Corvair gut check

[robertl]

I like the vairs a lot. I have one about ready to put together. A must have is William Wynnes conversion manual. Contains many many years of what works and what does not. He sells a bunch of parts for conversion that you may be able to fab on your own. The real must haves are the fifth bearing, Prop hub And maybe the distributER. The things like the starter conversion, alt bracket, intake and exhaust are pretty DIYable (especially for you).
The fifth bearing pretty much eliminated crank breakage. That was the last piece of the puzzle that really makes the vair a very nice AC engine. Total weight should be around 220lbs. If that engine weight works for the baby ace, I say go for it!

William Wynne also has, Corvair College, you can learn everything you need to know . I think his web site is, FlyCorvair.
Bob

 

[mcrae0104]

Corvair college video:

EAA

eaa.org

Corvair EAA webinar: EAA

 

[mcrae0104]

Corvair in a Jr. Ace. Takeoff at about 5:30 mark. Low approach around 8:30.

 

[Little Scrapper]

Gonna have to slide this Corvair closer to the firewall to make it work. Battery in the tail etc.

 

[Pops]

One of my goals is to do a weight comparison with a Continental C-85 and I would do that with an A65. I need to source an A65 for a Luscombe project.

My Cont-85 in the JMR is 188 lbs. That is with a block off plate over the Starter hole and the Generator hole for non-electric. Slick mags and Stromberg carb.
To help save weigh I also replaced the heavy brass breather elbow with an aluminum elbow.

 

[Richard Roller]

Corvair in a Jr. Ace. Takeoff at about 5:30 mark. Low approach around 8:30.

Good looking airplane. A late friend of mine had a corvair in his Pietenpol. He was very happy with it.

 

[BJC]

Corvair in a Jr. Ace.

Nice, but I recommend that the videographer switch to decaf.


BJC

 

[JohnB]

If you are SERIOUS abt getting the weight of the Corvair down call up Scott Casler @ Hummelengines .com and ask about his Nicki cyls for the Vair , they save 18 POUNDS, are horribly expensive and are works of art. The same plater that does work for Mercury Marine plates his cyls which he has used on VW's for many yrs.

 

[TFF]

It’s a custom installation anyway so you have to figure that all out. No big deal.

 

[GeeZee]

Scrapper if you haven’t found them yet Clark’s Corvair has all things Corvair. Not sure what WW is currently recommending but Clark’s has New full fin cylinders that look pretty nice. I went +.060 over on stock cylinders and saved a few pounds. Clark’s has their New cylinders made with thicker walls so +.060 over won’t save any weight but they sure are nice.

Clark's Corvair Parts, Inc. - Corvair Parts Catalog - Over 12,000 parts

Clark's Corvair Parts, Inc., is the world's largest supplier of parts for the Corvair automobile.

www.corvair.com

 

[Little Scrapper]

Here’s my start. I pick this up 5 hours away on the 15th. A guy had a change of plans but worked hard to get all the parts. Pretty excited about this.

 

[TFF]

The best part of that is it’s apart. The first 215 V8 I bought I got the intake, one head and oil pan off. I gave it away to a friend who thought they could do more. Not. It’s not rare enough to put in the effort of cutting every piston out. You know it’s not all rotten.

 

[Urquiola]

There is also Rafee Corvair, Corvairsation,... With millions of these wonderful engines built, everything was tested. I once read that when avionizing a Corvair engine, the fact that Continental and other engines of same structure and displacement do not give much more than 65 HP is to be remembered.
Corvair may not be the case, but Smithsonian article: 'Power Struggle: why car engines won't fly' is good.
What I'd like testing in a Corvair, taking advantage of different piston and cylinder bores available, is a Piccard-Pictet rotary valve or sleeve valve, patent GB118407; according to Harry Ricardo (The high speed internal combustion engine), with an Iron cylinder, an steel sleeve won't have problems, also, as long as oil film between sleeve and cylinder is kept thin enough, sleeves are transparent to heat (see AEHS).
Blessings +

 

[robertl]

Nice, but I recommend that the videographer switch to decaf.


BJC

The camera man needs a gimble.

 

[BJC]

The camera man needs a gimble.

Why stop there? With a gyroscopically stabilized camera mount, he could drink all the coffee that Mark Z could serve, and still get good video.


BJC

 

[mcrae0104]

...the fact that Continental and other engines of same structure and displacement do not give much more than 65 HP is to be remembered.

Comparing a 3300 cc Corvair to an O-200 would more appropriate than an A-65. Sport Performance Aviation reports independent dyno results of 119 hp @ 2,800 rpm / 125 hp @ 3,300 rpm.

 

[ToddK]

HP ratings of aircraft engines are notoriously optimistic. EPI tested several brand new O-200D engines and none of them produced over 95hp.

 

[TFF]

Just like VWs turning small props at high rpm to get to A65 power levels, Corvair builders do the same. Stock 145 Corvair propped to 2500-2700 is going to be around 80 hp. The Oshkosh museum has Bernie Pietenpol’s last Piet with the Corvair. The Pfeifer Sport is essentially a 4130 fuselage Piet had a Corvair also. I think they claimed 85 hp. The engine a going to take on the characteristics of the prop. An O-200 makes its 100ish hp with a 69-48 and it makes 130 with a 48-70 all with the same internals. Just depends on if you want to fly a C150 or a F1 plane.

Back on the Pfeifer, they used two Bendix mags. I wonder how they made it happen. Besides perseverance.

 

[mcrae0104]

.

 

[Little Scrapper]

Headed on a 6 hour trip to Michigan to pick up the Corvair engine.