The Corvair is a very simple automobile. It's not been in production for over 30 yearsso chances are your engine has been around for quite some time. Since they are so simple to work onand since they've been around for so longthe one you are considering or already own has probably been wrenched on by more than one questionable mechanic. Unless you bought the car yourself from the dealeror are positive of it's historythe VIN or registration could be very misleading. The 1968 car from which you pulled your enginemay have had a 1963 engine installed it in 20 years ago. Additionallythe person you are purchasing it frommay not be as knowledgeable as you hope. He may be going by the VIN or registration. So just how do you identify the engine? You have to find the identification codes. There are 3 different locations for these codes. Locating only one of these numbers is not conclusive. We are all after the same thing. We want a late (1964-1969) bottom endwith high compression heads. This comes in many different packages, but the bottom line is that any late crank and case end will do. The case can be identified by it's stampedbut there are a few vague years.
The one or two letter suffix identifies the engine yearHP rating and transmission used. But the confusion comes in when the same suffix is shared by both early and late models. In this casethe only way to determine if it's the right caseis by removing the blower housing and looking for the. There are 3 crank numbers I'm aware of: 5607 signifies it from an early engine. 7293 signifies it from an early turbo engine.
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8409 is the crank we need. It's from all the late enginesregardless of HP. Now that you've determined the year of the bottom endyou now need to identify the heads. Both of them. It's entirely possible to have a case number which says the engine is a 1968 110hp enginebut it could have 95hp smog headsor even worsethey could be totally different from one anotherhaving different numbers and compression ratios. The way to identify the heads is by the cast on one end. Now that you've found the numbersyou'll need to look the numbers up to see what the signify. I've copied tables from Clark's catalog.
Click on the links below to view the tables. Now I know what engine I havebut it's wrong. So now you have a pretty good idea of what engine you have. If it's the correct onecongratulations. If notyou may be looking into some alternative action to take.
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If you have the correct crank and casebut not the right headsit's easy enough to change them out. If you have 140 headsor smog headsyou may be lucky enough to sell them to a car engine builderas these heads are more desirable for automobile applications. In the case of the 140 heads or turbo headsyou may even make a buck or two in your transitioning from these heads to the 110 heads. We are fortunate that the car guys really don't place a high value in the 110 heads.
On the other handif you have the wrong crankyou are going to have a harder time. But what's the major difference between the early case/crank and the late?
Bore and stroke. Early cylinder diameter is smaller so new cylinders won't fit in the case. Early crank stroke is shorter so it can never make 164 cubes.
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Early case can't physically handle the late crank without alterations. It is possible to put a late crank in an early caseand to install late cylinders in the early case too. But it's a lot of work. The cylinders are larger in diameterso the obvious answer is to fly-cut the cylinder bore in the case. But the real kicker is in relieving the case. The width of the case is very narrow. When the piston is at bottom dead centerit's connecting rod is very close to the opposite side of the case. In the early casewith an early crankthis is not an issue. But the stroke is longer in the late enginesand if you try and put this longer stroke crank in an early casethe connecting rod bolts (nuts) will hit the inside wall of the opposite side of the case.