1966 Corsa Convertible

[mr.duncan]

You could add a UV leak dye to the oil, I found a small crack that was not visible in my mount leaking the oil out once warmed up.

[JohnDB]

Well, that stinks! Any chance it is coming up around the bolts (seems wettest by the bolt to the right of the sender)? Don’t know if this is true for the bolts of the oil filter adapter / alternator mount but I’ve had other GM engines where bolt threads were in areas wet with oil, ended up applying permatex to threads after cleaning as best I could. Really slowed down the leak but didn’t quite stop it completely.

Also that seems like enough that a few minutes at fast idle after wiping it down should reveal the source.

I’ve heard that replacement oil pressure switches can be a bit hit or miss, I definitely got lucky with mine.

I don't think it's coming up around the bolts, these are all new and I put high temp thread sealer on all of them. It's hard to get in there to wipe up with the alternator in place, but I'll get it when I swap out the oil pressure sender. My current plan is to install a 45 and a hard line out to the right past the distributor. From there I'll go into a tee with the sender and a gauge - at least it will be easier to change the sender when it fails again!!!

You could add a UV leak dye to the oil, I found a small crack that was not visible in my mount leaking the oil out once warmed up.

This is on my list as well if the oil pressure sender isn't the problem.

[JohnDB]

I gathered some parts and fittings over the past few days and dug into the oil leak again. Pulled the alternator, cleaned everything up, and pulled the oil pressure sender. Double checked the bolts on the alternator/fuel pump mount, and all good. Installed the 45 and adaptor from 1/8" npt to 3/16" internal flare:

Started to run the pre-flared line:

Made a small bracket for the oil pressure gauge and the oil pressure sender now lives on a tee on the back of the gauge:

Put the alternator back in, fired it up, and checked for leaks - all good. Cold oil pressure at high idle (~1300 rpm) looks good:

Went for a test drive and hot oil pressure at idle (~750ish rpm) looks good too:

And after all of that, the same oil leak in the same place:

Letting it cool off for now, and I think my next plan is to clean it all up again and let it idle long enough to watch where it comes from. All the fittings I just installed seem fine, so maybe coming up from under a bolt? Getting blown around by the alternator fan isn't helping.

Is this a spot where a leaking oil cooler seal would send oil? My oil cooler is dry when I look up from the bottom last time I had the lower tins off, and was dry when I had the top cover off.

[JohnDB]

I put a few more miles on the Corsa over the past few weeks, and the oil leak doesn't seem any worse but was still bothering me. I pulled the alternator again, cleaned everything up really well, and decided to pull one of the bolts from under the alternator - circled in red:

leaky bolt.jpg (34.12 KiB) Viewed 1264 times

Don't think I have any pictures from here on, but there isn't anything exciting. I'm using the bolts from Clark's with the serrated washer built in, and there is an open area in the middle where it looks like an o-ring will sit. I found one that fit the bolt well, and added some Ultra Black RTV to the top of the bolt as well to seal where it sits in the open area of the alternator mount. I cleaned and re-applied thread sealant again on the lower threads, and re-installed and torqued - 12 ft. lb. this time.

So far, it seems like the leak is sealed. There is still some residual oil being blown around, but the top of the bolt head isn't wet any more, and there isn't any oil being thrown around the top of the alternator mount. At some point I'll need to remove the rear housing from the block it looks like, but I think it can wait for now.

[JohnDB]

Been putting miles on the Corsa over the past few weeks. The oil leak is slowed down a lot, but not 100% sealed. For now I'll live with it, but at some point I think I need to pull the oil pump housing and fix the sealing surface for the alternator mount or swap with a good one.

While I was putting in the oil pressure gauge, I had the spare out and realized that I crushed the right side air cleaner a bit when I replaced the engine mounts. I never really liked these air cleaners, so I've been on the hunt for replacements - old ones:

I happened to check on that auction website one day last week and found a good deal on a nicer set - they showed up today and I was able to get some time in the garage to get them installed:

Looks much better, hopefully will breathe better as well. Rain rolled in right after I finished, so a test drive will need to wait.

[gbullman]

Nice upgrade, like the way they look!

Expecting to do a run to Allentown, PA with NJ Corvair club next weekend, so far just enjoying the car this summer.

[Project65]

Those are really nice looking . Hope they run well for you.

[JohnDB]

Got some miles on the car with the new air cleaners and it is still running well. Did a timing check and it is still where I set it, and used the exhaust gas analyzer a bit again and leaned the carbs a little bit. Hot restarts are better now, so that's a plus!

I was going to work on some touch-up paint today, but the humidity is terrible so I decided to postpone trying to spray paint. Instead I decided to install the bumper guards I picked up almost a year ago. Had to drill 4 holes in the bumpers, but with the original GM instructions and template it was no problem.

Before:

After:

I'm happy with the new look.

[gbullman]

Nice, bumper guards are a nice touch. I’ve been getting out whenever the temperatures get bearable. Expect to put on some miles this coming weekend.

[JohnDB]

Can't believe it's been almost a month since I've posted anything here - not much going on except putting miles on the Corsa! Had it to the mechanic last week and it passed PA safety inspection with no issues.

I've put about 1000 miles on the car since I did the rear suspension work, so I crawled around under the car today to double check everything. No issues and the PMT strut rods still look great!

Also decided to pull the plugs today to see what story they tell, it's been about 300 miles since I adjusted carbs last and leaned them out a little. It is still running well, but wanted to make sure I didn't go too lean. All 6 came out looking pretty much identical with no signs of any issues. From what I can tell the mixture and timing is pretty good:

[gbullman]

Those plugs look pretty great, when installing the XR700 mine was running a little rich, some time this fall I’ll pull mine out and have a look. Car is running so good overall the mixture must be pretty close. Good cold, good hot starts, solid idle, plenty of power.

I’m coming up on 3K miles since my oil change this spring. I was able to stop or significantly reduce a valve cover leak but engine still using around 500 miles to the quart. Would like better mileage but it is good enough for now.

How many miles did you do so far this season?

[JohnDB]

Those plugs look pretty great, when installing the XR700 mine was running a little rich, some time this fall I’ll pull mine out and have a look. Car is running so good overall the mixture must be pretty close. Good cold, good hot starts, solid idle, plenty of power.

I’m coming up on 3K miles since my oil change this spring. I was able to stop or significantly reduce a valve cover leak but engine still using around 500 miles to the quart. Would like better mileage but it is good enough for now.

How many miles did you do so far this season?

I'm probably around 1400 miles this summer, and more to come in the next few weeks. Going to a local show this weekend if the weather holds, and registered for the Corvair Days show on 9/17.

So far I'm having very good luck with the blue valve cover gaskets from Clark's - I put them on dry and there are no issues at all.

[JohnDB]

Weather was fantastic and the local show I went to today had about 60 cars - I was the only Corvair though! Talked to a lot of people, and the owner of the blue 1952 Chevy next to me still has a 1965 Corsa Turbo Convertible that he bought new!

[JohnDB]

Good thing the car show wasn't today, it's been raining since last night. On the plus side, we need the rain, and since I couldn't do yard work I had some time in the garage.

I've had this Flarestat 105 add-on emergency flasher in my parts collection for a while and started working on it a few weeks ago. This is one of the "universal" ones with 4 wires that crimp onto the turn signal wires, it doesn't have the plug or bracket like the GM accessory unit. I didn't like the idea of crimping the wires onto the main body harness or the turn signal switch harness, so I decided to make some jumper wires to make it plug in more like the GM accessory.

Here is one of the crimp on connectors, I started by cutting all 4 off of the unit:

Next I opened it up to clean all connections and add a little bit of dielectric grease:

There are 7 wires in the turn signal plug so I made some jumper wires from an old radio wiring harness. 4 of the jumpers connect the wires from the Flarestat to the turn signal bulbs on each corner, the other 3 are just short jumpers with a male and female terminal. All connected and heat shrinked:

Next trick was to find a spot to mount it. The GM accessory mounts on a bracket on the bottom edge of the dash by the steering column and holds the Flarestat almost vertical with only the knob visible under the dash. The one I have with the chrome bracket keeps the unit horizontal and can mount just about anywhere, I found a good spot under the dash on the far left. It's close to the emergency brake handle, but doesn't seem like it will be in the way:

Wired up and working!

I was able to tuck the wiring up above the column out of the way of moving parts after the last picture. Power goes over to the fusebox and plugged into the unfused battery terminal (there is a separate fuse inline). This way it works with the key on or off. Hopefully I'll never need to use them, but it is nice to know they are there if needed. In case you are wondering, here were the wire colors to the turn signal bulbs for a 1966:
right front: dark blue
left front: black w/ light blue
right rear: dark green
left rear: black w/yellow

[JohnDB]

A bit of a late update, it's been a busy week, but had a great day at the Corvair Days show at EMMR last weekend. There were more cars there than last yet, and I still managed to bring home another "People's Choice" award. It must be the bumper guards and new air filters :)

Shaping up to be a busy weekend, hope the weather holds out!

[Project65]

Congrats on the peoples choice award! That was a great show with a great variety of Vairs and the weather was fantastic again like last year. It was great meeting you and your Dad. I love his enthusiasm.

Yeah…maybe I’ll have my car there next year.