How a rusty 1963 Corvair turned into a slightly less rusty 1977 MG Midget

Good going, Bob. Sounds like you made the right choice for a project, I bet that Corvair would've been nothing but headaches.

Bob,

The Midget and I are very well aquainted. I have owned a '71, '72, and two 74's. Yours has the 1500 Triumph engine I believe. My favorite years are the 72-74 because of the round rear wheel arches and chrome bumpers

The last '74 I owned I rebuilt the 1275 and warmed it over with high compression worked SU's and a good street cam, along with installing a Datsun 5 speed transmission. If you can swing it, the Datsun unit really makes for a very comfortable little cruiser.

Have fun with it! If you are so inclined a chrome bumper conversion is easily doable. Lot of weight savings as well.

Ron

RknRusty wrote:Good going, Bob. Sounds like you made the right choice for a project, I bet that Corvair would've been nothing but headaches.

Yes, that Corvair was bad news, but I would have loved to own it for the simple reason that I never have. In fact I had never even sat in one until last week.





At least the Midget has floors. Seller collects cars, has a garage full of old timers.

Bob

Cribbs74 wrote:Bob,

The Midget and I are very well aquainted. I have owned a '71, '72, and two 74's. Yours has the 1500 Triumph engine I believe. My favorite years are the 72-74 because of the round rear wheel arches and chrome bumpers

The last '74 I owned I rebuilt the 1275 and warmed it over with high compression worked SU's and a good street cam,  along with installing a Datsun 5 speed transmission. If you can swing it, the Datsun unit really makes for a very comfortable little cruiser.

Have fun with it! If you are so inclined a chrome bumper conversion is easily doable. Lot of weight savings as well.

Ron

Yes, my '74 was a better looker. I did quite a lot of work on it, mostly engine and engine bay.





Took me about a year to get to this stage.



I figure about 10 years for the '77 to get to the same point. Yes, I think it has a single Stromberg.

Bob

Bob,  
Believe me when I say you got the best deal by missing that Corvair !!!
In 1965, a college buddy owned a 1963 Corvair and he wanted us to go to Daytona Beach, FL for Spring Break in it. He and I and another buddy drove the 500 miles from Charlotte, NC to Daytona in that thing. I had been in it for short around trips around town and such but never a long road trip.
When we got there after 10 hours, I fell out of the passenger seat onto the hotel parking lot and he did the same out the drivers door.
We had to help our buddy out of the back seat too !!!
I'm not talking old geezers like me now but 19 year old kids.....After the 500 miles back home I never rode in another Corvair again !!!
Only other Corvair, I ever saw worth owning was a road racer at the local gas station in Ft.Lauderdale where I lived at the time.
He put the 180 horse turbo charger unit on a high compression 4 carb 140 horse engine. It had 6 aircraft cylinder head temp gauges on the dash for the air cooled heads.
He lead almost 3 laps in a road race heat at Miami /Hollywood Speedway Park pulling Corvettes and Ferraris down the straights.
At the end he said all 6 head temp gauges pegged and the engine grenaded !!!
It ran good for a while  apparently !!!
Steve..............

Quite the story Steve, reminds me of the time a group of teen age buddies and I......well, I better not go there.  

Looking again at that finished engine compartment brings back memories of all the work I put into that car.  Maybe the buyer got a deal, in fact it was the engine compartment that sold him.  Crazy guy that actually gave me more than my asking price.

But this one will be more of a challenge, toxic mess. Gloves, coveralls, respirator for starters.





I think I can get a title for it and antique tags (25 years old and older in WV). If I can't, I have 6 acres here and could use a farm vehicle. Cut it down and make a pickup truck out of it.

Bob

rsv1cox wrote:Looking again at that finished engine compartment brings back memories of all the work I put into that car.  Maybe the buyer got a deal, in fact it was the engine compartment that sold him.  Crazy guy that actually gave me more than my asking price. But this one will be more of a challenge, toxic mess.  Gloves, coveralls, respirator for starters.

Curious Bob as the need for "hazmat abatement", mold? Lead paint?

I think I can get a title for it and antique tags (25 years old and older in WV).  If I can't, I have 6 acres here and could use a farm vehicle.  Cut it down and make a pickup truck out of it. Bob

Had a friend title a motorcycle by going to one of those title insurance places or whatever they're called here in NM. They do a certain amount of research for a fee, after discerning facts, supply sufficient paperwork acceptable to the state for getting the title. Had it explained to me, don't remember all the details, cost him less than a couple hundred bucks to do.

Speaking of major work, I've replaced clutches, overhauled engines, brakes, replaced fried bearings, axles, seals, dent repair work, painting, etc. Worst job I've done to date is replace a heater core in a 1999 Chev. S10 pickup. Glad I had the simpler 2.2L 4-banger and not the 4.3L V6. Then I would have had to remove the front bumper, right fender and hood to get at one bolt on the evaporator/heater core unit.

Removed the steering wheel and dash to get at the heater core. Took my time so it took a week.






Sweet little basic truck, 5 speed wide ratio manual, no AC, 165,000 miles still runs strong. When I retired from civil service hauled all my household goods from Alamogordo, NM to back to Clovis making 5 trips. Trailers were 2 ATV and box from Holloman AFB Rec. Services for $20 rent per weekend. After the 3rd trip with 3/4 of our furnishings back at our old house in Clovis, wife told me, "It cost the government $6,000 to move us from Gallup, NM to Alamogordo. You did it with $60.

I suspect he is nursing rust scrapes and frustration with endless rust / cancer removal and endless cutting and sanding....


I sort of expect the rats nest dinky car to be adapted to a yard n garden back woods Red-Green duct Tape field plow and tiller


grin

Or Bob is saving his energy and $$$ for more and more from one of several restore web sites


maybe he is going to powder coat the entire thing in Cub Yellow

Hazmat suit George, an attempt at humor but not far fetched. Mold, mildew, rats nests, snake skins and an assortment of insects were found in this thing.





An yup Fred, rust never sleeps and I lose some worrying about it. Not much left in the engine compartment. Engine was seized and is coming out. Restoring Enya's and building balsa models was so much cleaner. My coveralls cover me from chin to ankles but I still get filthy.



Not much left in there.

Look how much more fun you could have with a hardtop Corvair!!

An oldie but a goodie Rene.  And one responded to by George the Galloping Ghoster. Too bad he left the forum.

I hadn't seen that picture, wonder if he ever got it in the air.  "Dangerous at any speed" probably translated to More dangerous at anything above ground level.

Long way from that last Midget picture.  Cleaner now, snake skins and mouse nests gone and powers down the road with all four gears intact.  Amazing considering there was no lube oil in either the transmission or differential with the differential rusted shut.  Everything is fine now except that it make a nice little hum going down the road.


Bob.

Good heavens, was that thing in the bottom of a lake?

Cribbs74 wrote:Good heavens, was that thing in the bottom of a lake?

Almost Ron, It was stored in a below ground garage that must have flooded periodically. But it cleaned up well.



As you know these little MG's can take a hit.

Bob

Good for you, for taking that on! I would have been inclined to drive it to the recyclers

Just an FYI.. I've been watching re-runs of a BBC TV series on Netflix called "Father Brown". If you haven't seen it; It's a who-dun-it.. based in a post WWII (1950's) United Kingdom. So far I've seen three different (color..) "T-series" MG's used in the filming.. and they're gorgeous. There's also vintage motorcycles as well as other period-correct motor-vehicles. It's (IMHO) a very well-done program which ran for 5 seasons. I'm only half-way through season 2 however.. so I can only guess that the remaining three are as good.

Bob, here’s a 75 that’s been restored. Engine compartment doesn’t look as good as the one you did. Thought you might like some pictures for comparison.

https://muskegon.craigslist.org/cto/d/mgb/6502327303.html

Marleysky wrote:Bob, here’s a 75 that’s been restored. Engine compartment doesn’t look as good as the one you did. Thought you might like some pictures for comparison.

https://muskegon.craigslist.org/cto/d/mgb/6502327303.html

That's an MGB Rene, big brother to the "Midget" that I'm working on now.  I have owned a couple, a '74 and a '80.  I actually prefer it to the Midget.  

His story is so typical.  You can get under water restoring these in a hurry.  I'm just having fun with this one, not a serious restoration and therefore no serious money involved.  

Bob

Local Radio station is giving this 67B away in a competition this month.