Builders:
The last option I want to look at in the piston department is our 3,000 cc stuff. These are basically 92mm versions of the 2,850 cc kits. This bore requires the case and the heads to have machine work done to them. This work is included in the price of $2,200 for the piston/rings/rod/cylinder kit. Last year I wrote a fairly detailed description of the 3,000 cc engine choice at this link:
3,000cc Case Modifications.
3,000 cc engines have been very popular with Corvair builders, but they are significantly more expensive than other Corvairs. As I pointed out in the last part, this increased expense seems small to a guy who was looking at a Jab 3300 or a Rotax 912. People who had previously felt restricted to expensive imported engines find even the top dollar Corvairs very affordable by comparison.
For this part I am going to skip the individual part listings for the 1300 and 1400 groups as they apply to the 3,000 cc kits, builders following the series grasp that we sell the 3,000 kits just like the 2,850’s but the 3,000cc kits require machine work to the case, work we are glad to do and is included in the price.
Looking ahead, let us imaging a chart with the 5 case options listed below , AA through EE, on one axis, and the 5 piston/cylinder choices on the other. This chart will outline 25 different engine build options. Does this begin to illustrate the flexibility of Corvair building to suit individual builders needs and budgets? Technically, the 2,775 cc option in column #3 doesn’t yet exist so it is really just 20 main options. But even from here there are variations and sub options.
No one should tax their imagination very hard to picture the chart because I have 601 builder/flyer Phil Maxson working on it for Part #17 right now. Once we have this in front of us I can demonstrate the power of the new numbering system to quickly and accurately describe individual Corvair engines, and builders will have a very good idea of what it will cost to produce their own version.
Here is an example: Dan’s Panther prototype engine,
Panther Engine Is Alive … ALIVE
can be called a DD-5 short block. Greg Crouchley’s engine,
World’s Strongest 3,000cc Corvair, built by Greg Crouchley
is also a DD-5 engine, but the connecting rods, #1302 were upgraded to the new forged rods. I can use the system to describe almost any engine accurately with few words; another example, Woody Harris’s engine,
Zenith 601XL-2,850cc, Woody Harris
Is an AA-4 in this system (it also has new rods for #1302) Jeff Cochran’s engine:
New “Zenvair-750″, Jeff Cochran, 2,850cc engine, N750ZV
Is an EE-4 in this system, and so on. The numbering system also works to say things like “Ron Lendon just upgraded his engine from an EE-2 to an EE-4.” and “Phil Maxson’s 601 is powered by a AA-1 engine.” and “Kevin Purtee’s Pietenpol engine is a CC-1, Ed Lienweber’s flybaby engine I am assembling in the shop is an AA-4.” At first pass without the chart in front of you yet, it may seem like an added complication, but with the chart, you will be able to compare the costs of all the short blocks listed above at a glance. -ww
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Engine options with 5th bearings:
Allan Able = $2,062
(See part #5)
Bob Baker = $2,516
(See part #6)
Chas, Charlie = $2,770
(See part #7)
Davie Dog = $4,270
(See part #8)
Eddie Easy = $3,157
(See part #9)
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