Newbie here!

[CorvAir Force]

Hello everyone, newbie here from Sunny Northern California. I Bought a 1965 Corsa w/ 140 and 4 speed. I pretty much fell in love with the lines of the car (especially with all the windows down. My wife would not let me leave until we bought the car…Nice to have the boss on my side! We were enjoying occasional Sunday drives to wine country and Friday Morale trips to work until the tranny decided not to give me 1st and 2nd. So after dropping the tranny (and pouring gear oil all over myself) and dis-assembly it seems a busted piece of the snap ring tore up the bearing (that holds the clutch gear), shredding two of the balls and littering the whole case with shrapnel. I hope that is the reason for losing a couple of gearsbut needed to be cleaned out anyway…So Clark’s arrived after an anxious 2 day shipping time…my new best friend…but the extra needle bearings I ordered because I am missing ONE were not the right ones. So after tearing up the garage about three times and even straining the gear oil and poking around in it, I am trying to figure out which needle bearings I actually need. So anyhow happy to be here and jumped right into it with both feet.


CorvAir Force (A.K.A. Gary)

P.S. This might also appear on the *other* forum :P)

[bbodie52]

Welcome, Gary, to the Corvair Forum!

I wish that I had experience with rebuilding a manual transmission, but unfortunately is one area of Corvair maintenance that I have never engaged in – even though I have been involved with Corvairs since I was eight years old and have rebuilt several engines and Powerglide automatic transmissions. Perhaps other Corvair Forum members will be able to step up and provide you with assistance.

Although I currently live in North Carolina, I was born and raised in California. Born in Van Nuys and initially raised in Woodland Hills California in the 1950s, we eventually moved in 1959 to San Jose and remained there until 1969. In late 1969 we moved back to Southern California and I finished high school in Ventura county at Thousand Oaks High School. Our first Corvair in the family was a new 1961 Monza coupe, which was replaced in 1965 by a new Corsa convertible. Over the years our family has enjoyed owning 10 Corvairs, half of them early model 1961-1963 Corvairs, and the other half late model 1965-1966 Corsas.

After getting married at age 19 in 1972, I later joined the Air Force in November of that year. For the next 24 years my wife and I traveled all over the United States and in Germany, and we always had at least one or two Corvairs with us at all times (except for two unaccompanied tours in Korea).

Where are you located in northern California? Are you a member of the Air Force – just guessing from the name you have chosen "CorvAir Force"? It certainly sounds like you're not afraid to get fully engaged with repairing your Corvair! I am also pretty much self-taught. In 1969, when I was 16, my father bought a 1963 Corvair 500 for me to learn on. It had a frozen engine and a bad automatic transmission. I spent my summer vacation learning how to remove the powertrain and rebuild the engine. When I discovered that the transmission was faulty I rebuilt that too. That engine ultimately wound up in a 1962 Monza coupe that I owned until I joined the Air Force. I dated my future bride in a Corsa turbocharged coupe, and was married and went on our honeymoon in the 1962 Monza. After I graduated from tech school at Keesler AFB in Biloxi Mississippi, my parents gave us their 1965 Corsa convertible as a graduation present. (They kept the 1962 Monza in exchange).

I would like to invite you to post a more detailed personal biography that describes your interest in Corvairs, your mechanical skills and background, and your past experience with Corvairs (or is this your first one?). I hope that you will post some pictures of your Corvair too. Members of the Corvair Forum seem to have an insatiable appetite for photographs. The more we know about you and your Corvair, the more effective our communication can be on the Corvair Forum. A personal assessment of your mechanical skills and technical background can help us to better form comments and suggestions as we communicate on the Forum. So I hope you will take some time to describe your car and yourself in more detail.

As I mentioned previously, I have been involved with Corvairs since I was eight years old, when my parents bought our first Corvair. It was a brand new 1961 Monza 2-door coupe, white on red with a 4-speed transmission. Our current Corvair is number ten, which I purchased last June. (If you want to read a brief personal biography that outlines my family background and our experiences with Corvairs, go to CORVAIR FORUM > Introductions > New from Lake Chatuge North Carolina. viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4032)

I only recently returned to owning a Corvair, having sold our last one – a 1965 Corsa convertible – in 1994. We recently acquired this 1966 Corsa convertible (140 hp) and, at age 60, my wife and I are reentering the world of Corvair ownership.



Here are a couple of photos of 1965 Corvair Corsas that I have owned in the past. The red Corvair photo was taken at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts in 1980 – just before we shipped it to my new assignment in West Germany. My father originally bought that Corvair in 1965, and we had it for many years. The white Corvair photo was taken in 1981 in Thousand Oaks California. I also shipped that Corvair to Germany, so we had two Corvairs with us in Germany to drive while we explored different parts of Europe.





Here are some good Internet sources that I have found to be useful, and some additional links for Corvair-related information:

Downloadable Corvair Shop Manuals, Parts Manuals, Service Manuals, etc.
http://1969corvair.com/techpages/Corvai ... Index.html

Early Model Corvair Shop Manual & Other Useful Manuals
http://www.corvair.org/chapters/corvanatics/manuals.php

Joining CORSA (Corvair Society of America) is another good way to learn more about Corvairs.


CORSA (Corvair Society of America) Chapter Locator
Locating a local CORSA chapter near you can be very helpful, and attending meetings, parties, Corvair shows, etc. can greatly add to the enjoyment of your Corvair
https://www.corvair.org/index.php?optio ... crmSID=3_u

Clark's Corvair Parts
http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/pages.cgi

Rafee Corvair
http://www.rafeecorvair.com

Corvair Underground
http://www.corvairunderground.com/

Corvair Ranch (Used Parts, Machine Shop, etc.)
http://www.corvairranch.com/

Corvair Corsa (Good technical and historical information.)
Corvair Corsa is a plentiful source of Corvair history, information and pictures. Here, you can explore the entire collection of production Corvairs including the Corsa, Monza, Monza Spyder, Corvair 700, 500, and the Corvair 95 truck series.
http://www.corvaircorsa.com

This Web site seems to have the most comprehensive and well-researched data for fitting various tires and wheels to EM (Early Model, 1960-64) and LM (Late Model, 1965-69) Corvairs:
Sizing Corvair Wheels and Tires: http://autoxer.skiblack.com/tires.html

Again, welcome to the Forum. I hope that we will hear from you regularly on the Corvair Forum!

[flat6_musik]

Welcome to the forums, Gary! Sorry, I haven't taken apart a vair trans before, so I can't be of much help to you on that......but if you've got some pics of your corsa, that would be very cool. So, you're not quite sure which sized needle bearings you need? Can you get a sample of the other ones? Maybe if you count them and email Clark's, they can tell you the correct number needed.

Don't forget a magnet when you're fishing around in your oil, looking for that needle bearing!

[cad-kid]

Welcome Gary.

[Scott H]

to the Forum. I hope you can get it sorted out and back on the road soon.

[CorvAir Force]

Sooooo....been a few days. Thanks to Clark's, their 2 day shipping (twice) and working on the car until 330 in the morning, I was able to get it fixed! Took a 330 am Victory lap, drove it to work 5 hours later...and took my sweetie out to dinner for date night.


I think a Tune Up is next on the list...but after the local car show tomorrow!


Hope you all have a Vairy nice weekend!

[bbodie52]

Congratulations on your successful transmission repair! Manual transmission failures appear to be pretty rare (fortunately), so you may be one of the "goto guys" for transmission troubleshooting and repair advice, now that you have this experience in your knowledge bank!
You mentioned trips to wine country in Northern California. Do you live in the San Francisco or San Jose area? I'm curious because my wife and I both grew up in that area.

Would love to see more pictures of your Corsa engine compartment, interior, etc. and to hear more about your background and interest in Corvairs, if you have the chance. Hope you have a great weekend!

[flat6_musik]

Sooooo....been a few days. Thanks to Clark's, their 2 day shipping (twice) and working on the car until 330 in the morning, I was able to get it fixed! Took a 330 am Victory lap, drove it to work 5 hours later...and took my sweetie out to dinner for date night.


I think a Tune Up is next on the list...but after the local car show tomorrow!


Hope you all have a Vairy nice weekend!

YAY!! That's what I like to hear!.....I actually miss those 0330 banzai sessions!!

[CorvAir Force]

Ok...I guess I didn't intro myself completely....so here goes...followed by my latest in the Saga that is my Corvair.

I'm originally from Northern California...born on Beale Air Force Base while my dad was in. In October this year I'll have been in the Air Force for 22 years. It has been a good run and I'm not punching out just yet. I started my career in 1991 in San Antonio Texas. Basic training and then 4 years there as a Ground Radio Maintainer. From there I hopped over to stay 15 Months in Turkey which was the beginning of a 14 year tour around Europe. After Turkey was Germany which is where I looked into older cars.....now I have to go back...when I was learning to drive , my Great grandmother gave me a 1969 Chevelle Station Wagon...I pulled a dumb kid move and traded it in on something newer and have kicked myself every day for it since! So anyhow...in Germany, I bought a 1986 Mini Cooper Mayfair for 500 Deutch Marks ($250). They said it needed a clutch and all I did was bend the pedal out, put gas in it...and tada...I was on my way!

Eventually, I met my wife and duty called us back to Turkey....after that short stint, we headed to Oxofrd, England for 4 years where my Daughter (6 yo) and Son (3 Yo) were born. I managed to pick up a Triumph Spitfire convertible for a while until Land Rovers caught my Eye. So I sold the Spitty and bought a Series 3 1971 Landrover 109". It is in decent shape, gets tons of looks...but the transplanted Daihatsu Diesel engine in it has sprung a leak at the Fuel pump. I'm looking to repair it and put it up for sale...but finding the fuel pump has been difficult as relying on Ebay UK to have the exact match is not turning up results. Anyhow so we've been in Sunny Northern California since November 2009 when I got here from the First Sergeant Academy. We're an hour from San Francisco and Sacramento. In February of this Year I bought my Corvair.....the first one I saw and it isn't a horrible car....I have a laundry list of things to do to it. And that is me in a nutshell.

My Saga: I wouldn't call myself the Go To expert yet but I might be able to lend a hand in figuring out some questions about the 4 speed transmission...and unfortunately it isn't completely fixed yet. Seems like the Bearing retainer (front silver-colored-cover) is leaking. So I have to drop it down again and reposition or replace the gasket. But that is ok. Don't have to take it out OR apart! Was able to take it to a Car Show today...then errands around town. Got home parked it for a couple hours (arse-end up) in the driveway and wanted to head out to a retirement and it wouldn't start. Now it has been Dieseling a little bit and got a little backfire today.

So when I got home, did some troubleshooting. Spark at Coil:Check, Spark at Distributor: Check. Fuel in fuel filter: Check. I suspect an intermittent mechanical fuel pump issue..it has happened one other time when I was trying to show the car off to my friend. Figures, heh! I tried it again and still wouldn't start. So tried some Carb n choke cleaner through the air filter assembly. That didn't yield any favorable results...but there was a fire around the small hole I had sprayed the cleaner into.....so I blew it out and went in the house for dinner (and to de-frustrate).

Come out 30 minutes later, asked the neighbor to help me push it in the garage....gave it one more go and it started! It ran crappy....but I got it in the garage. I'm about Corvaired out this week so taking a break with the leak and no start issue. I'll add my other car pictures as I find them!

[Scott H]

Good looking Corsa. I like the Blue/blue color combo.
Once you get those finiky issues worked out she'll be a good fun car.

and thanks for sharing your story.

[CorvAir Force]

Well Transmission is still good...but now the engine is ticking loudly...ugh!