This subject was brought up in another thread (http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51399&page=8) I thought I'd start a new on on it to keep it OT. I have a 283 in my corvair. I used a saginaw 4 speed since the reverse gear is in the main case and not in the tail housing like a muncie or BW. I cut the tail housing off and took what was left and faced it off in my lathe then had the output shaft turned down and resplined so it would fit into the corvair hollow pinion shaft. I made an adapter plate from 1/2" plate to mate the saginaw directly to the corvair diff. So now the engine, tranny, and diff are all one unit. For a shifter I mounted a Hurst shifter in the floor on a home made bracket and used three 5/16 heavy duty push pull cables to transfer the shifting to the saginaw 4 spd. I have some 35MM pics i took when I did this about 20 years ago so if anyone wants to see I can scan them and post them. Car has basically been sitting in my shop covered up with stuff for the last 10 years or so and its going to get some attention soon since I will have lots more time on my hands.
X2 on Pics, sounds kinda like the box McKee built for the one Hemi powered Can Am car he built for Chrysler.
Sounds like it will be a running machine. I met a guy about 2 months ago who also had a Corvair V-8 project. We went there for a garage door install, when I spotted it in his shop. It looked a little strange, then realized he widened it 4.5" on each side, with everything molded in to look stock. The metal fab work was pretty good, not ghetto at all. His plans called for a Big Block. Corvairs are some neat cars. I'd be interested in seeing some of your pictures.... John
I remember seeing a Supercharged SBC powered mid engine 'Vair at Spokane GoodGuys. Sunvisor said 'Porche Eater'. It too had a TH 425, but the owner and his dad had fabbed a torque tube to move the engine to the middle of the car. Had to be scarry fast.
Calm down, take a deep breath. No reason to get excited. I'm still at work goofing off on the HAMB. I'll get you your fix in a while.
Good friend of mine built one of these back in the 70s..easily the scariest car I've ever ridden in.Built 350 in the back seat,that car would corner so hard your nose would bleed.I'm getting the shakes just thinking about it,years later...Cool as hell combo
No Pics here either, but I did a 62 Monza on a shortened 57 Chevy chassis back about 69. I put a 59 sidemounted 283 at the bellhousing location. the engine was under the dash with a Muncie 4 speed. I sat in the back seat to drive it. I never got it street legal, but had a blast on the back roads. Got busted one night for all kinds of equipment violations and expired tags,(5yrs.) and made me park it.
Can't remember the name of the company (early senior moment), but someone made a kit to put a SBC into the Corvair. They're great cars- had a 65 convertible, but had to sell it pretty quickly (father/son purchase and the wiser party said sell it).
I built a 66 corvair with the crown conversion mid-engine when I was 16yrs old. It took me 2yrs to build. It had a 327 300hp cheby 4-speed in it,it'd blow the doors off big block novas fo-sure.I ended up tradin it for a 500 triple cyl. Kaw. and that thing scared me worse,wish I still had the Vair
Hey Man, give me a break! Between Rattle snakes in the garage and thunder storms killing my internet the pics have had to wait a bit. As soon as I get a little work done here at work, I'll get a few posted.
Thanks. IIRC wasn't there a front engine 'Vair in PHR or Camero Craft here a few months back (big Buick in it for power on a Monty frame IIRC).
Ok heres a few pics I found where I mated the saginaw 4 spd to the corvair diff. First pic shows the destruction of the saginaw tail housing. Heres the part of the tail housing I used gettign faced off on my old atlas lathe. Heres the adapter plate I built leaning against the corvair diff i used only to locate the holes in it. Heres a pic of the adapter plate bolted to the saginaw 4 spd case And heres the finished saginaw tranny bolted up to the diff. Yeah the diff is pretty cruddy but I did clean it up before I installed it.
Heres a couple of pretty crappy pics of the vair in its running form. Its been collecting dust for a while. Now that I will have lots more time on my hands I plan on dissasembling the whole car, painting everything and putting a fresh 283 or 327 back in it. I have a couple of each in the shop that are good builders. I'll take lots of pics during that process. I never have gotten it registered or inspected but I live a ways out in the country and theres a canyon about 2 miles from my house with some real twisty roads where Ive rung it out a time or two. Its a blast and gets rubber in all four gears with a will worn 283.
When I was a kid I used to make banzai runs down that same canyon on a 20" Stingray, it's a wonder I'm still here.
I had a wreck on a one week old Harley Superglide in that canyon in '74. I was used to blasting through there on my 69 sporty and when I tried to do it at the same speed on the Superglide things just didnt work out the same. Broke ankle, bent front wheel and much bruised ego. Yep the good lord was with us or he just didnt want us up there causing problems.
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