This page contains material from the June 2003 newsletter

EDITOR: Jim Pittman NEXT MEETING: Wednesday June 4th, 7:30 PM Galles Chevrolet, Lomas & University THIS MONTH: Dues Due Sylvan Zuercher May Meeting Chuck Vertrees Board Meeting Jim Pittman The Driver's (Hot) Seat Robert Gold Albuquerque Museum Report Del Patten Calendar of Coming Events Everybody CNM Ladies Anne Mae Gold Seven Years Ago Jim Pittman '63 Cadillac: Was It Worth It? Wendell Walker For Sale, Trade or Wanted Everybody TECH: Mechanical Fuel Pumps, Continued - Richard Finch COVER: Robert and Larry at the Museum Car Show Wisdom has two parts: (1) having a lot to say, and (2) not saying it. Dues Expired or Due or Approaching Due: Doug Gadomski 2003-Jan Jerry Goffe 2003-Mar Mike Hacker 2003-Mar Mary Lou Martinek 2003-Apr Gordon Johnson 2003-Jun Mark Morgan 2003-Jun Robert Gold 2003-Jul Kevin Sullivan 2003-Jul Richard Foster 2003-Jul Robert Harvey 2003-Aug Larry Hickerson 2003-Aug Steve Johnson 2003-Aug Jacob Schlessinger 2003-Aug Chuck Vertrees 2003-Aug Sylvan Zuercher 2003-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! =cnm= Albuquerque Museum / NMCCC Car Show May 18, 2003 It was a great car show! We hope you like the photos. Thanks to all who prepared their cars and got up early and came down to show off their cars. =cnm= May Meeting Notes by Chuck Vertrees The meeting was called to order at 19:30 on May 7th at Galles Chevrolet. All officers were present. There were 23 members present. The minutes of the last meeting said that Wendell Walker and Joe Montoya went to look at some Corvairs at Moriarty. This was in error in that Joe's last name is Trujillo. The minutes were then accepted as corrected. Treasurer, Wendell Walker, reported that CNM had $779.71 in the checking account and $4,908.10 in the GMAC account for a total worth of $5,687.81. He also stated that a loan would be made from the above to take care of initial expenses of the Tri-State meeting. Sylvan Zuercher had no new members to introduce, but later in the meeting introduced Dwight Simmons as a guest. Dwight has a 140 rail and will bring it to the Museum show along with the CNM cars. Mark Martinek gave the report on the Car Council meeting. The full contents of the report are on line, and a condensation is elsewhere in the newsletter. Mark asked for a substitute to go to the next meeting on June 25th because he will be out of town. Mark Domzalski announced that Ron Funderburg, a CORSA director, who Mark had worked with many times, died of cancer on April 14th. Mark also asked that everyone be sure and get your ballot out of the March issue of CORSA, and send it in. Wendell Walker is trying to locate a past member, John Martinez. If anyone knows how to get in touch with him please let Wendell know. Ruth Boydston may have his phone number in some of Frances' papers. Members were reminded that past member Dave Patten's remains will be interred in the National Cemetery on Friday the 9th. There will not be a big ceremony. A wake will be held at the June campout. Mark Domzalski said that past member Bob Phillips is trying to find a Gold 66 turbo coupe that he worked on some time ago (years). Again Ruth may be able to find out who bought it in the old records. Fred Edeskuty has been given a large batch of tools, many very specialized Corvair tools, by Robin DeVore (I am not sure about the spelling of this name). Fred suggested that there might be a way to set up a list of the very special ones so that someone could use them when needed. I don't think he wants to loan them out. Also Fred is thinking about going into the metal work and paint business. If he does decide to take on this headache, his work would be meticulous. Hurley Wilvert thanked all those who went to the motorcycle races to cheer him on. He was racing in the older bike class. He finished but did not win. Bill Reider again circulated a sign up sheet for those who will help count ballots at the Museum car show. There will be two shifts for counting. Mark gave Bill a copy of the Car Councils new classes for the ballots. Members were reminded of where and when to meet to go into the show. The next topic was the Tri-State meeting. It looks as though the attendance will be great. The headquarters motel is fully booked and the Super-8 across the street has only three rooms left. A signup sheet was passed to get an idea of how many golf and T-shirts CNM wants. T-shirts will be $10.00 and golf shirts will be $14.00. There will be an extra charge of $2.00 for size XXL and $3.00 for size XXXL. Members were also asked to indicate whether they wanted a patch and how many. There was also a sign up sheet for those that will help with registration, selling shirts, etc. The dinner will cost $15.00 for adults and $8.00 for 10 and under. Bill also passed out an inventory of the contents of the library van. LeRoy Rogers prepared this. For the newer members who don't know about the library van, it is an eight-door Greenbrier, donated by LeRoy, that has been turned into a library for Corvair related information. The list of library contents will also be on our web site. Mark Domzalski is looking for old CORSA Communiques. He is putting together a list of past CORSA presidents. Dennis Pleau will be asked to bring a copy or two of the book previously mentioned, that had sold so well at their chapter. That will give us an idea if we want to order a case. Joel Nash thought he had a copy, but his was another. Our speaker for the evening was to be Tim McCole with Plains Refrigeration. His dad talked to Steve Gongora and was all set to come to the meeting. During the afternoon, Tim had a battery explode. It threw acid into his face and eyes. He is in the hospital and we do not know the extent of his injures. The meeting was adjourned at 20:25. -- Chuck Vertrees =cnm= May Board Meeting by Jim Pittman At House of Covers VP Joel Nash called our meeting to order at 5:20 PM. President Robert Gold was not present nor was secretary Chuck Vertrees, so a substitute scribe was needed and your Editor filled in. Also present were Sylvan Zuercher, Wendell Walker and Steve Gongora. Someone remarked that Wendy was solving many problems of the world and that's why we started late. This remark may have been intended as a joke, as an apology, or, who knows, as literal truth. With the meeting officially underway, Wendell announced that our treasury held $651.77 for writing checks and $4908.10 as a GMAC investment, for a total of $5559.87. All funds for pre-financing the Tri-State had already been transferred. Joel brought up the question of ways to raise money? A recent suggestion was selling the new "Virtual Vairs" Corvair book. We expect a PPCC member to bring a copy to the Tri-State to show us. We may discuss this further at the June meeting. This book includes a version on CD as well as printed! So, you can take the book with you and read it on your PC as Adobe PDF files. Nice. The Tri-State was believed to be all under control, or at least no evidence of out-of-control has been heard thus far. Steve questioned whether we need more in the way of door prizes? He has already accumulated many items from Wells Fargo, Galles Chevrolet and other sources. What will we do at our June meeting? The speaker who could not make it last time, Tim McCole, is back at work after the exploding battery accident and may be available. Steve will check. Other upcoming events: o The campout on June 13th - 14th at Ruth Boydston's in the Pecos is all set. o On June 28th there's a swap meet at Sandia Motorsports. o At our Wednesday July 2nd meeting we probably won't have a speaker but just discuss recent and upcoming events. o We look forward to Friday July 4th for the Fourth of July Car Show and general gathering on the Plaza at Santa Fe. This is usually a pleasant, relaxed event. o What about future speakers? And, what can we give to people who come to speak to us? Perhaps a letter of appreciation or a certificate? Sylvan mentioned some new business: Ray Trujillo was at the Sunday Albuquerque Museum car show - bought a four-door from a former member and probably will be joining the club. Russell Sage in Farmington wants to join - he has a 1964 coupe - he may go over to Raton to join us at the Tri-State. Someone mentioned that at the Albuquerque Museum car show there was a 1963 turbo for sale. The meeting drifted into disjointed discussions about who was doing what and who was planning interesting projects and who had cars for sale and so on. In an attempt to get the discussion somewhat back into "board meeting" mode, Steve remarked that he has the plaques ready to go for the Francis Boydston Award which will be presented at the Tri-State. We think Steve Goodman will probably be glad to do the presentation and Steve will ask him. Larry Blair was reported to have asked whether anyone wanted to caravan to the Tri-State? To leave on Thursday? Or, maybe to leave on Friday? Someone mentioned that it was about time for the annual Bean Festival at Wagon Mound - should the caravan stop for this? No decision was made. As the meeting faded toward more and more topics that scarcely fit the description of board meeting material, your scribe asked for and got a pronouncement from Joel that the meeting was formally adjourned. It was 6:30 PM. Surely we all had an enjoyable time, although precious little of all our discussions made it into this report. But then, the report is supposed to cover club business, not extracurricular activities. If you feel you are missing out on the latest tech tips, member activities, news of cars for sale or trade and gossip, remember that any CNM member who wishes to come is welcome at the board meetings. Bring jokes or maybe cookies. =cnm= FROM THE DRIVER'S (HOT) SEAT Robert Gold Okay, I need to come clean. I've mentioned in my past columns that I like baseball a little (well, both my children are named after baseball players) and that I like Corvairs (I've got a fleet of 8 of them), but I didn't feel a need to mention the "King" thing until I saw the picture on the cover of the May CNM newsletter. There is Mark Martinek with ELVIS! So here is my deep dark secret -- I like Elvis and I have an Elvis on velvet painting on the wall in my bedroom. There I said it... Another thing, my 8 year old son, Javier, was born only 4 hours after Elvis' birthday. A mere 4 hours earlier and I might have had an Elvis for my very own. Lucky for Javier his Mother is more sane than I am. Back to the Elvis on velvet-- Anne Mae brought it back for me from a trip to Juarez when we were dating. I didn't have the nerve to take it to work, so the "King" is in my bedroom. "Thank you very much...." Moving right along I thought I'd mention a couple of items associated with the new Albuquerque Isotopes team. First of all I need to thank Chuck Vertrees for the kindness he showed by presenting me with an opening day Isotopes baseball. His Barbershop Quartet performed at the game. I was there too, but we arrived too late to see Chuck perform and to receive a baseball. Chuck, the baseball now occupies a place of honor among my collection. Thanks. The second involves a moment in Isotopes history. You know that this year will be full of firsts for the team- the first team hit, the first team home win (that took quite a long time!), the first team homerun in Albuquerque.... It's that last one that is sort of personal to me. You see I went to opening night with Anne Mae and then I took the whole family to the game two days later on Sunday. In the third inning a "Tope" hit a home run to right center field. I had a good view of the event from our seats along the third base line. I saw this guy get to the ball and start jumping up and down like a madman. I didn't think much about it until I went the May 4th game and came across an old friend and fellow Cardinals fan, Ben Wilson. He was the guy who got the ball and that ball was the first "Topes" home run hit in Isotopes Field. Ben got his picture in the paper and for turning over the ball he got box seats to the May 4th game and a signed ball from the player who hit it. Let's see, Mark McGwire's ball went for 6 million and Ben got 4 box seat tickets. I guess we won't get rich supporting the Isotopes, but we'll have a heck of a good time. GO TOPES!!! It's now Johnson time. The world wide web is a vast area that can transport and individual around the world in milliseconds. But just when you get used to its vastness something shows up that makes it personal. So I typed in Johnson and Vairs expecting to be reading about something far from the streets of Albuquerque. My attention was drawn to an listing called the "Page of the Yellow Car". I like the color yellow so I brought up the page. It was then I realized that our very own Geoff Johnson had documented his development of the car I had commented on in an earlier column. Not only is Geoff impacting our club, but his wisdom is being circulated worldwide. He was kind enough to provide a link to the Corvairs of New Mexico website. Nice going Geoff!! Well, another Council of Car Clubs Albuquerque Museum Car Show is now in the books. The turnout of Corvairs far exceeded the last two shows, mainly because it didn't conflict with our Tri-State. The day got off to a very nice start when Sally Johnson, our fearless scout, discovered that we could enter the show before 7:00 am and have the pick of the spots. Sally staked out a site from heaven, with enough shade trees to protect us the whole day. The sky remained overcast and the light breeze made it a day to remember. I guess I ought to say something about the cars. The club members brought along a nice selection of early and late cars. We had a prospective new member arrive in a "sand rail" with a 140 Corvair engine. Turnout for non-Corvair entries was also very good, and I still want to own ALL of them! A sincere thank you is due all the CNM members who brought cars or just brought themselves. Jim Pittman got himself up early in the morning to get that perfect cover photo, and Sylvan Zuercher spent a lot of time educating the public and recruiting for the Club. My better half joined with other CNM'ers in counting ballots. I guess if we were in Florida in 2000...... well, that's another story. Anyway, the Council put on a nice event and I look forward to participating next year. The active month of May now continues with the upcoming Tri-State. Word had it at the Museum Car Show that this year's meet might be the biggest ever since we're so conveniently located to Colorado on I-25 near our northern border. I know the event will succeed because of the efforts of our Tri-State organizers, Bill Reider, Leroy Rogers, and Hurley Wilvert. The Gold clan will be there in force with our seldom-used "Black Beauty" 64 Monza Convertible. I'm sure I'll have some good stories to relate in next month's newsletter. I want to thank in advance Mark Domzalski for agreeing to be the MC at the banquet. Any of you who have witnessed by public speaking ability know that this a positive move.. As the old Robin Williams' saying goes-- "Be there or be square"!!! I guess that's it for now. I'll see you at the next meeting on Wednesday, June 4 at 7:30. -- Robert Gold =cnm= Subject: Car Council Car Show Del Patten Jim made me do this guys...I didn't wanna do it but he insisted...you know how he can be!! Pushy comes to mind! Hey, did you miss it?? You know, the really big car show!!! Well, you missed a good one. The best thing about the car show is that everything imaginable is there from steam engines to Rolls Royces...or at least Daimlers!! And of course, there are our Corvairs, this year cleverly ensconced under the trees (no bird attacks though!) reserved by that sneaky geologist Sally Johnson!! She apparently slid in there when they weren't looking and beat out the MGs this year! So we had Steve in the red wagon, Larry in the green convertible, Sally in her lovely 4 door and so on... you know the usual bunch plus a few add-ons like Terry Price and the kids (it was nice to see them). Nope, Ruth wasn't there. But there was a pretty cool Corvair powered dune buggy that joined us and Bill was seen trying to convince him to lose the 4 barrels and go back to stock carbs... not sure it worked but maybe! Larry walked away with a trophy I think and had Steve close on his exhaust pipes. Goes to show you what a convertible will get you!! Geoff and Sally tried to get me to bring the Hulk but I didn't do it... they really just wanted my car to be uglier than either of theirs. Bill had us locked in counting ballots for several hours and I had a scheme all plotted that would have garnered me the trophy (even if I had brought the Hulk!) but I couldn't get a buy-in from the guy counting the Corvair class!! I was going to fill in my number every time that class was blank... since I was in the first seat it would have worked but the guy counting the class was a Rustang owner and they are pretty straight laced!! Anyway, for those of you who have never attended one, you drive in, park your car, get a dash plaque and look at everyone else's car! And there were some beauties this year. The one that springs to mind from a technology standpoint was the 1919 Franklin. Air cooled by the way and in a similar manner except the air gets pulled through rather than pushed through. Dave Huntoon and I spent 20 minutes or more with the owner talking about it... way cool. Also cool was a Austin Healy... with a V-8... not a cobbled up installation but with considerable thought and technology applied. The owner paid $100 for it 25 years ago and since there wasn't an engine or tranny in it, he decided to go V-8!! And he has upgraded it ever since. Engine output of 475 HP as it stands now but he is making headers for it and the engine shop told him that would be good for another 25 HP!! He said the nice thing is that he can jump in it and go... FAST!! Dave and I also spent some time talking to the owner of a TR-3A...very nice restoration there but he admitted it wasn't the car for long treks! And of course there were M------s, and Camaros and 'Vettes, at least one Metro owned and restored by a friend of mine from the chorus and lots of Buicks and Caddies!! They were the featured marque this year. Well, you get the idea...come look at cars, eat a big breakfast at Little Anita's (thanks again Steve!!) and maybe a hotdog for lunch, count ballots and go home!! No fuss, no muss...join us next year and we missed you this year!! Oh yeah, I almost forgot, there's a museum there too!! Maybe that's why they used to call it the Museum Car Show..?? Del Patten, Past President, DoM =cnm= ============================================================================ 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 2 3 4 5 6 7 | : : 1 2 3 4 5 | : : : : : 1 2 | | 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 | 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 | 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | | 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 | 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 | 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 | | 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 | 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 | 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 | | 29 30 : : : : : | 27 28 29 30 31 : : | 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 | | : : : : : : : | : : : : : : : | 31 : : : : : : | ============================================================================ Wed 4th Jun 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat 14th Jun 1:00-4:00 CNM Ladies - TBA Fri-Sun Jun 13 - 15 Campout in the Pecos - Ruth Boydston Wed 18th Jun 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 20th Jun 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Wed 2nd Jul 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Fri 4th July early! Santa Fe Fourth of July Car Show on the Plaza Sat 12th Jul 1:00-4:00 CNM Ladies - TBA Wed 16th Jul 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Tue-Sat July 15 - 19 CORSA Convention - Carlisle, Pennsylvania Fri 25th Jul 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Wed 6th Aug 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat 9th Aug 1:00-4:00 CNM Ladies - no meeting this month Wed 20th Aug 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 22nd Aug 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman =cnm= CNM LADIES -by- Anne Mae Gold (gold AT aps DOT edu) In June we will be up in the Pecos for our annual CNM Campout. Most of you will be at Ruth's, we will be down the hill at our spot. We don't have much level ground, but that will be more space that can be used! I look forward to seeing you all! Ta Ta for now! - Anne Mae =cnm= Seven Years Ago - June 1996 Volume 22 - Number 6 The "Vairs in the Air" logo of our convention enriched our cover. At the May meeting the treasurer reported $713 in the bank and 54 paid-up members. The Montrose, CO Tri-State was May 10th, The Albuquerque Museum car show was May 19th and the convention was June 18-22. A busy few weeks ahead! Bill reiders reported that the convention bank account stood at $13,717 and current bills were paid. Ollie Schflow was coordinating the two miles of Old Route 66 for the club's public service clean-up. We talked about setting up a CNM internet web site, but no one had time to do it just now. Debbie Pleau reviewed convention planning. Mark Domzalski said the Montrose Tri-State was great and announced a "wind down" party in the mountains in July after the convention. Heula wrote about our trip to Montrose via Farmington, the Four Corners, Mesa Verde, Durango, Silverton, Ouray. It was a great Tir-State and a great break before the big push to the convention! Tech tips this month included how to get your air conditioned tuned up for the summer (here's my tip: be sure to run the air conditioner at least a couple of minutes every week all year round) and outfitting your FC with good shocks. Yes, rear shocks are important too! Fourteen Years Ago - June 1989 Volume 15 - Number 6 The cover mapped our way to Red River rendezvous and back. A new member was Tom Roback. Tom Martin told some tales from his days as an FBI agent, including a story about a 1964 Monza that was to be used as the getaway car. The Monza would have worked fine had the driver not forgotten to reset his watch upon crossing a time zone, thus ruining the crooks' schedule. BILLIKEN illustrated our traveling correspondent, Mark Morgan, leaving L.A. for Texas. Bill Reider tipped us to get a sintered bronze pilot bushing, not an iron one. Twenty-one Years - June 1982 Volume 8 Number 6 The cover showed a Corvair-powered Ultravan much like the one Francis Boydston had just bought. Francis made a lot of improvements to his "whale" and drove it all around the country. Carl Johnson told us how to replace a 3-speed with a 4-speed. Jim Pittman' essay WHY I OWN A CORVAIR concluded this month. The 1966 Corsa no longer sits in our back yard but is still alive and well. Finally, a reminder of how fortunate we were in 1982 to have so many competent, knowledgeable, helpful members in our club. Hey, it's still true in 2003. Twenty-eight Years - June 1975 Volume 1 Number 6 The cover reprinted a letter to the editor of ROAD & TRACK by Mark Morgan commenting on their road tests of a Monza 2+2 and an Mustang II and thanked them for including information on the original Corvair Monza. We had 37 members in our roster. Andy Ciupryk showed us a proposed front license plate and we planned to order some. Editor Mark was about to go spend the summer with the Navy and Steve Gongora said he'd produce the newsletter. =cnm= Subject: Thank You ! Thanks to the CNM Members who visited my wife, Gayle while she was in Presbyterian Hospital for 8 days. The resolution to the eye problem was a cornea transplant on the day she was released from the hospital. Her eyesight in that eye is about 5% of normal, but expected to improve over the next 12 months. It really meant a lot to us both, that CNM Members were so attentive and thoughtful while Gayle was "out of commission" and hospitalized. Sincerely, Richard Finch =cnm= Was it worth it? 1963 Cadillac Convertible by Wendell Walker It looked good so I bought it! On first inspection it had a new top, new windshield, repaired radio, rebuilt transmission, four new tires, and had been recently reupholstered. Another plus was that it belonged to a close friend of my son and I thought it was a California car. The price was a little high but I have always wanted to see if I liked a big car. So as I said before, "It looked good so I bought it". The car was delivered to my home in New Mexico by the owner, "This is one fantastic Cadillac, I drove it 90 mph most all the way on cruise, just laid back and let it go, what a car". Let me tell you about the cruise control - this is accomplished by setting the throttle to the speed you need and then pushing the accelerator sideways, which locks it in position. VOILA! cruise. The hinge on the accelerator was missing and had been replaced by a plumbers wall clamp for 1/2" pipe, it worked but was very dangerous. "Not to worry I can fix this easily, just pick up a used accelerator part". I removed the front carpet and - OH GOLLY (actual words censored) NO FLOOR, just some very thin sheet metal and a lot of tar. At this point I decided to reassess my purchase. Do I sell the car at a loss or keep going. For those who don't know me I'm known as never never giving up, so on we go! As I got more and more into the project I found that buying parts at a salvage yard would break my pocketbook, so I started looking for a parts car. Found a 1963 Sedan Deville four door Cadillac that had set in a field for over 12 years, no rust ,good chrome, one fender had a dent in the cowl area, and cost only $300 , 1/10th the price of the convertible that I now owned! We cleaned off the snow and trailered it to my shop for further inspection. It looked like everything I needed was there (famous last words), but it was a 4 door, and mine was a convertible. This became a major point as time passed. After several days of looking and checking interchange dimensions I found that the two frames were interchangeable,the trunk lids and most of the rear fenders also could be used. My parts car was in better condition than the convertible, but it was a sedan and this was not to be a closed car. Much later I came to the conclusion that the way to go was, use the original engine - transmission - differential - front & rear suspensions from the original car, the frame - cowl - rear clip - bumpers and front clip from the parts car. This meant the top had to be replaced by the convertible section of the original car. I jacked the sedan body off the floor and dropped the frame and running gear by removing the wheels and sliding the frame out from under the body. Now the body could be prepared to become a convertible. First, the center post had to be removed, no problem, doors were taken off and center post spot welds were drilled out . this left a small portion of the sill with a 2" by 6" hole, this could be patched with a section cut from the original car. I decided to use the parts car cowl because it had air-conditioning and this would be a great advantage. "Every convertible should have the top down on a hot day with A/C going full blast, That's HEAVEN" (authors opinion). The parts car frame was cleaned, blasted, and painted. The body mounting pads were inspected, repaired, and replaced as necessary before returning the body to the frame. Of course the underside of the body was stripped, cleaned and repainted before reassembly. Note the top was still attached at this time to maintain rigidity. The engine was sent out for rebuilding; it was in running condition but I wanted to be sure that everything was in perfect shape when the car was finished. It's a good thing that I had most of another engine as parts since the intake manifold was cracked and one piston was damaged. There was almost no wear on the cylinder walls so they were not rebored. After a new cam shaft, oversize bearings and a balance job the engine was like new. The engine, rebuilt radiator,transmission (rebuilt earlier)and rebuilt and balanced drive shaft were mounted on the frame and body, but it still had a top. Next I rebuilt the suspension, new rubber bushings, new ball joints, new brakes, new shocks,new new new everything. I now had an almost running chassis, but it still isn't a convertible. Since the convertible was so badly rusted I removed the doors and repaired them. They had to have both lower corners cut out and replaced. After the doors were finished and primed, I hung them on the parts car cowl and adjusted them so the gap between the door and the rocker was correct. With the windows up this gave me a guide to check the proper angle for the windshield since I was going to have to cut off the top somewhere on the windshield post. I now carefully marked the two cars, starting with the convertible, as to where they should be cut apart. I started my cut mark about 6" back of the trunk lid (hinge side) out to the top of the fin, then along the fin toward the front of the car, to a location where the edge of the back door lock post (of the sedan ) would be, then straight down until I hit the rust area. This gave me a way to align the trunk lid when welding the section into the parts car. I also included the rear quarter window and door post on the old convertible, this gave me all the reinforcement structure which was not in the 4 door body style and allowed me to align the door to post gap. After checking my markings, I cut up the two cars leaving 1/2" overlap for welding and mistakes. The windshield posts were "z" cut for strength, the convertible top bow and the new unit was welded into place for a nice straight convertible body. There was a large rust area below the quarter window and to the rear of the door post which had to be filled. This was nicely taken care of by cutting that section from the outer skin of the two back doors of the sedan. After welding was completed I felt that at last I now had a real straight CADILLAC. On to the body work, painting, etc. Little did I know how much work there was left in the electrical wiring. The dash was removed from both cars and inspected. Both wiring harnesses were in good shape, but one was wired for A/C and Cruise Control while the other was standard, but had been in a running car. I chose to use the standard harness and add A/C to it rather than take a chance on a bad wire (this one was working and required only one additional wire) and I did not plan on using the Cadillac Cruise Control anyway because there are too many good ones on the market that are much better. Thirty years ago they were not that great. After checking all gauges and rebuilding or replacing the faulty ones, I Installed the dash and steering wheel which had been completely restored to original. The engine harness was checked, rewired as necessary (A/C wires added) and installed. CHECK TIME. Every thing worked the first time. Of course when I finally got the car on the road a year later, the gas gauge worked intermittently and I found a bad ground after removing the gauge four times. Most of my problems have been due to 30 years of corrosion. I would advise replacing quick-disconnect terminals or very carefully cleaning them. This problem caused at least 50 hours time that could have been saved. Body work was done and the car was painted in a Fawn Beige by my son and me. He is a stickler for detail and yelling "Oh dad you missed a another spot". My 76 year old eyes don't work like they used to. So if the finish looks good blame him. A new tan top was in order since black wouldn't look right. I did the work myself and it was not as easy as the articles claim, but with some luck and time I got a perfect fit. The black and red seats sure looked horrible so I sent them off to the upholsterer for a nice new set of tan leather seats and door panels. The finished product looks fantastic! =cnm= Mechanical Fuel Pumps, Continued... by Richard Finch Our last report of "testing" a new Corvair mechanical fuel pump design ended at 831 miles when the new pump started belching gasoline all over the back of the 140 hp engine. We were on our way home from church and almost did not get home before the fuel pump quit completely, and before it caused a major fire in the engine compartment ! A couple of days later, I removed the "new" fuel pump and performed an autopsy on it. The cause of the failure was the middle diaphragms that has the poppett valve holes in it. The failure mode was obviously gasoline deterioration of the rubberized material that holds the fabric together. The diaphragms was made of material with high silicone content. Gasoline and silicone are natural enemies, and gasoline always wins ! The pump was terminal. I had ordered two fuel pump repair kits from a company that advertises in one of the old car magazines. When the kits arrived, I noticed that they looked exactly like the diaphragms and valves in one of my old original AC pumps. So, I rebuilt one of my dozen or so factory original AC pumps and put it on my '65 CORSA 4-door. That was about 500 miles ago and the pump is performing better than the "new" pump ever did. My engine now runs smoothly at all speeds from idle at 700 rpm to 80 mph in 4th gear. No sputtering, no hesitation, no dying at stop lights. I had put up with poor running since I originally switched to one of the "new" pumps several years ago. Why did I switch to a "new" pump several years ago ? Because I reasoned, wrongly, that the original fuel pump might fail some day and I wanted to avoid a failure on the road. That reasoning was flawed as you will note. "They say, If it ain't broke, don't put a new, defective part on it!!" If I can get about 4,000 miles on the replacement fuel pump kit, I will presume that it is going to work as well as the original pump did, and I will tell the membership where to get the fuel pump kits. They sell for about $25. if I remember correctly. Over the past 15 years, I have collected about a dozen of the original AC fuel pumps. They are easy to spot because they are very light at 14 ounces compared to the "new" style that is almost twice as heavy at 26 ounces. In a few days, I am going to scrap all my heavy, worthless fuel pumps and put repair kits in all my spare stock of original fuel pumps. I should then have enough fuel pumps to last me 40 more years. ( I will be over 100 years old then) Incidentally, my 1965 Corsa 4-door has over 325,000 miles on her and has never resorted to needing and electric fuel pump. I will report more on my fuel pump testing after about 4,000 miles on the new kit. That ought to be about August 2003. -- Richard Finch, SAE =cnm= * * * * * * * * * * * * * FOR SALE, TRADE OR WANTED * * * * * * * * * * * * * FOR FREE: 1960 Front Suspension - Free Wendy 892-8471 SPRING CLEAN-UP in the yard. Lots of Corvair parts. Very reasonable. Mike Stickler 344-2039 FOR SALE: 1953 MG-TD - Needs assembly, but comes with a new drive train and paint job. 1960 Cushman Super Eagle - Nicely restored. 1964 Honda Scrambler - Very nicely restored. Jerry Goffe Home phone 505-345-3100 Work phone 505-346-4220 FOR SALE: FC windshield, small bullseye, light wiper scratch, no cracks, $100 FC rear window, small delamination, $25 Larry Hickerson 296-1636 FOR SALE: 1955 Ford Crown Victoria Mark Martinek 275-3271 * * * * * CNM ADS ARE FREE TO CNM MEMBERS, $5.00 TO NON-CNM MEMBERS * * * * * =end=