Corvair Conversion

[Manx1173]

I have always wanted to do a Corvair conversion in my Manx 1. I haven't yet because in my opinion they look funny (too long and short). However, I ran across this conversion and think it is awesome and thought I would share. It may have brought the Corvair conversion back to the table.

[sturgeongeneral]

That looks pretty solid. Does your buggy have room for the corvair motor? Some buggies it is a tight fit with the box rear end, but will go with a little fiberglass modification. It would make a buggy go pretty nicely too!
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[rayjay]

I have seen a site on the web where the guy was using big bore VW cylinders on Corvairs for airplane use [ iirc ]. Lots of useful info.

Personally I would go with a modern watercooled motor instead of something that hasn't been made since 1969.

[Manx1173]

In my opinion watercooled engines belong in the front. The main issue I have with them is radiator placement (should I say how to hide it). However, some of the Manxsters I have seen with the radiators in the side pods are pretty sweet and the new Kickout SS side pods may help bring that option to the original Manx 1s.

I am not sure on fitment, however, I know several people have done the conversion on Manx 1s successfully. Here is another engine without the Webers.

[hcallaway]

[quote="geoman"]In my opinion water-cooled engines belong in the front. The main issue I have with them is radiator placement (should I say how to hide it).

You are not saying the Corvair motor that you have posted is water-cooled? I had one in a Drag VW. You have to run a reverse rotation cam shaft and distributor gear to make it use the VW transaxle without flipping it. You also have to have a motor adapter but I think that is about it. The cover on the motors you show must be aftermarket. Mine was stock and sat flat on the motor. I am not a Corvair expert so others may have a better idea of what I am talking about. Nice motors with an easy 140 HP.
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[manxbuggy]

The Weber version might fit, I think the 4BRL setup would require some fiberglass cutouts.

Here is my Corvair powered Manx with stock carbs and low profile filters:

The stock Corvair fan belt changes direction (around the alternater and an idler pulley) to rotate the top mounted fan from the rear pulley. I think the Porsche style fan would solve the problem some Corvair engines have with fan belts not staying on their pulleys as intended. Plus it looks great!

I'll take the triple weber version please.

Rob

[BL3Manx]

This is actually a 914 engine that was raced very sucessfully by Tangerine Racing. They call it "the best cooling system
for a racing 914-4". They say they intend to sell the system as a kit. There's nothing wrong with a later model Corvair cooling system that the right fan belt, and a tensioner won't fix.

http://www.tangerineracing.com/Engine.htm

[Manx1173]

[BL3Manx]

I agree the 911 cooling system looks great, however if you read Jake Raby's website, when he tested the effectiveness of the 911 style system on Type 1's and Type 4's, he said, "the famed Porsche 911 systems didn’t work worth a DAMN in our testing". Basically they didn't get the air to turn 180 degrees and cool the aft cylinders. Plus the 911 engine had better inherent heat shedding capability than the Type 4.


http://www.aircooledtechnology.com/type1/dtm/index.htm#results

This looks pretty good too.

[Manx1173]

[VOLKSWAGNUT]

I aquired a reverse rotation 1965 Corsa 4 carb engine when I bought my buggy. Didn't use it the buggy build, but had planned to build a fast Volksrod.
Does anyone know if horespower is lost/gained when the engine is reverse rotated? It sures sounds like a beast on a stand. Sounds like it has a nice lumpy camshaft. I cant wait until I get it in a light weight VW. ZOOOOM
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[Letterman7]

According to my local 'Vair gurus, reversing the rotation, if the pistons were flipped upside down as well (something to do with keeping the right "arc". Apparently it does make a difference.) the engine will actually increase horsepower somewhat. Something like 5% or so, depending on how it's outfitted.

[BL3Manx]

I've heard it makes the engine run smoother.

This is a very useful book for anyone with a Corvair. Clark's still has it for $17.

http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog.cgi?functi...p;page=249

[SteveManx2]

I have a Corvair motor in my Manx 2 buggy. Though instead of reverse rotation and such, my set-up actually uses the Corvair transaxle also. Mine has the TransVair kit which allows the entire Corvair drivetrain to fit into VW suspension/pan. The motor is a 1963 with 140hp heads running a center mount Holley 4brl.

Steve

[BL3Manx]

It looks like you have 5 lug wheels. The Transvair used the 60-64 Corvair swingaxle trans which used 4 lug hubs. Do you have adapters or were the hubs redrilled? The Transvairs they used in buses used the later IRS transaxle.

Are you sure your bottom end is 63? They had a shorter stroke than later engines. It looks like you have an alternator. What about your cooling fan, is it the later non-directional?

[SteveManx2]

Yes, the rear hubs have been drilled....EM Corvairs had 4 on 4.5, these are now 5 on 4.5". The front VW hubs have adapters. The brakes date it to 1962-1963. The motor is a bit of a mystery...the code on the block (T0820YN) indicates 1960-1963 145cid....but it does have 1965 140 heads. The upper shroud is an EM with no provision for PCV but has been modified to fit the 140HP heads. It has a draft tube rather then PCV and yes has an alt. The flywheel, differential, and transmission are all 1962-1963. So, I'm not 100% positive what all is here The instrument panel and gauges are from 1962-1964 Spyder. The fins on the fan are straight...does that indicate LM?

Steve

[BL3Manx]

The fan with the straight blades is 64-69.

[BL3Manx]

This is a link to Corvair Underground if you haven't already found them. Their tensioner is a good investment.
http://www.corvairunderground.com/govair/index.htm

The other essential is a good rebuilt harmonic balancer.
Clarks Corvair carries most of the high performance Otto items. Its fun to read the Otto catalog.

http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/search.cgi?search=%&section=OTTO

[GS guy]

It's a real shame either GM didn't continue development on the Corvair engine to a 3rd generation, or someone hasn't worked on tooling up their own version. An air cooled push-rod 6 is just plain cool!

Unfortunately, by the time you have one outfitted like the pic at the beginning of this post, you'll likely have as much $$$ into it as a real Porsche engine! Factor in the 94mm cylinders, full rebuild, cut heads for the Weber manifolds and revised valvetrain, the Webers or PMO's, Porsche shroud and fan/alt., roller reverse cam.... That all turns into a BiG TICKET motor, likely only pushing about 250 HP or so.. maaaaaybe 300? Then it becomes too hard to keep it cooled while making that kind of power.

A modern engineered and machined bottom end would be the real ticket, with the same modern engineering head design to go with it! Just dreaming though... only mass production would ever make such an engine even remotely affordable.

When I found what it was going to take to make a reliable 200+hp N/A Corvair, I quickly switched gears to a modern "boxer" 4-cylinder engine, factory turbocharged easily able to crank out 250hp - stock. It does come with its own fitment issues though!

Still, I think that pushrod 6 Porsche look-alike is downright cool!

Jeff

[BL3Manx]