Corvair Forum

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year, My name is Brian I live in Orange County California and I have just purchased (2) Corvair's. 64 Monza 900 2 door coupe 110 HP 4 speed manual, and a 65 Corvair 500 2 door coupe 110 HP automatic that originally had factory air at one time. Both of these vehicles have come from an elderly gentleman's collection. The original restorations took place approx 10-15 years ago. They have been in interior storage and driven very limited to my understanding. I owned a 64 Monza coupe 110HP back in 1984 for a short period while in high school until an unfortunate collision and totaling of my first Corvair. I am now in my later 50's and still love Corvair's but I am not as interested in performing mechanical work on these vehicles as much as I was back in my earlier years. I am capable of the basic troubleshooting, and I like to think that I am a mechanically inclined person that can figure things out, along with assistance from you experts whom never cease to amaze me with your knowledge. I have been on this portal for a month now reading and gathering great information from all of you enthusiasts and I appreciate every one of you that provide education to us newbies. I purchased these vehicles from Utah. I was not able to fly over to Utah to inspect so I searched for an inspection company. These vehicles were in a part of Utah that did not have any classic car inspection companies that would go to their location, so I had to hire "Lemon Squad" inspections. All I will say on that is stay away from this company. They got nothing and I mean nothing correct on either of these vehicles. $850 lesson. So now that I have the vehicles in my possession I have been going over them and finding out their issues. One quick very minor question is on my 65 I will need to replace the t-stat bellows in the lower engine shrouds (both missing). Question is I see a gasket on these shrouds which fell apart when I took the shrouds down. I cannot find replacement gaskets in the Clarks catalog. I am looking for the official name of these lower shrouds so that I can properly inquire about getting replacements. Do you all have gaskets on the lower engine shrouds of your LM? I am also looking to put new wheels and tires on these vehicles and I have read almost all the posts here, and great pics also but the pics do not say what size wheels or tires are shown. I did find a very informative old post that shows tire and wheel sizes for EM, and LM. I think I have figured out my EM, but my LM I am wondering if I need to cut one rotation off of my front coils to slightly lower that high riding front end. I don't want HD stiff coils as some people have done, I just want a level looking stance. For my 65 I am looking into 16x7 wheels all around with 205/50/16, but maybe someone out there has a different set up that has not yet been posted on this forum? If so please provide a pic and the wheel and tire info. I am not looking to lower to to modify the wheel wells. Anyway I do look forward to tackling some of the issues on my own and I will absolutely be reaching out to you kind folks in hopes that you can steer me in the right direction. Thank you all in advance!

Nice looking cars. Sorry, i cant help ya but im sure someone will be along shortly with the info you need.

Welcome in from the dark to the forum.

Clarks has the Lower Shroud Gaskets on page 6 of their catalog. http://ssl.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog.cgi?show_page=6

Part number C203A: ENGINE SHROUD FOAM SEAL SET-61-69 ALL $ 27.60

This is a set that included more parts than you are looking for but they do offer the seals individually.

Part number C203: THERMOSTAT SHROUD FOAM SEAL - L OR R (2) NEEDED $4.55 ea.
Part number C204: THERMOSTAT SHROUD FOAM SEAL JUST 1 NEEDED PER ENGINE $3.70

Thank you all, and thanks caraholic4life for directing my to the proper page for clark's.

Good looking cars. Dennis

All I can say is WOW! Those are some great looking cars. I love the color of the 65 and how clean the engine bays are. That company should of paid you for the privilege to look at them. I hope you get them on the road and enjoy them and not let them sit like the former owner. Keep us posted.

Nice cars. The Orange county club imploded years ago, but I understand it is being revived. Three clubs in Los Angeles - Orange county, Torrance (south bay), and the Valley. If you need transaxle work done then the only person I can recommend is Dan Drommerhausen in the Torrance club "South Coast Corsa". The only mechanic I have not heard complaints about is Mark Wright in the "Valley" club - "Corsa West".

The lower shroud gaskets were installed to keep water from splashing inside the shroud that would cause steam to be routed to the interior IF the heater was on. In S. Calif. most don't install the foam shroud gaskets, just the heat resistant gasket on the exhaust manifold were the shroud fits around the exhaust manifold were the exhaust pipe bolts on.

The "new" thermostats Clark's sells were made by a company years ago and at one time were even available at your auto parts store. They WERE NOT made exactly like the one's Chevy used and have a high failure rate. After two "new" Clark's units, out of four, failed (Clark's did replace them) I listened to those that said they bought good used thermostats and they always worked fine, even after years of use. Granted my hobby cars are not driven that much, but the used ones have been working fine for over five years. Some vendors do sell good used thermostats.

Some will say to leave off the shrouds, or forget the thermostats and leave the stat doors open, but engines were designed for best tolerances AT NORMAL OPERATING TEMPERATURE! The shrouds and thermostats are important.

The A/C car. Looks like a company car. Why? Companies would buy the cheapest (500) A/C equipped car for their field representatives to drive. Not common. The hardest part to install LM A/C is cutting up the body and installing the evaporator unit. Unfortunate yours seems to missing the evaporator. Clark's has the new R134a type condensors for the engine area and brackets to mount the R134a Sanden compressor. I've modified one 66 from R12 to R134a and added the factory A/C to my convertible. Not an easy job, but doable.

Good luck and enjoy.

Brian, I also live in Orange County. I have a 67 Coupe. I upgraded the wheels to 205-70-14 off a Buick Skylark. They work fine with no body contact at all. In California, I have not needed the thermostat or doors as it never gets that cold. Hope this helps. Rhet

rhet67 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 06, 2024 11:20 am Brian, I also live in Orange County. I have a 67 Coupe. I upgraded the wheels to 205-70-14 off a Buick Skylark. They work fine with no body contact at all. In California, I have not needed the thermostat or doors as it never gets that cold. Hope this helps. Rhet

Agree the 205/70x14 is as close to stock rolling diameter as you can get with a 14" rim. Not hard to find. The 205/70x14 ideally fits a 6" wide rim (bead to bead, not total rim width). They will fit on a 7" wide rim.

Ideal backspace for 6" rim is 4.5". Anymore and you may get tire rubbing inside wheel well in a turn. You could probably go with a 3.5" backspace without trouble, but the Ackerman angle will be off a little, not noticeable except in tight turns like when parking.

Keep in mind the EM wheel wells are not as "generous" as the LM wheel wheels.

Welcome to the Corvair Forum!

And thank you for posting those detailed photographs! The 1965 looks like it just came out of a 1965 Chevrolet showroom!



I wish I could find an example of such a nearly showroom-original Corvair!

Hi, I’m a new member and a new owner of a 65 Corsa non-turbo. I wrenched a lot in my youth, but never put a wrench on a Corvair. I purchased the Clark’s complete foam seal set for the upper and lower shrouds. My car was at some point assembled without them. Does anyone have or know where I can get a placement diagram or sketch? Thanks in advance.

Pete

Welcome @Brunomac, nice looking cars!

With regard to the shroud seals, how many folks are using these? - just curious. I have never seen gaskets on any of my shrouds… and don't install them myself.

Lots of folks run without shrouds at all, particularly in hot climates. Living in Florida, I tried that for a while thinking I would have better cooling, then switched back to running shrouds. I didn't notice ANY increase heat retention or reduced cooling by running shrouds and maybe even think they cool better using them :)