This page contains material from the June 2002 newsletter

EDITOR Jim Pittman NEXT MEETING: Wednesday June 5th, 7:30 PM Galles Chevrolet, Lomas & University THIS MONTH: Dues Due Sylvan Zuercher May Meeting Notes Chuck Vertrees May Board Notes Chuck Vertrees Billiken Mark Morgan Tune-Up at Del Norte Jim Pittman Driver's Seat Robert Gold Calendar of Coming Events Everybody Pecos Campout & CNM Ladies Anne Mae Gold Christmas Party Plans Rita Gongora Seven Years Ago Jim Pittman Tri-State Report Wendell Walker Map to Ruth's Cabin in the Pecos For Sale, Trade or Wanted Everybody COVER: Taking a break on the way to Grand Junction Dues Expired or Due or Approaching Due: Tarmo Sutt 2002-May Terry Price 2002-May Gordon Johnson 2002-Jun Richard Finch 2002-Jun Mark Morgan 2002-Jun Joe Ashton 2002-Jul Anthony Couture 2002-Jul Rick Covington 2002-Jul Richard Foster 2002-Jul Robert Gold 2002-Jul Steve Gongora 2002-Jul John Mattern 2002-Jul Roger Chavez 2002-Aug Robert Harvey 2002-Aug Steve Johnson 2002-Aug Bill Reider 2002-Aug John Stichman 2002-Aug Sylvan Zuercher 2002-Aug If your membership is due or has expired, please send your dues to: Wendell Walker, CNM Treasurer, 301 Utah Meadow, Rio Rancho, NM 87124 Note: the Club will mail in your National dues when you renew, but only if you send us the renewal form from CORSA Communique! = MAY MEETING NOTES Chuck Vertrees The meeting was called to order at Galles Chevrolet on 5/1/02 at 19:00. All officers were present except Larry Blair. There were no new members or guests to introduce. The minutes of the last meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter. Wendell Walker reported that CNM had $570.19 in the checking account and $5,011.03 in the GMAC account for a total worth of $5.581.22. Mark Martinek reported that the NMCCC met on 4/24/02. It was reported that all of the various car shows held during the previous month seemed to be well attended. The upcoming car show in Los Lunas on 6/19 was discussed at length. (Few from CNM will be attending because of the Tri-State meet conflict.) Several car shows are planned in the immediate future in the Albuquerque area. See the Calendar of events for details. The Great American Car Race will overnight in Rio Rancho on June 18th. The meeting was adjourned at 20:25 and Mark said that this was the shortest meeting ever. Mark Domzalski reported that CORSA will have a newsletter award, and it has been suggested that an award for a web site also could be established. Dennis Pleau has been elected as a Western director but the election has not been approved yet. Nothing new on the 203 Tri-State was reported. The Tri-State plaque was ready to be picked up. The rules for the award and the plaque will be permanently attached to the back of the plaque. Bill Reider reported that the "Care & Feeding" was almost done. Ruth moved and Wendell seconded that we no longer give a free license plate to new members. Sylvan said that he viewed the free plate as a recruiting tool, however, the motion was carried. It was also decided that Jerry our newest member would get a plate, since he joined before the motion. Those who are going to caravan to the Tri-State decided to meet at the McDonalds in Bernalillo at 09:30. Tarmo will check on rooms in Durango and contact those who signed up. Jerry Goffe complemented Steve Gongora on the CNM web site. If you haven't logged on lately, you should. The meeting was adjourned at 20:09, followed by a very interesting presentation on the car was business by Rick Mitchell with Octopus. = MAY BOARD MEETING NOTES Chuck Vertrees The meeting was held at House of Covers on 5/15/02. Present were Steve Gongora, Sylvan Zuercher, Bill Reider, Wendell Walker, Jim Pittman, Jerry Goffe, Chuck Vertrees, and Larry Blair. Bob Gold was called to the Pecos valley and Larry was a little late because he had another meeting before he came. Your secretary agrees that after you retire you are so busy, you wonder how you ever found time to work. The minutes of the last meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter. Wendell reported that CNM has $107.86 in the checking account and $5,011.03 in the GMAC account for a total of $5,118.89. Bill had taken the Care & Feeding to Alpha Graphics to have it printed. Today he had called them so he could go by and pick them up. He was old that our order was at the Rio Rancho office! Bill arranged for Wendell to pick them up which he did, and brought them to the meeting. The quality was terrible! Bill left the meeting early to take them to the main office so that he could discuss their quality with them. The Tri-State plaque is all ready. Steve had a set of rules governing the plaque, which will be permanently placed on the back. Steve will take the plaque to Grand Junction. Your secretary will be gone most of the month of June and Jim volunteered to take the minutes while I am gone. The 2003 Tri-State was discussed. We have the location but the date is an issue. We need to find out when Denver will have its big swap meet and also when the Albuquerque car show will be. Several CNM members who usually go will not be able to make it this year because of conflicts with school graduations, so this will also be a factor in selecting a date. The date for the Christmas party has been set as 12/1/02. It was suggested that we call it a Holiday Party rather than a Christmas party for CNM members who are of different faiths. Larry was thanked for the speaker at the last meeting. The car wash business was much more complex than most of the members were aware of. The June campout at Ruth's was discussed. Because of the fire danger, there is a possibility that they may close the forest and this could complicate access. This can probably be solidified at the June meeting. If the campout has to be canceled, Larry made some alternate suggestions, a tour of the wastewater plant, a tour to Gran Quivera, Abo, and Quarai, a tour to the Ice Caves and El Morro, or Eclipse Aviation at the Albuquerque airport. Larry said that the carb balancing session was a big success and his car is running like a top, however, he has rebuilt the brakes and it is not stopping like it should. He was given several suggestions, but he said he was going to keep it anyway. Joe Trujillo told Steve that his bowling season is over so he will be coming to the meetings. We need to find out when Galles will be having another Chevy show. A longer lead-time would be nice. Larry said that he did not have a tech talk lined up for June. There were several possible topics discussed, but no firm decision was made. The possibility of having a wheel bearing inspection before the trip to Flagstaff was discussed. Steve said we could have it at his shop and a possible date of June 15th was set. We will need to see if enough people are interested. If the campout has to be canceled this could be done on the 8th. Jerry said that there might possibly be a report on the awards in June. The meeting was adjourned at 18:34. = Carb Tune-up Event Jim Pittman A small but enthusiastic group of Corvair owners met at Del North High School on Saturday morning, April 27. John Wiker was already there (actually, he was one of the Corvair owners looking forward to carb tune-up knowledge) and he showed us around while we waited for whoever might show up late. Bill Reider brought a bunch of tools and other members brought tools as well. The Uni-Syn was the high tech tool and using it, as Bill showed us, was simplicity itself. What does it do? It provides a relative air flow measure; when you make the left carb and the right carb suck atomsphere at the same rate, your carbs are pretty well balanced! Another high-tech tool was a timing light to be sure your sparks are not happening too early or too late for the compression stroke. Those who didn't attend missed out on picking Bill's brain for tune-up lore. Those who did attend had a pleasant morning and were rewarded with a better-running car. Our thanks to John for setting this up and Bill for supplying heaps of experience. Hey, let's have some more of these hands-on fix-it events! -- Jim = FROM THE DRIVER'S SEAT Robert Gold I want to begin this column by thanking the CNM members for a terrific turnout at our May meeting. You don't know how much it means to me to be sitting up front of such a large crowd of enthusiastic members. I'd like to think you turned out to hear my great oratory, but it probably was your interest in hearing from the representative of Octopus Car Wash. By the way, many thanks to Larry Blair for arranging for the talk. Another nice story for me to relate has to do with the carburetor tune-up extravaganza that took place at Del Norte High School thanks to John Wiker and Bill Reider. The weather told the tale of the event. It started cold and cloudy, but by the time the sun came out we had five Corvairs ready for attention. This number allowed everyone there to get individual attention from Bill Reider. I know my car runs a whole lot better -- Thanks. I've gotten preliminary word that our much anticipated caravan to the Tri-State in Grand Junction was a rousing success. Ruth Boydston and Jim Pittman both reported that everyone had a wonderful time at the meet. I want to personally thank the Rocky Mountain club for their hard work. Also, recognition needs to go to Rita and Steve Gongora for their Francis Boydston award. I want to take this opportunity to recognize Mark Domzalski for his invaluable work on the national level in CORSA. His term has now expired, so we won't be seeing his picture regularly in the CORSA Communique. I hope that after a well earned rest he will again be assuming a leadership role in Corvairs of New Mexico (hint!). I hope that those members who attended the Tri-State took a minute to think about the CNM members left behind. I'm referring to the intrepid members who braved wind and sun to attend the annual Council of Car Clubs car show in Los Lunas. Those intrepid members numbered three -- John Wiker, Anne Mae Gold, and yours truly. We displayed three classic Corvairs. The weather was wonderful and the display grounds were a sea of perfect grass. I want to thank the organizers, with one exception, for their efforts in putting together the show. The exception I refer to was the poor reception given to me by the President of the Car Council. Funny, I don't remember his name. I asked him what his name was when he invited me to leave. I guess I'm just trying to remember only the good things about the show. On to other things -- As all of you know, we in New Mexico are experiencing a drought of historic proportions. I'm keenly aware of the problems caused by such a situation since I've worked 30 years in the field of water resources. That said, I want somebody to explain to me how in the midst of such a devastating drought, I could wash my fleet of cars and the next day watch as rain ruined all my efforts? I figure I have two choices for the near future -- either never again wash all my cars at one time, or hire myself out as a rainmaker! I guess that is about all I have to say this month. Just one more thing -- Don't forget about the National Convention in Flagstaff in June. I hope to see you there and also at the next meeting on Wednesday, June 5. -- Robert Gold ============================================================================ C O R V A I R S o f N E W M E X I C O C O M I N G E V E N T S ============================================================================ | | | | | J u n e | J u l y | A u g u s t | | | | | | : : : : : : 1 | : 1 2 3 4 5 6 | : : : : 1 2 3 | | 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 | 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | | 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 | 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 | 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 | | 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 | 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 | 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 | | 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 | 28 29 30 31 : : : | 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 | | 30 : : : : : : | : : : : : : : | : : : : : : : | ============================================================================ Wed 5th Jun 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat-Sun 8-9 June Campout - Ruth's Cabin in the Pecos and CNM Ladies Wed 19th Jun 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 21st Jun 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Tue-Sat 25-29 Jun 2002 CORSA International Convention - Flagstaff, Arizona Wed 3rd Jul 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Thu 4th Jul early! Santa Fe Plaza - breakfast, car show, parade, etc. Sat 6th Jul 9:00 AM Old Route 66 Cleanup - date tentative - see Ollie Sat 13th Jul 1:00-4:00 CNM Ladies - the Golds' - Albuquerque Wed 17th Jul 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 26th Jul 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Sun 4th Aug ........ NMCCC All-Club Picnic - Elks Lodge Wed 7th Aug 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat 10th Aug 1:00-4:00 CNM Ladies - the Domzalskis' - Placitas Wed 21st Aug 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 23rd Aug 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=++=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= From: Beisbol30@aol.com To: casa unm edu Subject: Campout in the Pecos Hello to all the CNM members, male and female! I just got off the phone with Ruth Boydston and she says that although it is dry up there, we can still have the campout in Iron Gate! Everyone will need to bring a dish that is either cold, microwaveable, bakeable, or bring your own GAS grill on which to cook your food. We will not be able to have any open flames... so no outdoor fire grilling and no campfires. I think everyone has directions on how to get there from previous years, it is always fun and I hope you will all join us. The Ladies will, of course gather there to stitch and bitch, eat and sleep, laugh and cook! Many thanks to Or and Kay (and yes, Tarmo!) for hosting us last month. We had the most delicious Thai food. I continue to dream and drool over the bean noodle Thai salad! What a wonderful experience we had. Rita even got a quilt top out of it that Ruth and some of us other ladies will help quilt. Rita will give you all information about this quilt and the cause it will be going to support, so get ready to pitch in too! July 13 we will meet at the Gold's and August 10 we will meet at Elizabeth Domzalski's home. Sylvia...we are waiting for you to host us one of these months (subtle hint, wink, wink!). I look forward to seeing you up among the tall green pines, the swaying aspens and the big views! Ta ta for now...Anne Mae Christmas Corvair Brunch - Rita Gongora We are getting ready early this year: the Christmas Corvair Brunch is on track! It will be on Sunday December 1, 2002 at 11:00 AM at the Kirtland AFB Officers' Club, the same location as last year. It will be okay if you need to arrive after 12:00 noon. When you go to the Wyoming gate to KAFB be sure to have your driver's license, proof of vehicle insurance and the vehicle registration. For more information, call Rita at 292-5570 or 256-0551. = Seven Years Ago - June 1995 - Volume 21 - Number 6 This issue reported on the Tri-State Meet in Red River and we had no fewer than 45 photos! And, we mailed a copy of the newsletter to everyone who attended this "Red River Rendezvous II" event. Larry ran our meeting and Will counted our money: $125 in the convention account and $1186 in the bank. But, we had lots of Red River expenses to come out of that. Several automotive events were previewed, many of them centered on the same 19-21 May weekend. Corvair Underground inquired on a quantity discount price for Bill's CARE & FEEDING book. Our regular meetings at the Pleau residence to plan for the convention were getting into high gear. A cookout "in the unspoiled wilds of Placitas" was announced and all were invited. The balance of the newsletter was a report by Larry Blair on the Tri-State event. Some will remember the Corvair Caravan coming up behind a slow-moving house near Taos. We had 33 Corvairs in our parade. Wayne Christgau drove 1,130 miles from Iowa in his famous 1967 Monza, and others came from distant Texas, Oklahoma and California. Mark had a broken valve spring and Ben Benzel lost a 2-spinner wheel cover. All ended well and we all resolved to attend the 20th anniversary event next year in Montrose. Fourteen Years Ago - June 1988 - Volume 14 - Number 6 Our cover featured an attractive rear-engine GM car full of technical innovations which unfortunately faced an early demise... no, not the Corvair, the Fiero. Jim predicted that the just-cancelled Fiero would one day become a classic. Has it? Maybe it needs another fourteen years. We had $722 in the bank and planned for the Tri-State in Canon City. Bill had a $15 "CORVAIRS PARKING ONLY" sign for sale. Tom Martin provided a short story telling how he helped build a cabin in the Pecos Wilderness and hauled water to mix concrete in the trunk of his new 1961 Monza coupe. Twenty-one Years Ago - June 1981 - Volume 7 Number 6 The happy CNM dragon cavorted in a swimming pool improvised in the back of a Loadside pickup. We raided our dues to $10 a year. We were going to Los Alamos for a slalom. We planned a flea market event to raise money. Ten CNM members won trophies in the Car Council car show. A table gave the inflation rates for the last 16 years and claimed that $3,000 for a well-equipped Corvair in 1966 was equivalent to spending $8,500 on the new car of your choice today. We had tech tips on how to get stubborn brake drums off and how to make your Corvair quieter. Jim wrote about "Slaloms and Car Shows" and suggested that taking your car to a slalom was a great way to learn how to keep control of your car in an emergency situation, and it was fun, too. Twenty-eight Years Ago The Club's third meeting was held at Ed Black's Chevrolet on May 7th, 1974. We didn't have a newsletter yet. = TRI-STATE REPORT Wendell Walker Jim Pittman asked me to write something about the Tri-State meet. After the shock wore off, I tried to tell him that Ilva was my writer and that I just didn't have the ability to do this type of thing. He out-paused me and in a moment of self pity, I said, "Maybe I should try," so here goes. It all started several weeks ago when, looking at my '64 Corvair, I noticed that the front suspension had a tiny sway-bar instead of the correct one - one of many things wrong with this car. I had a '65 front end on a parts car and decided to try to switch it to the '64. Better brakes, stronger sway-bar, and just better. The swap was perfect and all went well. Well, not really, it just looked like a perfect front end. I went for a drive around the block. One brake was oily, great car to turn left when you try to stop. I almost got into the left curb before it stopped. Back to garage and after new shoes, the thing stopped fine. I went into Albuquerque on the next trip, dumb and happy. This car will take me to the Tri-State! But what is that noise I hear, sounds like something loose. No problem! I'll get it aligned and they'll probably find a loose bolt that I overlooked. No problem? guess what? this like-new front end has a very loose lower left ball joint. "You better change that thing," they said. Back to the garage again. It's getting close to Tri-State time. Ordered new ball joints and lower arm bushings, that took three days, another day to install, all is well. Test drive and the noise now is better, but now it sounds like someone has a small hammer and is hitting the body every time I hit a little bump in the road. Being an engineer I started to remove parts to see when the noise stops, one at a time. Lo and behold the first thing off was the shocks, the noise is gone, time has run out and the Tri-State is only two days away. "If the Corvair has Bump Steer, I'm in deep do do." After trying this car out on a bumpy road, I'm happy to say, "No Problem." Bump Steer is when a wheel hits a bump in the road, the wheel turns slightly and the car tries to move one way or the other. The Corvair doesn't. Many of my friends were less than happy that I tried to drive without shocks, but I kept the front trunk very light, and the car ran fine. On to Grand Junction, Colorado. I met Steve and Emily Gongora at our prearranged point on I-25, and we headed to Santa Fe, met with Tarmo & Kay Sutt, and their two wonderful students, whose names are pronounced "Or" and "My-sue-me." I can't spell their real names. We met Mark Domzalski in EspaNola, NM, divided up to have two in a car and headed to Durango, Colorado. It was a very nice drive. After getting into Durango and settled in a downtown motel, Mark, Steve, Emily, Tarmo and I walked around until a lady invited us to come in to hear her play the piano and sing. She was really great, old '40s songs. She looked at me and said, "This isn't a nasty bar." (She thought I might object. Little did she know, we were worried about Emily's age.) Everything was fine and fun. Friday came and we drove to Grand Junction, stopping only for GAS, FOOD, BATHROOM, and Mark's stalled car, don't know what that was all about, because it started up fine after a 5 minute rest at the crest of the mountain. My little car was slowing down the whole trip, it only wanted to go 30 MPH on a lot of the passes. I'm going to make that little bugger into a 140 HP as soon as I can. Friday night we all laid back and renewed friendships. Saturday Car Show, about 35 or 40 Corvairs, good, great, and bad, but fun. A nice crowd showed up to admire the cars. One man ask if Ralph knew we were doing this show. I told him that I had asked his permission. Saturday afternoon, on the Poker Run, my navigator, Ruth Boydston and I tried to follow the map, missed the very first turn, drove and drove and drove looking for the turnoff. When we found a sign saying "Welcome to Colorado" we decided we must be entering UTAH so we turned back. 'NUFF SAID about that. The trip was in Monument State Park, and beautiful, I'm sending some pictures to Jim, maybe he can find room for a few. Dinner Saturday night was a blast with good food and lots of door prizes. I can't remember who all the winners in the car show were but Rocky Mountain CORSA won for the most members present, 39 I think it was, Utah and Corvairs of NM had 17 each. I didn't get the number attending from Pikes Peak. That's about it. I'm sure I have left a lot out. Jim wanted me to describe in tiresome detail the fun we had driving through Montrose, Colorado. While the southbound two lanes and the middle passing lane were nearly empty, only one northbound lane was open and the line of trucks and cars ahead of us stretched as far as we could see! Creep ahead a few seconds, then wait! Some of us found the hour or so (well, it seemed like hours) in Montrose quite a chore. But, we all survived and got to Grand Junction in one piece. Thanks to Rocky Mountain CORSA for making this a fine Tri-State. Thanks to Laura Wilshire for an efficient after-banquet ceremony! We all seemed to get home okay which is the important thing. What a GREAT time we had. I love this group. Wendy = To get to Ruth Boydston's cabin in the Pecos: o Go north on I-25 from Albuquerque toward Santa Fe and continue east on I-25 toward Las Vegas. o Take Exit 299 at Glorieta onto NM 50. Turn right (east) toward Pecos. o At Pecos, turn left (north) onto NM 63 toward Cowles. o Before Cowles, look for a sign to Iron Gate to turn right onto Forest Road 223. It's a dirt road and it's up hill. o Take the first left turn. o Go through gate. Close the gate behind you. o Stay to the left on the gravel road. o See cabin on your right. = * * * * * * * * * * * * * FOR SALE, TRADE OR WANTED * * * * * * * * * * * * * * FOR SALE: Two tire chains for 13" wheels. Best offer. Larry Blair 821-1386 For Sale: 1964 500 Coupe. Good condition, $1300.00. Bill McClellan 821-7728. NOTE: I was just told that the car has an oil leak problem that must be repaired before it can be sold. I suppose you could phone Bill for more information if you are interested in buying the car. - Jim FOR SALE: 1960 Monza coupe. Needs ground up restoration. Automatic, Radio, gas heater. Powder coated engine shrouding. Full set of 60 Monza wheel covers. Extra front & rear suspension, with less than 27000 miles on them. Assembly & Shop Manuals for the 60 Corvair. Extra gas heater parts. $600 FOR SALE: RB block with freshly ground crank .010, .010 with distributor gear, eccentric for fuel pump, spacer, and slinger. Clevite 77 bearings rod & main .010, .010. Will install bell housing with new seal for either automatic or standard. $400 FOR SALE: Six cylinder jugs bored to .030, one new TRW forged piston and five used TRW forged piston mounded on rods. All pistons are .030 oversize, one set of .030 chrome rings. $300 FOR SALE: Used Clarks aluminum oil pan five quart. In good shape and will include new oil pan gasket. $50 FOR SALE: Two 110 heads with valve job. Heads have been cc'ed. Comes with copper head gaskets. $400 FOR SALE: One Dale rebuilt Harmonic Balancer $100 Buy it all for $1100 FOR SALE: Black Clark's carpet for late coupe $ 95 Padded dash Clarks 65-66 installed on metal support, black $145 Black headliner Clarks late model coupe $ 60 Late model 3.55 automatic differential $ 75 One complete set of Corvair Underground late model fuzzies $ 50 Call Bill Reider at 299-4597 * * * * * CNM ADS ARE FREE TO CNM MEMBERS, $5.00 TO NON-CNM MEMBERS * * * * * * =end=