Tcoat Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 While waiting for some stuff for the van I decided to get started on another one of my Cars I Used to Own series. Mine was actually a '66 but since the '69 kit was readily available and cheap I evoked the "Meh close enough" rule. It is the latest release from Round 2 and I was not really impressed. There was so much flash and massive mold lines it was just a vagally Corvair shaped chunk of styrene. I was so shocked that I didn't even think to take pictures but the mold seems on the rear of the body were so big it looked like a '59 caddy! It was disappointing but of course not insurmountable. As always I started on the engine. It required a great deal of cleanup as well but went together nicely. This will be another rather worn and well used build as mine was 14 years old and all original when I got it. Without flash With flash. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 Looking good, but I'd never noticed how wrong the tool designers got the rear axles on that kit. Very interesting... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 26, 2023 Author Share Posted February 26, 2023 1 hour ago, Ace-Garageguy said: Looking good, but I'd never noticed how wrong the tool designers got the rear axles on that kit. Very interesting... Think it is more a concession to having the rolling play with me kits of the era it came from. At least that is the excuse I am giving them 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rrb124@sbcglobal.net Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 The 65 and up Corvair is one of the best looking GM cars of the era IMO. I Can see why you want to build one. I have experienced the same poor, poor quality on these old kits and wonder where the heck is the quality control! Can't think of products available in the world that don't get checked before sending it out. What are they thinking! Small rant here. Ha! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 26, 2023 Author Share Posted February 26, 2023 1 minute ago, rrb124@sbcglobal.net said: The 65 and up Corvair is one of the best looking GM cars of the era IMO. I Can see why you want to build one. I have experienced the same poor, poor quality on these old kits and wonder where the heck is the quality control! Can't think of products available in the world that don't get checked before sending it out. What are they thinking! Small rant here. Ha! Probably wouldn't have been on my build list if I hadn't owned one in real life. Yes, I get that these are old molds and no model is perfect but this was such a mess that there is no excuse really. The molds just need some TLC. One of my last builds was the '64 Galaxy and even though those molds would be older they were pristine and crisp as new. Granted they probably have put out the thousands and thousands of kits these have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 26, 2023 Author Share Posted February 26, 2023 It fits! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 Did your Corvair have the 140 hp engine like the kits lump of plastic? Like the grungy finish on the engine. While these cars were overshadowed by the high horse powered big blocks of the day, they were great handling cars if you knew how to drive a rear engine car and kept the correct tire air pressure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 26, 2023 Author Share Posted February 26, 2023 6 minutes ago, espo said: Did your Corvair have the 140 hp engine like the kits lump of plastic? Like the grungy finish on the engine. While these cars were overshadowed by the high horse powered big blocks of the day, they were great handling cars if you knew how to drive a rear engine car and kept the correct tire air pressure. Yes it was the 140HP with the four carbs. It also had the optional 4 speed stick so was pretty peppy. I only paid $150 for it in 1980 as the engine leaked oil so bad it would actually leave a trail as you went down the road and the valve seal and guides were so worn that she smoked like an old locomotive. New seals, guides and gaskets all around fixed it right up. Did some minor body work to rear quarters and rockers and sold it 4 months later for $1800. It was a fun little car while I had it though since the suspension upgrades in 1965 made a massive difference over the first gen cars. The lump of plastic engine is actually not too bad since you can only see about 20% of it anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 1 minute ago, Tcoat said: Yes it was the 140HP with the four carbs. It also had the optional 4 speed stick so was pretty peppy. I only paid $150 for it in 1980 as the engine leaked oil so bad it would actually leave a trail as you went down the road and the valve seal and guides were so worn that she smoked like an old locomotive. New seals, guides and gaskets all around fixed it right up. Did some minor body work to rear quarters and rockers and sold it 4 months later for $1800. It was a fun little car while I had it though since the suspension upgrades in 1965 made a massive difference over the first gen cars. The lump of plastic engine is actually not too bad since you can only see about 20% of it anyway. The Corvair engines had a bad habit of a leaky engine oil pressure sending unit on top of the oil filter housing as well. I was working in a service station when these came out and a regular customer bought a new on with the Turbo for his son about the time he was graduating from high school. I always thought it was a good-looking little car and it went like stink. Thew son managed to roll it going down the mountain where we lived before the summer was up. No one was really hurt, but the pretty little car was toast. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 26, 2023 Author Share Posted February 26, 2023 7 minutes ago, espo said: The Corvair engines had a bad habit of a leaky engine oil pressure sending unit on top of the oil filter housing as well. I was working in a service station when these came out and a regular customer bought a new on with the Turbo for his son about the time he was graduating from high school. I always thought it was a good-looking little car and it went like stink. Thew son managed to roll it going down the mountain where we lived before the summer was up. No one was really hurt, but the pretty little car was toast. Yep. If there was a spot oil could get out it usually did. They finally managed to beat it by the time they were rolling up production though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted February 28, 2023 Author Share Posted February 28, 2023 Well this was supposed to be a nice simple out of the box build but since the only other thing for the engine bay (as above) from the kit is a battery I have some work to do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted March 4, 2023 Author Share Posted March 4, 2023 Not 100% accurate but busied it up. Will get dirtied up a bit more when body on. Proper fire wall made. Heater duct is a piece of a header with wire wrapped around it for "pleats" Shrouds all around so can see through. Rubber shroud gaskets are screen spline split into smaller strips. Long skinny stock 1966 battery swapped for normal one. Spare tire from spares box parts crammed in. Wires are... well wires. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOBLNG Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 Nice accurate work on that engine bay Tony!👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted March 7, 2023 Author Share Posted March 7, 2023 LOL I think the steering column need some tweaking. I do not recall ever having to drive the car with my legs shoved through the spokes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcoat Posted March 7, 2023 Author Share Posted March 7, 2023 Making sure it all fits before I got too far! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenmojr Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 Love it... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geemoney Posted March 9, 2023 Share Posted March 9, 2023 love this! I have had a couple corvairs, never had one running i have had three models, always had aspirations to make it mine... never has happened! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted March 11, 2023 Share Posted March 11, 2023 The spare goes over the engine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldTrucker Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 21 hours ago, slusher said: The spare goes over the engine? Yes it does! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted March 15, 2023 Share Posted March 15, 2023 On 3/11/2023 at 7:50 PM, OldTrucker said: Yes it does! Thanks.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.jpg.5fb3080b3082c0b7e11de74dbfff8c69.jpg)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.