Toronado.org

Greetings All

First time. Please be gentle.

Just bought a 65 Corvair with a nicely installed Toronado 455 and Trans in the back. Looks to be late 60s. What are the individual weights of the engine and trans? (appear stock)

Needs some work but I finally own an Oldsmobile!! (kinda)

Looking forward to all that awesome torque.

Best Regards
Rob

Oy! That sounds like quite a car!

The engine weighs somewhere between 600 and 700 lbs depending upon configuration and the trans around 250 lbs and about 75 lbs for the final drive. These are all approximations, but are close enough for general use.

Add please pst some pics!

It is a 65 Corsa Turbo that was converted in the 1980s with a kit from Mid-Enginering. Rust free and done properly (in Alberta Canada too). Been looking for a couple years and this one fell into my lap for $3900. Pretty heavy in the rear but ready for Insanity Speed.

Found out the engine and trans were out of a 1966 low mile rollover from the late 60s. Dang thing runs perfectly even though it was stored in a shed for 25 years.

Thanks for the quick responses.

Rob

You should see if you can upgrade it to an HEI ignition to eliminate those pesky points. At the very least you can do a conversion upgrade and keep the smaller cap. Points just plain suck.

Looks like you have a nice car there! Do you know if they still make the conversion, or is it something an adventurous guy can fabricate by pictures? We want to get a Corvair sometime and it would be fantastic to have such a motor in it.

Oh, and forgot to mention it is a 425 if it came from a 1966... and you most likely have a switch pitch trans too. Nice!

Found an almost new Petronics Flamethrower HEI for an Olds last year at Pick and Pull for $15. I had it on the shelf and now I can use it. The year of the drivetrain has been passed for owner to owner for 25 years so I will check the numbers when I Trailer it home this weekend.

I am looking forward to getting greasy and investigating the car fully. Probably going to have some more questions in the future.

Should go pretty fast in a straight line but I might need some engineering to help the handling.

Thanks for the info.

Best Regards
Rob

Unfortunately, the Mid-Engineering Kit has not been available since the 80s. There are a few built cars out there but they are hard to find. Super heavy in the back but you get to keep the back seat and the powertrain is totally hidden.

The more common conversion is the Crown (Corv8) conversion that uses a reversed corvair transaxle essentially putting the engine in the back seat. The balance of the car is almost 50/50 and can handle like its on rails. The Corvair differential is the weak part and you are generally limited to 300hp. The parts are also not produced any more but there were lots of cars built since the late 60s. They are more common and a few sell every year. I was going after one of those before the Coronado fell in my lap.

Regards
Rob

xgecko wrote:You should see if you can upgrade it to an HEI ignition to eliminate those pesky points. At the very least you can do a conversion upgrade and keep the smaller cap. Points just plain suck.

Looks like you have a nice car there! Do you know if they still make the conversion, or is it something an adventurous guy can fabricate by pictures? We want to get a Corvair sometime and it would be fantastic to have such a motor in it.

Oh no the crazy engineer is having wild thoughts!!! i can just imagine the swirling thoughts between his ears!!!!

Well the real craziness has more to do with my fantasy of an IRS in the Toronado followed by the transplant of the IRS from a late model Camaro into a '69 Riviera. As for the Corvair, I am thinking more of a transplant based on an Olds 350 and the TH325-4L... a bit less power but much less weight and an overdrive gear to boot. Throw on the aluminum heads and you have a pretty powerful yet much lighter setup.