Corvair Forum

So I went to register my 1967 Corvair 500 in Canada and they said it has never been registered or passed an out of province inspection in Canada. This is good news because that means it has never been driven in Canada and it has been here for about 20 years. But wait it gets better the last place it was registered was the nice dry desert like state of Nevada, this makes up for only being a 500 and having the 95 HP motor. This also means that the odometer that says 11332 miles may be accurate. I don't mean to gloat but I just wanted to share my new found knowledge with a group of people that would appreciate the info like I did.
I think I will try to not rebuild the bottom end of this car right away, I will port and polish the heads, get some headers, roller rockers, rebuild the carbs, get grooved oil pan and valve covers and put separate air filters on each carb. What do you guys think, will this improve my HP.
Thanks Freeman

It should increase hp some, with the air filters because the stock housing restricts air some.

Maybe this is the next best thing to picking up a new Corvair at the Lambrecht auction in Pierce Nebraska. The apparent ultra-low mileage and minimal exposure to hostile weather and road salt may prove to have given you an almost-new Corvair as the basis for your restoration and upgrade project!

I would do some significant research regarding performance tuning the Corvair. Some of the upgrades you mentioned are pretty exotic and expensive. Depending on your plans for how this car is to be driven, I'm not sure that the expensive cylinder head work and roller rockers are really appropriate for a street-based vehicle — if that is your targeted intention for this car. If you define your intended use of this car, Corvair Forum contributors like "Unsafe" (Kevin Willson) could probably provide you with recommendations that would produce the best engine configuration for your intended uses. All aspects of your engine build should be carefully planned and designed to meet your targeted usage. The engine components should complement each other. I suspect that even stock large-valve, large exhaust port 4-carburetor 140 hp heads will out-perform any porting and polishing, special valve grind, roller rocker-equipped head treatment you could imagine for your 95 hp base engine cylinder heads. There are many approaches to an intake system, including turbocharging, Weber 3-barrel carbs, a stock 140 hp 4x1 configuration, a center-mounted 4-barrel, Electronic Fuel Injection, etc. What is the best approach? Again, it depends on your intended use. Roller rockers might make sense for a high-rev racing engine, but will this expensive modification pay off on the street, or will they only amount to expensive valve train "jewelry" that will never approach their design advantages? Every performance engine should be planned from the intake to the exhaust and everything in-between to perform well for the intended use. The engine built for drag racing will likely be quite different from the road racing engine or an engine built for off-road racing in a sand rail. The optimum engine for street use might be a mildly tuned and carefully-assembled engine with an almost stock bottom-end, a mild cam, dual exhaust (not tubular headers) and perhaps Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) and a computer-controlled Distributorless Ignition System (DIS). A higher compression ratio may make sense in racing, but too high in an air-cooled engine may begin to degrade reliability, which is not something you need in a road race. On the street, a stock, relatively low compression ratio may provide adequate performance and better, more economical operation on the street with modern fuels — especially if it is managed by a sensor-based, computer controlled EFI/DIS system. Tubular headers may prove to be too loud on the street, and their disadvantages in having to remove or cut the lower shrouds may "swing the pendulum" away from the practical for street usage, and more toward the impractical that would be better-suited for the race track.

Most engine modifications are compromises made with cost, performance and reliability. Some experimentation is usually involved, but you can avoid mistakes by listening to others who have already been down that path. You may find that reading the following book will be revealing as you make your plans for modifying, improving and restoring your Corvair...

If you don't own a copy of this book, I would strongly suggest that you buy a copy and read it to help you with your Corvair upgrades and improvement investments. I have owned the earlier version of this book since 1970, and bought the updated version when it was published last year. It is filled with a great deal of informative material that has been developed and collected over decades of Corvair ownership and racing. At $21.25 it is a good Corvair "bible" that will help you to make educated, informed decisions for your Corvair before you actually spend time and money.

http://www.amazon.com/Performance-Corva ... th+emerson





The suspension, brake system, etc. in a Late Model 1965-69 Corvair are nearly identical in a 500, Monza or Corsa, so a clean body and chassis can be a solid basis for almost any final car configuration and performance tuning you might imagine. Some careful research and planning coupled with listening to "lessons learned" and advice from others who have been down a similar path can lead you toward the best-possible outcome that is satisfying to you.

Thanks for taking your time to reply with good advice, I really appreciate your knowledge. I have ordered that book but i don't have it yet, I can't wait to read it because that is the hardest part is to decide on what to do and keep with the plan. My plan is to have a little more get up on the street and that would make me happy, oh and plus reliability.

This is the engine I am dealing with right now, any improvement would make me happy. haha

A bigger picture.

Looks like a really nice straight car. I personally like the 500's. You hardly ever see them.

I would consider the grooved oil pan and valve covers from Clark's for better cooling to start with. Put them on, run it for a while, and THEN see how much more you want to invest.

An old saying when I used to work around the CanAm cars, It wasn't cubic inches that won races, it was cubic dollars. Everything depends what your goal is and how much you can afford to throw at it. Both are mutually important concepts.

Al

Freejax wrote:......any improvement would make me happy. haha

I think tightening that oil drain plug would be a certain improvement! heh heh But seriously, really nice score! A rust-free 'vair is like gold.

As far as the engine upgrades, figure out what your total dollar amount is that you want to spend, then you can start creating a list of things to start on like ignition, a hotter cam etc. Hopefully your pistons/rings are healthy and sealing well.

Welcome Freejax. That looks like a solid car. Its nice to see more '500's here. I have a '65 sedan '500, and it still gets the "thumbs up" when i drive it. Even tho its the working mans car. Still cool!

You wouldnt be able to post a pic of your firewall area, without rear seat back, would you? I am trying to figure out what was stock on mine, since the previous owner did some kooky stuff in there.

Thanks in advance,

-m

I'd suggest you replace the push rod O rings, oil cooler seals and then pull the top shroud and clean the fins of any debris and flashing from the original casting. Tighten up the bolts that hold on the top case cover/fan mount.
Wash every thing down and paint the engine metal, tune it up and drive it!!
Start the mods with a new dual exhausts system. Re-jet the carbs up a notch - the newer gas needs that.

Enjoy!

Here are some pictures view master, hope this helps you. I did not want to peel into it to deep.
Thanks to all of you for the great advise, I am still in deep thought as to how far I want to go on my engine. Someone said you can spend $10,000 on these engines and really get minimal HP out of them. I will keep you posted on the progress and most lily pick your brains again for more advise.
Thanks.

Oh PS the oil drain plug is not all the way in because I just drained the oil and when I went to put it back in it felt a little gritty, I did not want to damage the threads, I have not put new oil in yet because of not knowing what to do to the engine yet. The comment made me chuckle though.

As you can tell I have a little interior and trim work to sort out.

Hope these pics help you out.

Thanks for the pix Freejax, I wish you (and myself) all the luck on your refurb. LOL. Thanks again.