That would be a very unique project and something you do not see everyday, I say go for it.

Vince

 

You have one of the finest shops I know of, it really should be used for a project. It would be a sinful shame to waste the resources.

 

It might not be your cup of tea, but a turbo Corvair engine in it would be sweet. Or a turbo Por$ch flat six...

 

Leno just happens to have a restored one. Lots of pics http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/photos/gallery/#item=72514 They make a pretty sweet truck and the side ramp comes in real handy. I knoew a couple of guys that had one years ago.

 

Thanks for the link, Kevin. Lots of shots that show were a mid engine power plant would go!! The addition of the Oak strips in the bed sure dress up an unusual bed floor. My biggest concern cruising around in this truck is having my knee caps leading the rear end or head on crash. Air bags would not help here and there is just no way to anchor a roll cage that would protect them.

Still waiting on the call to view the beast to see if there is enough remaining of the truck to make the revival before I am worn completely out.

Trees

 

A change of running gear and front end grill/lights and it would be a cool ride. :thumbup:

 

I remember our local high school auto shop teacher got a 455 into a Corvair, in the middle, in the 1970s. Not sure if he finished the car or not, but I'm sure it ran and drove.

 

I would use a Corvette rear so the drive shaft could be as short as possible,and a Powerglide with a shorty kit would make it even shorter. This set up should let you mount the engine as far back as possible and have a chance to hang the front wheels. :thumbup:

 

Speedy, hanging the front wheels is not as important to me as sticking a 4 wheel drift in a sweeping turn. Front end washing out before the rear breaks loose is not for me.

The guy has not called me to take a look at the Rampside. Guess I'll have to prod him a bit.

Trees

 

Speedy, hanging the front wheels is not as important to me as sticking a 4 wheel drift in a sweeping turn. Front end washing out before the rear breaks loose is not for me.

The guy has not called me to take a look at the Rampside. Guess I'll have to prod him a bit.

Trees

Good luck with the vair and Happy Birthday!

 

Theres no such thing as "the last one" you'll have something in the shop the day you die ...dont kid yourself ,accept it ,its who we are ....Go for it ...
My little brother has a corvair that he put a mid mounted small block in it s a popular thing to do amoung the corvair heads....I believe hes got a marine 350 (aluminum) and a bunch of suspension upgrades .its on the road and its a beast......He loves it..

 

Time to up date this thread. The guy finally called me to view the potential project. I now understand why it took so long. First, he lives way back in an isolated section of of our Western NC mountains that fit the "We pipe the sunshine in and the moonshine out" phrase to describe locality. He gave me good directions and with the aid of the GPS, I found my way there. Being stored on a trailer, under a cover that blew off some time back is not quite the same as being stored in the barn. Regardless, the truck is going to become what I envision but just will take longer. It is all there and ready haul home Sat. We will use my son's Land cruiser which has all wheel lock up and low range that will be needed to drag the rig up a short 30* grade that is covered with grass. The truck is red and white, most all original paint except for a repair one on the left rear quarter (same color scheme as shown in the Jay Leno link). Could not see any floor rust in the cab, but the bed floor was covered with leaves and there could be some there, even though there was no signs of rust where there were no leaves. Three is a few places around the truck that is going to require a bit of new metal. Hopefully, these will be just small spots and nothing major. The truck is either a 63 or 64 but he has to find the title to be sure. He bought the truck in Arkansas 30 some years ago and never transferred the title since he never drove the truck. We have to jump through some hoops but not a show stopper. I will post some "first visit" pictures as soon as I get them resized.

Trees

 

Sounds like a great adventure ,Trees ....I love the hunt...

 

I don't have all the details, but a small block Chevy will bolt up to the Corvair transaxle. I friend of mine when I lived in Calif. did the mid engine swap with a Monza Coupe. If memory serves me correctly the mainshaft has to be swapped out. There should be detailed info available for this swap.

 

I did a quick search and here is a quote from one WIKI site. I have added a couple of links as well.

V8 Corvairs

The ultimate Corvair modification was replacement of the engine with a V8. As daunting as this might seem, two things made it possible:

1. The Corvair engine rotated in the opposite direction from most other engines, so that if a V8 was placed in the rear seat area (the added weight of a V8 in the original location of the Corvair engine would be abominable to drive without proper suspension modifications) and coupled to the front of the transmission via a supplied custom made clutch gear and input shaft, this would drive the car in the proper direction with four speeds forward and one reverse.
2. The switch in 1966 to using standard Chevrolet Saginaw gear sets in the manual transmission could handle the torque of a V8.

A radiator occupies the former trunk, in the front of the vehicle. However, the former engine compartment in the rear now is available as luggage space. A complete kit to adapt a Chevrolet small-block V8 to a Corvair was manufactured by a company named Crown Manufacturing, for $600. The resulting vehicle weighed only 2,750 pounds (1250 kg), compared to 3,700 pounds (1680 kg) for a small block Corvette, and possessed independent rear suspension of almost the same design. Crown's prototype with a 350 hp (261 kW) Corvette engine recorded a quarter mile (402 m) elapsed time of 12.22 seconds and 105 mph (169 km/h). An advantage of this modification is that the mid-engine design provides optimal handling characteristics for the road, as well as excellent drag strip traction without the need for slick or "cheater slick" tires as seen in front engine cars, let alone modifying the wheelbase as on the FX funny cars of the time. Although a few Corvairs have been modified to accept the Chevrolet big-block engine, the added size of the engine makes the work significantly more difficult, and the result, although a great performer, tends to be unreliable. Yenko Corvair YS99 was one of the 300 or so CORV8 conversions made. It is also possible to install a reverse rotation small block chevy in place of the flat six with many modifications.

Here are two links. First Link

Second Link

 

POST PHOTOS! I can't wait to see it. I love those goofy trucks. If you ask me, I would be leaving it Corvair powered. You know nothing about Corvair motors? Get into it, get on a Corvair forum, start messing with it and you are an expert in no time! Do you think I knew anything about a Rambler when I bought mine? I knew NOTHING about the company, the motor, had no idea when they were built, in a short time you get educated.

That Corvair is a piece of American history, restore it.

Brian

 

Frisco, I have a lot of info on the "Corv8" mod and would consider except the good ones involve the later models. The older models which the Rampside suspension has is not as favorable. Pricey, but a Heidts IRS is the way to go because you can select it in varying track widths and since every thing is new, would be as cheap as locating a wrecked Vette that would require a lot of replacement parts and possible machining to get the required track. I am also going for an auto OD tranny (200R)

Martin Sr, I have a lot of experience with Corvairs and an underpowered, air cooled pick up is not in the cards. Liquid cooled V8 is my bag. Except for the box in the bed, it will look restored!!!

Maybe Pics tonight.

Trees

 

Maybe we should change the title to this thread to "New Project" or "Impossible New Project". These Pics will become the first entry to my new project journal that will be started right after posting first look photos.

Trees

 

More Pics.

Trees

 

Wow, what a great little truck,I'd love to have something like that to bomb around town in and good gas mileage too. I'd keep it original, right down to the paint scheme... :thumbup: you dont see those everyday

 

I wouldn't call it "underpowered" -- they usually had enough gear to make them more like "adequately" powered, at least for shorter hauling trips. Wouldn't want to haul a big load on the interstate though -- definitely underpowered for that! Since you're familiar with Corvairs I'm sure you know about engine mods so I won't say any more.

I think you've got the right idea as far as the mid engine setup -- IRS and short shaft. You don't really need a shaft at all -- just one U-joint and the yokes for the trans and rear axle. Sort of like a boat motor connected to a stern drive unit.

The 455 mid engine Corvair that used to run around my home town "back in the day" had an Olds 455 and transaxle from a Toronado in the back, didn't use the Corvair transaxle. Any front drive engine/transaxle combo could be mounted in the rear. The 80s Toro/Eldorado used a small block transaxle but still had the engine fore and aft, not sideways. 90s Caddys had it turned sideways. A sideways Caddy aluminum V-8 in the back would be something!

A neat package would be to cover the rear suspension by leaving the original floor in and make the engine look like it was sitting on a pallet being hauled instead of powering the truck. A tonneau cover would protect it when needed, take it off when at a show and make people wonder about the engine in the middle... powering or being hauled?

 

I wouldn't call it "underpowered" -- they usually had enough gear to make them more like "adequately" powered, at least for shorter hauling trips. Wouldn't want to haul a big load on the interstate though -- definitely underpowered for that! Since you're familiar with Corvairs I'm sure you know about engine mods so I won't say any more.

I think you've got the right idea as far as the mid engine setup -- IRS and short shaft. You don't really need a shaft at all -- just one U-joint and the yokes for the trans and rear axle. Sort of like a boat motor connected to a stern drive unit.

The 455 mid engine Corvair that used to run around my home town "back in the day" had an Olds 455 and transaxle from a Toronado in the back, didn't use the Corvair transaxle. Any front drive engine/transaxle combo could be mounted in the rear. The 80s Toro/Eldorado used a small block transaxle but still had the engine fore and aft, not sideways. 90s Caddys had it turned sideways. A sideways Caddy aluminum V-8 in the back would be something!

A neat package would be to cover the rear suspension by leaving the original floor in and make the engine look like it was sitting on a pallet being hauled instead of powering the truck. A tonneau cover would protect it when needed, take it off when at a show and make people wonder about the engine in the middle... powering or being hauled?

I had my motor set up mid engine in my 48 Chevy pickup for years. It had a 16 inch long drive shaft (just found that I still have it out in my shed the other day) with a 401 Buick mounted between the seats in the cab. I used to love to open the hood. There was nothing there, rad in the stock location and nothing else. I used to love to watch people walk by and glance over then walk closer, then closer while leaning over thinking if they walked a little closer and leaned a little more they would see the motor. They would finally be right over the fender looking down deeper and deeper expecting to see the motor WAY DOWN at the bottom I guess. LOL, but all they would see is the axle! It was funnier than heck watching them.

Brian

 

Ok, the truck is sitting in the shop now. All the junk in the bed has been removed and the Indian Blanket seat cover removed. The seat is nice: just needs a new cover. No rust in the floor or rear part of the cab. Missing one opening latch on the ramp side gate. Some cancer at the bottom of the bed side in front of wheel well, both sides. Previous fender bender damage to lower right front cab corner. Popped a chunk of Bondo out. More damage on that side to ramp side gate and over wheel well. Other small areas of rust damage. Worst rust damage is underneath the battery compartment. Found the title and agrees with the vin plate and the mileage on the title, dated 1980 is the same as what is on the speedo. The instrument cluster is from a 63/64 Spyder. My son has been on line and it seems as though a rare few Rampsides had these clusters. I will have to look this over closely. Regressing, the title says it is a 1961, but there are some other things that says it is a 63 or 64. One is amber running lights (easily changed) the instrument panel and the manual 4 speed shifter is definitely 63 or 64. None of this matters since it is going to be a street rod/modified/restrorod, take your pick. I have three others located and will purchase one of them to see which will become a parts truck. In the mean time, I will be stripping this one and cataloging all the parts and pieces. I will then be on hold waiting on the other truck to determine which body will be used for the final build. I also am going to upgrade the rear suspension on my 36 coupe to a parallel 4 link before getting too deep into the Rampside project.

Farna, some very quick and rough measurements told me the drive shaft tube would be nothing more than a collar joining 2 U joints. Got any links or pics of the boat hookup you mentioned?

Trees

 

OK someone had to drop the nader bomb here so,,, This is a quote form a Nader bio:

His parents were Lebanese immigrants who ran a restaurant. It's said that Nader had no toys as a child, because his mother thought toys were "a waste of time".

Maybe you can pay him a visit and voluntier some services for his next campain, pull up in the truck and offer to be a courier or something LMAO.

Great little truck, can't wait to see this one, remeber to watch out for that nasty oversteer, "unsafe at any speed my arse" would be a good bumper sticker or theme here

 

Ok, the truck is sitting in the shop now. All the junk in the bed has been removed and the Indian Blanket seat cover removed. The seat is nice: just needs a new cover. No rust in the floor or rear part of the cab. Missing one opening latch on the ramp side gate. Some cancer at the bottom of the bed side in front of wheel well, both sides. Previous fender bender damage to lower right front cab corner. Popped a chunk of Bondo out. More damage on that side to ramp side gate and over wheel well. Other small areas of rust damage. Worst rust damage is underneath the battery compartment. Found the title and agrees with the vin plate and the mileage on the title, dated 1980 is the same as what is on the speedo. The instrument cluster is from a 63/64 Spyder. My son has been on line and it seems as though a rare few Rampsides had these clusters. I will have to look this over closely. Regressing, the title says it is a 1961, but there are some other things that says it is a 63 or 64. One is amber running lights (easily changed) the instrument panel and the manual 4 speed shifter is definitely 63 or 64. None of this matters since it is going to be a street rod/modified/restrorod, take your pick. I have three others located and will purchase one of them to see which will become a parts truck. In the mean time, I will be stripping this one and cataloging all the parts and pieces. I will then be on hold waiting on the other truck to determine which body will be used for the final build. I also am going to upgrade the rear suspension on my 36 coupe to a parallel 4 link before getting too deep into the Rampside project.

Farna, some very quick and rough measurements told me the drive shaft tube would be nothing more than a collar joining 2 U joints. Got any links or pics of the boat hookup you mentioned?

Trees

Doing a quick search turned this up. Once you get to the point that you need a shaft made you might get a quote from them. It looks like they can make up a heavy duty shaft for almost any application http://www.johnsonpower.com/