The Beast - 1965 Monza 110 - Progress
Report
Last updated: Sept. 27, 2003
In September 2002 we drove down to St.
Catharines, picked up a U-Haul truck and drove over the border to get the car.
The whole experience with customs went pretty smoothly and before we knew it, we
were through and ready to bring it home. Each image will eventually be clickable for a
full-size version with a little more detail. See Car#8
in the Quest for more images.
Some impressions after a year:
- This car is simply FUN! Now
that it is running, I love to just tool around in it. It is light and very
responsive. It has the lightest steering of pretty much anything I've
driven.
- Most people seem to have favourable
impressions of the Corvair. I have gone to a number of cruise nights
and despite the fact this car still has no paint, it draws a lot of good
comments.
- Road noise is more than I am used
to and the engine revs high (understandable with a 2-speed transmission).
Usually, I drive by sound, but I can't do this yet with this car. I'll
think the engine is really buzzing high and then look at the speedometer and
I'm barely doing 50.
- Despite the high RPM's, the car is
happy to merge at 70 mph and still feels like it has a lot to give.
- The ride is quite soft. A guy
at work who normally drives a BMW 5-series couldn't get over it.
- Gas mileage leaves a little to be
desired. I may have some tweaking to do. I get at most 19 mpg.
- The car handles crosswinds quite
poorly. We have one bridge where the gusts are pretty bad and they just
about took me off the road. I wgot a spoiler for up front but have yet
to install it.
Even a full tank of gas makes a world of difference to the road-holding
capabilities of this car.
- The transmission pulls a little bit
when in drive and the brakes are applied. The car acts like it wants to
stall, but doesn't. I am debating whether this is simply the idle speed
set too low or perhaps a vacuum leak. In colder weather, the problem
is less noticeable.
- The heater is works like a blast
furnace. I can't decide whether it smells or not.
Had a red-letter day (technically a
white-on-blue letter day) in July when I was finally able to license the
car. In Ontario, we can have year-of -manufacture plates on cars older
than 30. I was lucky enough to get a set on eBay and these are now on the
Corvair. Finding a place to attach the validation sticker was fun....
Work done so far:
- Fix headlight alignment (this
doesn't sound like much, but you should have seen where they were
aimed....) (Sept. '02)
- Move gas tank and install
insulation (tank misalignment meant that filler hose rubbed against
steering column). (Sept./Oct. '02)
- New front brake shoes and
spring kit. (Oct. '02)
- New front seat belts. (Nov.
'02)
- Lubed front/rear wheel
bearings (Nov. '02)
- Replace exhaust packings
(manifold to crossover) (Mar. '03)
- Replace transmission pan
gasket (incl. drill out sheared bolts and retap holes) (Mar. '03)
- Replace rear cove castings
and mouldings (Mar '03)
- Replace rear brake cylinders,
lines,
pads and spring kit (Apr-May '03)
- Replace front windshield -
incl minor rust repair underneath (May-Jun. '03)
- New rocker mouldings (Jun.
'03)
- SAFETY AND
LICENSING!!! (Jul.
'03)
- Replace DS grease cap (broken
speedometer spindle) (Jul. '03)
- Replace DS front wheel
cylinder (Aug. '03)
- Fix bad plug (Sept. '03)
- Rebuild starter (Sept. '03)
- Replace heater hoses (Sept.
'03)
|
Work still do do:
- Paint/undercoat underside of
car
- Begin work on the body/paint
- Mount front spoiler
- Rebuild spare set of carbs
(winter project)
- Get a CO detector
- Seal the transmission shift
cable
- Add a set of rear seat belts
|
I had added a set of '66 taillights,
but recently decided to go back to the 65's. Just as well.
