Corvair Boxer Build

[140Air]

Hey 140Air,

What? You don't think 225 HP will push a "Vair 170 MPH???
Neither do I.
But without dyno#s...
That was in still air,little or no traffic,during practice and qualifying runs.SCCA racing did'nt crowd the track as much as a NASCAR event would have...
Joe

Joe, I think current Corvair race engine builders shoot for about 230hp with revs below 6,500. At 8,000 I think you may have had over 250hp. I heard Jon Brakke got in the neighborhood of 270. If the red car in the pictures is as you had it, the aero was better than Tom Keosabian's faily stock looking and somewhat high riding car. IIRC, he believed his car was capable of 182mph with hp between 400-450. Using the lower figure and counting your better aero, it gives me an estimate for you of 260hp. This is a rough guestimate.

[BMEPetcetc]

140 Air,
I think your guesstimate is pretty close.The aero on the car was probably a less slippery back then.Our fender flairs over the tires were the old school bubble type.I'd like to find some pix of the "old" car to post.
One thing we did a bit differently perhaps than Jon Brakke or Bob Coffin(who I met way back when)was run a relatively short duration cam,around 268 deg.
We were attempting to make decent power" under the curve" since we elected to burden ourselves:) with a four speed transmission.First gear got very little use during a race,usually at the Hairpin at Sebring.The fact that the engine made as much power as it did was a fortuitous combination of parts,meticulous assembly and an eye for detail.With all our efforts,events like valve keepers on one an intake valve shearing off causing $2500 in damage,(in 1990 dollars) did us in.
That's racing!(a Corvair)
Joe

[hoffman900]

Hey 140Air,

What? You don't think 225 HP will push a "Vair 170 MPH???
Neither do I.
But without dyno#s...
That was in still air,little or no traffic,during practice and qualifying runs.SCCA racing did'nt crowd the track as much as a NASCAR event would have...
Joe

A SCCA GT-3 spec car doing 170mph

It'll be A LOT more than 230hp (my guess is more than double)... I know cars of similar power with better aero than a Corvair that struggle to do much more than 140mph. maybe 145-ish at Daytona, but that's about it. That's 25mph faster than the current fast GT-3 spec cars at Road America.

[Shaker455]

I scored a 140 motor!

[jsgarage]

One more thing not touched on till now: use a 1966-up transaxle- Positraction diff if possible. The '64-65 tranny was pathetically weak but the '66 is better up to maybe 250 bhp. You can use V8 Chev Saginaw gears on the Vair mainshaft, & Saginaw cluster gears fit perfectly. Unfortunately, they are wide ratio. I was unsuccessful at cutting & welding cluster gears to make a real close ratio. Gear steel doesn't weld well.... I once seized up a Saginaw 4-speed in an '82 Z-28 thanks to GMs misguided practice at the time of using ATF in std gearboxes for a 1 mpg increase in CAFE. Left over '66 Corvair gears dropped right in the V8 Saginaw box- which can also be used in a 'Vair. Cannot use the Chevy 2-lever transmission side plate though. The 66-68 Corvair posi is marginal due to only two spider gears but 2 more can be easily added.

And once you get the thing moving under its own power, I suggest 4-wheel disc brakes replacing the drums. I adapted '69 Camaro 4-piston fronts and pickup truck sliding-caliper rears with 15" wheels on mine. Made quite a difference in fast driving in the hills. But if someone gave me a pile of money and a '66 Corvair to mod today, I would put a Subaru 6 in it mid-engined. I think that 4-valve twin cam boxer engine with EFI and water cooling would cure most of the ills of the old Corvair. After putting 275,000 miles on mine I still never got used to not having a real heater!

[stihlls45]

Some interesting Corvair stuff here,
http://www.americanflat6.com/

[Shaker455]

One more thing not touched on till now: use a 1966-up transaxle- Positraction diff if possible. The '64-65 tranny was pathetically weak but the '66 is better up to maybe 250 bhp. You can use V8 Chev Saginaw gears on the Vair mainshaft, & Saginaw cluster gears fit perfectly. Unfortunately, they are wide ratio. I was unsuccessful at cutting & welding cluster gears to make a real close ratio. Gear steel doesn't weld well.... I once seized up a Saginaw 4-speed in an '82 Z-28 thanks to GMs misguided practice at the time of using ATF in std gearboxes for a 1 mpg increase in CAFE. Left over '66 Corvair gears dropped right in the V8 Saginaw box- which can also be used in a 'Vair. Cannot use the Chevy 2-lever transmission side plate though. The 66-68 Corvair posi is marginal due to only two spider gears but 2 more can be easily added.

And once you get the thing moving under its own power, I suggest 4-wheel disc brakes replacing the drums. I adapted '69 Camaro 4-piston fronts and pickup truck sliding-caliper rears with 15" wheels on mine. Made quite a difference in fast driving in the hills. But if someone gave me a pile of money and a '66 Corvair to mod today, I would put a Subaru 6 in it mid-engined. I think that 4-valve twin cam boxer engine with EFI and water cooling would cure most of the ills of the old Corvair. After putting 275,000 miles on mine I still never got used to not having a real heater!

Thanks!
I met up with a life time Corvair guy and I also bought a 4-speed....

I told him" I'll take the 140 engine & 65's trans....he said no....you want the 66' trans...65's was 1 year only & had problems....he said just get the $28. dollar cross member from Clarks...

Good advice... & he had both tranny's...nice guy...