Corvair Project Nearly Sorted

Apr 20, 2011 update to the Chevrolet Corvair Monza Spyder project car

After arriving home safely from Amelia Island in our Corvair, we made a list and tackled our car’s niggling problems.

First up, adjusting the rear shoes and bleeding the brakes one more time made them feel perfect. Remember, we upgraded the front of this car to disc brakes. We find that after the first 500 to 1000 miles, brake shoes always need some adjustment—they seem to seat in around this time. Poorly adjusted brake shoes feel spongy and result in a soft pedal feel.

Next, Jere Dotten helped us sort out the wiring issues, which turned out to be minor. Then it was on to the rich running condition. While we made some jet changes—we’ll outline those in the magazine stories, which will start appearing soon—our biggest problem was fuel pressure. We had switched to a Weber DCOE 40 sidedraft carburetor, and in our haste we didn’t lower the fuel pressure. We were still running about 6 psi, which a Weber will not tolerate. We made a quick call to Mike Pierce of Pierce Manifolds, and he got us sorted out. The fuel pressure is now down to about 3.5 psi.