New member, New owner

[Iflyos]

Hey all, I'm Tim, from Winston Salem, and I'm a new member and as of this past Friday, a new owner of a 1961 Monza Coupe.

This is my first Corvair, though I have a buddy with a couple. I'm looking forward to the adventure for sure.

Currently I am working on electrical gremlins the previous owner had, and about have those sorted. A new wiring harness has helped. The previous owner included quite a collection of parts, to include the wiring harness, so I have an advantage.

After the wiring is sorted, I'll be going over the rest of the car, specifically the brakes. The previous owner was having an issue getting them bled after replacing pads, hoses and lines.

Tim

[American Mel]

WELCOME to Corvair Forum, Tim!

[fred bagnall]

Welcome to the fray. That is a nice looking 61. My first Corvar was a 61- 4 door Monza with a clothe interior. You are at the right place for help and camaraderie . Good luck with the project.

[doug6423]

My wife is from NC

[Iflyos]

Thanks Gang. I only have two remaining electrical issues, one ( I suspect) is a bad headlight dimmer switch, and the other is the reverse lights are always on.. I suspect the PO may have missed something when he installed a new reverse light switch.

Hopefully work will cooperate tomorrow and I can spend some time in the garage once I get home.

I have to say, Having owned a TR6, and dealing with Lucas electrics, the Corvair is much simpler to troubleshoot. When I got it Friday, It would start and run, but that was the only electrical thing it would do. Now, even the original AM radio is working!

Tim

[County98]

Welcome! I would start with the headlight switch and check the grounds.

[Scott H]

Congrats on the Car! Its sweet looking.
The electrical is pretty straight forward. You should be able to get it all dialed in.

[jimbrandberg]

'60-61 have a different master cylinder under the dash instead of in the trunk, sort of a pain to remove. Last one I dealt with was difficult to get started bleeding so I used a pressure bleeder on a screw cap doohickey I made. A Mity-Vac didn't seem to want to do it. Once I got things going it bled out with the pedal like normal, perhaps you're already there since you have some brakes.
Jim Brandberg
Isanti, MN
CorvairRepair.com

[RexJohnson]

I've seen a couple of times where you need 2 nylon washers under the switch to get the back up lights to go off. The terminals on the end of the switch could be touching each other also.

[Iflyos]

'60-61 have a different master cylinder under the dash instead of in the trunk, sort of a pain to remove. Last one I dealt with was difficult to get started bleeding so I used a pressure bleeder on a screw cap doohickey I made. A Mity-Vac didn't seem to want to do it. Once I got things going it bled out with the pedal like normal, perhaps you're already there since you have some brakes.
Jim Brandberg
Isanti, MN
CorvairRepair.com

I noticed it was quite a bit different setup than what I'm used to with regards to the master cylinder. I figured I'd start with doing a gravity bleed and go from there. That has served me well in the past on other older vehicles. If that doesn't work, I'll give the Mity-Vac method a try.

I've seen a couple of times where you need 2 nylon washers under the switch to get the back up lights to go off. The terminals on the end of the switch could be touching each other also.

Thanks for the tip..I'll see if that solves the problem.

[gbullman]

Welcome! Nice to have another member that feels comfortable with electrical issues. My previous classic was an MGB and I agree GM electrical systems are a lot easier to sort out.