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Ideas for a new tool.

Alan F

Moderator
Senior Member
I have five Corvairs. All of them are of unknown pedigree. The ‘61 van has been off the road since 1967. I’m sick of screwing around with half baked setups to start cars and evaluate them. So, I’m thinking of making two things to make the job easier and safer.

1. Remote engine control panel. I’ve ordered a Ignition Switch Panel that has a toggle for on/off, push start button, and 3 powered auxiliary toggles. I have an oil pressure, voltmeter and temp gauges. I was going to create a harness with clips to the battery, clips for ignition and starter solenoid. I want to add a couple of LEDs for oil pressure light, ignition light and temp light in the event the vehicle doesn’t have gauges. I can bend up some tin or alum to make a small enclosure.
Edit: I’m going to add a ballast resistor on the ignition wire.

2. Portable fuel system. I’ve ordered a 7 gallon plastic fuel tank and an inexpensive electric fuel pump. The tank has a 5/16” nipple at the bottom and is small enough to lodge or hang in an engine bay. I’m going to put a T on it with one side that will gravity feed the vehicles’s fuel pump and the other will feed the electric fuel pump and can be plumbed to the carburetor. I will mount the fuel pump on the gas tank. It will have a wiring harness that will connect it to the remote engine control panel.

Beyond that, what are your ideas to make it better? Thanks for any and all ideas.
 
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Sounds like you have the basic setup covered.

I think I might have a carb or water pump somewhere for a corvair.
 
When I first put the 454 & T400 in our Chevelle I used a 3-4 gal. plastic boat gas tank for a fuel tank (engine had a mech pump), and rigged an Oil gauge then Hot Wired the Dist. & starter, I'm sure you've already been this route but what could make it easier for a temp start/run ? Corvair air cooled I think? Lots of Fans, Just remembered they had a crazy fan belt set up that went Horz. & Vert.
 
When I first put the 454 & T400 in our Chevelle I used a 3-4 gal. plastic boat gas tank for a fuel tank (engine had a mech pump), and rigged an Oil gauge then Hot Wired the Dist. & starter, I'm sure you've already been this route but what could make it easier for a temp start/run ? Corvair air cooled I think? Lots of Fans, Just remembered they had a crazy fan belt set up that went Horz. & Vert.
On this exercise, I’m rebuilding two carbs and 1 distributor to use on all 5. I want to sidestep all the rigamarole to try to eliminate things that don’t work. New oil and plugs for all. If it will turn over it should try to run.
 
When I first put the 454 & T400 in our Chevelle I used a 3-4 gal. plastic boat gas tank for a fuel tank (engine had a mech pump), and rigged an Oil gauge then Hot Wired the Dist. & starter, I'm sure you've already been this route but what could make it easier for a temp start/run ? Corvair air cooled I think? Lots of Fans, Just remembered they had a crazy fan belt set up that went Horz. & Vert.

Yes, you made me think...
Must be a carb.
 
I realize you said you'd put the gas container in the engine bay, but if you decide later the gas container should be on the ground because it's too heavy or for safety reasons (which is how I'd do it), plan on putting the electric fuel pump at the fuel tank because most pumps are meant to push and not pull.

Personally I wouldn't put the gas tank in or near the engine bay in case of fire, and I'd also have an fire extinguisher with your kit. I've had enough cars backfire when setting timing and started fires in the carb. Just my $.02.
 
No. I would mount all that on a cart. Especially since an electric fuel pump.

An Maybe mount a vacuum gauge? Maybe have an oil pressure sending unit handy. That way in case there is a question, unscrew the old one and install new? Install a tach and its leads. Make sure when mounting gauges, they are not laying tow in the mount so you have to be standing over them to see. make sure they are mounted so you can see them while bending over the side of the car during DIAG or Carb / timing adjustments.

Maybe a AFR O2 sniffer so go on and in the tail pipe?
 
No. I would mount all that on a cart. Especially since an electric fuel pump.

An Maybe mount a vacuum gauge? Maybe have an oil pressure sending unit handy. That way in case there is a question, unscrew the old one and install new? Install a tach and its leads. Make sure when mounting gauges, they are not laying tow in the mount so you have to be standing over them to see. make sure they are mounted so you can see them while bending over the side of the car during DIAG or Carb / timing adjustments.

Maybe a AFR O2 sniffer so go on and in the tail pipe?

I agree with the cart idea (first thing I thought of), but if you're going over rough terrain, it'd have to have some beefy wide pneumatic wheels so it'd be easy to push / pull, or even maybe a handtruck that can be laid down when you get to the location to act as a platform to hold everything.
 
I totally overlooked…
Tach is good and I looked way past that. Thanks Von.
Vacuum gauge is a great idea too. Thanks Mike.

If this thing evolves, I can see having a gas monitor. I didn’t mention it but for the Corvairs, I’m going to have an oil temperature gauge.

The fuel pump on the tank is solely for the remote tank. It won’t have enough flow to sustain any kind of heavy operation. Also, I’m guessing there is nothing of value going to be in any of these fuel tanks. I wanted to be able to put the tank under the hood in the event you wanted to test the transmission or were able to drive it enough to put it on a trailer.

I was thinking this would be a good setup to have on an engine run stand too.

I always have a fire extinguisher or two.

Follow up question: I wanted the remote engine control panel to have an enclosure. I was just thinking about a flat rectangle box. Any ideas about the shape or mounting appendages? I’ve got a big suction cup Multi angle adjustable mount deal I used to use on a full size IPad. This will likely be too heavy for that. What about making a multifaceted bottom to accommodate laying in a non-flat surface?
 
Right after I posted that, it would be nice to have a tray underneath that the wires come through where they could be stored when not in use.
 
I have the new stuff ordered and some old stuff I was going to put together. I think now I’m going to amp up my plans with new gauges and wiring if I’m to make a video.

Still seeking ideas. I don’t want to get done and regret not adding something that people will point out as an obvious fail.
 
I have the new stuff ordered and some old stuff I was going to put together. I think now I’m going to amp up my plans with new gauges and wiring if I’m to make a video.

Still seeking ideas. I don’t want to get done and regret not adding something that people will point out as an obvious fail.

Just make sure the mounting panel is oversized for additions..... this way it can be modified to add more as you go.
 
As I sit here and think, and at the risk of shamefully running up my post count, I think I’m going to replace the voltmeter and tachometer with one of those electronic engine analyzers and pick up the Dwell feature in the process.

Thinking further down the road, it would be cool to have it work on newer vehicles too through the OBFII diagnostic port.
 
No. Right or not, I didn't think about a fuel filter coming off of my fuel tank. That's a good one.
 
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