Disclosure: This site may receive compensation from some link clicks and purchases.
Back in January Paul W. sent in some photos of a 1963 Corvair Spyder he found. Since then he has been very busy going through everything and just wanted to share an update with us. Below you will find a list of items he has addressed along with some additional photos. For full effect be sure to compare the photos to the ones in our previous post. Thanks for sharing Paul, it’s looking great!
This is an update on what I have done to the car:
- Resealed the engine trans axle, car had good compression so I didn’t have to rebuild the motor.
- Stripped the engine compartment down to bare metal and repainted.
- Replaced the entire brake system.
- Replaced the single master cylinder with a dual master.
- Powder Coated over 50 parts including the rear subframe.
The 1962 Corvair Spyder and the Olds F85 were the first production turbo-charged engines produced in this country!
If you are working on a project of your own, please send in photos and videos of your progress. It provides great inspiration for the rest of us!
Well done so far . If you keep going like that you will have one fine Corvair. Join Corsa and then start have fun with all, us other Corvair nuts.
rich
62 Spyder convert
64 Monza
3 65’s
66 Yenko Clone
Thanks rich & yes I did join the club, funny how a lot of the guys in my local chapter have mutiple Corvairs a few own over 7.
yes, be careful ..
Here in L A county you are systematically broken down by the “Zoning Enforcement”.
They did that to a guy who had a huge Corvair collection a couple of decades ago……..(I am sure, they all were rust free cars….)
Oh & rich nice collection
I am in the So Fla chapter where are you?
Nice. I know it seems forever to do these refreshers but I try and tell myself, a little each day.
Yes it can get maddening, deep breath, deep breath.
I like it. Detail the spare :)
I always wanted to put a Porsche motor in a Corvair, My first car was a 66
I was thinking & not for this one it is very original with matching #’s, but a Subaru also a boxer motor configuration that puts out about 265 HP in this 2400 lbs turned around transaxle mounted in the back seat area, would be a screamer.
Really pretty, nice colour
Looks like a superb job you are doing there, keep up the good work, Geoff
I see lots of cars with big needs on BF. This wasn’t one of those with the big needs that many cars have, but it’s still a welcome thing to see a car like this that has had good work done that brings it to a higher level. Well done.
I hope that more people do the same thing—do good work on their interesting car, and then send photos for everyone to see.
actually that is the trick finding a 50 year old, or what ever car that is basically all there with little rust & missing nothing & in my case very little $’s to throw at a toy.
& thanks.
Any speed over 70 mph in the summer will put the oil temperature at 270+F.
My temp gauge reads between 300 & 400 & the guys in the club say it’s normal. I did add a finned aluminum oil pan & omitted the shrouding to the thermostat doors as I live in a hot climate but this is an all aluminum air cooled motor & is engineered for higher temps.
very nicely done, has to be fun to drive/own. i love the update to a dual master cylinder. keep the pictures/updates coming. thanks
The engine compartment looks great. Here are my suggestions (from the owner of at ’65 Corsa turbo):
Clean the spare tire, yes, the back side. Make an emergency kit w/ a spare belt, tools to change the belt, spare fuel pump, fuel line wrenches, cheap (metal) flashlight. Wrap in cloth towels to prevent rattling. Place these items in the spare wheel. Cover this space w/ proper Corvair hubcap.
Nice, thanks, will do…… I had one of those very fine Corsa Turbo’s back in the early 70’s they top out at 130 MPH very nice for a 65 car , I had it around Lime Rock Park. Also owned a 4 carb 140 back then, lower top end but was faster up to 60, the 180 spooled up at 60 & up.
That’s a nice looking car and rare to have a running Turbo. The tool kit is great advice, I built one similiar for my Corvair. Regarding the Turbo, I’ve heard of the Turbos having a turbocharger oil resevoir that fills with engine oil under pressure and then empties through the turbocharger bearings into the sump when the engine is turned off. The resevoir oil continues to flow through the bearings as the turbocharger spins down. I enjoyed my ’65 Corvair 140 until the manual transmission failed. I couldn’t afford to have the tranny rebuilt, but a kid bought it for $100 in 1972 and did the work himself. It was not a good winter car until I put 80 pounds of sand bags in the front end.
Nice!
What were the production numbers for this model?
for 63 it was 11k & change for the coupe & 7k & change for the convert.
I figured that the turbo charged models would be very limited production?