When it comes to an old car, having good visibility and appropriate space to store all of the fluids is crucial. While I hate multitasking, occasionally the schedule of one work requires me to execute the two activities concurrently. This happened to my 1962 Chevy Corvair, which had a fluid leak and a lost tail lamp at the same time, requiring my attention.

As my Corvair was having its generator repaired, the engine and transmission dried up, signaling that my 10W-30 was leaking rather than burning. Instead of obtaining new gaskets, I opted to rebuild the old oil and transmission pans.

Because the Corvair gasket differs greatly from other Chevrolet Powerglide models, I had to acquire a Mini PG Reseal Kit. Luckily, everything is accessible when the transmission pan is removed. Still, the gasket installation operation had to be complemented by a thorough clean-up to remove road filth and old drippings that had accumulated over time.

I also thought about improving my Corvair’s visibility by installing proper LED headlamps. I put incandescent bulbs in the front turn signals and 1156 LEDs in the backlights. Since this transformation, my car no longer drips and has nice visibility.