394 replies to this topic

[Craig Irwin]

My VW makes 45-55 HP with 2 plug wires off of it.

[CorvairJim]

OK, so that would take it up to 90-110 h.p. with everything hooked up, right? The 4-carb Corvair unit makes 140 h.p. - STOCK - and the mildly modified one that I had in my daily-driver '66 Monza (.040 overbore, 1 point compression bump, mild cam, bigger carbs, low restriction intake and exhaust) was putting over 220 horses to the wheels. The ever-popular Corsa Turbo engine was factory rated at 180 h.p. (and besides, it looks a bunch cooler than a VW engine with it's chromed induction tubing and air filter can!). Don Yenko was building 260-horse Corvair engines all the way back in 1966 for use in the Stage IV Stinger. That car was so fast that the SCCA outlawed it! 110 h.p. might make a Manx a "Go-Kart", but a 260-horse Corvair engine would make it an earthbound missile! (Better reinforce that exhaust stinger to allow it to double as a wheelie bar!)

No offense intended, of course. We all have our own personal preferences. It's just that I've never seen a VW engine in a Corvair. I'm just sayin'...

[High octane]

Hmmmmm. Might have to use an AMT Parts Pack Corvair Spyder engine and some K&S tubing for the axle tubes.

My thoughts EXACTLY!!!

[Craig Irwin]

No offense intended, of course. We all have our own personal preferences. It's just that I've never seen a VW engine in a Corvair. I'm just sayin'...

You're right, they're too heavy!
Honestly, a Corvair engine in a buggy causes far too many problems to be worth the effort. (And you are still way short on the power a vw can make!) Of coarse in plastic we can do anything we want!

[RodneyBad]

AMT BluePrinter Parts pack "145" Corvair engine



Any good?

[Gregg]

Jim, true, very true, we all have our own preferences, but to us diehards, VW power is the only way to go. We never dyno'ed our cars here, never had one here we could use.
But, with the ET's we were turning, 10.5s, we were never short of power.
Plus, there's the weight issue. The four-cylinder bug motor was so light, so easy to work on, it was a dream.
My record time to pull one from a running bug was 3 minutes, 45 seconds, pulled out of the car, by myself.
Try that with any other car/motor.
But, like you said, to each their own.
I will not diss anyone who wants to do the Corvair conversions, I will mention that in the article, and Jim, if you want to do that part of it, I would welcome the input.
I am going to limit mine to VW power, with a touch here and there of some Porsche pieces.

[Foxer]

A curious question, as my memory fails me. Was the Corvair air-cooled or would it need a radiator?

[Michigan Madman]

You're right, they're too heavy!
Honestly, a Corvair engine in a buggy causes far too many problems to be worth the effort. (And you are still way short on the power a vw can make!) Of coarse in plastic we can do anything we want!

Tell that to my neighbor- he has a buggy with a rear-mounted 4.3 V6. Talk about causing problems. To say the thing gets squirelly if you so much as look at the gas pedal funny is an understatement! And nevermind the number of half-shafts he's managed to rip to shreds on the dunes.

[empinut]

Here are some more pics of Manx projects scattered on this page.

Don't forget to grind away a little of the tub where the top of the shock towers touch the tub.
This is a tiny step that will allow everything to locate and fit a little better.
I also suggest the best way to fit the exhaust is to glue it together first at the collector, using super glue, NOT the cylinder heads. You can then carefully spread the bag of snakes over the engine. It also makes it easier and cleaner when painting.

http://public.fotki....sold/page2.html

[Craig Irwin]

Dealing in plastic models anything we can glue together works as good as are imagination says it does, but in the real world the problems I referred to are far more than too much power for the VW transaxle to handle. VW transaxles have been used in V8 powered kit cars, off road racing, and 9 second turbo VW drag cars without problems for years. My friend Jay with the turbo Subaru engine is running a Rancho built unit and has driven that car cross country twice.
The first problem is length, the VW mill fits up under the body while the Corvair sticks out a good foot. Most of us don't like that look.
Problem 2, laws require a fan belt guard on exposed engine, not easy on (or pretty on the Corvair)
Problem 3 is the weight and lack of a rear motor mount, this insures broken front motor mounts and nosecones, from stress not power. Look at the VW chassis and you can see this is not an easy fix.
Problem 4 is the backwards rotation of the Corvair engine. The "fliped ring gear" fix has the transmission running backwards to the way it was designed and has problems oiling everything properly. Also the pinion is now driving the ring gear on the coast side, not a good thing under load. Reversing the Corvair engine is done, the cams, oil pumps and such are available but not cheap.
Problem 5, adapting the starter motor. The Crown kit falls short here.
The only way to do the swap in my opinion is the Hadley "Transvair" kit, which solves most of the problems by installing a rear "cage" that has the rear mount included, and uses the Corvair transaxle.

[Michigan Madman]

Jim built his buggy from the start to run a 4.3- it does have quite a bit of rear overhang to make room for engine mounts, and an obvious rear-weight bias. His problem is he uses off-the-shelf half shafts (basically replacement OE units) and has a right foot made of lead. I will say the guy has been running buggies for longer than I've been alive, and all his previous ones had VW engines. I have heard of some of those issues with Corvair powered buggies, though I've only seen a handful of those compared to the VWs. Guess I know why now!

[Gregg]

Following Jairus' suggestions (I knew he was good for something!!!), I sprayed the inside of the purple metallic version of the Dune Buggy roof today with Tamiya Silver.
I taped up the outside of the roof first.
It came out really good.
I don't know if I should try and spray the black on the inside now or not.
Maybe I will, to see how it will turn out.

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[VW Dave]

The whole underside(but not the interior side of the tub) of my 1:1 Manx was done up in black gel-coat, and I figure that might help out with the transparency issue too.......

[george 53]

Gregg, if you now spray it black, or body color, should have taken care of that transparent look,yes?

[VW Dave]

I was just thinking that the purple top looks cool, but remembered that the 1:1 tops offered by Meyers were never body-colored; they were all molded in an off-white color. Most were installed 'as-is,' or covered with vinyl top material....the 'mod top' was a popular thing around that time, and many Manxes got theirs done up that way. Mine has light gray smooth vinyl with black piping that matches the seats and.....get this...it also has a headliner(!?).

Edited by VW Dave, 27 December 2011 - 03:29 PM.

[Michigan Madman]

Every as-original Manx I've seen had black gelcoat on the underside- only the top of the body was painted, but I've seen restored and modified Manx buggies that have the entire body painted, top to bottom. I say go for it- non-stock paint schemes are a simple custom touch!

[Draggon]

Jim, true, very true, we all have our own preferences, but to us diehards, VW power is the only way to go. We never dyno'ed our cars here, never had one here we could use.
But, with the ET's we were turning, 10.5s, we were never short of power.
Plus, there's the weight issue. The four-cylinder bug motor was so light, so easy to work on, it was a dream.
My record time to pull one from a running bug was 3 minutes, 45 seconds, pulled out of the car, by myself.
Try that with any other car/motor.
But, like you said, to each their own.
I will not diss anyone who wants to do the Corvair conversions, I will mention that in the article, and Jim, if you want to do that part of it, I would welcome the input.
I am going to limit mine to VW power, with a touch here and there of some Porsche pieces.

Im with ya Gregg. I did a switch in the late 70's. Pulled two motors and swapped them in just over an hour. Did you compete in the bug-ins? By late 69-70 we had it down to an art. It was pretty much nothing to pull into my parents garage on a friday night and come out with a fresh motor before midnight. We ran at the Fremont Drag Strip. I never won, but it was a hoot to get 3 lengths on a Camaro@!

Edited by Draggon, 25 December 2011 - 05:46 PM.

[RyanSilva]

I have the Porsche 356 wheels and will be casting them soon, and will be also modifying them for fitment to the manx kit when I get a hold of one. I will also have some wide versions for the rear too

[Jairus]

Following Jairus' suggestions (I knew he was good for something!!!), I sprayed the inside of the purple metallic version of the Dune Buggy roof today with Tamiya Silver.
I taped up the outside of the roof first.
It came out really good.
I don't know if I should try and spray the black on the inside now or not.
Maybe I will, to see how it will turn out.

Yeah... but notice now how the sink marks show?
Those would have to have been removed from the underside first, before painting! Also removed any and all locator pins or alignment lines and polish the underside somewhat with 800gt sandpaper.

It is the same as painting the underside of a vacuumformed body Gregg. The body then replicates the clearcoat shiny finish. Except when it comes to the body proper in THIS kit. You have a strange shape that is going to create deep dark lines that make no sense once the backing silver is painted on.
I really wish they had added more color to the plastic before molding these so the body was not so translucent.

[Jairus]

P.S. Guys, this thread inspired me and now January's MCM issue contains a sketchpad featuring three ways I want to build the Meyer's Manx kit...