protlewski

Hey I was woundering If I am the first person to think of or do a rotary conversion on a '66 chey corvair equiped with a crown Corv-8 package?

Thats what I want to do and it seems to be a pretty original idea. Because thats a sleeper. The turbo 'vairs kicked *** and they only had 180 hp and 1966 technogy
now mine comes with the low end proformance engine the 110hp flat six(they all had 164c.i rear mounted flat six's) so naturally I want more power but just the sheer no avilalbilty of ehis engines parts tic me off. So I am going to throw a 20B in the back seat call it a mid-engine and kick some ***! my site is http://www.geocities.com/protlewski/rotovair/index.html just imagine a 20B sitting there.

Jeff20B

iTrader: (13)

It would look a lot better then that ugly chunk of iron

protlewski

Yeah I didn't put that V8 in there I bought it like that.

wdwflash

Does your Corvair have the Crown conversion or is it stock. If its stock and in good shape, it will be worth more in years to come, if you cut it up it won't be worth anything. I had a '64 corvair Monza spyder conv. and instead of cutting it up I traded it to a Corvair collector for a '78 Kelmark(kit car) and put a TurboII engine in it.
If its got the crown conversion there is a club out there for those cars. If its stock, Corvair Underground in Oregon(has internet site I believe), has parts a lot less expensive than Clarks.
Two years ago I was at an autocross(SCCA event) near my home and there was a Corvair out there('66 I believe), kicking *** on everyone. He had the 4-carb(non-turbo) set up and had gone through the engine and suspension. It was very fast and could corner like it was on rails! Remember a lot of Porsche cars only have a 4cyl aircooled rear engine, and the really fast ones have an aircooled 6cyl!

9C1 cruiser

That would be pretty sweet! There are a lot of Corvairs for sale around this area but almost all of them are convertable and most are rusted through the floor pans and/or the engine doesn't run.
Here's something to think about:
Chevrolet almost produced a mid-engine rotary-powered corvette on two or three different times but decided not to change from the "Traditional Values" of the front engine (OHV V8 piston) rwd. They were going to stick a 4-rotor in the back and actually produced a very limited number...somthing like five or so. They did this in the late 70's and again in 1999! It is all in the www.monito.com web site. Also, the Chevy VEGA was originally designed to be a rotary engined car and also the MONZA! Chevrolet changed its mind last minute because of how "traditional" the Chevy owners are.

If you do it, hope it works!

protlewski

My corvair is stock with the 110 engine it runs good it's in good condition but I was thinking of buying another crappy one to do the conversion on. I was also planning on doing the suspension and building some custom spoilers. The biggest part I see with a 20B conversion will be where to put the inter cooler with as little piping as possible or maybe go with a air-water intcooler instead. what do you think?

9C1 cruiser

Here's some basics on the rotary powered Corvettes:
1968 Corvette Astro 2-XP-880. Mid engine V8.
1970 Corvette XP-882. Mid engnie V8.
1973 Corvette XP-897 GT..."two-rotor car" Front engine/rwd. 266ci.
1973 Corvette XP-882 T..."four-rotor car" Front engine/rwd. 390ci. 420 horsepower!! "super Wankel".
1973 Corvette XP-882? four-rotor mid-engine!!
1999 Corvette Indy and Cerv-3....mid engine V8.

Chevy had six different rotary engined cars that almost made production in the 70's! Check it out at: www.monito.com/wankel/corvette.html ...and at:
http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/v...s/vett1970.htm ...and at: www.archive.vintageweb.net/prototyp/xp-story.txt ...and see some pics at: http://members.easyspace.com/corvette/prototype/

hope these sites still work! I copied a lot of this stuff a couple of years ago. There are at least a dozen other sites with info on mid-engine rotary Corvettes! I know that it isn't quite a Corvair but it is a good place to start digging for info on transmissions and such!

9C1 cruiser

The coolest thing is that you can use the "trunk" area! Could you put intercoolers and radiators and such all up front in the trunk? I think that is how they do it with most performance based mid engined cars. You should do some research into the Toyota MR2 and MR-S. I know that they have offered a supercharged, turbo, and twin-turbo options. I wonder if they used the front of the car for coolers and such?

Just an idea.

protlewski

well the front is all right for the radiator but not for the cooler because the sheer amount of piping would cause some ultra major turbo lag. I am serously considering a vortech or other air-water after cooler and some custom piping just because of the space requirments. But right now the project is in the fundraising stage Because I don't want this to become one of those projects that you tow around and end up selling because you don't have the time or the funds to finish it and something or other will go wrong when i'm putting it togather and I will need more money to fix that too so I want a buffer but when I do get this togather you'll be sure to see a site posted on here or another rotary site about the first rotovair.

BlackSport0187

Hey glad to hear that you own a Corvair! My grandpa is a fanatic. My very first car was a 1963 Chevrolet Corvair van (or Corvan 95 for those who know what they are). We built the car together, it also had the 110hp flat six. My brother's first car was a 1965 Corvair 500. He also built that with my grandpa. My cousin also has a Corvair 500, but I think it's a four door.

Anyway good luck,
Isaac

protlewski

those 500's are acully worth more than the monza cause fewer were made mine is a monza 110 coupe automatic with a positrac tansaxle. it doesn't have fact. a/c it's in good shape except for the hood and other little spots of rust but its not been really run for at least 6-7 years its up at my grampa's house in michigan. he has 2 other corvairs one a 63 monza and a 67 500 the monza has a 4 barelle carb kit on it.