Project "KushVair" - 1967 Corvair Street/Track Build

[DETON8R]

Saw an article in Super Chevy (I think...) where a Corvair and 1980's G-body (Monte Carlo/Grand National/Cutlass/Grand Prix) had the same wheel base and similar track width as a Corvair, and the Corvair body was put on a G-body frame and floor. LS1 / T56 or 4L60E is an EASY swap as the Monte Carlo folks are selling conversion kits.

I thought about this myself for my project after the 1969 Camaro but found an awesome deal on another project car (Need an old car as a foundation out here in California to stay away from the smog nazi's, and I've worked on Corvairs in the past).

Wouldn't take much to get a dead G-body for next to nothing, box and stiffen up the frame, get a DSE suspension kit and you would have quite a foundation to start. Tons of other g-body related parts too, 9-inch rear ends, big brake kits. Need to look at a few things that need to be thought out ahead of time, like cooling the engine, as the Corvair has no grille, but those kinds of things have been worked out before.

Ton of work, on a proven chassis, but easy to do if you are a handy welder and fabricator, and have the time and ambition. Here's an posting on a LS1 conversion. Found it quick, and I've found a few other tech articls on other pages too, I just don't have time to dig them up.

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/conver...1-corvair.html

Hmmmm.... Can I post an article from another site and not get it deleted.... Guess I'll find out.....

[73RSZ/28]

Nice Project. I had a late model several years ago loved that car. Mine had the 140 hp with 4 single barrel carbs. I put the Holley 390 cfm 4 barrel set up on it. Ran great until temps dipped below 40 then would start freezing the intake runners.

[HotRodKush]

Alright guys, it's been a while! Got a new shop for my business, so I can work on the car on the off-hours, inside for once.

Towing the car to the new shop:



Started by taking apart one side of the rear suspension to see what sort of condition it's in:



Poor condition, apparently. Didn't take photos, but just about every bushing is shot, along with the shock and spring. Nothing too surprising there. I ordered all new poly bushings for both sides, along with new adjustable shocks and stiffer springs. Installation will have to wait until I get around to sanding and painting the wheel wells. I'll also be rebuilding the hubs and axles.

I also removed the rear roof extension, stripped the vinyl and started sanding for eventual paint. I initially was going to leave it off of the car but I do like the way it looks. It'll be painted body-color.



I considered sending the car out to be media blasted after finding this on the lower windshield section:



...however after stripping the interior down and sanding some other suspect areas of the body, the car as a whole doesn't look all that bad. I'll just strip the body when I get to that point and fix whatever rust there is. The floors and frame are still in great shape.

Speaking of the interior, I tore it out today and started cleaning up the glue, seam sealer and other crap that was hanging around.







Long way to go. Over the next week I'll get it cleaned up, sand down the floors and repair any rust areas. Then it's POR15 time! I'll also see about getting a better camera, didn't realize how dark the pictures came out.

[HotRodKush]

Any idea how to make the images show up in the post? I used the IMG tags but it just shows the URL.

[Sieg]

Right below the undo button in the posting menu bar there's a square yellow icon with a mountain and sun. Click that and it will give you a pop-up screen to paste the url of the photo in. Assuming you have the photos uploaded to a photo hosting site.

[HotRodKush]

Got it, thanks - used photobucket.

[HotRodKush]

Alright, time for an update. I Unexpectedly had a few hours to work on the car today, couple of buddies came over to help with the floor too. I don't know what sort of adhesive they used in the 60's, but it's stubborn as hell. We spent hours scraping, sanding, and grinding, and got the rear half of the interior cleaned up and ready for paint:







There's only two spots on the rear floors that need attention - one 8"x8" section that I need to cut out and replace, and another small area that just needs some patching. I'm VERY surprised that there's not more rust (knock on wood).

It was killing me to do all of that work and not see what the new paint would look like, so I de-greased a small section in the back and laid down four coats of "Rustoleum Automotive Enamel". If you ever use this stuff, DO IT OUTSIDE. This is not spray paint, this is death in a can. Holy crap. I'll be doing the rest of the painting outside for sure.





That's all for now, next step is to finish off the floors, patch the bad spots, and finish painting the interior. Then it's off to the wheel wells and suspension.