Not my cup of tea, but still cool.

Here's a Honda b20 Turbo in a Corvair.

http://www.corvairforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=9071

I'd rather see a Corvair engine in a Honda.

Question: why?

Answer: why the berkeley NOT?

Toyman01 wrote: I'd rather see a Corvair engine in a Honda.

In a Honda Beat

Very cool. It really makes a lot of sense to me. Honda powertrains have more than a few things going for them; lightweight and a huge performance following with budget in mind being paramount in an application like this. I've thought long and hard about doing this to one of the Fiat projects, but with an ACVW tranaxle and a adapter kit from Kennedy.

I've strayed away from the Honda swaps largely because of the exhaust note you'd achieve. Can you imagine a hopped up B-series with 3 feet of exhaust? Probably not the best noise you'd ever hear coming from a vintage Italian car.

Totally my cup.

It does make a lot more sense weight wise then the rear V8's I have seen.

The RPM range when mated with the Corvair gearing ratios might be interesting. Sure it has a turbo, but off boost it might be, uhm, interesting.

• Corvair 110 motor makes 160 ft/lbs at 2500 rpm

• B20 (off boost) makes 115 ish ft/lbs at 7000 rpm

7000 rpm in 1st is around 45 mph with a stock Corvair trans! I hope he gets a lot of low rpm boost!

In reply to Burrito Enthusiast: If you get the right muffler, it will sound cool. I bought a dirt cheap racing muffler from a race vendor, and it gave my old Civic a race car like exhaust note.

Well you learn something new every day. I started reading and my brain was yelling 'but Honda's rotate backwards ' After reading I discovered so do Corvairs. I had no idea. I know why Honda's do, but why do Corsair's?

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

Probably because the Corvair was GM trying to steal VW sales, when studying the one they bought to (loosely) copy, nobody noticed the thing turned backwards. That or it's using some ring and pinion they already had a ton of laying around.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:I believe it was GM's "simple"solution to use existing gears for the trans axle to use it both in front engine applications(Tempest), and rear engine applications (Corvair). The interesting bit is, if you spin the trans axle around, a "properly" rotating engine in a mid engined layout works. Rumor had it the Corvair manuals would hold up to a mild V8. There were kits years ago to put a SBC in the back seat. I've always wondered why this option didn't come up more in the various what transmission threads, but I now figure it is because no GRM person would build a mild enough V8 for the trans to live. Oh, rumor also has it a SBC bolts up. I even saw a stick shift corvair at the local pull a part recently. Upon my return, the trans was gone, saving me from buying it, and further cluttering up my shop.

wheelsmithy wrote: In reply to Adrian_Thompson:I believe it was GM's "simple"solution to use existing gears for the trans axle to use it both in front engine applications(Tempest), and rear engine applications (Corvair). The interesting bit is, if you spin the trans axle around, a "properly" rotating engine in a mid engined layout works. Rumor had it the Corvair manuals would hold up to a mild V8. There were kits years ago to put a SBC in the back seat. I've always wondered why this option didn't come up more in the various what transmission threads, but I now figure it is because no GRM person would build a mild enough V8 for the trans to live. Oh, rumor also has it a SBC bolts up. I even saw a stick shift corvair at the local pull a part recently. Upon my return, the trans was gone, saving me from buying it, and further cluttering up my shop.

Paging AutoXR . . .

Burrito Enthusiast wrote: Very cool. It really makes a lot of sense to me. Honda powertrains have more than a few things going for them; lightweight and a huge performance following with budget in mind being paramount in an application like this.

Without clicking the link, they are also the only other reverse-rotation engine besides the Corvair six.

wheelsmithy wrote: Rumor had it the Corvair manuals would hold up to a mild V8.

I'd always heard differently, that putting a standard-rotation engine on a Corvair transaxle would result in remarkably short trans life because all of the axial loads are going the wrong way. Pulling on bearings instead of pushing. That sort of thing.

In reply to Knurled:

If put in the rear, then yes. Mid-engine, in front of the transaxle, works. Someone makes a kit to change the rotation of a sbc, though.

In reply to Knurled:

I definitely don't want to split hairs, but if you rotated the corvair trans so it was in a mid engined orientation, then put a "normal" rotating engine on it, it would receive the same loads (assuming the engine had the same output), Right?

wheelsmithy wrote: In reply to Knurled: I definitely don't want to split hairs, but if you rotated the corvair trans so it was in a mid engined orientation, then put a "normal" rotating engine on it, it would receive the same loads (assuming the engine had the same output), Right?

No. The transmission's gears are beveled, so they put side loads on the transmission bearings. It's the side loading you have to worry about, not the gears themselves. They generally aren't as strong in the "coast" direction because they don't have to be.

I'm most familiar with Mazda transmissions, and they are definitely designed to only be strong in one direction. The bearings that hold axial position are very well supported in the normal thrust load direction, held in place by a thin sheetmetal stamping in the other direction. Or a weenie little circlip.

This is a good chunk of why straight cut gears are stronger. The bearings live more happily, and happy bearings keep the gears in mesh, gears in mesh live happy lives.

I would not do this, but I like what this guy is doing ...

Adrian_Thompson wrote: I know why Honda's do,

Why? Don't say because the transmission is on the passenger side ... There has to be a bigger reason than that.

Slippery wrote: I would not do this, but I like what this guy is doing ...

Adrian_Thompson wrote: I know why Honda's do,

Why? Don't say because the transmission is on the passenger side ... There has to be a bigger reason than that.

Why does there have to be a bigger reason that that? It's perfectly logical because simple transmission design has an input, an output, and a differential gear, which makes the engine and the wheels rotate in the same direction. Honda simply designed their engines/cars around having the engine on the opposite side of the master cylinder and steering column on a RHD car.

A lot of engineering design is based off of simple practicalities like that. When they are not, they end up being designs that we make immense fun of on Internet forums.

I had a neighbor who insisted that cars had the batteries on the L/F corner so that it totals the car in an accident because that was the most common place to hit a car. I pointed out that the battery is usually placed as close as possible to the starter, and American design traditionally has the starter on the left side as a holdover from the days when you physically engaged the starter solenoid with a foot lever. (Except Chevy because Chevy is bass-ackwards )

Knurled wrote:

Burrito Enthusiast wrote: Very cool. It really makes a lot of sense to me. Honda powertrains have more than a few things going for them; lightweight and a huge performance following with budget in mind being paramount in an application like this.

Without clicking the link, they are also the only other reverse-rotation engine besides the Corvair six.

Nope. The Fiat 850 is a counter clockwise motor too.

Knurled wrote:

Burrito Enthusiast wrote: Very cool. It really makes a lot of sense to me. Honda powertrains have more than a few things going for them; lightweight and a huge performance following with budget in mind being paramount in an application like this.

Without clicking the link, they are also the only other reverse-rotation engine besides the Corvair six.

"Only" is too strong a word for that statement. Fiat 850s and BMW K100s also spin CCW.