Folks Of Interest 1961 Chevrolet Corvair 95 Rampside

1. OK yesterday my girlfriend, my daughter and me did a 21 hours trip to the netherlands and back to pick up a 1961 Chevrolet Corvair 95 Rampside Truck.
   The truck has a V8 middle engine conversion. It is a 300 cui Buick engine with an unknown auto trans. Rear end is a 55-64 with leaf springs, like my 55 150 chevy, but without the Posi Trac.
   It is my girlfriends truck, she felt in love the first minute she saw the truck in the Internet.
   It is a project truck. The body is in good condition, but the V8 conversion was build not so good.
   The truck needs new suspension, electric, steering parts, side windows.
   We want to get the truck 1 or 2" lower, I want the engine / trans hanging a bit lower.
   I have to rework the engine and trans mounts, emergency brake, brake lines, stiffen the chassis and welding some small holes.
   Maybe I do a disc brake conversion in the front. For safety issues I will put a two circuit master cylinder in it.
   My girlfriend dont want the monster shifter in it, she wants a shorter version.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

 

I had a 63 Rampside, cool ride.

 

As an old Corvair owner I can understand how your girlfriend could fall for the Rampside. But the part about the V8 conversion with solid rear axle and leaf springs scares me.

Too bad the original drive train is gone. Corvair engines and transmissions are rare here in north America these days, they must be impossible to find in Europe.

So my first thought is a Porsche rear engine drive train. German friends have told me you can buy an old Porsche cheap in Germany but that was a few years ago. The reason for Porsche, or VW van, is they are the only vehicles with the engine behind the transaxle. There are lots of front drive vehicles but they have the engine ahead of the transaxle.

Do you know about Clark's Corvair Parts?

http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/main

 

Great Find! My Dad had one as his work truck, so I've always had a fondness for them.

 

Should be a fun ride for her. I can see why she doesn't love that shifter in that cab.

 

Congrats - may be an involved project but, well worth it in the end

 

Neat truck but you're right the shifter has to go.

 

Happy lady means you get to be happy also.
Great design for a truck.
All the dead Corvairs end up at the Corvair Ranch here in Pennsylvania.

 

Found in the Netherlands with California tags. Long way from home. Great project!

 

Yes I found Clark's Parts Store via internet search for parts. Thanks for the hint.
We will buy the suspension parts from them, they have front coil springs for the V8 conversion.

Maybe I can find a contact to the Corvair Ranch in Pennsylvania.

The rear end is a GM 1958 non Posi 3.55 gear ratio. One good thing is we can use some spare parts of my '60 posi Trac that is in my 55 Chevy 150. Same brakes etc.
I identified the automatic trans, it is a TH400 Buick version.

 

It was imported from Cali in 2016 to the Netherlands.

 

So you are going to keep the solid rear end? What kind of a driveshaft does it have? Is there any rear suspension travel at all?

 

The rear suspension is similar to my 1955 Chevy, leaf springs right and left. To get a similar drive feeling like original we maybe go with a Jaguar rear end.

 

Where is the engine?

 

Visiting the 'Ranch we may encounter this sort of traffic nearby. The Pennsylvania Dutch.

 

In front, between driver and passenger.

 

Thank you

 

So someone went to a lot of trouble to turn a Corvair van into a Chevy van?That is nuts. Hope you didn't pay very much for it.

 

It was very cheap

 

I showed my girlfriend how to handle rust and this is the result











We also converted the lights to H4 and H1 head lights to get it street legal here.

 

I started cleaning the heads, it is work in progress.
I'm waiting for the header flange to port match these two parts.
Maybe I will do a port match on the intake side too.
There was much carbon everywhere and you can see some very small rough spots.