<VV> Vair + VW

[Sethracer at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/19/2005 4:31:33 PM Pacific Standard Time,  
pat_wieber at yahoo.com writes:

Seth,  
My bus is a '72 Westfalia camper.The reason I wanted to use the VW trans  is 
two fold. First, some years ago I spent a good amount of $ on the trans.  It's 
been rebuilt with a four spider diff and a tall 4th. Second, I don't  happen 
to have a corvair drivetrain around although I do have the 110 and the  
adaptor.Does anyone make a kit to mount the vair drivetrain in a bus or do you  have 
to fabricate your own? Would you have to get special driveshafts made  
(universal joints inner and cv's outer)? It seem like a lot less trouble to  adapt 
the 110 to the VW and fab up a rear mount. The biggest problem seems to  be the 
rotation thing.Am I out of luck in that the VW trans can't be used  without 
reversing the 110 ? I would like to keep the 110 stock rotation so I  can use 
it as a spare for my 180hp should a disaster happen. I sent this to VV  as 
Harry asked the same question on list.
Pat Wieber
'65 180 coupe




Pat - I did a 68 Campmobile with a complete 110/PG and drove it to  the 1975 
Corvair Convention in Seattle! Supposedly, the IRS transaxales cannot  be 
"flipped" inside - meaning you cannot just move the ring gear to the other  side 
of the pinion. The original swing-axle design was symetrical so the early  
buses could use reduction gears out at the wheels to gain gearing and ground  
clearance. That two gear set-up reversed the wheel direction, so they just  
flipped the ring gear over which made everything correct again. That was long  gone 
in 1968 when they went to CV joints at either end of the half-shafts.  
Everything turned like the car. You could now choose to reverse the engine,  which 
Crown had been doing for a while anyway or Crown and a company named  Hadley 
Chassis Engineering both made kits for the Corvair drivetrain to swap  into the 
68-up VW Vans.  The Hadley kit was called the TransVair. They also  made a kit 
to swap the whole Early, swing-axle Vair drivetrain into a "Baja Bug"  style 
sedan. Anyway, I don't think you will be able to "flip" your ring gear and  use 
the current trans with a regular rotation motor - and the gearing is all  
wrong for the torque of the Vair motor. You would be better off with a closer  
ratio VW car trans. Those ratios are closer to the Corvair's needs. Some more  
history. Hadley was absorbed into Otto Parts many years ago, and Otto parts was 
 sold to Clarks a few years later. There are Hadley kits around and for sale 
once  in a while. I sold a kit to a fellow in Tennesee a few years ago. The 
Hadley kit  is a very clean installation. I felt it was actually easier to put 
the Corvair  drivetrain in than reinstall the VW. 
Good luck with your search. 
 
Seth  Emerson
Sethracer at aol.com
C's the day! Corvair, Camaro,  Corvette