It's a neat project. My dad still owns a few corvairs that he bought when I was a kid. His first car was a 61 4dr.

You might be right about the weight of the LSX motors. I know that there's at least one guy that has done a rear engine LSX swap, but I don't know about the handling of that car. For me though, I've always had this image in my mind of a mid-mounted small block. It's one of those boyhood images that has stuck with me for years, so if for no other reason that's why I'm interested in doing it now.

If you want to sell any of the old parts, I'd be more than interested! I'm more interested in the Crown kits than the Kelmark, if you have any conversion pieces from them :thumbsup:

I'll look for the parts, that won't be a quick thing but I assume your not in a rush? Totally hear you on boyhood image and the mid mount, I'll not try and talk you out of it, but, have you looked at many up close, have you driven in them? For a full blown beast of a toy it is bad ass! It's also crazy- that engine is in the back seat!!

I have a few pics, specs and basic planning of the LSX in the back I'll forward you that info and contact info of people who have done it. Just think about it....

Not in a rush at all - I'm thinking that I'll do some sort of V8 project next year sometime, after the rest of the car is all finished. Thanks for the info, I appreciate it - it'll come in handy when the time does come to do something.

that one looks almost in too good of shape to cut up for a V8 conversion :) That said, go mid-engine mount and use a simple LS1 with 915 Porsche transaxle and you will have a blast of a car... unless you have money to burn then tube chassis the rear with a cage and front tie points, run a hot-rodded LSx with 500+ HP but you have to go 930 trans (which I just sold my old one today) or really expect to pony up the $$ for a Mendy - trust me, I know :unibrow:

I have 525HP when I lived closer to sea level and my 914 is an absolute freakin' rocket and there was a guy with a blown V8 corvair that was rather rough in execution frankly but really pulled out of the corners.

I can tell you the stock chassis of that 'vair is just as wiggly-piggly as my 914 was and out of a corner, on slicks and on throttle I had good grip and power to ground, I could literally feel the chassis wind up on it and that is why I am tube chassis front to rear now. That and the 160+ mph front stretch speeds the car would reach at Willow Springs in SoCal.

This was my car a couple years back :cool:

Tim, that's a helluva project!

Took care of the fuel leaks around the carbs today...or at least thought I did. I ordered a set of replacement spacers and base gaskets for both carburetors hoping to fix the big fuel leak I was having on both. The kit came with 2 spacers and upper/lower gaskets for those spacers:

http://guywithacorvair.com/wp-conten...3-25-12.58.jpg

I started by removing both carburetors. As it turns out, ONLY the spacers were present when the carbs came off - no gaskets at all. Ya think that might leak a little?

http://guywithacorvair.com/wp-conten...3-25-12.57.jpg

http://guywithacorvair.com/wp-conten...-25-13.121.jpg

Then came inspection and cleaning of both mating surfaces of each carb. Here's the bottom of the passenger side carb:

http://guywithacorvair.com/wp-conten...-25-12.581.jpg

Next, installation of the spacers with one gasket below and one above:

http://guywithacorvair.com/wp-conten...5-13.00.07.jpg

And finally, installed the carburetors:

http://guywithacorvair.com/wp-conten...3-25-13.23.jpg

So, some good and some bad news. The car runs ALOT smoother, which means there was a considerable vacuum leak around those base gaskets before I replaced them. However, it didn't fix the gas leak that I had thought was coming from there. The passenger side is still leaking from somewhere - maybe the float is stuck open? Too much fuel pressure? Other gaskets leaking? I have no idea, I'll have to take another look next week. I'm pleased that the motor is running better though, at least an improvement of some sort occured even though it wasn't the intended one!

A bit of a Corvair safety tip. You should ditch that glass fuel filter. IMO not good in any car but, particularly bad in a Corvair with that crazy belt set up and the off chance of flippin' a belt and hitting the glass filter.:rolleyes:

Good luck.

Thanks, that's a good thought. I'll get a steel cased inline filter on my next parts run.