<VV> Newbie mechanical Weird FEAR

[airvair]

In the almost 40 years and untold miles of owning Corvairs, I've never
dropped a seat, er, make that a VALVE seat, ever. That includes 140's. 
How many can say that? The trick is, DON'T overheat a Corvair. Ever.
It's ok if the gen-fan light comes on, like when the fan belt breaks. In
that case throw the heater on full blast, if you can't immediately shut
it down. You can nurse it several miles down the road to safety, in just
such an emergency. But once the temp-press light comes on, shut 'er down
NOW. And that's another thing. Best replace belts before they go. I've
lost only a half dozen belts in all those years, and most I knew were
going. Just couldn't tend to them soon enough.

Matt - I must confess to accidentally dropping a toilet seat once in a
while. (G) (Mine is an all-male household, discounting the cat, and
she's fixed and prefers to use her own private facilities. So no need to
keep it down.) ;o)
 
-Mark

Matt Nall wrote:
> 
> Never fear!!   The odds of you dying on the toilet are greater than loosing
> a valve seat....
> 
> It does happen..but mainly to specific  situations.....  engine has been
> severly overheated.....  high rpm performance engines...
> 
> I've only lost 3 in 34 years......   2 on a 140 engine that the previous
> owner was in need of a "rebuild"..not  the engine..
> 
> My Corvair Boat........previous 3 owners all got tired of it running at 600F
> and melting plugwires...
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Vairs are not weird... DIFFERENT LOOKING.....but use similar parts to a SBC!
> Really!
> 
> The big thing is AIR Cooling....and 2 or 4 carbs...
> 
> Both "no brainers", after you understand them...
> 
> Air cooled runs cooler than Water cooled....just cannot have any Hot air
> recirculating back into the engine compartment.
> 
> To COOL a hot engine..you rev it up!   shift down a gear..
> 
> You just need to think of the 6 cylinder engine as  2 -  3 cylinder engines
> when working with the carbs.....
> 
> The carbs???   Just a  1 bbl  Rochester 2GC  1/2 the parts...
> 
> Syncronizing / Balancing ??    Super simple.....after you "understand" what
> you are doing. A 3 minute job!
> 
> Matt Nall
> All Vairs!
> http://members.aol.com/patiomatt
> Lots of Corvair Technical info!
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jeff Wilson" <jwilson at unctv.org>
> 
> > Okay, I like to think of myself as semi-literate in auto mechanical stuff.
> > I can usually divine what might be wrong with an engine even if I can't
> > always fix it myself.
> >
> > But I feel quite lost at sea now that I've entered in the Corvair world.
> > Boy, these things are weird!
> > I feel like I'm having to un-learn about half of everthing I ever learned
> > about good old-fashioned small-blocks!
> >
> > At term I hear tossed-out a lot on this list and elsewhere is "dropped
> > valve" (or valve seat sometimes).
> > Sounds like a common/ recurring problem.
> >
> > I never to my recollection heard of this malady in the small-block
> > world.
> >
> > What is it?  How common is it?  Is there a way to prevent it or at
> > least lessen it's likelihood?  Should I live in fear that my engine is
> > going to "drop a valve" at any minute?
>