Corvair engine in a Speedster?

I've seen one done.

You'd have a car with 4 reverse gears and 1 forward.  To use an existing transmission, GM chose to change rotation of the Corvair engine.  It's a heavy bulky engine - I could see it in a mid engine car.

Had one in my Deserter Dune Buggy, mounted mid-ships.  I've also seen one in a Speedster - there's plenty of room at the rear for those two extra cylinders.  IIRC, there's a weight gain of about 40-50 lbs., all of it where you want it least.

Addressing the rotational direction, it's pretty easy to flip the ring and pinion in a VW or 901 (recommended) transaxle, although I ran mine with a VW bus transaxle in autocross for two seasons and the tranny survived.  Kennedy still makes a conversion plate and clutch for it.  Use a high-torque starter.

BTW:  If you're thinking of going the turbo route, 10-12 pounds boost its the max - the head gaskets (WHAT head gaskets?) won't take it, nor will the head studs (or the case, etc.)  The best induction I found was that beautiful, GM, 4-barrel intake manifold running a nice Holley on it.  No messing with two carbs 3 feet apart!

I say: put that baby in a 914 just to piss off the Porsche guys.

Oh! OH! --Or get you one of these fabulous MG replicas and stuff it out back of that. Change the badging from "MG" to "GM" and high-nose it to the next Gathering of the Faithful. That sucker'll do wheelies & you'll have everyone scratching their heads.

Anyone old enough (other than Rich D) to remember Yenko Corvair Stingers back in 1966 - 160- 240 HP!  100 made for SCCA racing.

http://autoweek.com/article/ca...orvair-yenko-stinger

Like this, Gordon ? I'm going way back to 1999 with this pic. Notice the reduction drive on the front of the engine. A VW Bus rear axle reduction gearbox with 1: 1.39 reduction. Oddly enough, the Bus reduction box virtually bolted straight on to the nose of the Corvair engine. Oddly enough again, I swapped out the Holley later to a very lightweight Harley / Zenith carb and it ran just as well.

Second pic shows the Holley carb beside the Zenith for comparison. I put in a quasi dual ignition too. Two Mitsubishi modules 180 degrees apart tripped by a slightly modified Ford 6 cyl. reluctor....then dual coils joined by a MSD coil joiner firing a single set of plugs.

Sure wish I had the energy now that I had back then. Sorry for the off topic drivel..

You can get a reverse direction cam and timing gear kit so the tranny flip is a non issue. I think most stock Corvairs claimed between 95 -110 hp and the Spyder 140. You can do that easily with a VW now so there's probably not much to gain except weight.

That said, I'm sure there must be hop up kits for the Corvair out there too.

Add'l weight and oil leaks will prevail, did I mention the half assed belt configuration ?

I'm a Corvair fan.  Had a beautiful stick shift convertible while at university, and then my dad had a nice coupe a little later.  After driving a Karmann Ghia before that, the Corvairs sure seemed fast...and the local girls loved the convertible.

Yeah, and I honestly don't know anyone who had the mythical "Belt Issues".  With the way it twisted and turned, you would expect a lot of problems, but I never saw any.....You just had to keep good bearings in the corner pulleys (and they went noisy to warn you to change them).  

Re engine HP, the turbo'd version was pretty hot, once you got that ancient turbo to spool up (measured, I think, in minutes) but you had to keep the revs up over 4K to maintain solid boost - not especially practical on the autocross track.  That's why I moved to the Holley 4-barrel.  It responded much better to the radical RPM changes.  

On a road course, the later models were QUICK and the turbo versions had tons of pull.  After the model change around 1965 they were great handling cars.  They leaked about as much as a Porsche or VW and had trouble free hydraulic valves.  I also understand, from a couple of friends who drove them through their college years, that they were chick magnets.

Gordon, you do now.  I had to carry a couple of extras at all times.  Damn things would separate at the most inconvenient times. Mine was a Monza Spyder 150 HP!

I had this gem for the first 2 years of college.  It was pretty quick as I recall, but that was over 45 years ago. Typical youthful thinking...I was sold because it had a reverb unit with the radio!.

OH yea and cut out pipes!!

White with black leatherette.

Art

My Mom had a brand new '63 Spyder turbo coupe when I started driving. As I recall the couple times I got to drive it that it was pretty 'hot'. My Mom used to rag on me about my driving, she had her car in for service at the dealership for a couple days and I would take her to and pick her up from work...nag, nag, nag about watching my speed, braking at a stop sign or stop light, not paying attention to traffic etc...

Fast forward two weeks later...Mom was speeding on her way to work and blew thru a 2-way stop and got t-boned in the intersection. The accident totaled her car and the other drivers car, fortunately other than some bumps and bruises neither Mom or the other driver were seriously injured. The accident was all Mom's fault...

For about two weeks I once again drove Mom to and from work until the folks bought her a new car. She never again ragged on me about my driving skills or lack thereof...LOL

Senior year of HS my father comes home with a used Corvair "Spyder" to drive as a commuter car and didn't even know what he had...but I surely did. 

This is a photo of my last Corvair project, a mid-engine Deserter GS Series 1.

Standard rotation Vair, Holly 390, VW tranny prepped by Rancho.

The Vair six sounded awesome running into a stock Porsche 911 can muffler and was smooth as silk compared to a VW4, , the power was OK and similar to a good 2 liter VW.  But it was unique.  I miss that car and my old Speedie as well.

Like you, I've considered the six into a Speedie but never followed through with it, might be cool enough but there are better choices today.

bim55: Only one question, really, on the Deserter: where do you put the Dynamat??  Quite a little scooter there.

Bim - that's so amazingly crazy. Did you have to warn the ladies with long hair to make sure they keep their hair away from the fan belt?

I it's a blast to drive.

T

and what's with the bucket on the rear shelf, across from the battery?

Well, we did add a layer of insulation to the engine cover, it might have helped a little. In this photos, it's missing the cover so really no problems with the belt and long hair. 

The bucket was a freebie that I mounted to hold a few tools and a spare belt.  Again, it was usually covered.

And yes, at around 1200 lbs with the engine a mere few inches it was a interesting ride.  This photo was provided by its new owner in Perth Austrailia.

I put a Corsair engine in a 1956 speedster when I was in college in the middle 60's. As Gordon said, it required reversing the ring gear on the pinion shaft.  A company named "Crown Manufacturing" in Costa Mesa, CA made the transitional casting. It was a bomb, and as I remember it some 50 years later, not a bomb in a good sense.

Loved Corvairs and almost got one as my first car in the early '80s. Ended up with the '67 Nova SS instead. In the mid '90s, living in Florida, I spotted another '66 Corvair convertible and again almost bit. But I was poor, and still had the Nova, plus the 84 K-car as a daily driver and buying a third car without air conditioning did not seem practical.