<VV> slow to come - turbo boost no more! but lesson learned..

[Matt Nall]

I'm so glad I waited all these years before buying a Turbo'd Vair....Always 
nice to KNOW you have ALL the FACTS  and not a bunch of BS passed on by 
those that never succeded.   VirtualVairs and FastVairs made my Boosted life 
easy!
Frank has repeated his wisdom so many times in 8 years that it's embedded in 
my memory....

As most know, I purchased a 66 Monza with 65 Turbo engine with 95 hp heads 
and a 2bbl Weber  65  transaxle with 3.27's.....that never made boost....
I first  checked the factory gauge with a calibrated / annual certification 
device.....got lucky and this one is spot on!
Then I checked the  timing.......and curve / Advance- retard of the Ignition 
system.....  knowing we wanted 27 deg. TOTAL advance while boosted;
BUT we wanted all the advance we could get while driving normally to add pep 
and mileage.....but this engine has 95 hp heads [ higher compression!].

So I  removed the Dale VA / PR  unit and added a Soft / fast pullin [ low 
Hg] VA..

Next, we know the less advance ..the quicker the boost....but too little 
while boosted and temps go sky high... so I decided on an initial of 14 BTDC 
with the soft  modified VA that  brings it to over 30 deg. while driving 
normally....but falls off as soon as the throttle is wide open..
I re-curved the distributor to add 13 deg. by 2400 rpm..giving a total of 27 
BTDC while  accelerating / boosting.  And I added a "Knock  Sensor" that 
retards up to 12 deg. if any pinging is felt.

Next we need HEAT..a HOT engine....  300 plus as Frank and others always 
state.....so after fighting a nonworking Factory system and calibrating 
using a portable Hot oil Bath........and installing good tight GM 
T-stats.....I found I could reach 200-220 while idling .......not enough!
I then fabricated "hats" for the T-stats...that sheild the direct flow of 
hot air.....making them slower to open.....once "heatsoak" is achieved in 
the shrouds..it makes no difference...so it's not dangerous  IMO
Now I had 320f on the gauge  at idle..BOTH T-stat doors open standing 
still.....  ready to boost! .... I thought

Still nothing!..gauge would move towards "0"..but never above....

Turns out the trunk of this car had lots of spares..... including a nice 
"straight pipe"....HMMM...... maybe the original builder was using the 
muffler as a limiter???

So on it went.....and sure enough..that nice Clean  Muffler was a little 
1-3/4" inlet unit!......if I'd only looked closer 1st...

After testing / boosting with the straight pipe...I added a Dynomax 
glasspack / straightthru muffler...

What did I end up with?

An engine that, 1st time......gives 8" in 1st,   12" in 2nd, 18" in 3rd and 
25" in 4th...... this is as you pull out of the driveway after letting the 
engine warm to 320f.

I 'm at 4500 ft elevation and run 92 octane....so far so good.........once I 
move home at sea level......we'll see how it acts....






Matt Nall
All Vairs!
http://members.aol.com/patiomatt
Lots of Corvair Technical info!

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <FrankCB at aol.com>
>    Also with the loooooong exhaust piping between  exhaust manifolds and
> turbo it takes a few minutes under full load to build up  boost in the 
> Corvair.
> Get the engine fully warmed up (300+ deg. F on the  CHT gauge) get to the
> bottom of a LONG hill and floor the accelerator pedal and  hold it for at 
> least 3
> minutes.  Four or five minutes is even better.