I tried, key word is tried, that with an FMX in my 50 Ford F-1. and I was stupid enough to try it with no one home to call 911!Was jus' reminiscin.... Late 70's Dodge van. 4spd ovrdrv. Same as the guy in the vid... roll it on your chest and heave ho. The follies of youth.
My arms jus' started shakin' thinkin' about it...
-
Enjoy XS650.com? Consider making a donation to help support the site.
XS650.com receives a small share of sales from some links on this page, but direct donations have a much greater impact on keeping this site going.
Getting the ‘57 beetle back on the road in 2024
- Thread starter bosco659
- Start date
Back in my Corvair days we lifted up the engine, transaxle, and trans as a unit on a teetering board on a floor jack. That was pretty straightforward with a helper. When I moved to Victoria I met a Corvair friend who had worked at GM dealership in the 60s/70s and he had the genuine GM Corvair power train floor jack for lifting engines in and out. What a great tool that was! One guy could do the job. Two was better amd faster.
The time I replaced the flywheel in my 1965 Corvair did it one the concrete floor in an old cow barn. Used a steel roll table from work. Positioned table under engine. Raised the rear of the car with chain jack and removed rear tires. Let car down so engine was on the roll table. Un-hooked engine and rolled it out enough to be clear of the clutch then raised car up to remove flywheel.
The reason for removing the flywheel is they were three piece assemblies with a flex plate between the clutch surface and the part that bolted to the crankshaft. Forget what year that was but early to mid 1970's and local small town dealer actually had new flywheel in stock and service manager had listened to it idle and told me what was wrong. No charge other than price of new flywheel!
The reason for removing the flywheel is they were three piece assemblies with a flex plate between the clutch surface and the part that bolted to the crankshaft. Forget what year that was but early to mid 1970's and local small town dealer actually had new flywheel in stock and service manager had listened to it idle and told me what was wrong. No charge other than price of new flywheel!
Hey guys: I had a 1965 Corvair Corsa 140 HP (4x1bbl carbs, big valves, HD clutch, dual exhaust, 4-speed synchomesh floor shift tranny and full instruments). What a cool car - and pretty darned fast if you could keep the engine on the boil and the carbs synchronized which was no mean feat with four carbs that were not situated very close to each other (two per back about 2-1/2 feet apart).
I paid $125 for it and the body was fairly rough so I bought some sheet aluminium, formed new lower fenders, and riveted them on and then blended the seam with fibreglas and mucho-bondo. Then I painted it with a roller (yikes!!). The "vinyl top" was faux - it was actually just a heavy coat of black paint with some bumpy texture stuff mixed in - but it was stylish in the 1960s-70s. Because the colour scheme was black and blue, my buddies called it "The Bruise".
Once when I was giving my girlfriend a ride to her job, the clutch cable rubbed through the wiring harness and the bloody thing caught fire. We piled out and a passing trucker stopped and let me use his fire extinguisher to put it out - but not before it burned out the wiring harness. I just went to a wrecking yard and salvaged the entire wiring harness out of a wrecked Corvair, popped it in, and was back in the game for about $15 and three hours work.
That car was the best vehicle for drive-in movies and "going parking". It had big bucket front seats that folded forward and the back of the bench rear seat folded down to form a near perfectly flat double bed under the very shapely large rear window.
Ahhh, the views I got back there on the county roads around Richmond Hill Ontario.....
Here is a photo of the car in my folk's driveway - about 1976-77. You can juuuust see the dual exhausts poking out below the rear valance.
I had to rebuild the engine (bad rings) and I eventually had to change the flywheel (bad ring gear) as well, but it took me a while to save up for the new part so for about 6 months I did "Fred Flintstone" starts out the door. The engine was so well tuned that it went first time - every time, even in the winter. In this whole saga I had the engine in and out many (like...10+??) times and like you, I used a conventional floor jack and a lot of cussing as we tried to balance it on the teeny little jack pad.
It was my very first car and I loved that little blue bomber....
Pete
Last edited:
Had 2 Corvair's when I was a kid... both were wore out beaters. One evening was out doing doughnuts in a sand pit when the engine suddenly reved to the moon and the Corvair slowly came to a stop. Did I mention I was but a kid?
Almost dark and I couldn't see anything wrong in the engine bay. Walked around the side and the right axle caught me square on the shins. Not sure what hurt worse, the shins or my face when I planted it.
Turns out the axle is pressed into the bearing inside the transaxle. That it, no 'C' clip... nothing holding it but the press fit in the roller bearing. Under numerous slides, it let go. Pretty silly design, no?
Almost dark and I couldn't see anything wrong in the engine bay. Walked around the side and the right axle caught me square on the shins. Not sure what hurt worse, the shins or my face when I planted it.
Turns out the axle is pressed into the bearing inside the transaxle. That it, no 'C' clip... nothing holding it but the press fit in the roller bearing. Under numerous slides, it let go. Pretty silly design, no?
I had a 1966 Corsa 140 HP. Before the one the flywheel problem one. That one lost a fight with some big Buick sedan. I was going from the church where my brothers wedding was and headed for the Wedding Reception a couple towns away. The guy driving the big Buick pulled out of a side street just as I was going past! Damage was pretty bad as the dash was buckled in a couple inches. My sister was in the front seat and my brothers new wife's younger brother was riding in the back. That little Corvair hit the Buick hard enough to turn it almost 180 degrees around. Other than some sourness from bruises we did not get real hurt. Also good was we were lest than three city block from the city hospital. Once we checked out we got a ride with brothers new father in law to the reception. Corvair did not survive!
Guess we better get back to the `57 Bug story before someone gets up set!
It’s all good!
My sister had a 62 or 63 bug in highschool. Rusty. Wisconsin rusty. The body sagged when the passenger door was opened. Brilliant solution was fix a hasp with a bolt so the door didn't open and every body loaded in the driver's door.
Sometimes with nice spring or fall weather, in highschool, someone would declare "Baby Bull Friday". BabyBull Friday meant at lunch you drove to the liquor store, bought an 8 pack of Schlitz 7oz Malt liquor, drove to a remote park and partied and missed half of your next class. I had my sisters car for some reason and 4 passengers. So after consuming too much malt liquor as we are driving back to school we smell something. Then the fellow in the passenger side rear says stop I on fire. As now we saw smoke in the car I pulled over and parked. Well three kids have to get out through the only exit, driver's door before the on fire guy gets out and we are swatting his smoldering ass laughing our butts off on the side of a busy street. The seat springs in that corner of the rear shorted on the unprotected battery terminals.
Sometimes with nice spring or fall weather, in highschool, someone would declare "Baby Bull Friday". BabyBull Friday meant at lunch you drove to the liquor store, bought an 8 pack of Schlitz 7oz Malt liquor, drove to a remote park and partied and missed half of your next class. I had my sisters car for some reason and 4 passengers. So after consuming too much malt liquor as we are driving back to school we smell something. Then the fellow in the passenger side rear says stop I on fire. As now we saw smoke in the car I pulled over and parked. Well three kids have to get out through the only exit, driver's door before the on fire guy gets out and we are swatting his smoldering ass laughing our butts off on the side of a busy street. The seat springs in that corner of the rear shorted on the unprotected battery terminals.
That is actually a true risk. There’s a steel lid that goes on top of the battery that has a thin rubber pad glued to the underside. That’s supposed to prevent shorting of the battery terminals. When I get mine together I intend to do something a bit more substantial than this. If it were a 12v system I could use a GM battery with side posts. Unfortunately with the 6V, battery options are limited (while keeping control of spending).
Love the Corvair talk. Sorry about the thread hijack Vic
A big 3rd 
on renewing the entire brake system to modern dual circuit system. 50 yrs ago coming down a hill in my 65 VW bus, the light changed to red, brakes applied, suddenly to the floor. I remember lifting my legs up to avoid the stopped station wagon's hitch draw bar.
Found a retired, blueberry Tiparillo smoking VW mechanic, Harry. He said " kid you're going to wish you had a F'n zipper on that engine". Just make sure your valve guide to stem clearances are in spec. 20 minutes to pull the engine, btw.
on renewing the entire brake system to modern dual circuit system. 50 yrs ago coming down a hill in my 65 VW bus, the light changed to red, brakes applied, suddenly to the floor. I remember lifting my legs up to avoid the stopped station wagon's hitch draw bar.Found a retired, blueberry Tiparillo smoking VW mechanic, Harry. He said " kid you're going to wish you had a F'n zipper on that engine". Just make sure your valve guide to stem clearances are in spec. 20 minutes to pull the engine, btw.
I was watching a video on rear camber adjustment and the guy used “The Club” steering wheel lock to prop the axle up while he adjusted the camber. I had one for years that I couldn’t give away and thought this would be a good way to repurpose the device. The guy in the video just stood his on end but I made a base for mine. I’ll slap some paint on it this week.
Great pics. Thanks for sharing. Although I have another major project in the works, I’d better get my motor put back together soon. I’m hoping I’ll have it on the road by mid June.Just stumbled on this thread.
Vehicle signage. Now I think I should buy a VW light box too. This is getting expensive!
I spy a Honda CB350 in there too...very cool bikes. 
Oh yeah- Dad bought that new in spring of '68. It got "personalized" over the first few years. Mom got her license on it. It eventually got sold around 1980 before I could start eyeballing it.
Attachments
That Blue/White half n half paint scheme was a SERIOUS consideration for my Red Bike...
Sheet metal for engine back from sandblasting and powdercoating. Really nice job. About 15 pieces in total. See before and after pics. There was lots of grease, oil and rust on many of the parts. Like new now
. Sorry for the fuzzy pics. New phone needed.
. Sorry for the fuzzy pics. New phone needed.
Last edited:
Looks like camera shake. Lay off the booze.
