The Corvair war continues and rather than make this some sort of protracted long fight, I am going to level the heavy guns at McTaggart here and pretty much vaporize him from the face of the planet. What I have brought to the table today is in many ways the ultimate Corvair. It is a 1965 model and it has nice paint, a clean interior, and a 327ci small block Chevy engine shoved directly behind the driver and passenger seats thanks to a legendary Crown conversion kit. We have seen a couple of these things in our day but never ridden in one. We bet that it is awesome in every way because of the weight balance.
With the engine mounted dead center in the car and not hanging out in the trunk like in the original form, the front to back and right to left bias must be fantastic. There’s also the freak factor that will have people flipping out a car shows and cruises, the speed factor which has to be entertaining as hell, and the knowledge that there are pulleys and junk spinning at thousands of RPM inches away from your back and side.
According to the seller the interior nose is about what you’d get in a car with glass pack mufflers cruising down the road so it is totally tolerable. He said that the box that the engine lives in was insulated to keep the heat out as much as possible and we think that is a good idea because idling with a big engine in the car in summer traffic would otherwise be horrendous on every level.
The car may be sold by the time you see this so here’s the text of the ad:
Mid Engine 327 cuin V-8 Corvair Corsa . Crown Mfg Conversion. 4 spd trans with Hurst shifter. Independent suspension on all 4 wheels. Big valve double hump heads, solid lifters, Holley intake manifold, Holley 4 brl carb. High lift cam. Runs very good. Rough idle from cam. Fun car to drive. Handles very good and is fast. Gets a lot of attention. 55262 miles showing on the odometer, actual mileage is unknown.
Engine Compartment is insulated for heat and sound. My 57 Chevy with glass packs makes about the same noise heard from interior as this Corvair does when driven normally.
When the pedal goes to the floor You know that Motor is behind You!
Check out the photos and then hit the eBay link for more –
Now this is cool!
I have one too and you definitely want to set them up this way, with manifolds and insulation for sound and heat. Otherwise you’re done after 10 minutes.
when I was 14 years old one of my friends older brothers had one of these done up this way it was stupid fast ! and handled like it was on rails
So much want.
I believe on the crown kit the pinion runs on the back side of the ring rear in the diff, kinda weak