<VV> A Greenbrier Recruit

[Travis Thayer]

Hey there folks,

I've been intrigued by Corvairs since I stumbled
upon one a couple years ago, and when I saw this
1963 Greenbrier for $850 only a couple hours away
from me I couldn't pass it up.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h114/B0BTheFrog/
Greenbrier/LateSummer197.jpg

So, being the proud owner of this van, I ask
myself the question "What next...?" I've never
owned a Corvair before, and quite honestly I have
next-to-zero experience working on/fixing up
cars... especially a quirky van nearly 50 years
old. But I figure that as in-over-my-head I am
already, I can really only go up from here, and I
am definitely motivated to learn any and
everything I need to get my van up to daily driver
standards.


I'm hoping someone here will be kind enough to
give an extreme newbie a nudge in the proper
direction! :D


The car is running and drivable; the engine is
nice and strong (though obnoxiously loud due to a
hole in the muffler/exhaust pipe) and most of what
should work does (headlights not so much). As far
as I can tell, the kicker is going to be the body:
the floorpans are all entirely intact, though
there is no shortage of suface rust, and the
passenger side door definitely needs to be
replaced and there's a crack in the windshield.

Here's a picture album showing some of the car
(and its fabulous interior :P)
http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h114/B0BTheFrog/
Greenbrier/

It came with two boxes of extra parts and a spare
passenger door, though I have yet to sift through
them and see what's there (hopefully the filters
for the carbs and the gas cap), as well as two new
bumpers and the missing Chevy grille cover.

So... assuming I know absolutely nothing and I
have a few reasonable goals:
1. Make this car a reliable daily driver
2. Don't worry about the exterior beyond what is
absolutely necessary (the paint'll have to go
eventually)
3. Avoid spending an exuberant sum of money (I'm a
college student)
Where would you guys suggest I start?

I'm already a member of this forum (duh) along with
CorvairCentral and Corvanatics, but are there other
more useful websites I should know about? There
seems to be somewhat of a literary dearth of
Greenbrier-specific information, but would some of
the books listed here be pertinent to my
interests? Corvair Basics seems to be a good
starter book... but will that be relevant for
Greenbriers rather than other Corvairs?


On the more mechanical side of things, what's a
good first thing to start work on? I assume that
running some basic engine/transmission tests would
be smart and/or doing a thorough once-over of the
car to determine exactly what is missing, but
maybe there is something more basic. If you do
suggest that I do an engine checkup, is that
something I could likely complete myself with a
couple friends, or would it be smarter to take it
to a mechanic until I've garnered some acceptable
car know-how?

Being that there is surface rust and the paint is
cracking/bubbling in places, it's obvious that the
paint is going to be stripped at some point. Is it
advisable to sand blast it now and then leave it
with a primer until at last I'm ready to get the
car painted? (Whenever that is....)


As you can see I have more questions than is
probably healthy, but I'm not going to get
anywhere if I don't ask. If you have the time to
read all the way through this post, then I thank
you immensely... and if you can contribute a bit
of first-time owner knowledge by way of some
suggestions, I'll be forever grateful!

Cheers,
Travis T.


Here's a simple question that could easily be
answered: what sort of fuel should I be running
this thing on? 87 Unleaded with a dash of
two-stroke, or will just regular pump gasoline
suffice?


[Travis Cole Thayer]
"Classifying mathematical problems as linear or non-linear is like
classifying the universe as bananas and non-bananas."