Running (barely) in the 24 Hours of Lemons race series.
Prepare yourself for The Weird. After a good deal of massaging, cutting, and experimentation, this rusty second-gen Chevy Corvair is now running a modern turbocharged 2.0-liter Subaru WRX engine, all in the name of pounding out some laps in the absurdly quirky 24 Hours of Lemons race series. How in the name of internal combustion did this thing come to be, and more importantly, why?
To answer all that, we should first start with the 24 Hours of Lemons. Founded in 2006, the 24 Hours of Lemons is an amateur racing series wherein participants must field a car with a budget of just $500. That includes the cost to actually buy the car (hence "lemons"), plus any modifications, with the exception of the usual safety gear, brakes, wheels, and tires. Beyond that, the rule book is pretty open, leading to some rather, uh, unorthodox racing machines.
Which brings us to the Chevy Corvair. Although the Corvair was used as a platform for racing back in the day (look up the Yenko Stinger if you want to learn more), it was notorious for its tendency to snap oversteer, primarily as a result of the car's rear-mounted engine and swing-axle suspension design. Ralph Nader even wrote a book about it called Unsafe at Any Speed, which decimated the Corvair's reputation, and despite the handsome styling and subsequent design changes from General Motors, the Corvair was eventually axed following the 1969 model year.
Nevertheless, some fans still harbor love for the Chevy Corvair, including Texas-based 24 Hours of Lemons race team, The Nader H8rs. However, to make the Chevy a bit more competitive, The Nader H8rs needed to swap out the factory air-cooled flat-six. Enter the Subaru WRX.
Subaru fans will go on and on about the benefits of a boxer engine, and indeed, while uncommon, the design does have some very solid advantages over an inline or V-shaped piston layout. Packaging, for example, is compact, making it easy to fit something like an intercooler right smack dab on top of it, as is the case with the Subaru WRX and WRX STI. Another advantage is the low center of mass, which can improve handling. Nevertheless, few manufacturers actually produce boxer engines these days, which designates the Subaru WRX as a somewhat obvious solution to The Nader H8rs power woes.
Of course, while some ideas might look great scribbled on a napkin over a beer, the reality could be a bit, well, messier.
All joking aside, this build is undoubtedly very clever and hugely ambitious, and the fact that it's running at all is a testament to the passion of the folks competing in the 24 Hours of Lemons race series. Check out this Subaru WRX swapped Chevy Corvair for yourself in the following feature video, and stay tuned, because Tuner Fan is headed to the 24 Hours of Lemons' upcoming Yokohama Arse-Freeze-Apalooze at Sonoma Raceway, set to take place this weekend.
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