Joined the Corvair Club with a 61 Lakewood

[wesleygarrard]

Hello,

My name is Wesley and I am an educator out of Illinois. I would consider myself an hobbyist engineer. I enjoy designing and building anything mechanical or electrical. A renaissance man if you will.

A favorite past time is finding forgotten and neglected vehicles and bringing them back into service. After doing 10 vehicles, I have gotten pretty good at mechanical reanimation.

I have been a long time fan of rear engined, aircooled cars. I started out with a 1963 VW Beetle that is now my autocross racer. I have always wanted to add a Corvair. Starting when I was 18, I spent 4 years trying to buy a 1966 Monza 140hp. That ultimately failed. Since then, I have researched the Corvair and lurked in the forums. Now I can finally jump in.

My wife and I were gifted this 1961 Corvair Lakewood from a family member. He bought it used in 1976 and used it as a daily driver over the next decade. It has been relegated to light service after a new 110hp engine from a 1969 was installed and eventually fell out of consistent use 10-15 years ago. Whitney's uncle owns 4 other Corvairs and was looking to free up some space to add another Italian car to keep his Fiat 500 Abarth company. I have been documenting the process of getting it back on the road in the links below. Our eventual plan is to make this our dedicated camping vehicle once all the bugs are ironed out.

https://drivetribe.com/p/a-1961-chevrol ... qjK9dqCm-A

https://drivetribe.com/p/refreshing-the ... vNziwVCR8g

https://drivetribe.com/p/rebuilding-the ... LDIoLElQHQ

Glad to finally be a part of the club. I have been trying to find the right Corvair since I was 18.

[bbodie52]

Welcome to the Corvair Forum!

I believe that this is the most informative, entertaining, well-produced introduction that I've seen on the Corvair Forum! I've consolidated the videos here for convenience. Great viewing!

Based on automatic choke carburetors, PCV system, fan belt guides, alternator, etc., this appears to be 1964 or later 164 CI, 110 hp engine! (The original engine was manual choke, road draft tube, steel fan with no belt guides, 145 CI, 80 hp, and a generator. Alternators were introduced in 1965.




Removing your car from storage/Reviving a Dead Corvair

http://www.corvairforum.com/forum/viewt ... 225&t=5030

I would like to encourage you to expand on your earlier post and tell us more about yourself, as well as about your Corvair. The videos cover a great deal, but anything you would like to add would be great! 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. Knowing your physical location would also be a big help as it might suggest some possibilities.

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

http://www.corvairforum.com/forum/viewt ... 225&t=6007

I have attached a copy of the CORSA Corvair Technical Guide 1+2 - Corvair Code Numbers. The engine serial number 2-letter suffix code and the cylinder head casting numbers will help to confirm the nature of your engine.








HEAD CASTING NUMBER MAY BE COVERED BY ENGINE SHEET METAL


http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog ... age=TECH-3


ENGINE SERIAL NUMBER EXAMPLE...

[wesleygarrard]

Thanks! It has been fun and frustrating getting this Lakewood back into service. Then again, it was the same way on my previous builds. All part of the journey.

[bbodie52]

Your previous rebuild experience was obvious. GREAT VIDEOS! Entertaining, instructional, informative. Dave Motohead is our resident video guy, but I think he has some serious competition. As an experienced mechanic who is new to Corvairs, you bring a great vantage point along with entertaining video production that really captures audience interest.

By the way, where are you located?

Suspension is reliable. Weak points are the rear axle bearings which tend to be neglected and can dry up over the decades. As you already noticed, the universal joints in the rear axles also tend to be neglected — especially if the u-joints are not fitted with grease fittings. The Pitman Arm bushing between the steering box and the steering linkage will rot and disintegrate with age, leaving a lot of slop in the steering linkage.

Corvair Rampside Rear Axel Bearing Packing Procedure


Clark's Corvair Parts says that early model rear axle bearings can be the most dangerous part of the car. While I've never had an EM rear axle bearing fail on a long journey, I can think of several Corvair Forum members who have had them fail and even break an axle in one instance. I have had rear axle bearing failures in two 1965 Corvairs — one during a cross-country trip from California to new Jersey (it failed in Cheyenne, Wyoming) and the other failed in Germany. In any case, you might want to spend some time inspecting/replacing the rear axle bearings, as described in the video.

https://ssl.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalo ... w_page=166


I have attached a couple of documents that address upgrading the manually adjusted brakes to self-adjusting brakes, if you are interested.

[wesleygarrard]

Thanks again for the kind words about my video production. One of my degrees in in photography. When I upgraded my camera, I got a DSLR that could also shoot HD video. I figured, why not give that a go. So I am sort of new to video production and still learning.

I am located in Central Illinois. So that means nearly everything I find in a crusty mess. So much so that I have developed my own special sauce for rust penetration.

[bbodie52]

If you are interested, there is a CORSA (Corvair Society of America) club chapter based in Springfield, only about 75 miles south of Peoria.

Prairie Capital Corvair Association Springfield, IL http://www.corvair.org/chapters/chapter627/

The other club chapter in your state is based 172 miles away, near Chicago...



Chicagoland Corvair Enthusiasts Northlake IL http://www.ccecorvair.com/

[bbodie52]

This has to be one of the cleanest Lakewood station wagons I've ever seen! White with a red interior and an undercarriage and engine compartment you could eat off of! I wish I could afford to buy it, but the timing is off for me. But for someone else on the Corvair Forum??? A Florida car. Check it out!!

viewtopic.php?f=80&t=1881&p=31808&hilit ... ood#p31808

And this continuing Lakewood project car in Europe is just an unbelievable project in the detailing it is receiving. You might enjoy browsing through this lengthy, detailed thread...

Corvair Lakewood 61 - NL
Valkenswaard - Netherlands - Europe
viewtopic.php?f=52&t=2301

[TikiRalf]

Love the never ending story

Welcome and great Lakewood! I keep an eye on it

Greetings from a Lakewood owner in Europe, Ralf

[wesleygarrard]

Love the never ending story

Welcome and great Lakewood! I keep an eye on it

Greetings from a Lakewood owner in Europe, Ralf

Thanks! I have been following your build for about a year now. I do not think this one will ever be as nice as yours is going to be.

[steve57]

Welcome to the forum. If the Lakewood still has the 1969 engine in it can you post a picture of the engine number and the partial VIN numbers next to it. Us 1969 owners like that info. Thanks.

[wesleygarrard]

Here is the engine number. Looks like 19W700363.

[rv6aaviator]

Wes,

Congrats on the acquisition. Great story and write up. Your going to love it!

[bbodie52]

ENGINE SERIAL NUMBER EXAMPLE...

For example...

T0129RH

T = Tonawanda, New York (GM Tonawanda Engine Plant)
http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/comp ... wanda.html
0129 = Engine manufacturing date (month and date). January 29th.
RH = 1965, 1966 or 1967 110 hp, 164 CID, 9:1 CR with Powerglide Automatic Transmission (Corvair 500 or 900 Monza)

Your engine number is, unfortunately, not a valid original engine serial number. The number stamped on your cases is apparently some type of factory control code, probably assigned to a replacement part. We have no way of decoding your number. All original engines were stamped with a code that was formatted like the original example above.


The cylinder head casting numbers are likely the most-meaningful form of identification for your engine. The crankshaft journal number will help to identify the displacement by crankshaft stroke (145 CI or 164 CI). The number stamped on the distributor housing may help, but distributors are easily swapped. Assembling a list of clues will be helpful, but the camshaft grind has a significant impact and there is no easy way to identify the camshaft, short of using a degree wheel and a dial indicator to measure and map out the lift and cam lobe grind.

If you remove the top engine cover to expose the crankshaft, the number cast into the crankshaft identifies the stroke...

5607 signifies it from an early 145 CI engine.
7293 signifies it from an early 145 CI turbo engine.
8409 signifies it's from the late 164 CI engines, regardless of HP.

[steve57]

Brad, that number is the serial number for 1969 Corvair, not engine number

[wesleygarrard]

I thought I had read that in 68-69 the engine numbers were the same as the VIN. For fun, I checked it against the VIN Number decoder on 1969corvair.com. It seems to jive with a 69 VIN. However, the trim and model numbers are missing from the engine number.

[steve57]

Yep just partial VIN. Engine number should be directly in front of oil fill tube. Like this.