<VV> Issues with Vairs

[Tony Underwood]

Ladies and gentlemen:


For what it's worth, it's my opinion that once you work the majority of the 
bugs out of a recently acquired 'Vair and you drive it often, they usually 
don't come back.   Carbs won't gum up, brakes won't "weep" down, ignition 
systems don't dew up and corrode, crankcases don't develop "chocolate 
pudding" under the oil filler cap, tires don't leak down, and the gas 
doesn't sour in the tank.


The '67 500 coupe here has been doing daily driver duty for about 4 years 
now.    That's every day.   Across town and back.

DAILY.

I'm thinking about when the last time was that it required anything outside 
regular maintenance...  although about two weeks ago I put two new tires on 
the back...  does that count?    It's due for another oil change...  and it 
probably is also ready to be greased again.    Transaxle lube was topped 
off about 6 months ago, following a check just for funzies since last year 
when it got a clutch disk and a new input shaft seal (which had been 
drizzling gear lube on the clutch) the gear lube had been "half-assed" 
topped off simply by squirting a pint into it and given the pinky 
test.    The top-off was "just in case", didn't need much.

It got brakes all around a while back (about a year anna half) and last 
time I checked, they still looked good.   Last week I checked brake fluid, 
added a little...  about 4 months ago it got a fresh set of plugs 
too...  didn't seriously need new ones but it got them as a matter of 
course, the ones that came out looked pretty good and WILL go back in 
something else after they get a quick dose of media blasting to clean them 
up.

It might be due for a new set of points...  the ones in it have been there 
for about three years now, adjusted them this spring, will likely check 
them this weekend to see what they look like...  got about 5 sets in the 
workshop, no big deal.


The car seldom ever needs ANYTHING of ANY sort.   It just gets 
driven.    And it seems that the more it's driven, the better it seems to 
do between scheduled maintenance like oil changes etc.


Maybe some of the people who experience troubles with Vairs when they go to 
the garage to break the car out for an occasional weekend drive are having 
those problems because they don't drive (read: exercise) the car ENOUGH, 
not necessarily because they try to drive it too much.


Corvairs like to be driven often and kept "loosened up".


That's one of the reasons my '60 4-door managed to endure almost 200K on 
its original engine with very few issues along the way, and it got driven 
daily, and driven hard on occasion.    And as soon as my engine picker's 
seals show up so I can put the engine back in the car, it's gonna get 
driven daily and hard on occasion once again.

One thing I notice about early models is that if driven vigorously and 
often in city driving, they tend to use up brake shoes... more so than 
lates, for obvious reasons.   I've given serious thought to actually 
swapping out the suspension on the '60 with late stuff... in back as well 
as in front, for the brake improvements.   It would look funny with 5 lug 
wheels...    and it's "soul" may well be rather "polluted" if it gets cut 
up  for late rear suspension stuff.     So, it remains mostly all '60 for 
now, until the 110 engine goes in it next week after the seals show up... 
and the monsoon rains finally end.

I expect to find some issues which will have cropped up because I've not 
been driving the car daily for a while...  but they  will be resolved and 
the car will be back in daily driving duty again and there it will 
remain.     It stays in better shape when it's driven daily than it does 
when it's allowed to sit for any length of time.

Those of you who park a Corvair for weeks at a time might wanna consider 
that.



tony..