Update by Tim Suddard to the
Chevrolet Corvair Monza Spyder project car
Oct 24, 2012
Disassembled, an early Corvair turbocharger is not that imposing. Clark’s Corvair sells a rebuild kit, #C1599.
Bearing tolerances are critical when rebuilding one of these units.
On more and more projects, we have been using Eastwood’s Factory Gray High Temp Coating Spray. It looks right on these old cars, and holds up very well.
Our 1963 Corvair Monza Spyder’s turbo was shot, so we rebuilt it ourselves. Rebuilding a Corvair turbocharger is pretty straight forward. Clark’s Corvair sells a kit that includes just about every piece you need. One of the most important things you need to know about taking apart one of these turbos is that the nut that holds the impeller together is threaded backwards. Cal at Clark’s warned us about this, and told us he has seen so many broken impeller shafts; people try to horse the nut off the shaft the wrong way.
From there, it is a matter of cleaning the carbon build-up off of everything, installing new spacers and gaskets, and getting the clearances right.
Another trick we have learned is that Eastwood’s Factory Gray High Temp Coating Spray really stands up well in exhaust applications. This is the first product of its kind we have ever used that actually works.
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