<VV> Corvair Industrial Engines

[Brent Covey]

This Canadair story reminds me of an engine I once saw...

I once worked on a Corvair engine for a customer that was ultra heavy duty
and had numerous changes from Chevrolet compared to a regular passenger car
engine. IIRC it was a 164 cu/in meant for some sort of aviation sort of
purpose- I am pretty sure it had 140 HP style heads, too.

It would have been a 'long block' sans carburetion in a crate when I saw it.
It had some very odd features including a VERY DEEP (3" or so) cast aluminum
finned oil pan with a Chevy part number and Winters foundry snowflake mark
cast into it, and an oil cooler about triple the size of the usual passenger
car type that stuck out about a foot farther to the left than the usual,
with a cover adapted to the factory type shrouding. I also seem to recall it
having a flat narrow bellhousing that resembled the back end of a Chevy
truck engine, a ring bellhousing the left the flywheel etc hanging out.
Otherwise it looked pretty much like a regular 140HP, and my job was to
change the pan and cooler and some small items so it could be used in the
customers '64. This was in Calgary, Alberta in the early 1980's. The engine
had been in storage in a crate for many years prior to ending up with this
guy.

I've always wondered about the background behind that engine, which clearly
was produced by Chevrolet and not a modification of some car engine. All the
weird parts had GM part numbers and the funny oil cooler was just a longer,
bigger version of the usual 12 plate style cooler.

Is there anyone has information on Corvair industrial etc engines, or a
resource on the web?

Brent Covey
Vancouver BC