Cal Club Autocross Forums

Hey! I moved to Socal (Pomona) a few months ago and have been feverishly putting together a 69 Corvair for autocross. It's been running for about a week and a half. Cross your fingers for me!

I've raced autocross many times before (in AZ and in Eugene, OR) but not much for the last 5 years or so. I'm a bit rusty.

I'm excited to see how much different things are here. It's a much bigger city and I'm sure there are some necessary differences from what I'm used to. I noticed the car number requirements already.

Evidently I'm a Corvair nut. I own a 62 Ranmpside which was my family's truck. So when I went looking for an autocross toy, another Corvair made sense.

Previous autocross cars were all rotary Mazdas. A few 1st gen Rx7s, an Rx2, etc.

I do all my own automotive work. I'm "pretty ok" at most things: Mechanical, restoration, rust repair, welding, paint & body, electrical, whatever. My kid was a better programmer than me when he was 9. Gotta be legitimately bad at something, righ?!?

What else? I work as a manufacturing engineer in beautiful City of Industry.

See you all this Sunday!

Brian Jackson

Look forward to meeting you.

We had a Corvair guy in our region about 10 years ago. He was running on R comps. A Root-beer colored beauty, the car I mean. I can't remember his name at the moment. Lived in the Southbay area. Good luck with your Corvair. See you soon.

Welcome!

Glad to see another guy with old american iron joining in. What class are you planning on running?

See you Sunday if you are around for the lunch/afternoon time. I'll be the guy with a red 68 Camaro, currently covered in Optima stickers.

Thanks, KJ!

George, when I was still racing Mazdas, I used to get regularly beat by a well prepped late Corvair. Drove me nuts! Hopefully I can eventually get this one into that kind of shape. It's very rough now. We shall see.

Hey, Chad! Funny to have a Corvair that's newer than a Camaro...

I am registered in Street Prepared. I've got headers and a Holley 390 so I can't get into stock. The Corvair is an HS car so I guess that means I'm in H Street Prepared?

Unlike a Camaro, and most other American iron, the Corvair doesn't fit into any CAM classes, mostly because it's too light.

xrotaryguy wrote:Hey, Chad! Funny to have a Corvair that's newer than a Camaro...

I am registered in Street Prepared. I've got headers and a Holley 390 so I can't get into stock. The Corvair is an HS car so I guess that means I'm in H Street Prepared?

Unlike a Camaro, and most other American iron, the Corvair doesn't fit into any CAM classes, mostly because it's too light.

Actually you are in FSP. I modified your online registration to reflect that. FYI, when registering on MSR and selecting an indexed (PAXed) class like SP, you also need to select your base class (FSP) in the PAX box.

George Schilling wrote:We had a Corvair guy in our region about 10 years ago. He was running on R comps. A Root-beer colored beauty, the car I mean. I can't remember his name at the moment. Lived in the Southbay area. Good luck with your Corvair. See you soon.

His first name was Mark. Still waiting for his last name to pop into my head. HELP!

OH! I see now that the car moves to F if it's going to race as a street prepared car. Thanks for the change!

It doesn't matter at the moment, unfortunately. There was a slight ticking noise as I drove the car the last couple days. The tick got louder and changed with throttle input on the way to the track. Probably a bad rod bearing. Oh well, old cars are always full of surprises. I turned around and drove it home with no further trouble. Hopefully I'll have it straightened out a little better in a few weeks.

Brian Jackson

Sorry I missed you Brian. Hope to see you and the Corvair at a future event.

His first name was Mark. Still waiting for his last name to pop into my head. HELP!

Mark Wright
He was with No$ and last competed with us in 2009

John Fendel wrote:

His first name was Mark. Still waiting for his last name to pop into my head. HELP!

Mark Wright
He was with No$ and last competed with us in 2009

Thanks John. Appreciate the assist.

Sorry to hear about the car troubles Brian. Being a former Corvair owner, I can attest there's more to come.

See you when you get it back together!

Its a small club but i dont think i know a Mark Wright.

Inspection is going well. #1 rod bearing was worn out. Im not sure why. It doesnt look like anything went through it. Maybe just miles or abuse. So far all the journals are unscathed and in tolerance. I'm hoping to put a set of rod bearings in it this weekend.

And yeah, these things are always broken. Ive gone through four engines in just a few years. I was part of the problem every time But still, these engines can be unforgiving. The typical corvair owner solution is to buy another late model car right?

Let's try this again. The rod bearing has been replaced and I've been carefully driving the car, change the oil, inspect, repeat. I drove the car 75 miles on the freeway Saturday so hopefull I'll see you all at the next event.

Brian Jackson