1964 Monza Sedan

[JohnDB]

I've been told the EM rear wheel well is snug compared to the LM rear wheel well.

The sedan and wagon are much tighter than the coupe and convertible. There are some options out there, but more than I wanted to spend...

If your rims had 4" backspacing with the smaller tire size and rim width, the smaller tire would likely work on your EM Corvair. However, with only 3" backspacing, they would probably stick out too far and not fit (as previously mentioned).

Agreed, the backspacing was the big issue with these wheels. There is a chance that they would have fit with 3.75" since they are still only 5.5" wide, but 4" backspace would have fit for sure. On the plus side, it looks like the wheels are sold and the buyer should be picking them up tomorrow.

The 13" tires arrived earlier this week and I was able to hit the 2 turquoise wheels with some black paint last night. Today we were able to get into the tire shop and get mounted and balanced:

These are the Milestar 175/80/13 - I know a lot of folks run the Maxxis 185/80/13, but after doing some online conversions it seemed like the 175 was a better match to the original 6.50-13 bias ply. So far they seem fine, we'll have some more miles on them soon!

[66vairguy]

Just be aware that Milestone sells that size tire in both TRAILER and PASSENGER CAR designs.

Using the less expensive trailer tires is NOT recommended, especially on a Corvair.

Some unscrupulous tire dealers sell the less expensive trailer tire for cars.

Looks good, now all you need is some period correct "Baby Moon" hubcaps.

[JohnDB]

Just be aware that Milestone sells that size tire in both TRAILER and PASSENGER CAR designs.

Using the less expensive trailer tires is NOT recommended, especially on a Corvair.

Some unscrupulous tire dealers sell the less expensive trailer tire for cars.

Looks good, now all you need is some period correct "Baby Moon" hubcaps.

Yes, I saw a lot of trailer tires when searching, but these are passenger spec.

Not quite baby moons, but got the dog dish caps back on today - looks pretty good:

With the new tires, we did a highway run today - probably about 10 miles at 65-70. Speedo is almost perfect with gps speed, no shakes, and no other issues!

Also got some time today to work on rear door panels. The full set of original panels came with the car, not in perfect shape but still presentable and great for a driver. Started on the right rear:

Had the remains of the backing paper for the rear doors so we used them as a template for the new vapor barrier. New vapor barrier is from Clark’s, easy to cut and we used rope caulk to hold to the door in what looked like where the original was:

And a panel back in place (armrests are ordered, should be here this week):

Rinse and repeat for the driver rear:

Next we’ll make the vapor barriers for the front doors, but will need to use the panel as a template, might make one from craft paper first, but it shouldn’t be too bad.

[66vairguy]

It's looking good.

The original paper vapor barrier was never that good. I would not trust craft paper to protect the door panels Once wet door panels deform and are usually not salvageable.

The purists insist on using the original vapor barrier paper, but since nobody can see it, I replace it on my cars with some heavy duty vinyl sheet like you can get at Home Depot in rolls. Water proof. As you did -- the bottom of the vapor seal has to go into the horizontal slot to channel water back to the inside of the door. Sealing this area to the prevent water from getting to the door panel is important.

To seal it to the doors you can still get the 3M caulk, even online at Amazon. Either black or gray. See https://www.amazon.com/3M-08578-Black-S ... r=8-2&th=1

[JohnDB]

It's looking good.

The original paper vapor barrier was never that good. I would not trust craft paper to protect the door panels Once wet door panels deform and are usually not salvageable.

We're using the paper from Clark's that is coated on one side to be water resistant. The craft paper was only to make a template of the front doors, and we've got them all buttoned up now, and the armrests came in too:

Was a beautiful day on Sunday for a picnic with the Philadelphia Corvair Association, so we took a nice drive and got to debut the car to the club - it was well received :)

The rampside has a 140 in it:

The '66 Monza coupe is a factory AC car:

and the '64 Spyder coupe is a really nice example:

Overall we did about 120 miles in the Monza on Sunday and it didn't miss a beat. Still plenty more to do, but it's coming along very well.

[66vairguy]

Glad you are enjoying the Corvair. A nice car and I've noticed four doors are getting more looks at shows as they are not common now.

[JohnDB]

It’s been a while, but the weather has been pretty great and we’ve been racking up the miles in the Monza. Cleaned up a spare wheel and got a tire mounted up for a spare:

Also ordered the cardboard for the area behind the rear seat, hopefully the weather is good this weekend and we can install.

[gbullman]

Sounds like great progress! Is the Corsa getting some love too?

[JohnDB]

Got the rear package area cardboard and vinyl pieces installed today. Not a real fun job, but it came out pretty well and looks a lot better! Hard to get pictures, but I tried:

Tomorrow we go for alignment.

[JohnDB]

Took a nice ride today and got the car aligned. A fellow member of the Philadelphia Corvair Association club recently retired from a 50 year career doing alignments, and has been doing them as a side job for many years in his home garage. He did my Corsa last year, and I'm thrilled that he was able to get us in and align the Monza.

On the rack:

Getting measured:

The rear was already in spec for toe, which is the only adjustment for the rear on an early model. The front was a mess - I knew at the very least that the wheel wasn't straight and the toe was probably out, but it was also caster and camber on both sides. As a fun side note, we aligned this using 1965 specs since it has a late cross member installed with early spindles and brakes. I think based on what we found today, it was assembled by eye and never fully setup. Everything was loose and adjusted well, and it drives amazing compared to before!

If you haven't had an alignment recently, I highly recommend it. If you are anywhere near the greater Philadelphia area, I'm happy to pass along the contact info - we drove a little over an hour one way and it was totally worth it!

[Project65]

Awesome John! The car looks fantastic by the way. Get out there and get some good summer cruising in!

[JohnDB]

We've been getting some good miles in this summer, in fact we've put almost 1000 miles on the car since April. Since the Corsa seems to be pretty happy again, I decided to work on the Monza today. I've had all the parts for a while, and finally got tired enough of the leaking PG that I ripped into it. Pan drained and dropped:

Next up was pulling the TV lever out. It's not hard, a bit tricky maybe, but came out fine. The o-ring has seen better days, a little hard to see in the picture but basically the same diameter as the shaft. I think this was the biggest leak:

I reinstalled the TV lever and pulled the shift cable. I had seen some RTV from the outside, but didn't expect all of this as a "seal" - new o-ring on the left:

After putting the cable back in (shifter in D, TV lever rotated CCW, all lined up perfectly), I moved on to the manual valve adjustment. I borrowed the tool from the Philadelphia Corvair Club, made it super easy. Not sure why it was so far out of adjustment, maybe from the previous "seal", but I had to move it a bit to be back in spec:

I pulled the filter/screen down as well and found that it didn't have an o-ring. Cleaned it up and installed a new o-ring and put the pan back on with a new gasket. Filled it back up with some more fresh ATF (between this pan drop and the one a few months ago I've drained out about 6 quarts and refilled with fresh).

Fired it up and a quick leak test looked good, so took a road test. It shifts so much better! Really nice upshift and downshift, no need to put it into L before D anymore, and no more flare between shifts. Fluid level was good when I got back, but it did leave a drip on the floor (looks like it came from the pan gasket, nothing wet near the shift cable or TV lever). I went around the bolts again, but still trying to be careful not to over tighten. I'll let it sit a few hours and see how it goes.

[Project65]

That’s great John! It’s great to see that you’re continuing to make progress and improvements and this car has turned out to be a good one. I still can’t get over how clean that car is! Glad you got the transmission adjusted right and fixed the leaks. Gotta make you smile .

[JohnDB]

And for today's "well that's interesting, but not great" moment - I present to you a generator on an alternator mount:

I put this belt on the car about 2 weeks ago as a replacement for a Clark's belt that seemed to keep getting loose (had the same issue with a Clark's belt on the Corsa as well). This one is a Gates 3V560, and I noticed yesterday after we ran some errands that it had rolled over - you can kind of tell in the picture. It's still tight and didn't jump off, no overheating or charging issues, but not great that it is flipped either.

I started looking at everything and finally realized that the generator is installed on an alternator mount, and probably throwing things out of alignment. I dug out my spare mounts and put them side-by-side for some measurements:

These aren't exact measurements, but it looks like the generator is sitting about 3/16 of an inch lower on the alternator mount, and maybe up to 1/8 inch to the driver's side of the car. Looks like I found a project for this weekend....

[66vairguy]

Good catch!!!! That will flip the belt. BTW I have also had issues with the Clark's fan belts stretching.

Well the upside is you have an alternator mount, which are getting scarce! Folks have been converting from generators to alternators for years and that has used up a lot of the alternator mounts.

Nothing wrong with a generator, but it is getting more difficult to find a shop that can rebuild them.

On a EM it is easier to just install an internally regulated 10DN style alternator since the re-wiring is actually simpler vs. wiring in the stock 10SI alternator with the external regulator. Also the 10DN rebuilds are plentiful (so far) and I've noticed the rebuilt Corvair 10DN alternators are getting harder to find. The only issue with installing a 10SI is you need the front housing and fan from an old 10DN Corvair alternator.

[Dennis66]

I have alternator questions and comments. Rather than hijack this thread, I want to start another thread. Yes, there are already alternator threads, but I want one SPECIFICALLY aimed towards early model conversions. Dennis