my 1966 corsa project

[coleslaw31]

Hey all, I havent posted on here in awhile but figured I would start back and try to do better. I started working on a 66 Corsa at a fellow club members house on my days off. He been really good to me allowing me to come and go as I please and hoping by this week to have the car running and at least driving up and down the street. Car is a 140 4 spd, black interior and Blue mist color (originally). Not sure how many miles are on it and pretty complete but the interior pretty much was toast. Has rust in floor, pass fender and around the windshield. Also some nice dents in the front. All in all a big project but still excited to own my own Corsa!

Late production, even has the hole punched in trunk for dual master cylinder

luckily someone painted the bottom of the trunk and saved it from rusting out

under rear seat is perfect with just a small amount of surface rust

rear is okay with just surface rust

Worst in floor is driver side but both sides need replacing

carbs cleaned, new fuel pump, almost ready!

dent in pass fender

[Nashville Chris]

A good project with lots of potential!

[coleslaw31]

thank you! yes its actually very untouched. it was just neglected and left to sit. I plan to put the wiring in get it running and at least driving around the yard and then start doing body work one panel at a time while I drive it around town. Of course I plan to start at the front and back windshield to help keep my feet dry.

[1949chevy]

I like the color on the car as is....different...unique....nice car and well worth the effort you will make. Must have not been on craigslist as I watch it in our area pretty close....I am north of you in the mountains.

[coleslaw31]

I work up in Landrum on glassy mountain so not too far from you. It wasn't, a local guy had it with his many cars and asked about it and we made a deal where I could work on it there at his house. The color they painted it is a 70's GM color I believe because I have seen cars painted it before. I believe I will go with a dark grey metallic when I get ready to paint it. of course I will do disc brake as well as dual master cylinder conversion. Not sure if I mentioned it but it was a late production and in the trunk (I assume they were tooling up) is the hole already punched for the dual master cylinder. It just had a rubber plug in the hole.

[coleslaw31]

Soaked the seat belts in a bucket of clothes detergent for a couple of days (figured it was gentle enough for clothes it work for the belts) and all work well except one that was laying down in the front where the water got to it. I want to get it apart and clean, lubricate the mechanism. I assume this style buckle you remove the pins on either side? Also rewrinkled the dash cluster. It turned out pretty good.

Oh yeah I plan to put A/C in the car

Its neat how this style buckle works

[1949chevy]

I work up in Landrum on glassy mountain so not too far from you. It wasn't, a local guy had it with his many cars and asked about it and we made a deal where I could work on it there at his house. The color they painted it is a 70's GM color I believe because I have seen cars painted it before. I believe I will go with a dark grey metallic when I get ready to paint it. of course I will do disc brake as well as dual master cylinder conversion. Not sure if I mentioned it but it was a late production and in the trunk (I assume they were tooling up) is the hole already punched for the dual master cylinder. It just had a rubber plug in the hole.

I know Landrum very well....I drove down there for nearly 2-3 months to the guys house that painted my corvette. He lived up toward Red Fox C Club and had a 72 acre horse farm and had another 38 acre house and horse farm closer to the town there. You might have seen him or his cars there in Landrum...blue 48 ford pu with 427 side oiler...been in it many a time wide open, burgandy flamed 49 ford car, 8 different house of color blue paint on his 40 ford conv with 427 side oiler. Sadly, my friend passed away unexpectantly...we had just gone to Tn together and bought a 61 impala bubble top car to add to his collection....his first name was Butch...he had sold his 48 bay body shop up on Long Island and retired down here. He and I went to a lot of car shows together

I really enjoy working on cars...I usually buy what no one else will have and take it down to bare bones and start from scratch...I usually buiid the engines, wiring, etc....all except engine machine work and transmission...the last one I even painted outside in the driveway.

You are going to have a really nice car when finished...you need to come up to hendersonville in the summer on fri nite downtown to "music on main" car show...everyone would really enjoy your corvair.

.

[coleslaw31]

I will try to get up there this year. I am learning and am self taught on most of what I do, so it will be a slow process. I have seen flyers for the Hendersonville show and actually I was towing a trailer and picking things up from the ACE right down from downtown when a cruise in was going on ( I got lost going through Hendersonville) Haven't met Butch but I am sure someone here knows him. A man Tony Ellison is big into hot rods and actually helped a guy build a couple very nice 39 Ford's. Hoping by spring I will at least have it drivable but definitely not finished.

By the way I do the corvair club newsletter here so if you know the date of the show I will go ahead and put it in, I am typing it up now.

[coleslaw31]

I just looked up the town's website, Its a monthly thing just like my home town of Greenwood SC does. Definitely will try to make it up may even get more corvairs to come along.

[1949chevy]

That would be great....Just type in "Music on Main" Hendersonville NC and it should pop up. I think it actually starts around the 1st of June and goes thru the 1st part of sept I am thinking. It is every fri nite on South Main down close to the court house...at 5 pm, they block off the street for 2 blocks there at the bank. They have a live band every week and hundreds of non car folks show up and look at the cars and bring their chairs and dance, etc to the band. We usually have around 180-200 cars. Last year I took my 49 chevy every other friday as it is a open show but the next friday is the corvette show and I take my 68 to that one. I think your corvair would be welcomed even to the vette show...there is usually room for more cars at that show but I show up at 3 30 or so to get a good spot at the reg car show.

Every other friday, its a corvette show.

I sold a pretty solid 39 ford coupe to a guy down in Greenville a few years back...I hear he has two of them now. My grandfather had a 39 like the one I sold and used to run "bourbon" from Ky back here to his cafe downtown in the 40's....he was busy as he had 3 drivers that made the trip for him. The movie "Thunder Road" mentions Luke as the main moonshine driver, grandfather was Luke. Mentions a stake out on State ave....he lived on State St....huuuummmmmm.

Hang in there building your corvair...I have only had mine a little over two months now...its a 66 110 powerglide car from Alabama...it is very very solid. The floor is red on the inside from overspray and just as red on the bottom of the floorpan...the only rust is around the front and back window...if I frenched in 59 caddy tailights on my 49 chevy along with frenching in the headlights and doing all the body work on the 49....a little rust around the window is virtually nothing...had to do some suspension, brake, and engine tune up but it runs good right now...lots of oil leaking to address this coming up week I hope.

[coleslaw31]

Well I said I would be productive today but ended up sleeping and recovering from Christmas. I did however, after my nap, get some small pieces done. Harness is ready to go and I didn't realize the "courtesy lights" were a option for coupes and it has a trunk light as well, love options. Got the windshield pillar trim in the process of repair with a little JB weld epoxy along with cleaning some of the other plastic pieces like the rear heater vent. Seat belts are all accounted for but one is froze and will need some lubricate. One question I do have is about the aluminum pieces, I know they have a coating on them and most take it off and polish aluminum. What is the best way to do it?

Wiring harness all cleaned up

Little JB weld will do it

Seat belts are pretty nice, need news buckle stickers.

[coleslaw31]

Definitely will come up, I love the mountains and Hendersonville looks like a nice town to visit. I hear about the moonshine stories working on top Glassy (cliffs golf course is up there), some say AL Capone rolled through the area "Dark Corner" to get his booze for this speak easys in Chicago! Actually there are still remnants in the woods of the stills. Only rust I really am wanting to address is the windshield and rear glass and get them sealed up so I can keep my feet dry while I drive. Im sure the guy with the 2 fords is the same guy I am talking about because he moved from Hendersonville and had them stored there for awhile before moving them here. Fun learning about these cars and really any of them , Im 29 so driving a all drum brake car was quite the experience for me, as well as I about snapped the turn signal switch off trying to dim the lights.....

That would be great....Just type in "Music on Main" Hendersonville NC and it should pop up. I think it actually starts around the 1st of June and goes thru the 1st part of sept I am thinking. It is every fri nite on South Main down close to the court house...at 5 pm, they block off the street for 2 blocks there at the bank. They have a live band every week and hundreds of non car folks show up and look at the cars and bring their chairs and dance, etc to the band. We usually have around 180-200 cars. Last year I took my 49 chevy every other friday as it is a open show but the next friday is the corvette show and I take my 68 to that one. I think your corvair would be welcomed even to the vette show...there is usually room for more cars at that show but I show up at 3 30 or so to get a good spot at the reg car show.

Every other friday, its a corvette show.

I sold a pretty solid 39 ford coupe to a guy down in Greenville a few years back...I hear he has two of them now. My grandfather had a 39 like the one I sold and used to run "bourbon" from Ky back here to his cafe downtown in the 40's....he was busy as he had 3 drivers that made the trip for him. The movie "Thunder Road" mentions Luke as the main moonshine driver, grandfather was Luke. Mentions a stake out on State ave....he lived on State St....huuuummmmmm.

Hang in there building your corvair...I have only had mine a little over two months now...its a 66 110 powerglide car from Alabama...it is very very solid. The floor is red on the inside from overspray and just as red on the bottom of the floorpan...the only rust is around the front and back window...if I frenched in 59 caddy tailights on my 49 chevy along with frenching in the headlights and doing all the body work on the 49....a little rust around the window is virtually nothing...had to do some suspension, brake, and engine tune up but it runs good right now...lots of oil leaking to address this coming up week I hope.

DSC_7469 copy full dr side.jpg

[1949chevy]

I use these folks for polishing specialty items...bought the needed stuff from them to polish my alluminum intake on my 49 chevy. There are very few alluminum parts on old cars...I have polished a bunch of stainless steel trim, etc parts though...if it was not so far I would say come up and I could give you some of the needed polish, etc. I also have a homemade buffing wheel and you could use that to polish whatever you need....that offer still stands any time.

These guys are here in NC and have been around years and years...

http://www.tarheelparts.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[coleslaw31]

A little update: Cleaned kicker panel (used vaseline), painted shifter boot, how you like wrinkle paint?, Cleaned chrome pieces some is pitted but oh well and started on door panels any ideas on a good replacement on the backing material? I know lowes sells a similar thin board that I can use but I was looking for a plastic that is water resistant.

not too shabby for soaking in vaseline

I kind of like the wrinkle look

panels are actually not bad but need new backing

[coleslaw31]

May use this for door panels:

http://www.grainger.com/product/ABS-She ... t%3Dsubset" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[coleslaw31]

a little progress today, finished pulling all the interior, only thing in there is the driver seat. Any suggestions on removing the vinyl from the backing board on the door panels? Also pretty cool the car was already tooled for dual brake which I happen to have a unit from a junk car to put in it!

hole had a rubber plug in it

sos pad does wonders on the chrome pieces

figured Id show the before and after on the kicker panels

wash it off, dry and apply jelly

soak for about an hour then whip off

BOOM! Done