Jeff Smith's Blog

Corvair Nightmare

Posted July 24 2008 05:00 AM by CarCraft
Filed under: Editorials

Corvair Nightmare

My buddy Tim Moore and I cooked up this scheme the other day. We were bench-building a lightweight street car when this whole plan fell into place: locate a rear-ended turbocharged Cobalt SS car in the junkyard and pull the entire drivetrain. Lock out the steering and build a cradle that would mount the drivetrain in the back of a denuded Corvair Monza. Upgrade the front suspension with C4-C5-C6 Corvette underpinnings, stuff monster rubber under all four corners, and embarrass the hell out of all kinds of road ragers. If you could pare this screamer down to around 2,200 pounds, it would be unbeatable. The only thing that would be better would be all-wheel drive. But that's just plain crazy.

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Reader Comments:

1. Wouldn't a Turbo Cobalt SS-powered Pontiac Fiero be a lot easier and cheaper to build than a "denuded" Corvair?

Worried about CARB? Maybe the whole Turbo Cobalt SS powertrain would swing in behind a 1930s or 1940s or even a seriously cut-down 1960s pickup cab (channeled over the frame rails) or behind a Fad-T bucket (just imagine the T radiator shell or tractor nose or Track-T nose with NOTHING behind it but a fuel cell). T-bucket too willowy for rice ripping? Fab up a Locost 7-style space frame . . . .

dr511scj_1 - Posted July 24 2008 06:17 AM

2. Fiero?! WTF?! The best ticket with those actually is to drop in a blown 3.8 from a late model FWD Buick.

As for the Cobalt SS motor in the Corvair, I like it! But forget the whole cradle replacement, I'm sure you could get an adapter bellhousing to bolt the Ecotec into the Corvair's transaxle. Beef it up like they did for the Corvair Spyders, upgrade the brakes and suspension, the car would reign supreme!

55_Hardtop_Guy - Posted July 25 2008 05:39 AM

3. While the Eaton-blown pushrod V6 3.8 has more cubes and off-boost torque, the Turbo Cobalt SS engine is much more of a sporting powerplant. An "SS Fiero" would rev higher than an antediluvian "3.8 Fiero," get significantly better fuel mileage (off boost), and make more power "stock-to-stock" than a 3.8.

And it would be a lot easier and cheaper to find a buildable Fiero than to track down a rust-free Corvair. Less fabrication necessary, too.

Besides, Smith's plan assumes swapping the whole drivetrain unit, which would include a Getrag manual transmission (although GM apparently cheaps out by not offering the Getrag six-speed). None of the Eaton-blown 3.8s came with an OEM manual.

Using the Corvair transaxle is a non-starter for a street car because it has no overdrive.

The Corvair transaxle in the stock location also would place the engine further back in the car, which would increase the polar moment of inertia in transient maneuvers.

The Kelmark V8 conversion from the 1960s moved the engine to the middle of the back seat to avoid this problem (as well as to increase room for engines that were longer than the opposed Corvair six). At least Smith's plan could retain the back seat AND reasonably decent handling (notwithstanding Ralph Nader's criticisms).

dr511scj_1 - Posted July 25 2008 06:12 AM

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