im new to dune buggys i have a 1965 corvair motor with automatic trans. installed on this buggy. and this is the picture of the shifter was mounted on lt side of drivers seat on floor. my question is what kind is it.and there is no park position on it , i beleave i have drive .reverse and neutral. with this shifter does anyone know what other kind i could use ?

'Vair autos were just standard GM Powerglide. Shift pattern from the top would have been R-N-D-L. There is no park position, so just make sure it's in neutral!! See here for some basic info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvair_Powerglide

thanks rick

I was going to say, I don't believe there was a pin like you would have on today's automobile to lock the car from rolling, so you need to have a well adjusted E-brake cable and if you are going to be parking on hills, be sure to turn the wheel to the side so if it does roll, it's not going to go too far before hitting something and slowing down.

As far as the shifter is concerned, I believe that is a stock shifter that would have been mounted in the Corvair dash. I'm not sure what else you could use to actuate the transmission. I have little experience with auto Corvairs. What size is the cable sheath?

Jay

Oh, I should have mentioned that if it is the stock shifter mechanism, the stem and handle have been changed. The Corvair had a nice chrome stem with a tapered chrome tee handle.

Jay

Brian, does your body have any any additional bump out on your rear fenders like this one?



Does your front tunnel look like this?



I suspect not, but want to ask. It looks like you have a Corvair front suspension on the car.

Thanks,
Jay

thanks for the reply guys .Jay  no bump or tunnel

That's as I suspected. That means you have the very special frame meant to receive corvair sub frame assembly up front and Corvair drivetrain in the rear. Above the rear shocks, there is a "cup" welded to receive what I suspect in the cut down Corvair spring.

See.... I have the ManxVair. It was a joint venture between Meyers and ConFerr (out of California). ConFerr was to manufacture a chassis to accept the Corvair front and rear... basically a buggy kit for using a Corvair as a donor. Meyers had to make special bodies to fit the square tunnel as well as to allow the rear suspension to fit. For that reason, the rear wheel tubs had the extra bumpout to allow for the full height Corvair rear spring and shock.

Somewhere after ConFerr began manufacturing their chassis for the ManxVair, there was a company out there that copied the ConFerr frame, however they made a little "improvement" to the chassis. They allowed the rear coil from the 'Vair to sit below the rear tub. Because of this, no special fiberglass body was needed. They also filled the square tunnel with the VW type slope in the front.

I suspect they did this design change to accept any fiberglass body by having the builder cut the rear coils down in height. It appears from your photo than they allowed stock shocks, but simply tipping them back where they attach at the top.

I've only seen one other buggy like yours. It was a green one offered on Ebay not too long ago. In the beginning, the link was sent to me as a ManxVair, but I determined it was NOT a ManxVair. It was a Manx on this copied and improved chassis. I wish I could remember the manufacturer of the chassis. I'll have a look for it and see if I can find it. It looks the SAME as the ManxVair chassis in the picture if I remember correctly.

Your body is not a Manx, so it was another clue that you may have had this chassis.

IF you ever take this thing apart, please document it completely with photos!

Thanks,
Jay

OK I'm like a kid with a new toy. want to rebuild it. but also want to drive it now. lol drove  it around yard today. waiting on title to get here so I can get plates. need to get brakes some bulbs . then I can cruise on the road.

also need some help trying to locate a automatic shifter for this it wants to come out of gear .the lugs on shifter are kind of worn I think that's the problem.

and jay I sure will take lots of pictures when I rebuild it. probably start around October or so.

It could be that the spring is weak or that the pivot point is a little loose. If it is rivited, you can try to tighten it up by squeezing in a vice. I would use something flat to pad the jaws of the vice and don't over do it. Do a little at a time until it feels like it is tight and not going to move freely.

Here's a page from Clark's Corvair Parts that shows both the early and late style shifters. http://www.corvair.com/user-cgi/catalog.cgi?function=fetch&find_page=NOS-31

Hope this helps.
Jay