my spare vair-65 pg

[Project65]

I’ll echo what Beers said, thank goodness your wife is OK. That looks like it was a bad wreck! I like the look of how your parts are turning out. They look fantastic!

[sparrow]

I finished up the rear suspension and brakes. I took it for a few laps around the back yard. all seemed well. It is missing the brake lights,turn signals,hood and engine lid ,but I took it on the road anyway for a shakedown. I was surprised at how well and straight it drove since I only aligned it by eyeball . All the mechanics are done now and everything seems to be working as it should. Now it is on to the body work.The body is a mess. There is a mixture of bondo, fiberglass,lead and yes, someone even used some expanding foam in areas. It is going to be a challenge but I'll do the best I can with my limited skill set. I'm a nut and bolts guy, not a body man.

[Project65]

Looks like great progress! Regarding the body work, you should be able to get great advice from the forum if you need some. You’ll learn as you go and build skill and confidence. Where do you plan on starting?

[sparrow]

The first thing I am doing is getting all this awful purple paint off. Then I'll do the rust repair and then a coat of primer a section at at a time.When that is done, a few more coats of primer over the whole car, lots of sanding and then the color coat.I still have not decided on a color yet. The interior is black, so I can go with anything. Winter is coming fast here so I do not expect much progress for a while.

[Tomcatame]

Any updates on the project? Inquiring minds want to know.

[sparrow]

Thank you for the interest, I am aware everyone is on pins and needles waiting for updates. The corvair is put away for the winter. I live in wisconsin and although i have a decent garage, i just can not afford to heat it anymore,so things have to wait until it warms up some around here. I have a serious case of cabin fever and can"t wait to start working on it again. Before i put it away i did install a tach. I found a bosch 3.5 inch tach on the clearance shelf at advance auto for 5 bucks. It a perfect fit for the dash. I tucked it in the hole in the middle of the dash temporarily and when i get the ambition i will remove the cluster and do it right. the only issue is the tach has a white face and the other gauges are black but i can live with that

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I did notice you are a new member. Please introduce yourself and tell us about your car. I have an inquiring mind too!

[sparrow]

Spring is here at last so it is time to start working on the corvair again. Although I won't be installing the interior any time soon i was thinking about what kind sound deadening material to use. I was at a second hand store and found these car shades for a dollar each and thought these just might work. Dynamat is super expensive and I like to repurpose things. Maybe I'm crazy but what to you think?

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Here is another example of some things I find another use for. Old furnace filters for my leaking corvair and air filters for those dripping oil cans.

[Project65]

Great to see you back at it! Way to go! Looking forward to more updates and pics.

Looks like the car was previously blue? Was that perhaps original? What color are you planning on going back with?

[sparrow]

The weather has been great here the least few days so i did the annual spring cleaning of my garage and woke up both corvairs out of their winter slumber. They both started right up and are running fine so i did a few laps around the back yard with them. It has been a few years since i had the wheels off the 62 so i am going to do a brake inspection and then she should be ready for cruising and the shows. I am going to try to finish the 65 by the fourth of July but that might be a little too ambitious. Has far as to what color I have not decided yet but I'm leaning towards white.

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[sparrow]

Just a little progress update. The car body is all sanded down and almost ready for primer. Just a few more spots I need to address. I'm working on the passenger side door right now. I think in a few weeks I'll be transforming my garage into a paint booth.

The door seal was in decent shape except for one little chunk missing. As with all my rubber parts I put it in a ziplock with some armorall until reinstallation .

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[sparrow]

I haven't been making as making as much progress as i would like but i am getting close to priming and painting this thing. i was fooling around with the idea of adding an extra taillight. opinions needed. pure stock guys need not reply.

[Project65]

Great to see you’re still at it. Regarding the 3rd light, my opinion is it’s your car. You make it your own. The 3rd light is not for me. In fact, on my project, my donor tailpiece had “third lights” previously. They were “patched” poorly. I’m going to repair them right, however the look isn’t for me.

Keep going strong!

[66vairguy]

Great to see you’re still at it. Regarding the 3rd light, my opinion is it’s your car. You make it your own. The 3rd light is not for me. In fact, on my project, my donor tailpiece had “third lights” previously. They were “patched” poorly. I’m going to repair them right, however the look isn’t for me.

Keep going strong!

Years ago I liked the idea of a "three" tailight LM Corvair, like Impalas of the era. When I saw one I realized it just looks out of balance, not attractive.

I found a nicer look is two red tailights on each side and move the backup lamps elsewhere.

Some folks added extra tail lights to the C3 Corvettes and it never looked good to me. Chevy finally got it right on the last year of the C3 with two red tailights on each side with backup lights in the license plate housing.

[Dennis66]

I vote for the 3 tail light conversion. I also say make all 3 red, and do a progressive turn signal. Dennis

[sparrow]

I'm getting close to the finish line with this thing. The interior is all in except for the passenger seat. My wife is sewing up some tears in the vinyl. New carpet, headliner, rear package area and reconditioned door cards. I also got the primer coat spayed.

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[sparrow]

Well I finished it off just before the weather started to change here and today I took it out on it's maiden voyage. I am surprised at how different it drives from my 62. I like it. I put about 50 miles on it today. Here is the finished product. It's no show winner for sure, but a respectable 15 footer.