1968 Corvair Monza Coupe Restoration

Looks good!

This thread really doesn't help my desire for a slightly larger rear-engined vehicle.

I'm really looking forward to seeing it come back to life, mostly so I can live vicariously through you.

that thing is sooooo grody!!!!!! lol. love it.

So I have good news and bad news.

Good news: After going through all the fuel pumps my dad gave me, I found one good one. It doesn't leak either. Still probably going electric, but this is a start.

Bad News: The needle valves are stuck in every carb. Three stuck closed and one stuck open. I had found out that there was still gas in some of the fuel system, so I imagine all the carbs are gunked up, so it looks like it's time for some carbs to get rebuilt.

Hopefully I can get someone to give me a hand working on the car. Free beer to any GRMers willing to get their hands dirty!

I like rebuilding carbs. Where are you?

About 735 miles from you.

Little too far for a day trip...

You could always mail them to me....

No big updates. Money has been tight for several months, so carb kits are out for the meanwhile.

So, I decided to clean the interior. It's pretty foul from the mice that got into it over the years, so the shop vac came out, but the carpet will come out at some point.

There were some boxes on the back seat and I went through them. A couple had tons of old sci-fi books, but one was full of trophies my dad had won in the 70's.

Stay tuned.

Great News!

I finally got it running. I pulled the primaries back out and took them apart to find out why they weren't pumping. Ended up that both carbs had a stuck check valve for the accelerator pump. Got them freed up and working again.

Then I decided to pull the plugs, to see what condition the 30+ year old AC plugs looked like. They were fine except they were never gapped. So, I took care of that.

After that, I discovered that the boots on the plug wires were too low and the wires weren't making a very good connection at the distributor. Pulled the boots back, problem fixed.

And last but not least, I adjusted the timing.

The end result: http://youtu.be/q1qxMrVZ6Dc

Sounds good! Is it supposed to launch sparks like that?

Yeah it's an oversized slot car

So looks like I killed the starter. I got a couple good cranks out of it and I have a feeling the starter gear is not engaging just like the starter that was in there when I received it. I beat with a hammer a few times and it started working once, but then went back to not working.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: So looks like I killed the starter. I got a couple good cranks out of it and I have a feeling the starter gear is not engaging just like the starter that was in there when I received it. I beat with a hammer a few times and it started working once, but then went back to not working.

Remove starter Pull starter apart Remove busing from pinion end of starter re-install bushing after turning 180 degrees. re-install starter

The thrust from driving the ring gear tends to wear one side of the brass bushing until the spinning part lays against the non-spinning part. Old-school skint mechanic trick was to just rotate the bushings assuming there was no big smoke show. Was good enough to get the car off the used car lot.

In reply to NOHOME:

Yeah I'm probably going to pull it out and take it apart. My dad rebuilt that starter, but who knows.

Any updates on this fine piece of machinery?

Ummm, just what were those sparks from?

In reply to crankwalk:

Thanks for the interest.

Nothing is really going on right now. I have a stent in me from my kidney stone issue I've had lately, so it keeps me from doing anything mechanical. It's also cold and I need to get another bottle of propane for my heater and I'm not really leaving the house.

I have been actively trying to acquire parts though. When it warms up, expect more updates.

In reply to noddaz:

At this point, it's only speculation, but some people think its the plug wires, others think it's the one of the pulleys.

I wouldn't know without being able to be back there. It won't idle currently.

you need something you can just jump in and drive. you should trade me the corvair for ursula the E12. i promise it will show up at a future challenge dressed as what i imagine Smokey Yunick would've done with a corvair.

if Smokey partied with the Hongs.

In reply to AngryCorvair:

If it wasn't sentimental to me, I'd say it was a deal.

Maybe when it's capable of going a good distance, maybe I'll swing by Michigan and give you a ride.

So after several nights of not being able to sleep, I think I have made a master plan. Short Term and Long Term. So this is my list:

Short Term:

Engine - New or repair starter. Get the Carbs sorted out, rebuilt and synced. Ignition system needs to be finished and timing adjusted.

Exhaust - Probably going to go with a stock dual exhaust for the interm. I want Headers, but they are pricey and the ones that are on the car are shot.

Brakes - Pretty sure the system is shot, just don't know where, so new lines, hoses, wheel cylinders and reman the drums.

Wheels and Tires - This one has been bugging me. I think for the interm, I'm going to go with Cragar Soft 8's until I can purchase some really nice wheels. I'm trying to figure out the rubber, because the sizes I want are far and few in between.

Electrical - I have found that there are some electrical bugs do to the hack job somebody (probably dad) has done in the interior. Also the Reverse lights don't work, which I'm not cool with.

Long Term:

Engine - Rebuild. There are so many new (better) materials that are around now that weren't available 35 years ago when this engine was last opened up. I would like to keep it a 140, however, my dad keeps pushing the 180 Turbo motor. I don't hate the Turbo, but it's not the best design. He has all the stuff to build the 180 and he's always wanted to build one for himself, so I will probably opt for the turbo.

Transmission/Differential - Can't really do much with the trans, they are all virtually the same. Right now it's a 3.89 with Posi. I'm going to go back to a 3.55 and keep the Posi.

Exhaust - Going back Headers with some nice turbo mufflers if I stay with the 140. If I go 180, I am pretty much stuck with the stock style exhaust.

Brakes - Going to go with a front disc brake set up. While Corvair drums are pretty good for drums, they're still drums. Don't know what I'm going to do, there have been a lot junk yard set ups with S-10 spindles, but involve some modifications. There are also some "off the shelf" set ups, but they get pretty pricey, so we will see when I get to that point.

Electrical - The entire car is getting rewired. I will not get crazy with it until it's time to restore the car. I'm going to have a newer style fuse panel that can take the load of all the stuff I am going to do to this car. I'm going to move the fuse panel from under the dash to the trunk. This is the unit I will probably go with: http://www.racersrods.com/, it's been recommended by other Corvair owners.

I'm also going to go with a higher amp alternator.

Lighting - Everything is going LED. Gauges, interior lights, taillights, turn signals, side markers, etc.

I'm going to do a headlight retrofit. I am going to do HID projector headlights from www.theretrofitsource.com . I followed this guy on CCF and I'm pretty much going to copy his set up. I've talked to him and he's happy with them. They have a great, flat, cut off.

I also am going to do Halos. I have always thought they belong on a BMW where they originated, but I saw them on a Corvair and thought they look absolutely sinister. I have only seen them in white and I'm going to go red. I am going to do the same thing the guy I posted above did and get 156 LED COB halos and install them on the existing Chinese Halo units. I know you guys will probably think it's cheesy and ricer like, but I dig them.

I am also going to look at putting the COB Halos in the tail lights as a parking light, not a brake light. Not sure it will work with the diameter and gasket inside the tail light, but I want something bright that people will see when driving at night.

Interior- So, I'm pretty much going to go stock on the interior vinyl. After I get the car running and drive it around for a while, I will see if I can deal with the '69 high back buckets. If not, I will see about new seats.

I'm going to do a triple gauge set up above the radio bezel. Yenko Stingers and Fitch Sprints had the gauges up there, but there is one huge flaw, the gauges don't face the driver and they actually angle downward because the dashboard angles downward, so it doesn't work for very well for a quick glance. I'm going to get some of those angled bezels that will allow the gauges to face me. I'm going to go with gauges from www.speedhut.com, because I like their product and I can customize the gauges to look like they came from the 60's/70's.

I also am going to see if I can retrofit a '69 Camaro RS center console (the one without the gauges) and build up a center console that can house some speakers. I'm not setting my heart on it, it may not work.

Audio- I like music. I want to listen to music while I drive, that's one of my favorite things while cruising. So, I'm going to go with a RetroSound radio. From the couple Corvair owners that have bought the recent units, they really like them.

I'm going put a new set of speakers in the dash grille. As I said before if I can do the Camaro console, I will also have a set of speakers in there. I am also going to build a box for the parcel tray and have two 6" speakers with a 10" sub in the middle. I'm going to figure out a way to conceal it all so it doesn't look blatantly obvious.

Exterior- Now this is the big one. I can't make my mind up, but it's a long ways off, so I don't need to fret.

I haven't decided on my color combo yet. It will be black and red for sure, but I'm not sure which on I like better. Chrome bits may end up body color depending on which direction I go with paint.

The Solar Vent-Top is coming off and getting repaired. My dad told me that it didn't fit right (Most cases with Solar tops) and he had it wrapped in vinyl because it was cheaper that having someone reshape the fiberglass. It will be painted, no more vinyl.

I'm going to reshape the intake vents on the quarter panels. My dad originally wanted them to look like NACA ducts, but the guy who did the bodywork didn't listen to him. I'm going to go ahead and redo them to be shaped like NACA ducts.

Even though my dad had the decklid spoiler be a part of the body, it's all metal, so the decklid weighs a ton. So, I have found that there are some Yenko Stinger repop fiberglass decklids that people are hoarding. I may go this route. They are generally about $500+ and I don't know if I want to pay that.

So that's that for now. I have plenty of time to change my mind, so I will update this list as I go.

Nothing new. Just an idea. For a new project after I'm done with this one.

So I decided yesterday to re organize the garage a little so I could pull the Corvair out away from the wall and do some work on it.

First off, without the dollies, I can't roll this thing. My dad informed me that he had put metallic brakes on this car, so that probably means the shoes are rusted to the drums.

Well seeing that I only have one set of stands, I could only check one side at a time. So I put it in the air and checked the adjusters. They backed off just fine. The drums however were stuck to the hubs. After some beating, they came off. Everything checked out ok, so I put the drums back on.

On a side note, I found out that there were finned front drums on my car. Seeing that they weren't stock, I called my dad. He said that they are '68 Buick Skylark rear drums. They are the same dimensions as late model Corvair front drums, so that's why he got them.

So I got underneath and pulled the tunnel cover off to see the condition of the brake lines. Everything looked solid, so I decided to see if I could bleed the system.

Unfortunately that was a no go, so I pulled the master out and found that the main piston would not come back out all the way. So I pulled it out, found it was full of crap, cleaned it up, checked the bore, which was smooth and put it back together.

So then I found that the brake petal had a lot of play in it. Couldn't figure out what was going on, but remembered my dad had left a brake pedal assembly in the trunk, so I pulled it out and checked it out. Apparently the one in the car had ejected it's bushings at some point, so I pulled the clutch/brake assembly out, so that's where I'm at.

I'm going to try to work some more on it today hopefully.

Sweet! Im stupid excited to see you back at it.

So I went ahead and reassembled the clutch/brake assembly only to find out that I marred the end of the rod the clutch pedal sits on and it won't go back on. I also mangled the ends of the threads for the nut that holds the clutch pedal on. I thought I had a file, but don't. I don't have a tap and die set either, so I will have to get that figured out.

I also think I may have found my brake system leak. Unfortunately that will involve removing the carpet out of the front passenger area to get to the inside tunnel cover.

So still up in the air.

The passenger side drums at being a total pain in the ass. With the lack of a blue wrench, the drums are getting shot with some PB Blaster with hopes that the drums free up from the hubs. The front drum also has a rusted self adjuster, so that's not helping anything.

I also poked and prodded to find any metal that was thin that shouldn't be. The only things I found were the passenger side floorboard (dad already warned me about that and the gas tank is rusted out, which I was expecting, luckily a new tank is only about $120.

I'm also bumming about the exhaust. The engines been modified so naturally it needs headers. Unfortunately they've all been flattened.

A new set of headers costs a little more than $400, so for now I think I'm going to stick with a stock exhaust for the meanwhile.

My dad finally elaborated on the engine and how he built it:

It's punched out .060 over, it has TRW Forged pistons, Rhodes lifters and a 3/4 Race Cam.

This engine should have some punch once I get it running properly.