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Its funny that this is going on, since I spent last weekend helping a friend get his Ultra Van ready for burning man. What's an Ultra Van? It's a 22ft Long RV Powered by a Corvair Engine! Sounds like the king of bad ideas to you too? How about when you realize the company that built them not only used heim joints all over the steering gear, They made the upper A arms out of turnbuckles and Lower control arms were an aluminum casting. The entire thing is an aluminum tube with a GIGANTIC fiberglass nose and fiberglass ass. They come in at like 3600lbs and actually.
BTW, the trouble was caused by a 270 degree duration cam, on bone stock compression and a bone stock torque converter in a bone stock power glide. Wouldn't idle below about 1100rpm, couldn't get the carbs off the transfer port, the usual crap. Holes drilled in carb butterflies, spark curve adjusted (using an off the shelf HEI kit in the old point ignition distributor) and back destroyed. As far as I know he made it to burning man... either that or he's dead out in the desert somewhere!
I wish I had more photos, between him and his dad he actually owns 4 of these things! 2 that work, 2 for parts. Along with a corvair, corvair wagon, two corvair vans, and a corvair boat. The Boat is as crazy as the RV if only because the engine is flipped on it's nose, converted to dry sump oiling and bolted directly to the back wall of the boat!
They Manage about 60mph on a good day. The accerlation is pretty good up to about 40mph and then the wind catches up with the contraption in a hurry. Going down hill with the throttle stuck wide open they do 70! Jay's dad, is a jokester, and Jay's Ultra Van has a 160mph speedo in it. Good one dad!
The one my buddy drove, he was likely concieved in it. It was sold off by his parents, and then he happened to find the exact same Ultra Van 30 years later! Now he, for what ever reason, decided that driving a nearly 50 year old RV home 1200 miles through mountains was no big deal.... That story is on barn finds.
BTW, the trouble was caused by a 270 degree duration cam, on bone stock compression and a bone stock torque converter in a bone stock power glide. Wouldn't idle below about 1100rpm, couldn't get the carbs off the transfer port, the usual crap. Holes drilled in carb butterflies, spark curve adjusted (using an off the shelf HEI kit in the old point ignition distributor) and back destroyed. As far as I know he made it to burning man... either that or he's dead out in the desert somewhere!
I wish I had more photos, between him and his dad he actually owns 4 of these things! 2 that work, 2 for parts. Along with a corvair, corvair wagon, two corvair vans, and a corvair boat. The Boat is as crazy as the RV if only because the engine is flipped on it's nose, converted to dry sump oiling and bolted directly to the back wall of the boat!
They Manage about 60mph on a good day. The accerlation is pretty good up to about 40mph and then the wind catches up with the contraption in a hurry. Going down hill with the throttle stuck wide open they do 70! Jay's dad, is a jokester, and Jay's Ultra Van has a 160mph speedo in it. Good one dad!
The one my buddy drove, he was likely concieved in it. It was sold off by his parents, and then he happened to find the exact same Ultra Van 30 years later! Now he, for what ever reason, decided that driving a nearly 50 year old RV home 1200 miles through mountains was no big deal.... That story is on barn finds.
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