<VV> Theoretical recommendations.

Charles Fregeau n5hsr at sprynet.com
Wed Sep 1 15:57:06 EDT 2010


I was told the fan was iron through mid 62, then went with a lighter Al/Mag
by another Corvair owner.

The air cleaners on the 62 were the only type mentioned in the owners
manual.  Said we were to clean them with kerosene and make sure they were
thourogly dry, then 'oil' them before putting them back in the housing, if I
remember the owner's manual correctly.  We didn't have paper (throwaway) air
cleaner filters.  Why Uncle Bill would have got the 'desert' package is
beyond me.  He lived in Illinois and his mother in law lived in Florida.
That was about the only two places their family went when he bought the car
in late 1961.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ron [mailto:ronh at owt.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 1:36 PM
To: Charles Fregeau; virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: <VV> Theoretical recommendations.

If you have an oil bath air cleaner it is the optional desert cleaner which 
is rare so don't toss it out.  The early standard air cleaner works just 
fine and is easier to maintain than the oil bath one.
Corvair never had a cartridge oil filter.
Corvair never used a cast iron fan.
RonH

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Charles Fregeau" <n5hsr at sprynet.com>
To: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 11:09 AM
Subject: Re: <VV> Theoretical recommendations.


> Some of the things I've found out about so far:
>
> 1. The mechanic was overtightening the belt.
> 2. There were, although we didn't know it, replacement body pans to better
> fix the floorpan problem.
> 3. Viton o-rings.
> 4. A good 10W-30 oil would have helped.  Maybe 10W-40 in the summer and
> 5W-30 in winter.
> 5. Maybe in later years replacing the early 62 cast iron fan, with the 
> later
> lighter cooling fan.
>
> Also, has anybody replaced an earlier oil cooler with a later one for 
> better
> oil cooling?
> How about replacing the 'oil-bath' air cleaners with somewhat more modern
> ones, and replacing the air intake with the later single filter air 
> intake?
> If I remember correctly, we had a cartridge type oil filter, not a spin-on
> at the time, too.  Dad never did his own work and the most he let me do to
> it was drive it, change the wiper blades when needed and the license 
> plates
> once a year.  Oh, and change the 'snow tires' over in the spring.  (We had

> 7
> wheels altogether, the 4 on the car, the spare in the engine compartment 
> and
> two with 'mudgrip/snow tires' on them.
>
> Charles Fregeau
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
> [mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of Charles Fregeau
> Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 1:43 PM
> To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
> Subject: <VV> Theoretical recommendations.
>
> We used to own a 62 700 coupe that was probably scrapped by the person we
> sold it to for parts sometime in 1975.
>
>
>
> I want to know what we might have been able to do to save it.
>
>
>
> 1.        Body was losing ground at the rear left turn signal.  Sometimes
> the left turn signal would light up but not blink.
>
> 2.       Valves had been 'reground' once at 41,000 and supposedly needed 
> it
> again at 94,000.  I've never heard of anybody else grinding the valves in
> their Corvair.
>
> 3.       Front passenger floor pan had been patched twice.
>
> 4.       Was beginning to develop the infamous 60's GM wheel well rust.
>
> 5.       Found out later part of our problems were that Dad used Kendall
> 20-20W year round in southern Illinois, where the temps ran from -20 to 
> 100
> and yes it was driven on the highway.
>
> 6.       On Halloween 1971, someone cut one of the hoses to the vacuum
> shifting valve? on the Powerglide transmission and loosened the oil pan to
> within half a turn of the nuts falling off and of course broke the seal.
>
> 7.       Also sometime in 1974, a gas station that we had been using for
> years accidentally put diesel fuel in the gasoline tank and we got about
> half a tank full.  We had to have the gas tank removed and cleaned, the 
> fuel
> lines blown clean, and the carberettors cleaned out.
>
>
>
> Assume money is no object.
>
>
>
> This is a 1962 700 coupe.  80 hp, Powerglide  938 Adobe Beige, red 
> interior,
> 2 speed wipers and washer and backup lights and left outside mirror.  No 
> gas
> heater.  We also had to replace the generator bracket once because a
> mechanic overtightened the belts and the stress cracked the bracket.  (We
> used to have to replace the belts every 6 months anyway.)  Up through that
> point, the vehicle had had two owners:
>
>
>
> 17 December 1961-1 July 1970 My Uncle Bill, who had originally bought the
> car for his wife to use.
>
> 1 July 1970  - 4 December 1974 Dad
>
>
>
> There were no other Corvair owners around us at the time, and we didn't as
> yet know about any of the Corvair clubs.  I would have expected they
> wouldn't want to deal with a daily driver in those days anyway.
>
>
>
> I learned about using a proper multi-weight oil as soon as I owned my own
> car.  I never actually owned the Corvair, just learned to drive on it. 
> Had
> we not had to sell it, it might have been my first car to own.
>
>
>
> Charles Fregeau
>
>
>
>
>
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