Corvair Motor question???

[Faron]

My Step Dad is a huge Corvair fan, in fact he has a baby Blue 64 Spider. Saturday night he offered to give me the motor/transmission from his Corvair in order to put it in my Buggy. I know nothing about this kind of thing, however I have a friend that does. If I told him that planned to do something like this he would be happy to help in any way I needed, for a fee. HaHaHa This motor has not been started on over 10 years, and is old and ugly. (I would have to have it rebuilt, and dressed up before I would put in my buggy,) Here is my question, has anyone ever done something like this? Or is this just another way to blow huge amounts of cash on something that is not worth the while. I want to be able to drive it with out worry. In other words will this be a reliable car with a Corvair motor. If I were to go with a VW motor I would get a fairly dressed up 1835 with duel Weber's. Does anyone have thought about this idea. It a free motor and Transmission......Dont bite my head off if you dont like my idea!

[David O']

There is nothing wrong with corvair motors, however, there are only three places in the USA where you can get the parts. In the stock engine configuration, you will have lots of torque and the top end is higher than the stock VW engine. If you build the engine with the viton seals, and build the block and other parts like you would build a V engine, (seal everything) it won't leak.
Being a 1964 engine, you would need to see if the engine has a generator or an alternator. If it is the alternator, then the engine is 110 hp. If not, then it is 95 hp. If it is early one, then the cost is not really justified. One advantage with the corvair engines, the valves do not have to be adjusted all of the time.
The down side to these engines, is the costs of some of the parts. I hope this helps.
Oh, if you plan to use the engine with a VW transmission, the thing can break a lot of stuff inside the transmission!
I guess that it all boils down to how much power you want to have. A built corvair power plant can hit 270 hp!
I hope this helps out! ( I have a 140 corvair long block!)

[Yellermanx]

Faron, you may be interested in this post. http://www.meyersmanx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2946

Good Luck

[Patrick]

Delete

[Mike & Mel]

Try these also. Each is a thread on the RBC site talking about Corvair power.

http://p066.ezboard.com/frbcdunebuggyfr ... D=51.topic

http://p066.ezboard.com/frbcdunebuggyfr ... D=54.topic

http://p066.ezboard.com/frbcdunebuggyfr ... =441.topic

[Faron]

Thanks for all the advice and the links to read about putting a Corvair motor into my buggy. After reading everything I think that it is more then a little scary to go with a Corvair Motor. From what I cut & paste below it pretty much firms up my thoughts. I am better off going with a VW...Now I just have to figure out if I am going to go 1735, 1835, or a 2110. Like I have posted before I have a 1970 single port, but its kinda hard to build it to where I want it to be. (Any Advice?)

: Right now there are a few of us playing with Corvair power. I am not the most experienced with Corvair and just at the point of getting into my first motor. I have tried to do my homework. I may feel different after I get all the bugs out of my first Corvair buggy project, but as I tried to bring my learning curve up I reached a few early conclusions.
1) Corvair parts are more costly than VW. Usually three times as much, and sometimes up to ten times as expensive. A quality rebuild of 140 Corvair heads by a rebuilder competent on them can cost as much as the parts and machining to completely rebuild a stock VW engine.
2) Good experienced human tech advise on Corvair power is hard to come by.
3) There are so many aftermarket VW parts available that one can build a reliable VW HO motor for less than a competent rebuild on a Vair motor. VW power to weight ratio will be great. With properly tuned carbs the gas milage on VW should be 20% better too.
4) Corvairs that are reliably rebuilt seem to have good longevity and great power. But if something breaks when I am 500 miles from home I doubt I will be able to get a Vair back on the road quickly.