Project "KushVair" - 1967 Corvair Street/Track Build

[HotRodKush]

A year and a half ago, I picked up a '67 Vair in Indiana and drove it 14 hours back to NY. The drive was raining almost the entire way, but it was a helluva ride:







The car was already set up with some nice mods and the car was a strong runner, but many mods were 30+ years old and the car generally needed work. My plan was to restore the car, and I began fixing it up as I drove it. I started a build thread for the restoration at that time, but unfortunately my business duties took over my life and I had to put the project on hold indefinitely. The car was parked in a garage and left untouched until now.

Project KushVair
Now, a year later, I've taken the car out of storage and laid out a plan that differs significantly from the original restoration. Thus, a fresh build thread. This build will NOT be a restoration alone. Mechanical repairs will be made as needed, but the goal of the project is to create the ultimate street/track car, with an emphasis on handling, simplicity and weight savings. Original factory weight was 2465 pounds with 110 horsepower. My plan is the following:

Interior: Strip all trim, panels, carpeting, heater ducting, and seats. Install 8-point cage, lightweight seats, install necessary gauges, repaint interior gloss black. Repaint dash wrinkle black.

Body: Lightweight panels where possible, remove roof extension, repair rust issues and repaint where needed (especially front trunk area).

Steering and Suspension: Replace all stock bushings, ball joints and rod ends, hopefully with poly units if I can find them. Replace pitman arm bushing with nylon unit (point of flex on corvairs). 2" drop springs front, 1" drop springs rear, or cut "HD" springs, which ever are available. Koni adjustable shocks front and rear. Possibility of a 4-link kit for the rear, but I'll see how it handles with upgraded bushings on the stock setup first.

Wheels and Tires: Lightweight street-legal wheels, high performance DOT tires. I'm staying away from R-compounds for the street but will use them on the track. New wheel studs and lugnuts. The car currently has nova rally wheels and basic tires, which are heavy and have incorrect backspacing for the car.

Brakes: The car already has a basic Wilwood front disk conversion, I need to figure out exactly what it is and see if there's any upgrades available. For the rear, I'll get all new hardware, wheel cylinders and kevlar shoes. Lines will be inspected and replaced if needed, stainless soft lines will be installed.

Mechanical: Quick-shift kit, fix various leaks, performance alignment, relocate battery to the front, and a full tune-up.

I won't be messing with the motor until everything else is complete. It's got a cam and headers and seems to run strong for now.

[SS PUNISHER]

I Love the look of these!!! Good luck with the build!

[HotRodKush]

Thanks!

Alright, due to the hurricane I can't actually WORK on the car, but I can order parts!

I spent a ton of time researching wheels and tires. The Vair design limits tire and wheel size, so finding a good performing combo isn't as easy as other cars. I decided to go with a set of 15x7 Basset DOT-approved racing wheels, which will work both on the street and track. They'll also allow me to compete in certain classes that require a DOT wheel.

http://www.bassettwheel.com/dot.html


For tires, I went with Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec. They're one of the only 205/50/15 tires that have positive reviews, and luckily they have some of the best reviews I've found for a performance summer tire short of R-compounds. I guess I'll find out!



I went with a shorter sidewall than stock (stock is /70 I believe) because the car is and will remain lowered (though with new suspension), so there's not much room to work with. It'll also help out with steering response a bit. I also picked up a new set of wheel studs, longer than stock, and a set of chamfered lugnuts which are needed for the Basset wheels.

This is a project that I'll be driving while I work on, so I'll probably get these mounted, drive it for a week, and then start on the suspension.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Waiting for more pics..

[HotRodKush]

Back in the "shiny" days:



Motor:



Interior:

[HotRodKush]

Not to confuse the progress report, but I did tear out the carpet last year to get rid of mold and moisture before putting the car away. Unfortunately, I wound up with tons of glued-in fuzz which I'll have to strip out. I won't be installing a new carpet, so the floor itself will need to look better than new before the seats go in.





This might be a sub-project that takes place along with the wheels and tires, just because it's already started. On a side note, for some strange reason the enormous floor shifter is one of my favorite parts of the car. No center console, because there's no transmission tunnel - the floor shifter is really a FLOOR shifter.

[R0gueNomad]

Awesome 67!! I have a 65 that I wanted to make into a Stinger clone, but I like your direction, so I'll be paying attention to what you do.

[Greasy63]

dude.............................................

sweet ride

[jgpclone]

looking good man

[lightninjack]

is that a fitch? i noticed the roof, and thats what they did to the fitch models

[John Wright]

The Vair design limits tire and wheel size,

Did you see the tires/wheels that Tony was able to get to fit under his Vair?
https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...305#post645305

Not without significant work....but he made it work

[HotRodKush]

Thanks guys!

is that a fitch? i noticed the roof, and thats what they did to the fitch models

Yes, the roof extension is a Fitch piece. I believe that it's an original Fitch, it's molded slightly different than the reproductions are. I'm removing it, unnecessary weight for my end goal. Looks cool though, gives the rear quarter more of a Camaro look.

Did you see the tires/wheels that Tony was able to get to fit under his Vair?
https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...305#post645305

Not without significant work....but he made it work

I've been following Tony's build for some time. His setup looks awesome, I'm just going for a more traditional road racing look. The smaller diameter tires will also help on short course work.

[irregal83]

this build is very interesting.. keep us updated!!

[killer67]

Where is Tony Langlois? He needs to see this!

[HotRodKush]

Alright guys, it's been a while! Got a new shop for my business, so I can work on the car on the off-hours, inside for once.

Towing the car to the new shop:



Started by taking apart one side of the rear suspension to see what sort of condition it's in:



Poor condition, apparently. Didn't take photos, but just about every bushing is shot, along with the shock and spring. Nothing too surprising there. I ordered all new poly bushings for both sides, along with new adjustable shocks and stiffer springs. Installation will have to wait until I get around to sanding and painting the wheel wells. I'll also be rebuilding the hubs and axles.

I also removed the rear roof extension, stripped the vinyl and started sanding for eventual paint. I initially was going to leave it off of the car but I do like the way it looks. It'll be painted body-color.



I considered sending the car out to be media blasted after finding this on the lower windshield section:



...however after stripping the interior down and sanding some other suspect areas of the body, the car as a whole doesn't look all that bad. I'll just strip the body when I get to that point and fix whatever rust there is. The floors and frame are still in great shape.

Speaking of the interior, I tore it out today and started cleaning up the glue, seam sealer and other crap that was hanging around.







Long way to go. Over the next week I'll get it cleaned up, sand down the floors and repair any rust areas. Then it's POR15 time! I'll also see about getting a better camera, didn't realize how dark the pictures came out.

[nyciti]

Wasn't this car for sale a few times over the winter?

[SRD art]

Great build!

A quick thought about the interior- If I'm understanding you correctly you're removing most of it in the name of weight reduction. On my street-strip Nova I totally stripped the interior except for high back poly racing seats. I removed everything I could, going as far as cutting out the mounts for the rear seat. Since it's basically a drag car I drive on the street I thought stripping it would get me better e.t.s. Realistically what did I save, maybe 50 lbs? That translates to 1/2 of 1/10th of a second or .05. Looking back I think it was a big mistake and wish I hadn't done it. Now the car is uncomfortable to ride in, engine noise is obnoxious, you hear all the rattles, there's no soft place to rest my arm, it's ugly, I can only have one passenger at a time, I can't drive it when it's cold, etc etc. Not sure about Corvairs but at least for Novas a person could've easily dropped the same amount of weight by leaving the stock interior and putting on a fiberglass hood and maybe a bumper. I actually have a full fiberglass front clip, bumper, and deck lid, so really I doubt the interior strip made all that much of a difference.

I'm all about new seats, they do save weight and they keep you planted in the corners. But as far as the rest, while you have the interior out, I'd suggest weighing the parts and then consider if leaving them out is really worth the few pounds you save. Just food for thought.

Keep up the progress, looking forward to more updates...

[HotRodKush]

Thanks guys! Yes, the car was for sale over the winter - didn't have the time or space to work on it then. Nobody picked it up, so I figured I'd just keep it until I had a chance to rebuild it.

I considered the weight thing regarding street car vs. race car. When it comes to road course work, any bit I can save will help with keeping the car level around corners. I won't be going too crazy with cutting panels out, but it'll be pretty sparse inside. I'll see how much I hate myself after driving it on the street for a while - I might be able to put together an interior that can be installed and removed easily for the track. Same goes for that roof piece.

[HotRodKush]

Alright, time for an update. I Unexpectedly had a few hours to work on the car today, couple of buddies came over to help with the floor too. I don't know what sort of adhesive they used in the 60's, but it's stubborn as hell. We spent hours scraping, sanding, and grinding, and got the rear half of the interior cleaned up and ready for paint:







There's only two spots on the rear floors that need attention - one 8"x8" section that I need to cut out and replace, and another small area that just needs some patching. I'm VERY surprised that there's not more rust (knock on wood).

It was killing me to do all of that work and not see what the new paint would look like, so I de-greased a small section in the back and laid down four coats of "Rustoleum Automotive Enamel". If you ever use this stuff, DO IT OUTSIDE. This is not spray paint, this is death in a can. Holy crap. I'll be doing the rest of the painting outside for sure.





That's all for now, next step is to finish off the floors, patch the bad spots, and finish painting the interior. Then it's off to the wheel wells and suspension.

[HotRodKush]

Spent a few hours on the car the last couple of days. Got through 75% of the interior prep for paint:



Still have to do the front floorpans and under the dash:



Also started stripping the seam sealer from the trunk. A quart of oil was stored in there and leaked all of the place apparantly, so it'll require some good cleaning:





I also took out the headlight buckets to deal with some rust issues around the edges:



And finally, I took apart the rear suspension for rebuild:



I'm going to prep and undercoat the wheel wells before it all goes back together. I'm sending the hubs and axles out to a guy named Steve Goodman who does full rebuilds on them, and I ordered some poly bushings to replace the original worn-out stuff that came out.

Stuff for Steve:



Out with the old:



That's all for now, here's how it sits as of tonight:





Until next time!