Transvair Conversion Kits - Corvair Center Forum (2024)

Greetings! This is my first time on the site and first time with a Corvair engine so please be patient with me. I've got a 78 VW with a blown head and after looking at rebuild prices and a little persuasion from my dad I've decided to put a Corvair 110 and powerglide in it. I picked up a completely rotted 64 Monza with a nice running 110 and powerglide for 800 buck. Now comes the tricky part! Does anyone sell a complete kit anymore to mount it in the VW??? I looked on the clarks online catalog and from "what I saw" he didn't even sell the CV joint adapters anymore! I read this article and am wondering where this guy got this complete kit he talks about? Any help would be greatly appreciated! I know I need the transmission mount adapter CV joint adapters and rear engine mount adapters. Is there anything else like a wiring adapter kit? Below is the article. Thanks! :S

http://www.type2.com/library/enginem/corvair.htm

Here's the engine
http://www.expono.com/go/photo/1211593_m.jpg

Here's my Bus
http://www.expono.com/go/photo/1211592_m.jpg

Welcome to the CCF!

Sadly it's all about "Do it your self" unless you find the pieces for sale..

If that's your engine in the picture you may have the wrong crankshaft pulley on
it. AFAIK, all 110 HP engines should have a harmonic balancer, not a pulley like
shown in the picture.

Others here will comment why you need a harmonic balancer. B)

I've installed several sets of Transvair kits into '68 to '72 Type 2s. Kit instructions were pracically self-explanatory and kits themselves easy to install. Unfortunately, whole Transvair kits are rather difficult to locate. It may be necessary to piece together a kit either by hunting down missing components or fabricating your own.

Speaking of which, I do have a set of CV adapters that you're more than welcome to have. They fit '65 and up Powerglide and/or standard shift differentials.

As for Corvair engine in photo, there's a chance you actually have a 95hp engine. Not all 95hp engines required harmonic balancers. By the way, a 95hp Corvair is an excellent choice for a conversion.... the ability to use regular grade fuel.

Kennedy Engineered Products (KEP) specializes in exactly what you want to do!!!!

http://www.kennedyeng.com/index.htm

Didn't find anything on e-bay but a "tansvair kit" google search brought up a load.

https://www.google.com/search?q=transva ... =firefox-a

Where are you...there are two or three VW buses parked in the KEP parking lot?

Just in case you might wonder about the air cleaner inlet.

It is different than most out there as it appears to be part of an "Oil Bath" Air Cleaner set up. If you don't have the rest of it, someone out there may have a need for the part you have.

1962 95 F.C. Van
1964 Greenbrier Deluxe
1965 Monza Coupe
1965 Monza Convertible
Westminster, Maryland

MID ENG enthusiast &
prior Kelmark owner.

Funny that a Google search for "transvair" also located two different types of conveyor systems, once called "TransVair" and another called "STINGER"! Coincidence?

The Samba has posts on the subject of Transvairs (ignore the negative comments about Corvairs and focus on the positive ones).

Back to the subject on this post: IIRC, there is a tubular cage that goes around the engine and connects to the VW on 3 sides? Didn't at least some of these use the stock VW transaxle with the Corvair engine mated to it? Seems like that would be the way to go as long as your VW transaxle does not have the engine-destroying reduction gears. IIRC, the reduction gears were long-gone by '79.

1962 900 sedan needs a home
1967 Monza 140/4-spd
1968 500 coupe (now my son's)
1983 Mexican Mustang 5.0

The VW Bus "TransVair" kits didn't really consist of very many parts. It had a tubular bar that went under the engine towards the back & it mounted between the factory Bus stamped frame rails. Then it had a modified Corvair front crossmember for whichever transaxle you were going to use, auto or stick, that u-bolted to the VW Bus rear torsion bar housing. Add the 2 u-joint/CV adapters & that was pretty much it. There were maybe a couple other little things, but once you really take a look at it, it's fairly easy to figure out.

The "rear cage" mentioned, was installed for fiberglass buggy or sandrail use when you used the Corvair engine & transaxle. It also had axle adapters that allowed use of the Corvair axles & they would hook up to the stock VW springplates. You also had to cut off the VW pan's transaxle mounting yoke from the rear torsion tube back.
The Hadley TransVair kit for the VW Beetle was a whole different setup.

If you made your Corvair engine reverse-rotation, add a Corvair to VW adapter, then the Corvair engine would bolt right up to the VW transaxle. Of course there are ways to bolt up a standard rotation Corvair engine (with an adapter) to a swingaxle transaxle by flipping the VW transaxle ring gear.

vairchet Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've installed several sets of Transvair kits into
> '68 to '72 Type 2s. Kit instructions were
> pracically self-explanatory and kits themselves
> easy to install. Unfortunately, whole Transvair
> kits are rather difficult to locate. It may be
> necessary to piece together a kit either by
> hunting down missing components or fabricating
> your own.
>
> Speaking of which, I do have a set of CV adapters
> that you're more than welcome to have. They fit
> '65 and up Powerglide and/or standard shift
> differentials.
>
> As for Corvair engine in photo, there's a chance
> you actually have a 95hp engine. Not all 95hp
> engines required harmonic balancers. By the way, a
> 95hp Corvair is an excellent choice for a
> conversion.... the ability to use regular grade
> fuel.

Yeah if you have a set of CV adapters I'd love to buy them from you! Yeah I'm mounting the entire 2 speed powerglide transaxle and everything. I've already got a vw automatic so it should just be a matter of hooking up the linkage. I checked out a guys build on the samba and CV adapters are all he needed from the Transvair kit, he used a 67 bus transmission mount to bolt the powerglide to the VW crossmember and welded the corvair rear engine mount to the vw mustache bar and that was it! Wiring should be a little tricky but not too bad but after that it's just a matter of sealing up the engine bay and the same guy on the samba actually even has templates posted of how to cut the sheet metal. (:P)

Actually the Corvair engine can run real well when reverse-rotationed. About 40 years ago while attending college "again", a student's project was to build a hopped-up regular rotation 140hp Corvair engine & run a full battery of dyno tests. After all testing was finished, he tore it down & made it reverse-rotation, same cam specs etc. The engine made 5 more horsepower & about 12 more ft/lbs of torque. Fuel consumption was better in "r-r" mode, not a lot, but a noticeable gain.
Another guy built identical 327 cid Chevy engines (1 standard & 1 reverse rotation) for his Dad's big fishing boat. After breaking them in & making several dyno runs each, the regular rotation engine made 5 horsepower more than the reverse one & a little more torque.

A reverse-rotation Corvair engine adapted to a VW Bus Type 2, Type 3 or 4 fully automatic 3 speed transaxle makes for an excellant combination. It works great in a VW Bus or a fiberglass buggy! In the Bus you won't need any axle CV adapters either.

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Most likely because he didn't reverse the piston's thrust sides [ pins are offset.]

Less friction..but slightly noisier usually... old racers trick.