"Unsafe @ Any Speed"

[wisdonm]

This is a Corvair matchracer from the late '60s. Basically, too much is not enough. So I'm going to combine a Corvair and the Hurst Hairy Olds. I call this build Unsafe @ Any Speed.

The first thing that I did was narrow the track 12 scale inches, by removing two six inch wide strips from the Olds' chassis. The Hairy Olds used Olds Toronado power-trains. In the 442 body they were a foot too wide for the Corvair. I had to narrow it in two 6 inch strips, because the engine and trans mounts are in the center of several of the eight cross-members.

Next, I shortened the wheelbase 15 inches. And finally shortened the rear floor pan another 11 inches. A tweak here and there and it fits.

Later I had to remove another 4mm from the rear, to center the wheels in the wheel wells.

[Ira]

GREAT PROJECT!!!

[Vrschoof]

Niceeee cant wait to see more unsafe speed

[Ace-Garageguy]

I LIKE it !!

[george 53]

Oh MY, it looks unsafe already!!!

[RAT-T]

COOL! THIS SHOULD BE INTERESTING..

I'LL BE WATCHING THIS ONE

[W-409]

Wow, I will be watching VERY closely, interesting to see progress. This is absolutely another Nader's Nightmare! (Yes, Haven't forgotten Dave G.'s Naders Nightmare).

[High octane]

Nice project as I onced owned a new '65 Corvair w/ the 140 h.p. engine that had four carbs, 4 spd., and a posi rear end. Unsafe at any speed? I was doing 110 m.p.h. on the Indiana Toll Road in the pouring rain without a quiver back in '67.

[THarrison351]

All that power to four wheels and a short wheelbase. And Gentlemen Dave Shubeck thought the Olds was handful. I can't wait to see how this ends.

[Custom Mike]

Don, this should be wicked! Are you going to run both engines in it?

[scalemodelworld]

Great start. Something I'll be keeping an eye on, too

[mole53]

Love the car, love the concept, keep it coming. MUST HAVE INPUT (#5)

[Joe Handley]

All that power to four wheels and a short wheelbase. And Gentlemen Dave Shubeck thought the Olds was handful. I can't wait to see how this ends.

Wonder if you ran the front tires a little faster than the rear, if that would make it pull straighter. Usually helps the crawlers climb better, might have worked in this case!

[wisdonm]

Mike, yest here will be two 500 cu in engines. One just doesn't seen enough.

Joe, like on multi-engined planes, there are two hand throttles to adjust individual engine speeds. However, there is only one Moon Big Foot gas pedal.

High Octane, I never owned a Corvair. I was a co-owner of an autocross racer, that consisted of two modified '68 Toronado frames, with an engine on each end. Oh, it had no body, but it did have four wheel steer. We didn't have big enough tires on it.

2,200 pounds, 800 hp, and 1,000 ft lbs of torque stock. It was fun.

Finished the wheels and tires. The tires are a strange two-piece affair. They consist of a hard vinyl tire and a styrene wheel back insert that has part of the sidewall molded to it.

The tires had to be buffed in order to square them up. I then added some ancient Shabo dry rub M/H markings. Those are not hub caps, but custom front wheel drive wheels.

The suspension needs to be narrowed, a lot. I started by cutting the spindles back 2" on one cradle. If I go much further, it wouldn't have enough clearance to steer the front wheels.

The front cradle was narrowed 3/16". The rear cradle was narrowed 1/4" and the rear torsion bars were shortened 10mm. I think the rear frame rails were shortened another 4mm so that they would tuck inside the reattached rear grill.

No. You're not seeing double. That's double trouble in the form of two blown, alcohol burning, 500 cu in Cadillac Eldorado engines and trans-axles.

The Hairy Hurst had two small fuel tanks and the frame rails held 33 quarts of water. There is no radiator. My car has an empty original engine compartment and back seat area to hold these things.

Got the chassis, suspension, and engines worked out. The ends of the zoomies are not installed yet.

Edited January 6, 2013 by wisdonm

[Erik Smith]

That doesn't look dangerous. A good helmet and a fire suit and you're good.

Nice work on the chassis mods.

[Custom Mike]

Great work on the suspension Don, and the engines look sweet! Now what's with all this measuring you're doing, I've never heard of such a thing!

[Chuck Most]

All that power to four wheels and a short wheelbase. And Gentlemen Dave Shubeck thought the Olds was handful. I can't wait to see how this ends.

Wasn't he so scared of that Olds he cut it up and buried it in the desert?

This will be cool!

[FAST442]

Cool idea, and nice work so far!! Those are Olds 425 s, caddy's have the distributors in the front. Nice job so far!!

[wisdonm]

You're right. I meant Toro, but they've still been bored to 500 cu in. Need room for the valves to breathe. Those are special order magnetos made by Schiefer, just like the Hairy Olds used.

Mike, the measuring thing was something new. What I don't understand is that I cut the torsion bars twice, yet they're still too short.

Edited January 8, 2013 by wisdonm

[FAST442]

Never liked torsion bars!!

[wisdonm]

Pretty much have the chassis and body mods worked out. Here is the latest mockup.

Got some paint on the body. This was a long process, since the seven coats of clear were done with rattle cans.

I used Silver Flash Krylon Glitter Blast. Then I smothered those huge flakes with seven coats of Folkart clearcoat. Both of these were bought at Michaels with 40% & 50% off coupons.

I also needed some drag chutes, so as long as I had one , I made a couple of copies. I used a simple open faced mold made by pressing the original chute into some silly putty that I got at a $ store.

This time I used some resin for the parts. Worked a lot better than the super glue that I used the last time, since it dried in an hour and was easier to clean up.

[crazyrichard]

cool !!!! and that way of copying parst is very interesting !! , thnx for sharing

[57lover]

could you fill me in on how you made the chutes? its supper cool

[wisdonm]

Not exactly sure what info you need 57lover. SillyPutty is a commercial brand for a putty-like kid's toy that is made from white glue and liquid starch. I flattened a chunk to about a 1/2 inch thickness. I depressed the original chute into the putty, detail side down, and fished it out carefully with a hobby knife. I used two-part casting resin for the parts. I have successfully used two-part epoxy and super glue in the past. The casting resin just sets up faster, super glue can take days to set, and has less clean up.

This was an exercise in learning new paint techniques. So I got stupid today and hauled out my $5 HF airbrush. I have owned it for at least 6 years. Until today, I only used it once, 4 years ago, because I hate cleaning it. The taping was an unexpected success. My skill with the air brush wasn't even close. That's Tamiya X-24 Clear Yellow and black. Tried doing a fade. Had no control (skill) and mucked it up pretty good.

This is the taping for the silver areas. Anything covered in blue tape will remain silver.

All the silver areas, were painted with clear yellow, because I didn't have any kandy yellow.

Then I had to tape out the yellow and silver, so that I could spray the black.

I was in a poorly lit and cramped space with no experience, so the fade is rather poor. Removed all the tape and rattled canned four more coats of clear and it looked like this.

[Davewilly]

Looks pretty cool to me...I like the paint combo