What do I need to replace and look out for when trying to start my 62 corvair greenbrier

I got her to start for a few seconds on starter fluid in the carbs and that was just with replacing the spark plugs, lines, condenser, dist. coil etc...

Here is what Im doing please add any other advice

1. take out the gas tank, clean and coat it
2. replace the fuel lines
3. convert to electric pump
4. rebuild the carbs
5. replaced all the electrical, dist., points, lines, and spark plugs
6. Change Oil / Oil filter
7. New belt

Im sure if the thing keeps blowing smoke like it did when I got her to start i'll have to drop the engine and replace seals, gaskets, valve stuff etc... Not so ready for that. The only engine I have ever rebuilt was a 50cc 2 stroke motor in a 78 moped - same thing just six of them on this guy right

Jamison
Omaha, Nebraska


1962 Greenbrier



Build Blog
[www.midwestcorvair.com]

I'd pull the cover, and make sure that there are no rats nests under there. While you're in there, you can de-flash the heads. Consider pulling the distributor, and turning the oil pump with a drill until you get good oi pressure. If you can't do that, turn the engine over several times with the coil disconnected. I don't like using starting fluid, if you can possibly avoid it!

1961 rampside with a 65 / 67 110 engine, car four speed.
1965 convertible (SOLD)
1966 Custom two door/four door 180 Turbo.

KC0SKX
Olathe, ks
HACOA

I would do everything on your list before trying. If you look in the FAQ you will find hints for starting a stored engine.

My other advice is find some of the local Corvair owners for help and hands on advice. Join CORSA and you can find them. www.corvair.org

best wishes, Steve
Rear Engine Spec. Inc. Golden, Colo.

1962 spyder 3.0L turbo---1965 Crown V8
1967 monza 110/4---1968 monza 110/4
1971 amante gt 110/4
CORSA/RMC/PPCC/V8 Registry

steve c goodman Wrote:
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> If you look in the FAQ you will find hints for starting a stored engine.

I was going to tell him that too but I could not find that topic in the FAQ section. I assume it would be listed under the "ENGINES" section but I didn't see it.

FAQ's
[corvaircenter.com]

Anyone?

Dave W. / Gilbert Arizona
65 Corsa 140/4 Butternut Yellow
66 Corsa 140/4 Stinger Tribute
66 Corsa 140/4 w/factory A/C Aztec Bronze
65 Monza 4DR 140/PG w/factory A/C Ermine White
65 Monza 4DR EJ20T/5 Light Metallic Blue

Well Dave we may have to resort to Matt's advice "search". I would imagine there are numerous threads about bringing a dormant engine back to life.

I got part of my post correct there are numerous CORSA members listed in Omaha and surrounding area. Whew!!

best wishes, Steve
Rear Engine Spec. Inc. Golden, Colo.

1962 spyder 3.0L turbo---1965 Crown V8
1967 monza 110/4---1968 monza 110/4
1971 amante gt 110/4
CORSA/RMC/PPCC/V8 Registry

Removing Your Car from Storage
Larry Claypool
Chicagoland Corvair Enthusiasts

Storage of cars always presents problems. Aside from the cost of procuring a storage place, the most troublesome aspect of not using your car is fixing all of the deterioration that occurs from disuse. Having had plenty of experience in this field (“It’s been in the garage for three years now, do you think you can fix it?”), I offer these suggestions for putting your Vair back in service, whether it had been sitting for four months or four years. First off, plan on spending the day with your Vair to get reacquainted. After all, you can’t expect it to jump out of hibernation without a little coaxing.

Let’s start with the engine. If the car has been parked for a half year or less, there should not be any problems due to rust (unless the car had been parked in the swamp section of your yard or the engine lid left open).
If the car has been left untouched for longer periods, however, it is advisable to take the following precautionary steps.

Step 1
Put a wrench to the crank pulley to see that it is not locked up. If the engine won’t turn over, remove the spark plugs and squirt liberal quantities of penetrating oil into the cylinders and down the carbs (leave the plugs out). Let it sit a day, at least, then try to turn the crank again (do not use the starter). If the engine still does not turn, go directly to Step 2, repeat the penetrating oil transfusion, then try the starter. If the engine frees up, cease cranking immediately. Turn the crank bolt with the wrench at least four full turns to check for stuck valves. Should you find the engine won’t complete a full turn (goes 1/2 of the way around, for example), remove the valve covers and squirt the valve stems with penetrating oil. With the crank halfway between where it stops, tap all the rocker arms (at the valve end) with a light hammer to see that the valves all move. Sticking valve(s) will not snap back. Dose it liberally with penetrating oil, and if it is an intake valve, dump some down the carb on that side. Rock the crank lightly back and forth against the stoppage point, tapping the rocker arm at the halfway point each time. Continue to rotate the crankshaft until several turns can be made without binding. If the engine did not free up at all, might as well plan on a rebuild. Even though you might be able to free a badly seized motor, the end result is usually not worth the effort. Rusted cylinders and rings never recover, resulting in excessive blowby and oil consumption.


Step 2
Change the oil and filter if you didn’t change it before it was parked, or it you had to use penetrating oil to free the engine. Next, remove the distributor cap, note the position of the rotor and the distributor housing, then remove the distributor. Special tools are made for this step, but you can also use a long bladed screwdriver on the end of a drill. Engage the blade to the oil pump gears down at the very bottom of the distributor hole. With the drill in normal clockwise rotation, run the drill for 20 seconds or so to get oil through the filter, cooler, and bearings. This prevents damaging dry start conditions that will make its first start its last one. When re-installing the distributor, check the points to see that they have not corroded (as they will from sitting), and that they are gapped properly (about 0.016²). After the car is running, the points should be checked again, and reset if necessary with a dwell meter to give 32 to 34 degrees of dwell. Line up the rotor and distributor housing the same way they were when you removed the distributor, and re-install. It may be necessary to turn the oil pump gears a bit to let the distributor seat all the way down.


Step 3
Check the fuel system. Is there any gas in the tank? Or did it all evaporate or leak out a new rust hole or cracked hose? Gas leaking from tunnel covers underneath is a dead giveaway of rusted out gas lines in the tunnel. Check the gas pedal to see that it’s not sticking (your engine doesn’t need 6,000 rpm when it first starts!). If the pedal sticks, curable by removing, sanding, greasing, and re-assembling the gas pedal and support. By loosening the fuel pump retaining bolt and nut, the fuel pump can be pushed up and down by hand to fill the carbs without cranking the engine. After the carbs fill up, watch for gas coming out the carb vent holes. If it does, you have a stuck float—tap the carb top with a hammer to unstick it. Work the gas linkage to check for a nice, strong accelerator pump discharge in the air horn of the carb. If no accelerator pump action is seen, then plan on disassembling the carb to replace the pump plunger or, better yet, put in a whole carb repair kit. Occasionally, the pumps come back to life after being submerged in fuel a few hours, so you may want to delay the rebuild a day or so.


Step 4
Assuming you have gotten this far, pop in a nice, fresh battery, making sure the cable ends are clean and tight. With the carbs full of gas, it should start up with no problems, although the lifters will no doubt make quite a racket. If you’d oiled up the engine before shutting it off prior to storage, it will probably let out quite a puff of blue smoke, too. Just let the engine run awhile (don’t get rev-happy), and it’ll quiet down and clear out. After the engine is running, check the fluid level on the Powerglide and add as necessary (some fluid probably leaked out of the shifter cable during torque converter drain down). Manual shift cars should also be checked for fluid level in the transmission and differential, as some may have leaked from the transmission selector shaft seal. 1964 and ’65 have a dipstick to aid in the check, but you still have to get underneath to fill up the transaxle if it is low. Now that it is running like a million bucks, you’re ready to floor it off down the road, right? Not so fast. Another area of your Vair that takes a real beating while sitting is the brake system. Hop into the driver’s seat, grab the steering wheel, and stomp on the brake pedal. After you stomped on it real hard, try it again, even harder. This obviously is the hard-harder test. What we are looking for is rusty brake lines. Oh sure, they may seem OK driving around the block, but what if you had to really stand on the brakes, say if a ’66 Chevy veered out in front of you? I’d rather blow out lines in my driveway than wear Tony Barretta’s rear bumper! If your car has been sitting only a few months, the hard-harder test and check of the brake fluid should be all you need.
Vehicles in storage longer, though, should go deeper into the brake system. Pull off one drum at a time, and have someone push slowly on the brake pedal as you observe the wheel cylinders. Both pistons should move out. No action, or only one piston moving, signals time for a rebuild or replacement of the rusty culprit. Before reinstalling the drum and checking the next wheel, how is the drum? Rust on the braking surface tends to collect and glaze the brake material rather than wear off the rust.
When checking the rear brakes, have someone pull up on the parking brake, then release it. The brake shoes should do likewise—expand and then pull back. No movement or sticking would indicate a frozen rear parking brake cable. Surely little is more embarrassing than yanking up the parking brake the first time and not being able to drive away later.


Step 5
The final tip on getting the car running for the summer is to check the fuel filters in the carbs to see how they look after a few days of driving. If they are all full of rust and crud, chances are all that junk is .from the gas tank. The best method is to pull out the tank and have it flushed out, or if it really bad, install a new one. At this time, the strainer on the end of the gas tank sending unit should also be replaced. Although some people try to get away with just blowing out the lines and installing an in-line filter, the inconvenience of “gas-outs” and innumerable filter changes would seem to make doing it right the first time more attractive. Hope these tips lead to a fun, and faithful, summer of service
from your Vair!

Dave W. / Gilbert Arizona
65 Corsa 140/4 Butternut Yellow
66 Corsa 140/4 Stinger Tribute
66 Corsa 140/4 w/factory A/C Aztec Bronze
65 Monza 4DR 140/PG w/factory A/C Ermine White
65 Monza 4DR EJ20T/5 Light Metallic Blue






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2018 01:22PM by MattNall.

Good stuff - Old post.

I am preparing a '66 140hp engine to start that has been sitting for possibly decades (no way to know).

Question: Would you bother to drop the oil pan and clean it out before attempting to start or would you leave it alone for now if it's not leaking.

I have already:
taken the top shroud off and cleaned out the mouse homes/fossilized mouse carcass. Brushed/vacuumed the fins. Gently removed all the spark plugs and have now sprayed fogging oil into the cylinders. I've also drained the oil (pretty dirty) and removed the oil filter.

My next steps were to fill the oil, replace the filter and remove the distributor so I can run the oil pressure up.

Comments/opinions?

Enjoy the Corvair!

Paul Sergeant
CORSA Central Division Director / CORSA Treasurer
Lee's Summit, MO
CORSA since 1975
Member – HACOA, Corvair Minnesota, CORSA, Little Indians, POCI

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I always add a little ATF to the oil when getting an old engine going. it just helps to break up some of the sludge.

I would say it depends on what the oil looks like on the dipstick.

The first thing I would do is GET RID OF ANY STARTING FLUIDS.

Since it's easy to do, I would drop the pan. Both the parts engines I had sitting around had major sludge in the bottom. One was much worse that the other. If you plan on keeping the motor, I would.

Doug
65 Monza
Cincy, OH

I don't own starting fluid. I just use gas. if it won't start with gas, I have a problem.


Enjoy the Corvair!

Paul Sergeant
CORSA Central Division Director / CORSA Treasurer
Lee's Summit, MO
CORSA since 1975
Member – HACOA, Corvair Minnesota, CORSA, Little Indians, POCI

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If the condition of the engine is unknown and the oil looks real bad I will drain that out and put in good used oil. This oil is from your car that has not gone 10k on an oil change but something that would go a few more miles. If the oil is like this I will also install the oil filter I just took off at the same oil change. Now prime up the system and see what you have. If everything looks good now pull the pan and change any other gaskets you need to. I hate to change all of the leaking gaskets on an engine that is a boat anchor and needs to come apart to rebuild.

RJ tools
Salem,Oregon