What works with a corvair engine

[Little Mouse]

What became my first car 63 covair monza spyder convertible. Bedsides the original transaxle on corvairs is there anyway to put a regular bellhousing on it like the sbc used. I can remember sbc being put where the back seat was making them mid engined and the 66 up transaxle recomended to be used to do that because it was said they were a bit stronger then the earlier transaxle. So im wondering if a boat trans normally used for say a sbc or bbc can be mounted up to a corvair engine.

[gmrocket]

One of the common swaps is the olds Toronado complete engine and drivetrain.

You’ll lose the back seat

[rebelyell]

Crown Corv-8
https://corvaircorsa.com/crown1.html

[falcongeorge]

Both have completely missed the gist of the OP's question. He wants to KEEP the corvair engine and add a bellhousing to the back so he can mate it with a RWD trans, not the other way round.

[SupStk]

Is the Corvair engine reverse rotation?

[dannobee]

Is the Corvair engine reverse rotation?

Yup

[Little Mouse]

I have a thought that putting an air cooled engine in a boat open to the air not enclosed, using a far bigger then original oil cooler maybe also increased capacity oil pan and plenty of fan air it might work. Would need two engines turning different direction and trans behind them that had a lot of reduction something like atleast 2 1/2 to one and then use large dia. Props. Not a boat for any speed
This would get rid of all the pulling in sea water all the plumming mess and poten tial problems. Keeping the engines bassicly stock might be able to keep them reliable. May be a bit out there idea but i think it could work.

[rebelyell]

So the flat-bottom popular mechanics project boat dad & I built w/ an antique Maytag air-cooled flat twin 2-stroke was nothing short of brilliant ? It was a turd, but it was Our turd.

[jacksoni]

Back in the '70s I built a mid engine dune buggy for autocrossing by taking the full Corvair engine/transaxle and rotating it 180 degrees. Built mounts for suspension etc etc. Required reverse rotation of the engine. At the time Crower made reverse rotation cams and all I needed else was a reverse rotation starter which a local shop was able to cobble up. So it was possible to reverse the normal rotation. Getting one of those cams now might be problematic. As far as bell housing, I don't know if the dowel pins are in the same location but along the same lines I put a standard Lakewood bell housing on a Vega in which the dowel pins are the same as the SBC and used the block plate as an adapter to match the small Vega bellhousing pattern. Worked fine. Have to dial indicate for centration of course.

[Little Mouse]

I worked on my cousins 40ft marine trader trawler out in san diego, has two ford lehman diesel's in it. Displacement hull, heavy and slow makes no difference how much power you do with a displacement hull its only going to go slow depending on water line length. Id like to do a no wider then 102" wide, long length so it could still be put on a trailer without need of overwidth permits so i can easly pull it out of the ocean. All the thru hull crud and crap to pull water in to cool it what a bunch of BS. It does not take much power to push a displacement hull through the water. In fact they make my cousins 40 ft with only one ford lehman in it. 90 percent of comercial fishing boats have one engine and are constantly used. My opinion 2 engines a waste on a displacement boat that does not need power to come up and plane. Probably one cummins diesel out of a pickup open to the air in the same way with a big radiator would be a better way to do it. With a lot of cooling capacity a lot more then what the pickup had, i cant see a bunch of sea water needed.

[dannobee]

The other option with boats is a keel cooler. That way the raw water stays out and the engine has regular coolant in it. It's often used in conjunction with a "dry stack" so that no raw water is ever introduced into the boat (other than for the water maker).

In the middle of the ocean, "Two is one and one is none." Other than single engine freighters, where economy is paramount, having a spare everything is usually a good idea. The ocean going little boats sometimes have a smaller "wing engine" that has enough power to move the boat, but not enough to move it at hull speed. Something to get you home when it all hits the fan.

[Little Mouse]

Ya my cousions boat had a closed loop anitfreeze in the engines. Diesel luger engines in fishing commercial never use 2 engines, just a waste of fuel. Boats with planing hulls or semi displacement hulls can get some use out of 2 engine's. Almost all motor yachts are just used offshore no big deal even if a single engine quit you can buy cheap insurance to have to a hauled back to a marina. Would not even do that with diesel power. You change service items after so many hours just like an airplane wether it needs it or not. People that dont keep the maintenance up are the ones that get themselfs in trouble. Your wearing out 2 engines for no good reason and extra cost to keep 2 engines up, along with more fuel costs.

[Truckedup]

66 to 69 used a stronger modified Saginaw 3 and 4 speed. The 60 to 64 used swing axles that may or may not be suitable for V8 power.
Just Google V8 Corvair ,there's lots of info, examples of swaps and even swap kits...

[Little Mouse]

If i still had a place to put things id like to have a last year 69 corvair. I like the corvair to me it was a nice driving everyday car.

[Truckedup]

Back in the 70's I had a 66 Corvar with the base 95 hp engine and 3 speed. I got a 4 carb Corsa engine and 4 speed from a wreck. The engine had headers and sounded like a hotter cam. It ran ok and was as fast or faster than the sluggish V8's of that time..It handled decent but GM put on stiff front roll bar to make it understeer more than I liked. And the slow steerng...