old road draft tube to allow the crankcase to breathe. If the PCV valve was clogged and the somewhat worn-engine piston blowby was building crankcase pressure, it is possible that the oil was being forced from the dipstick tube and then showering the engine compartment with oil. The oil shower might decrease in volume once the oil level dropped down to the fill mark, as pressure could then exit via the dipstick tube without siphoning the oil as the crankcase pressure exited via the dipstick tube (the lower oil level in the crankcase would be below the bottom of the dipstick tube, permitting fumes and pressure gasses to exit without pushing any liquid). Once you arrived home in Florida, low-speed driving around town would be unlikely to build crankcase pressure the way that highway driving would. Was that the cause?





I would like to encourage you to expand on your earlier post and tell us more about yourself, as well as about your Corvair. Your personal assessment of your mechanical skills and abilities helps a lot. Members of the Corvair Forum love to be helpful in assisting other Corvair owners with technical support and advice, but it helps a lot if we have some understanding of your technical background and mechanical abilities, your Corvair-related knowledge, etc. Helping us to know more about you will help us to write comments to you that are tailored to your needs and experience. Some additional detailed photographs of your Corvair, including the engine compartment, interior, etc. would be great!

The link below will provide you with a list of useful websites that are Corvair-related. Some of the links will lead you to an extensive technical library that will allow you to download shop manuals and other technical references in Adobe Reader format at no cost. There is also a link that will help you to locate nearby CORSA (Corvair Society of America) club chapters. While the Corvair Forum can be very helpful as you work on your Corvair, having local friends and contacts in your region who are knowledgeable about the Corvair can also be very helpful. These family-friendly CORSA club chapters often offer picnics, group scenic drives, technical training and assistance, car shows, and competition events that can greatly enhance your enjoyment of Corvair ownership. You will also find a list of essential Corvair parts suppliers.

Common and Useful Corvair Websites

viewtopic.php?f=225&t=6007

[MtnVairMike]

Great car and road trip story. Search the forum and I think you’ll find the clicking sound on your pressure plate is probably loose flywheel rivets.

Thanks

Mike



Sent from my iPad using Corvair Forum mobile app

[bbodie52]

This info may be helpful with your remaining mechanical upgrades that you mentioned.

http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog ... N&page=109


http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog ... N&page=110


http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog ... N&page=111


http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog ... N&page=84A


Generators were originally on 1960-1964 Corvairs. Alternators were introduced in 1965, but are often found on earlier engines if the owner swapped the alternator, voltage regulator, and oil filter adaptor from a 1965-1969 engine to an early engine.


Upgrading to a 1964 Magnesium cooling fan is a common upgrade to improve fanbelt life. The lightweight fan does a beter job of tracking with rapid change in crankshaft pulley speeds, with reduced "flywheel effect" causing belt stresses. Fan bearing size increased in 1965, so a used 1964 fan is needed to match the early model fan bearing assembly. Alternately a larger 1965-69 bearing assembly can be fitted to match a 1965-1969 magnesium cooling fan (which might be easier to find).



If you find you need used parts or items not found available at Clark's, you might contact the Corvair Ranch in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. They have a large inventory of used Corvair parts and may be able to help you. Recommend you give them a call to discuss your needs...

http://www.corvairranch.com/


1079 Bon-Ox Road, ​Gettysburg, ​PA. 17325 USA
​Phone: (717) 624-2805
Fax us by the same number... ask us to hook up the machine
​Email: findit@theranch.today
Our hours are Monday thru Friday 9 to 5, Saturday 9 to 12
or contact us for an appointment.

[loud41]

Thanks you guys for the responses! Alright so first:

Clogged PCV - You know, this is entirely possible. I first discredited oil blowing out the dipstick hole because every time I opened up the engine compartment, the engine shroud around the dipstick was always clean. However, now that I'm thinking about it... There was always oil slung on the right half of the hood, and only the right half. So this is certainly something I can easily just replace anyway so I'll probably just play it safe and do that.

Nuked Generator - So I spoke with Jeff at Corvair Ranch and have the front half + fan from a scrap corvair alternator, along with a '65-69 alternator/oil filter mount with new gasket on its way. I will be opening up an alternator off an '85 Buick Riviera (rebuilt of course) and retrofitting that to my Corvair. I'll probably paint it black just to keep some semblance of stock in the engine compartment. Might even stick the generator plate on it...

A little more about myself - Alrighty so when I was first married, I bought a 1967 Ford Mustang. That was my first introduction to classics. My father-in-law was a savvy mechanic, and he showed me the ropes. I'm also an aircraft mechanic by trade. To be honest, the Corvair engine reminds me a lot of a Lycoming flat 6. Back when I lived up in North Pole, Alaska, a friend of mine ended up challenging me by stating he would give me a '95 Ford F150 if I could get it off his property. It had been sitting there for so long, saplings were growing in the bed of the truck. I got it off his property after throwing in some fresh gas and a new battery. However I ended up replacing absolutely everything in the end. Replaced the 302 with a 351w, new cooling system, suspension, driveline, rear end, brakes, wheel bearings... Never again... The elements had taken its toll... But it was all my family and I had at the time as we were quite poor. Luckily not everything broke all at once, and there was an awesome salvage yard nearby hehe... I still have that truck. Runs good now lol... Hopefully that gives you guys some insight into my abilities. I'm mainly self-taught, so I sometimes tend to have bad habits or incorrect beliefs on how something works, but I manage!

One of my favorite hobbies aside from working on cars is restoring tube radios. I don't have an extensive knowledge on how they work, but I have taught myself how to read schematics and work with the electronics safely. One item I am super excited to tackle is the radio. I'll be replacing all of the capacitors and any other components that are burnt or broken. It works for now so I don't suspect much will have to be done. I'll be also adding bluetooth and an auxiliary port that operate off of microswitches in order to preserve the AM functions of the radio. I LOVE the sound of tube radios. When done right, they can produce very rich and full sound.

Flywheel/Clutch assembly - I'm fairly certain my flywheel is loose. For now, the rattling is faint, so I'll be putting it off until maybe after the hotter months have passed. I plan on ordering a complete kit from Clark's. I want the solid flywheel for piece of mind. While the powertrain is out, I'll also refresh the seals and rings of the engine. I rebuilt the 351w before I had put it in the truck, so I do have a little engine experience.

Wheel bearings - So I've been doing research on wheel bearings for front and back. It being such an old vehicle, I'd like to take a peak and see how they are doing. Perhaps regrease if needed? I've been reading quite a bit of material on this forum on the subject especially since the rears tend to be a safety issue if not properly taken care of. I don't have any noises or anything that I know of. So more preventative.

Interior - I love my interior! The roof liner has been replaced, but the seats are original. They look great for their age! The foam has collapsed a bit in the driver's seat, and there's a split seam on the passenger right shoulder. My wife wants to sew the seam back up, bless her! I do have one question however. When the roof liner was redone, it seems like something was forgotten on the rear or "C" pillars. The liner extends about halfway down both pillars and abruptly stops. Then all there is between that and the package tray is structure. Is there supposed to be a cover or anything? It looks quite unfinished...

Thanks so much everybody for your interest and awesome suggestions! I truly appreciate everything! Haha after the fact, driving that car so far without knowing much about it was pretty risky... But I was prepared to call in any help and trailer it if the need arose. I also had the trunk filled with tools and basic supplies to fix anything simple.

[bbodie52]

» Sun May 05, 2019 10:43 am

One of my favorite hobbies aside from working on cars is restoring tube radios. I don't have an extensive knowledge on how they work, but I have taught myself how to read schematics and work with the electronics safely. One item I am super excited to tackle is the radio. I'll be replacing all of the capacitors and any other components that are burnt or broken. It works for now so I don't suspect much will have to be done. I'll be also adding bluetooth and an auxiliary port that operate off of microswitches in order to preserve the AM functions of the radio. I LOVE the sound of tube radios. When done right, they can produce very rich and full sound.

1961 Chevrolet Radio Service and Shop Manual.pdf

1961 Chevrolet Radio Service and Shop Manual

(483.08 KiB) Downloaded 71 times

1962 Chevrolet Radio Service and Shop Manual.pdf

1962 Chevrolet Radio Service and Shop Manual

(514.55 KiB) Downloaded 49 times

1963 Chevrolet Radio Service and Shop Manual.pdf

1963 Chevrolet Radio Service and Shop Manual

(1.98 MiB) Downloaded 60 times

1964 Chevrolet Radio Service and Shop Manual.pdf

1964 Chevrolet Radio Service and Shop Manual

(1.2 MiB) Downloaded 75 times

1965 Chevrolet Radio Service and Shop Manual.pdf

1965 Chevrolet Radio Service and Shop Manual

(1.14 MiB) Downloaded 44 times

The above manuals were downloaded from...


http://www.corvair.org/chapters/corvana ... ls.php#RRM

Here is some additional material I found on the 1966 Corvair AM Radio. I had the six photographs shown below. I also combined all six images into a single Adobe Reader document.

1966 Corvair AM Radio Repair Manual.pdf

1966 Corvair AM Radio Repair Manual

(5.81 MiB) Downloaded 46 times

Corvair AM Radio (1)

Corvair AM Radio (2)

Corvair AM Radio (3)

Corvair AM Radio (4)

Corvair AM Radio (5)

Corvair AM Radio (6)

[loud41]

Oh no way! Thank you so much for posting those manuals! That is going to help tremendously!

[bbodie52]

I edited the above post to include some images for the 1966 Corvair solid state AM radio that I had on file. Not a tube type radio, but I thought it might be useful.