<VV> IT'S ALIVE!!!!!

[Cliff Tibbitts]

I know most of you have been there; done that; and forgotten most of it.
But this is my first Corvair in over 30 years.  It has been a long and
frustration road at times.  Remember my oil pressure problems yesterday?
And how can I forget the crapped out spark plug threads, and the pulling the
engine apart more times than I can remember?  

 

Anyway, I put fuel and fire to it this evening and with more than a little
coaxing, it finally roared to life.  I now have a few more questions for the
vets. First of all some details.

*         110 Block, with Keith Black Hypereutectic pistons, +060. 

*         Go Vair P-200 Cam,  (Close equivalent of ISKY 270??????

*         Completely rebuilt 65/140 heads, new valves, guides, springs,
everything except the seats. 

*         Re-conditioned cylinders, painted by machine shop.

*         Premium rebuilt carbs from Grant Young

*         Ignitor II system with Flamethrower II coil

*         8 mm wires from Seth Emerson

 

Here are the questions.  

1.    There seems to be an excessive amount of smoke coming off the engine.
I know there is always oil paint etc to burn off.  Should I be concerned?
Nothing, except the mufflers was too hot to touch.  And the engine started
easily every time.  I never ran it for more than a few minutes at a time.
Maybe 5 minutes top. 

2.    Timing is supposed to be 12-14 according to Lon Wall. (I think that is
what he told me.)  With the VA disconnected at about 1000 RPMs, it actually
runs better at about 16BTDC. 

3.    This brings me to the final question.  With the Go Vair P-200 cam,
what would be a good idle speed?  Right now, I cannot get it to idle under
800.  I think I need to tinker with the carbs some more, but it is late. 

 

This link should take you to a short video of the engine.  This is actually
the second time I started it.  It ran for about a 30 second burst before I
could get my wife out with the camera.  It is a 6 MB download, so you will
probably need high bandwidth.  Could take about 5-10 minutes over dial-up. 

http://www.tibweb.com/gallery/200601/20060117t-index.html

 

Thanks for looking and for all your help over the last several months. 

 

Cliff Tibbitts

Lexington, KY

With a fire-breathing 140, (finally)