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Posted by: Headrage Aug 19 2004, 12:38 PM

Had a friend who used all vw parts for his sand rail except for the motor which was from a corvair. The thing was fast as hell. Any potential application for a 914?

Posted by: ! Aug 19 2004, 12:55 PM

They turn the wrong way...either need to use a 911 trans, flip the ring gear on a 914 trans or use a reverse cam.....

Posted by: Mueller Aug 19 2004, 12:55 PM

it's been done a few times into 914's

.....nothing too special about the corviar motor, it does run "backwards" compared to most engines so you have to swap in special cams or run a 911 gearbox...

to me it's one of those swaps you do because you either are really into Corvairs or just want something "different"

Posted by: ArtechnikA Aug 19 2004, 12:56 PM

use an unmodified Corvair engine and an unmodified 911 transmission in a 914 and have everyone scratching their heads...

40 years ago the 6-cyl Corvair or turbo 4 seemed a cheap way to make power in a VW application, even after changing the camshaft to reverse the engine rotation. there was a reason that technology died on the vine. aircooled engines have come a long way since then...

Posted by: skline Aug 19 2004, 01:07 PM

Mike Lesniak was working on one I think. I am not sure if he is still going to do it or not. Seems like a lot of trouble for 110 to 140 hp. That is all they put out in the first place.

Posted by: Headrage Aug 19 2004, 01:19 PM

Got it. Not a cool idea.

Thanks guys.

Posted by: SteveSr Aug 19 2004, 01:34 PM

Had a sand rail once with a Corvair,it was Ok I guess. THe pushrod tubes always leaked.
........ alot of trouble for 110-140HP. although the turbo made 185HP.

SteveSr

Posted by: Tom Perso Aug 19 2004, 01:43 PM

Get a Turbo Monza motor and tell all of the naysayers that bitch "You can't turbo a 914" to step off...

Later,
Tom

Posted by: cnavarro Aug 19 2004, 05:05 PM

There are some guys that do pretty neat stuff with a corvair engine. Most of it involves throwing away factory stuff, like the cylinders. They might has well have been finless sleeves for the amount of cooling they provide.

Bump up the displacement to over 3L, etc. Fuel injection, engine management, the whole works. They are redo the heads to put normal manifolds and IR injection or triple throat webers. That livens up a corvair big time. There's currently a big corvair engine running Nickies somewhere around. Haven't heard a peep, so it must be going well :-)

Charles Navarro
LN Engineering
http://www.LNengineering.com
Aircooled Precision Performance

Posted by: seanery Aug 19 2004, 05:13 PM

I've seen the intake made to take 911 webers. It was a pretty slick install. The guy was at the DE in April in Indy. The car was a '65 running some small-assed wheels so it would qualify for vintage - 14"ers I think.

Posted by: ArtechnikA Aug 19 2004, 05:14 PM

a guy i used to work with had a Corvair-powered Devin; interesting car, Devin was buying 356 engines from the Porsche factory until the Devins started going faster in open competition - that put an end to the engine sales in a hurry, so Devin found himself another power source.

Posted by: physician Aug 19 2004, 06:18 PM

uhmm use a 911 tranny with out mods to run a counter clockwise engine..... better use a honda engine instead! save weight, add power (200hp easilly obtained) for cheap .... doable??

Posted by: Headrage Aug 19 2004, 06:43 PM

Okay guy's and girls, was just asking!!! But really, I appreciate the feedback! I have access to a full-blown corvair motor that will probably dyno at 210 hp. but I would rather go with a SBC or 6 conversion!!

Posted by: ! Aug 19 2004, 07:37 PM

uhmm use a 911 tranny with out mods to run a counter clockwise engine..... better use a honda engine instead! save weight, add power (200hp easilly obtained) for cheap .... doable??

Posted by: Dr Evil Aug 19 2004, 08:55 PM

Skline was right, I was doing a corvair conversion untill a 2.7 911 engine fell in my lap. i have all of the info you could possibly want about the conversion. First the stock hp was 140 and is easy to bump up. I have a block with 2L type I cylinders on it for a displacement of 3.1-3.2L. It will put out 200hp with around 190tq with no other modifications. I have a reverse cam ($169), and an adaptor for a 901 ($85). I could have the engine working stock rebuilt for about $1k including the cost of the engine, but in boared out form it could cost any where from $1.5k to $3k. It is cheap power, abundant parts, it drives these purists crazy, and it is easy to customize. The only reason I changed my mind is that I ran out of r&d time for making a cooling shroud and exhaust. The 911 engine was "easier" I would like to do it in the future, but I have no time and the whole thing is up for sale soon. I would be glad to answer any questions

Posted by: BIGKAT_83 Aug 19 2004, 09:04 PM

Saw a nice covair powered 914 at Auto Atlanta. Someone had bought it off of Ebay and they were working on it. It had webers and a full sheridan body kit.

Looked great. It was about a year ago or so. Bet the car is still there.......

Bob

Posted by: physician Aug 19 2004, 09:17 PM

if he put a non modified 911 tranny, without flipped diff, will all the synchros and gears operate correctly??

my biggest concern is the final drive gear. they normally are engineered to turn in one way. yes they turn the other direction when going backward, but i don't think the diagonals cut would take all the torque in the wrong direction....

don't know if someone understand my question, my english isnt that great tonight

Posted by: tod914 Aug 19 2004, 10:34 PM

Posted by: Red-Beard Aug 19 2004, 10:55 PM

The 901 for the 911 and the 914 is essentially the same. If you turn the differential around, it will be fine.

Ask Jake, he "tested" a 914 tranny with 1 forward gear and 5 reverse...

Posted by: tat2dphreak Aug 20 2004, 09:06 AM

corvair engines?

what'sa matta? 914 doesn't leak enough oil for you?

Posted by: Brad Smith Nov 3 2004, 09:34 AM

Posted by: seanery Nov 3 2004, 09:45 AM

if it's turning the wrong way for our 914 trans, then couldn't you use a 911 901 or 915 without modification?

Posted by: davep Nov 3 2004, 10:07 AM

I looked at a corvair turbo motor one day. The story was that the Porsche factory had modified the motor and installed it into a 356. A military fellow brought the car to NA but while unloading, the car was dropped on its tail. I don't know what happened to the body, but the 356 transmission was still attached. The exhaust manifolds I saw were extremely restrictive.