Engine rebuild complete and ready to go back in the car, I'm new to corvairs so have a couple of basic questions:
1, Has anyone fitted any glass pack mufflers like "smithy's" I don't want cherry bomb sound just something a little different from the stock dual mufflers that are fitted to the car.



2, My car doesn't have any heater hoses fitted and other bits needed to heat the car, as I'm in the UK its not easy to replace the system.
Has anyone fitted one of these units or similar?

Thanks in advance.

This is just opinion, but for the money, I would invest in the proper items to make your heater work. When they are in good repair, and working as they should, the heat will drive you out of the car, most than ample heat. I don't know how much is missing from your car, but the lower shrouds, two thermostats and the hoses,would run you about $150.00. And take up NO space in the car, and won't overload your alternator or wiring.

As far as the mufflers, I have had "can" type mufflers on my cars, and they seem to work, sometimes get a bit loud but they will fit and work.

Bob Bauer

Show-Me Corvairs

1966 Monza Convert 140 P/G with A/C, plastic wheel with tele-column am-fm posi-traction
1966 Corsa Convert 180 wood wheel tele-column am-fm sport steering posi-traction
1965 Corsa Coupe Crown V8 temporarily red lined for repair
House Springs, Missouri

I am in agreement with Bob on your heater. But before you get a real good answer you have to tell us more. What kind of heater are we talking here? Most likely a direct air heater (= free heat). What year and model? Finally, what pieces do you currently have (which tells us what you are missing)?

I put the commonly available glass-pack mufflers that were popular back when these were relatively new cars. Only kept them on for a couple of months and then went back to the bland sounding stock dual mufflers.
I was just 17 at the time and I still thought the glass-packs were too loud!

Some modern versions can have a very sweet sound at least on V8 engines with lots of extra tubing to get to the back of the vehicle, but not sure how those will sound on a Corvair with limited space for tubing.
At least it's not a huge price to experiment with while you're trying to find out all the good and bad about different setups.
But be ready for a completely different sound than you expected, just in case.

And this from a person who's favorite sounding engines were British inline sixes! That, or the original 240Z car exhaust sounds were what I'd always hoped for, but found hard to achieve.
Made me always wonder about exhaust design and firing order changes to try to get a semblance of that sweet six sound.

Good luck with yours. If you go that route be sure to let us know what you think.

Paul

Cheers fellas, my car is a 1969 coupe that i imported from jacksonville to the uk.
on the heater front i have the blower controls which work but no hoses at all. my main reason for using an auxiliary heater is that i dont have any of the bottom shrouds that encapsulate the exhaust, i do have the cylinder under shrouds but thats all.
being in england i cant justify the cost of buying all i need from clarks etc, the postage is ridiculous!

the exhaust question is that the car has what look like standard mufflers (dual system) but there huge and on a interweb journey, i found the Smithy mufflers but dont want a 'cherry bomb' sound.

Like Paul I had glass packs on my 4 speed Monza back in the day when I was 17 or 18. What I found then was it gave me a splitting headache when cruising. Going up and down the gears wasn't bad but that pitch at a steady speed was very uncomfortable. I kept them on a month or 2 and went back to the single exhaust.

---

Gary
1966 Corsa Convertible
Northern New Jersey

Go with a single exhaust and source the heater parts somewhere else that is cheaper. Someone here probably has what you need.

Joel
Northlake, TX
5 Ultravans, 114 Corvairs and counting...

Stock replacement mufflers actually sound really good. On a stock engine you will create more noise than performance with a straight through muffler.
I also agree with the others as for the heater; stock heater works extremely well. I would spend the money and get the missing pieces and put it back the way its supposed to be.

Lee J

"cylinder under shrouds"- please elaborate. Our terminology maybe slightly different. The bottom shrouds (for us out west=no rust) are pretty common. Shipping costs I am unfamiliar with internationally but should not be that high (famous last words).

On the heater issue, I suggest you hook up with one of the East Coast shops. Someone who works on the cars. Then get your car up on a lift and shoot photos all around under the rear of the car, And maybe in the engine compartment, as well. With those photos in hand, a shop should be able to gather up all the stuff you will need. It will take up some room, but not particularly heavy. Ship it all to the UK in a box and install stuff back to stock. DO you know whether the previous owner left all the 1969 smog stuff in place, specifically the exhaust manifolds and the smog-pump plumbing?

Seth Emerson

Check my new Performance Corvair Web site [www.perfvair.com]

Once sorted the Corvair heater works very well. That said I find it's much easier to fix up the heater system with the powertrain out of the vehicle.

Since your powertrain is OUT OF THE CAR - fix the heater BEFORE installing the powertrain.

Early Corvairs had gasoline heaters, but not on the LM cars.

I assume you ad with the diesel heater runs on diesel fuel. 5,000 Watts at 12VDC would be about 417AMPS!!!

BTW - Most car electric only heaters are, as a buddy would say "As effective as a squirrel fart in a hurricane".

66Vairman... lousy ad! 5,00 btu...still minimal, although people report they heat vans nicely when setting still!

MODERATOR
Sea Mountain, between Charleston Harbor and Coos Bay! SW Oregon Coast
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I had glass packs on a '66 140. I thought they sounded good; not too loud. It seems if the outlet pipe is about the same size as the inlet they aren't too bad. The ones with larger outlets seem to be louder, but they might have large internal pipes. Sort of like Clark's extractors. They say the ones with large angle outlets are louder than the extractors with the smaller outlet tips.

Wade Lanning

I would suggest you contact the Corvair ranch in Pennsylvania. Take some pics of the underside of your car and ask them for a complete list of what you need and the cost.

As for glass packs. I had one one my turbo, it was too loud and annoying for me. I needed the car for long trips, 500 plus mile trips. Music is much better for your nerves. My wife said the whole house shook when I started the car. Its gone for good.

J.O.

65 Corsa Turbo Vert
79 Honda XL 500S
69 Honda CL 160 D
2010 BMW F 650 GS
2003 Bounder 36D
2013 KIA Optima SX turbo-AKA ZIPPY (wife,s car)
69 Newport Holiday Sailboat
Baja 150 dune buggy cart
Coleman HS 500 UTV
2016 KIA Sorento SXL Turbo

Bethlehem,Pa

problem is the the cost of postage to the uk from the Us is extortionate, i payed almost as much in postage when i bought all new cylinders, pistons etc etc when i got the car.

You bought a foreign collector car and complain about the cost of shipping parts? What are you going to do if other Corvair specific parts are needed??

Lee J

I am running a pair of glass packs (Thrush I think), stock 140 exhaust logs, typical short U-turns and a balance tube. It's pretty loud. Not quite race car loud but definitely wake the baby loud. There is also a substantial drone around 2500-3000 rpm.

Personally, I am torn. I'm a bit embarrassed starting it up in front of my house but once I'm up in the hills, it sounds fantastic.

If you go with glass packs, make peace with the neighborhood and keep a stash of earplugs in the glove box.

James
65 Corsa
SF Bay Area

No local source of 4" (100 mm) hose? Check industrial suppliers.

The weight of the lower shrouds, thermostats and doors (just what is actually missing?) is probably equal to one cylinder assembly.

Sounds like you are trying to save money by causing more issues with installing another heat source safely.

Around these parts, "Smithys" is a term only used by people at least 70 years old! Never even seen them on 60s cars. "Flowmasters" is the new mufflers used by people with cars of the 60s to 90s.

Frank DuVal

Fredericksburg, VA



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2021 08:28AM by Frank DuVal.

One of our club members said that two glass packs were too loud, so he ran a glass pack on one side and a standard muffler on the other side. That resulted in a sound he liked, but I don't know the effect on the engines, if any.

Wade

You'd think I've been living under a rock somewhere since I've never heard of Smithy's but now I'm intrigued. I wonder if they have a different sound than Thrush. Maybe less of a blaaat.
I can see my cartoon bubble saying "I'm running Smithy's". I'm a lot thinner in my cartoon and my hair's not so gray. I do worry sometimes that I look like Snuffy Smith.
I have a "can" sort of muffler like from a tractor supply store on a single exhaust that I use when testing 110 sort of engines on a stand. It's about the same 3 1/2" OD as a Smithy and it's not as loud as I thought it would be. I mainly use it because it's so light and easy to install. It's general poor condition means it won't make it onto the road.
I got a good deal on a EM crankshaft that I'm building an engine around. I think the 110 Big Single I've been hoarding would finish off well with a 2" inlet and outlet Smithy.
I did some work on a 102 PG convertible last year that was sporting a Thrush. It was fun being obnoxious while testing but it would probably grow old.

Jim Brandberg
Isanti, MN
CorvairRepair.com