Marcus' Corvair conversion, 914-C6 Options

[r3dplanet]

A few years back I got all excited about doing a Corvair engine conversion for my 1971 car. The project waffled. Numbers were crunched and chewed. Thought and diagrams and opinions were drawn out over long winter evenings.

One particularly rainy winter evening, I found an ad on Craigslist advertising a warehouse full of Corvair parts including engines. So my pal Rory and I drove a hundred miles into the boonies late one rainy night to what turned out to be an unmarked, geographically isolated, former slaughterhouse illuminated by a single 60 watt light bulb. No cell phone reception, no escape. We were met by a couple of toothless brothers who couldn't stop talking about Daddy. Seemingly they only did what Daddy wanted them to do. Daddy wanted them to sell the stash of Corvair parts. Daddy wanted them to steal my Toyota cargo van. Daddy needed to approve the transaction of cash for an engine. Daddy, it turned out, was long dead. The two brothers kept trying to separate Rory and I, and the creepier of the two brothers kept demanding my car keys so he could test drive my van, despite my insistence that it wasn't for sale. For the first time in a long time, I wish I had a tazer gun on me. The brothers eventually showed us exactly what I wanted - an RD code 1965 110HP engine. Fearing for our lives, Rory and I muscled the engine into the van while the brothers went to find more stuff for Daddy to sell to us, or you know, maybe a club or some rope or a ball gag or something.

I left the $100 on the bench and tore the hell out. Rory and I laughed all the way back to town, ever so pleased that we were neither killed, nor raped, nor eaten. Plus, we were one up on a Corvair engine.

So with a provenance like this, and seeing JRust's new car, Dr. Evil's project, and 914coops Nader's Nightmare all take shape I've finally decided to get serious about my own project: the VW-Porsche 914-C6.

The "C" stands for Corvair.

[veekry9]

Greetings Dr. Evil.I am Vic from across the lake in TO.
I am currently embarking on the path
of a Corvair powered 914 and have read
of your trials and tribulations.
Your converted bus is neatO.
I presume you brought it North for your clinic
recently.I have been considering the products
offered by CorvairSpecialties.A inquiry on the
other site was immediately flamed.What you
describe is a proper response from a vendor,
much like Bruce Crower's response to a
customer.I am therefore confident to make
a purchase of some parts.The rocker covers
appear to be the Clark,s product.I have
heard only positive feedback re their service.
A vehicle out of production since '69 yet
the support is meeting the demand.
It's wonderful,isn't it?
You may be correct as to the failure mode.
However,the pix of the rocker stud failure
may be a sign of a stress crack in the
weak point of the stud,at the root of
the thread/shank interface.
The photo clearly shows the edge
of the thread runout.The proper
heat-treat of the studs is what gives
them their strength.
I will test,like you,the parts durability and
performance.