Project "The engine is in the back????"

[HotRodKush]

I decided to sell the Camaro and do something a little different. After thinking about it for a while, and then coming across this corvair on Ebay, I knew that I had to change direction and start a new project around this car. Introducing project "The engine is in the back????":





I flew out to Indiana last weekend and drove it back 13 hours straight to NY (in the rain, the entire way). Now the fun begins - first thing's first, have to fix a fuel leak at the fuel tank and at both carburetors, and I need to rebuild the steering box because there's about 90 degrees of play in the steering and it's a little hairy to drive. But hey, it got me home.

After the initial mechanical repairs are done, I'll start to think of improving the handling. It already has Yenko sways on it and appears to be lowered. I'd like to get a set of 16" black Cragar steelies and some nice tires to replace the older Nova wheels and tires. The motor is cammed and has some carb and ignition work done. It's fairly quick, especially for a Corvair. Who knows, maybe one day it'll get a V8 swap (a guy can dream, can't he?).

Anyway, just introducing the project. I don't have any particular plan, just a general plan to improve the car over time little by little. It won't be a dedicated race car so I'm keeping the interior, just going to modernize it a bit and increase the handling as much as possible. I'll be double-posting here and on my website, but the site is just a build log - the real fun is getting everyone's feedback on the forum!

[terryr]

Neat. The rear roof line really looks altered.

[monza]

LSX in the back!!! V8's are so not practical to have a engine in the back seat.
Nice looking Corvair.

[Silver69Camaro]

Sounds like a good project for a LS3 and a Mendeola transaxle...

[HotRodKush]

The issue with putting a big motor in the back is the weight balance - a couple of guys have done it and apparently the handling suffers alot. A mid-mounted motor where the back seat is, gives the car nearly 50/50 weight distribution. There was actually a couple of companies back in the 60's/70's that did mid-engine conversions - Crown and Kelmark - but the parts are long gone and nobody still makes them. Still, not a bad project to try one day

[Silver69Camaro]

Can't imagine a aluminum LS weighs a helluva lot more than the old iron engine...Porsche seems to do pretty well with their rearward weight offset too.

[monza]

Originally Posted by HotRodKush

The issue with putting a big motor in the back is the weight balance - a couple of guys have done it and apparently the handling suffers alot. A mid-mounted motor where the back seat is, gives the car nearly 50/50 weight distribution. There was actually a couple of companies back in the 60's/70's that did mid-engine conversions - Crown and Kelmark - but the parts are long gone and nobody still makes them. Still, not a bad project to try one day

A LSX motor is only slightly heavier then a stock Corvair set up. IMO opinion a properly set up LSX powered Corvair would change the entire Corvair after market and make it a viable Hotrod, it would rock.
Not much really to the parts Crown and Kelmark offered, I may still have some of the frame mod parts in my stash if thats the route you want to go?