<VV> My Bad Corvair Story

[Mark Durham]

Like some others, my car has run but not real well, ever since I overhauled
the engine. There have been backfiring, weak idle, poor mixture adjustment,
timing wander, an intermittent miss, and poor starting. It seemed that
every time I made an adjustment, the symptoms would change, and I could not
get the car to idle below 850 rpm.
The carbs had been replaced as a part of the overhaul, so i went thru them
again,  the distributer was replaced, a colder set of spark plugs
installed, cap, rotor and wires checked, replaced points with a pertronix
unit. I found a NOS advance for it.  I sprayed starter fluid around carb
bases and the balance tube connections for leaks, found none. I thought I
had gone crazy! I poured over tech notes and forum talks, to no avail.
Bad Corvair turned into good Corvair when I finally removed the pcv valve (
I had tightened the clamps on it several times) and capped the line with a
bolt.
I've never had a pcv fail. The engine was sucking air like crazy thru it.
Now the engine idles nicely, and with all parameters set, drives like it
should. Total cost, hundreds, real cost to fix, 4.89 at NAPA.
Mark Durham


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