1968 Corvair Monza Coupe Restoration

I think the roof can get lost in all black, I really like the sea foam green color.

Grecian Green. Whitewalls. Make it a Grandmah cah!

So I looked over the car the other night.

It's pretty solid. The battery tray has some rot, but other that, that it for rot. There are a couple bubbles in the paint on the lower corner of the passenger door.

The floorboards, tunnel cover, gas tank, front crossmember, and trunk floor are all solid, which is surprising seeing how long the car sat in water.

I had a crap battery from my Durango sitting around, so I hooked it up to see if anything worked electrically. The lights came on, the dash lights work, and the interior light lit up.

Looking good so far.

I went and grabbed the fan belt and got the crank to turn. That's a good thing.

I just need a coil, a distributor, oil filter, and a competent battery and this thing could crank over!

Do it! Hell, ill send you a coil if you let me drive it someday....

Love it. My high school car was a hopped up Corvair Corsa 140. Cam, headers, 4bbl, Vette wheels, etc.

change the oil now, and have a friend spin the oil pump with a drill motor while the distributor is out. while the oil is moving through the engine, put a socket on the balance bolt and spin the crank three full revolutions. why three? because (1) your timing mark will be back where you started, albeit 180 degrees out at the distributor, and (2) all the lifters that have been collapsed since the last time the engine was run will now be in a relaxed state, and maybe won't be so clattery when you finally get fire in the hole.

gamby wrote: In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid: Full red/black 2-tone laid out just like that Fitch example.

I'll second this. The way it is now looks too 70s Landau roofish.

AngryCorvair wrote: change the oil now, and have a friend spin the oil pump with a drill motor while the distributor is out. while the oil is moving through the engine, put a socket on the balance bolt and spin the crank three full revolutions. why three? because (1) your timing mark will be back where you started, albeit 180 degrees out at the distributor, and (2) all the lifters that have been collapsed since the last time the engine was run will now be in a relaxed state, and maybe won't be so clattery when you finally get fire in the hole.

I did actually know this, that was the plan, but thanks for the reminder. I used to do this all the time at the Vair Shop when the boss would bring home a junker that's been sitting for a long time and we wanted to see if the motor was any good.

I'm just in the process of getting parts. I acquired a breaker plate for the distributor, so now I just need to get a cap, rotor, and coil so it will start.

I love the car. It's cool that you get to have your Dads old car.

So I have been fiddling around with this thing while I'm waiting on my dad to get the ignition parts. Now that the holiday season is over, hopefully that will be soon.

I got the shop vac out and cleaned up the engine bay. There was a lot of debris and mouse offerings.

I did prime the engine, fully charged the battery, and the starter won't engage. One loud click and that's the end of that. I'm going to try another Battery, just in case, but I have a feeling the starter is shot.

Here is something interesting, my dad put extensions on the balance (overflow) tubes. It looks goofy but I'm told that it works great when taking corners hard.

yup. the extensions are an old trick to keep it from flooding under hard g loads. drag racers did it on the primary of the holley, carters have never been easy to do it to, and autocross/roadrace/offroad carbs do it everywhere.

Alright, my dad came through and got me a new cap and rotor, a used coil, and a rebuilt starter that will be the nicest looking thing on this car.

Now I have to find some time to spend on the car so I can get it ready to fire up.

The one concern that was brought up today is that the factory fuel pump may be shot. We will find out soon enough!

quick test for corvair fuel pump: disconnect the fuel pump end of one of the tubes going to the carbs. remove the fuel pump hold-down bolt, then turn the engine by hand until the fuel pump raises up out of it's hole (indicating that the fuel pump cam is at its max height). then, push down on the fuel pump and let it spring back up a bunch of times. if fuel comes out the output side, it's probably good.

doesn't mean it'll stay good though. and if the diaphragm tears, you'll wind up dumping fuel into the crankcase.

In reply to AngryCorvair:

Yeah generally there are three ways this will go, either it will pump, won't pump, or pump into the crankcase.

Right now, I have to get some rubber hose to stick in a gas can because the fuel line in the tunnel and the gas tank are shot.

I will probably end up doing an electric fuel pump conversion eventually. I have installed them in many Corvairs. Luckily someone made a fuel pump conversion, so you don't have to change the lines around, you can still use the same lines.

So I've been working on the 68 and it's not been working out too well.

The car won't start. My main issue is that I don't know if I'm getting spark or not. I some how lost my multi-meter somewhere during our move, so I'm not sure if I have voltage at the coil. I think I do because when I got everything hooked up ignition wise, it backfired, but that was the only time. I have a feeling the coil is junk. It's used, so it's condition is questionable. My dad is grabbing another one and he also picked up a Pertronix unit, so he is gonna stop by on day to drop that stuff off.

My new issue is that I pulled the distributor out today and there were metal shavings around the gear on the distributor shaft, but nowhere else. I'm not happy about that. I don't know why it's there in that one spot, so that worries me.

I'll keep you guys up to date.

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:

pull #1 spark plug, and attach the plug wire to it. ground threads of spark plug with another piece of wire from threads of spark plug to engine or chassis. rotate engine so #1 is in firing position. loosen distributor hold-down. turn on ignition, and rotate distributor housing so the points are opening and closing. look for spark across plug gap.

In reply to AngryCorvair:

Thanks for the tip. I'm going to try that. We'll see what I can find out.

Update!

So my dad picked me up a new Hot Spark electronic ignition set up and a brand new coil.

The Result:

http://youtu.be/8u5vPlN0mIg

This is actually my third attempt. I was quite pleased because this is promising.

I'm going to run down to the hardware store tomorrow and get a length of fuel line hose and stick it into a gas can to see if I can keep it running. My dad had already made and left a make-shift line to hook a hose to, so that should work out hopefully.

Man I love Corvairs.

So I'm not having luck with the fuel pump. It won't pump fuel out of a gas can. I removed it and pulled it apart and the rubber diaphragm is very stiff. The rubber gaskets are also cracking when you flex them.

So, I'm going to consult with my dad to see what he suggests. I know he's not too fond of the stock pump and I believe he's told me a couple times that no matter who makes them, they fail. That being said, I have a feeling I'll be going with an electric pump.

do not buy a holley pump. they are noisy as hell. like so noisy I can still hear it after rubber mounting to the frame, with 3 layers of sound deadening, 3 inch exhaust, and the stereo cranked.

that is all.

Oh I know about them, yeah don't worry, if I go with an electric one, it will be one that I've installed before on other Corvairs. They're not loud.

my V8Vair was teh only one i've ever owned (in 30 years and probably 200k miles) that did not have either an original fuel pump or one from The Source. is The Source still around? last time i talked to David, he was pretty frustrated with the typical corvair customer's "they're all the same, so gimme the cheapest one possible" mentality.

mechanical fuel pumps don't like sucking up-hill. for temporary testing purposes, i'd put the gas can where the spare tire used to live, ie cross-car from the battery. don't sit the gas can on the floor and expect the fuel pump to suck two feet vertical.

that's all i got.

We ran a stock mechanical on our Weber corvair and I run one on my 140 with a few mods..works great. We started my moms 69 convert after sitting 22 years. Changed the oil , rebuilt the carbs and it fired right up. Your car looks like a great base for a project!

Ok so I did a test on the old fuel pump and it is definitely shot. My dad says he's got a couple laying around, so we will try them just to see if they will work, so I can get the engine running.

While I wait on that, I decided to take it off the dollies and see if I could push it out of the garage. That is a negative. The brake pedal is all the way to the floor, but the master is still full of fluid, so I'm guessing the brakes are applied, but I will have to deal with the master cylinder.

While off the dollies, I took the opportunity to take a picture.