Updated 30-Jan-2007 =-= Copyright (c) 2007 Corvairs of New Mexico. EDITOR: Jim Pittman NEXT MEETING: Wednesday 2 November 2005 at 7:30 PM Galles Chevrolet, Lomas & University THIS MONTH: Dues Due Membership Chair The Joy of Lex Gyles Brandreth New Members Sylvan Zuercher October Meeting, Board Notes Chuck Vertrees Birthdays & Anniversaries Sunshine Committee Report to the Board Sunshine Committee Mechanically Un-inclined Ray Trujillo New Officer Portraits the Editor CNM Calendar Everyone Auction & Pot Luck Dinner Preview Heula Pittman For Sale, Wanted, Free Everyone Christmas Toy Collection Preview Heula Pittman State Fair Report Robert Gold Car Council Report Robert Gold Balloon Fiesta Car Show Kevin Sullivan Ultra Van Trip Report Richard Finch Seven Years Ago Club Historian Thirty Years of Tri-State History Sylvan Zuercher Old Route 66 Clean-Up Report Oliver Scheflow Tech: Differential Adjust Bill Wells (NORTH TEXAS) Tech: Front End Align Ray & Mary Collins (IOWA) COVER: (above) Cleanin' up that trash on Old Route 66 (below) Posing by the Ultravan before the State Fair MEETING TIME: First Wednesday of each month at 7:30 PM LOCATION: Galles Chevrolet, 1601 Lomas Boulevard NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110 PRESIDENT: Ray Trujillo 839-7436 ray @ bpsabq.com VICE-PRES: John Wiker 899-3076 wiker @ aps.edu SECRETARY: Charles Vertrees 299-0744 vertrees @ swcp.com TREASURER: Wendell Walker 892-8471 defarge505 @ aol.com MEMBERSHIP: David Huntoon 281-9616 corvair66 @ aol.com NEWSLETTER: Jim Pittman 275-2195 casa @ unm.edu PROPERTIES: Ruth Boydston 821-1506 CAR COUNCIL: Robert Gold 268-6878 beisbol30 @ aol.com DUES: CNM: 12 months $15.00 or 26 months $30.00 CORSA: 12 months $35.00 or 26 months $70.00 BOTH - required by constitution: 12 months $50.00 or 26 months $100.00 Dues Expired or Due or Approaching Due: EXPIRED: Mark L Morgan 2005-Jun Tom Bunter 2005-Aug Dan Clifford 2005-Aug Jacob Schlessinger 2005-Aug Doug Gadomski 2005-Sep Jon Anderson 2005-Oct THIS MONTH: Del Patten 2005-Nov COMING DUE SOON: Willard Davis 2005-Dec David Huntoon 2005-Dec Walter Huntoon 2005-Dec Roger Pape 2005-Dec Wendell Walker 2005-Dec Jack Bryan 2006-Jan Lube Lubert 2006-Jan John McMahan 2006-Jan LeRoy Rogers 2006-Jan John Wiker 2006-Jan 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! "Quotes liberated from the Internet," he plagiarized. "I'm dying," he croaked. "My experiment was a success," the chemist retorted. "You can't really train a beagle," he dogmatized. "That's no beagle, it's a mongrel," she muttered. "The fire is going out," he bellowed. "Bad marksmanship," the hunter groused. "You ought to see a psychiatrist," he reminded me. "You snake," she rattled. "Someone's at the door," she chimed. "Company's coming," she guessed. "Dawn came too soon," she mourned. "I think I'll end it all," Sue sighed. "I ordered chocolate, not vanilla," I screamed. "Your embroidery is sloppy," she needled cruelly. "Where did you get this meat?" he bridled hoarsely. "There must be 10,000 inane quotations," he googled. -- Gyles Brandreth, "The Joy of Lex" Enchanted Corvairs Newsletter is published monthly by Corvairs of New Mexico, a chartered chapter of CORSA, the Corvair Society of America. Contents are copyrighted in the names of the authors and CNM. Articles may be reprinted in any CORSA publication as a service to CORSA members provided credit to the author and this Newsletter are clearly stated. All opinions are those of the author or the editor and do not necessarily reflect endorsement by CNM or CORSA. Material to be published should reach the editor by the 15th of each month. Submit material as ASCII TEXT via e-mail to ( casa @ unm.edu ) or in ASCII TEXT format on Apple II, Macintosh or MS-DOS disk, or submit a readable manuscript. Yes, I can read MS Word documents thanks to icWord 3.0. Yes, RTF works as well. Photographs (prints or digital JPGs) are welcome too! Does anyone read this stuff? This newsletter was produced in a Microsoft-free environment using a 1998 Macintosh G3 with OS 9.2, AppleWorks 5, ProTERM Mac, Bernie To The Rescue 2.6, Photoshop 6.0, Pagemaker 6.5; a 2003 Macintosh G4 PowerBook with OS-X; a 2003 iMac with OS-X and InDesign 3; and a 1989 Apple IIgs with GS/OS 6.0.1 using Addressed For Success, ShadowWrite 1.3.4, Platinum Paint 2.0, Pointless and Harmonie. Printing via HP LaserJet IIp and Apple LaserWriter Pro 630. More technical details are available if anyone is interested. Transportation requirements provided by Albuquerque SunTran, 1965 Corvair Monza, 1990 Honda Civic, 1996 Mazda Miata and 2003 Honda Civic. And when I'm 64, I'll get by with a little help from my friends. NEW MEMBERS -- Sylvan Zuercher Our new members this month are Vickie and Pat Hall of Los Lunas, New Mexico. They own a number of Corvairs and are interested in restoring Corvairs. Let's give a big CNM welcome to Vickie and Pat! OCTOBER MEETING NOTES Chuck Vertrees THE MEETING WAS CALLED to order at 19:30 on 10/5/05 at Galles Chevrolet. All officers were present except the Vice-President. The minutes of the last meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter. One new member was introduced, Pat Hall. Pat lives in Los Lunas and runs a parts recycling business and has 11 various Corvairs. His wife's name is Vickey. Also introduced was guest Phillip Zuercher, Sylvan's son who is retired and visiting here from Kentucky. It was moved and passed that we maintain a CORSA membership for Vladimir Pabicevic who is our contact with Galles Chevrolet. Treasurer Wendell Walker reported that CNM had $293.30 in the checking account and $2,585.59 in the GMAC account for a total worth of $2,878.89. There was no Car Council report. It was reported that the State Fair show went well. There were eleven Corvairs there with a complete representation of various body styles and even included an Ultravan. Everyone had a good time. Members were reminded that the upcoming Saturday is the last trash pickup on our mile of Old Route 66 for this year. Members were to meet at the usual place at 09:00. A good turnout makes short work of the cleanup. Since Sally wasn't present it was decided that the monthly breakfast would be on the 22nd at 08:30 at Twisters. This is located on Juan Tabo near I-40 and just across the street from Hobby Lobby. Other upcoming events are the Great Fan Belt Toss and Swap Meet in November, the CNM Annual Potluck and Auction at House of Covers, also in November, and the Annual CNM Christmas party on December 4th at 12 noon at the Officers' Club at Kirtland AFB. Also it was announced that Bill Reider would be having a "Pre Fan Belt Toss Sale" at his house on the 15th of October starting at 10:00. If you need it Bill probably has it. He is trying to get back at least part of his garage. Five cars from CNM went to the Balloon Fiesta Car Show. There was a large turnout of cars and hundreds of people lining the road into the grounds, clapping and cheering. There will be a big celebration of the 80th Anniversary of Route 66 in late June and early July next year. CNM should probably plan to participate. For more information see me or check the www.HeadightsOnTheMotherRoad.com web site. LeRoy and Emma Rogers went to Montrose to work on next year's Tri-State. Two motels have been picked and information will be given to the board. The Chamber of Commerce will supply goody bags and stuff, and we should also come up with more stuff. The car show will be on the main drag along with the farmers' market which should mean we will have a big crowd of spectators. Short notes include, Hurley Wilvert won one of the motorcycle races a few weekends ago. My son-in-law broke his foot at the same races. Steve Gongora has one CNM shirt left. Jerry Goff is selling his convertible. Dell Patten is moving to Washington D.C. NEXT WAS THE election of officers. Wendell Walker and Chuck Vertrees will continue in their long held positions. This left the positions of President and Vice President available for nominations. Ray Trujillo was nominated as President and John Wiker was nominated as Vice-President. There were no other nominations so the nominations were closed and the above elected by acclimation. Congratulations to our two new officers! We adjourned at 20:30 -- Chuck OCTOBER BOARD MEETING Chuck Vertrees THE MEETING WAS CALLED to order at 17:05 at House Of Covers on 10/19/05. Present were Jim and Heula Pittman, Lube Lubert, John Wiker, Steve Gongora, Ray Trujillo, Sylvan Zuercher, Dave Huntoon and Chuck Vertrees. Treasurer Wendell Walker was not present. He is in California where he had surgery to ream out his carotid arteries. His daughter Kathleen reported that he is doing well. The Tri-State logo was discussed in depth along with the type and color of the shirts. It was decided that a white shirt would be best. We will get both T-shirts and golf shirts. There was quite a bit of discussion on the logo and it was finally decided to use a design sent in by Larry Montoya of the Bonneville club with addition of the four club logos in the corners, and the four dates added to Larry's submission. A logo will be on the front pocket without the club logos. Ray said that he could get the shirts at wholesale and could oversee the printing. The colors will be red and blue on the logos. Our sponsor called about a show that Galles will have this coming Saturday October 22nd. Sylvan called CNM members and has six cars committed and three more possibly. As secretary of CNM I receive the minutes of the Car Council by e-mail. I will forward a copy to Ray, John and Dave when I receive them. If someone else is interested I will also send them a copy. Let me know. Sylvan reported extensively on the Tri-State and the work that LeRoy and Emma did when they went to Montrose. The motel will be the U.S.A. Inns. The rate will be $55.00 plus tax per night with the provision if the occupant wants to come in early or stay a few days later, the rate would be the same. They have set aside 40 to 45 rooms. The Elks Lodge is the only place large enough to have the Saturday night dinner. They will charge $200.00 for the hall plus $1.75 per person. This sounds silly, like a door charge I guess. It will be adsorbed in the meal price. The car show will be on Main Street right next to the weekly Farmers' Market so we should probably have a good crowd of lookers. The city will charge $125.00 to close the street but will refund $100.00 of that. A reception room will be available right next to the lobby and we can supply our own drinks and nibbles. Registration will be in this room or in the lobby. It was suggested that we should have one or more raffles. Possibly one of them a 50/50. There is also a hose bib available for car washing. If anyone has pictures of previous Montrose Tri-State meetings, please contact Sylvan. Heula says that the Sunshine Committee still has money in their kitty. Also that they would be happy to help with the hospitality. The meeting was adjourned at 18:10. -- Chuck HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the following CNMers who celebrate in November: Sachiko Davis November 1 Anne Wiker November 6 Jim Pittman November 13 John Wiker November 23 Jake Schlessinger November 26 CONGRATULATIONS to: Brenda & Mike Stickler who celebrate their wedding anniversary this month! -- The Sunshine Committee SUNSHINE COMMITTEE REPORT TO CNM BOARD Heula Pittman This committee consists of six members: Heula Pittman, Chairperson Anne Mae Gold Brenda Stickler Elizabeth Domzalski Wendell Walker Kim Patten We organized in January 2003 and the Board gave us a check for $200 for expenses. We were told to use this money as we saw fit and whenever it ran out we should just ask for more! Presently we have a balance of $127.53 in our kitty. To date we have purchased postage stamps and stickers to mail birthday cards, sympathy cards and get well cards. So far Wendell has purchased printing paper and envelopes for both get well and birthday cards. Wendell, Jim and I designed these cards. Wendell has been printing these cards for us as needed. We mail birthday cards to all Members and their spouses. We also mail them to children of our Members who still live at home. We recognize birthdays and wedding anniversaries in the newsletter each month. We do not mail anniversary cards. Whenever we are notified of a need, we contact the Member's family to find out what we can do for them. We have supplied meals for families and visited and delivered flowers on occasion. When Mary Lou and Mark Martinek moved out of state, we set up and organized their "going-away" party. In March of this year the Sunshine Committee set up and organized our 31st Anniversary party. We made reservations at the restaurant and supplied door prizes. Jim and I baked and decorated the "31st Anniversary" cake. Our birthday and anniversary list still isn't complete. We urge anyone who is not receiving a birthday card or who is not recognized in the newsletter for an anniversary to talk to me to get this information updated. Also, please contact me or any member if you know of a need within our Club. Our goal is to SUPPLY A LITTLE SUNSHINE! -- Heula HOW I BECAME THE NM CORVAIR CLUB PRESIDENT, A FUNNY BUT TRUE STORY Ray Trujillo ABOUT A WEEK PRIOR to our election Sylvan Zuercher called me to ask if he could nominate me for the vice-president position. I asked Sylvan if I could think it over because I'd only been a member for just a little over two years. Sylvan agreed to my request and then a few days later I called him back to say okay to the nomination. Now this is where the story gets funny. On our election night Sylvan announces that John Wiker and I would be up for the vice-president position and the next thing John and I know, there are no members running for the president slot. Current president Dave Huntoon announced he wouldn't run again and the other club member who was considering the top spot was dropping out. Then clever ol' Sylvan, ever quick with a suggestion, asked John if he'd like to be up for the top spot. John said due to time restrictions that he couldn't commit and attention quickly turned to me. All eyes were now cast in my direction! Does the name Custer ring a bell? I kind of felt like an unsuspecting sheep amongst a pack of wolves! Anyway, Dave then began telling me of all the advantages, there were so many perks mentioned that for the life of me I can't remember any of them now. I then had a brief discussion with John, he agreed to be vice-president and I would be the president. Now I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. But seriously now, I'd like to thank the club members for approving me to be the president and to say I'll be glad to serve. Since I've only been a member for a short time and just a few members know me, I thought I would tell you about myself. I was born and raised here in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I graduated from Rio Grande High School and then went to UNM before transferring to the University of Albuquerque. I graduated from the University of Albuquerque in 1983 with a Bachelors of Business Administration degree. Upon graduation I married my high school sweetheart Sylvia Baca. Sylvia is the most wonderful person I've ever met, she truly is my better half. She's not only beautiful, she's also a talented graphic artist at our business. We have two sons, Julian who's 19 and Isaac who's 12 years old. Julian is a student at TVI and Isaac is going to Jefferson Middle School. I've worked the past six years with Sylvia at the family business that my father-in-law started in 1968. The family owns Business Printing Service, and we print brochures, booklets, letterhead, envelopes, checks, school planners, etc... you get the idea. Prior to that, I worked at Blue Cross Blue Shield of NM for 15 years in the finance and purchasing departments. As a family we like going on vacations to ski, fish and just enjoy many different parts of this great country. Personally, I follow all kinds of sports but especially the Lobos. When I was younger I played a lot of different sports but now I'm just an avid golfer. Also, and I bet you thought I forgot, I really enjoy the Corvair hobby. Speaking of the Corvair hobby, please plan on attending the annual pot luck and auction at the House of Covers. Steve and Rita Gongora really do a great job of entertaining us throughout the evening. It really is a lot of fun and all you have to do is bring a potluck dish and anything you'd like to donate for the auction. The proceeds go into our club funds. Well I guess that's enough said for now, see you at the next club meeting. -- Ray Trujillo [PHOTOS] Meet our two new officers... Vice-President John Wiker at left and President Ray Trujillo at right. ============================================================================ 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 ============================================================================ | | | | | November | December 2005 | January 2006 | | | | | | : : 1 2 3 4 5 | : : : : 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | | 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 | 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 | | 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 | 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 | 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 | | 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 | 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 | 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 | | 27 28 29 30 : : : | 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 | 29 30 31 : : : : | | : : : : : : : | : : : : : : : | : : : : : : : | ============================================================================ Wed 2 Nov 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat 5 Nov 6:00 PM Pot Luck and Auction - House of Covers Wed 16 Nov 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Wed 16 Nov 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman - Early this month! Sat 19 Nov 8:30 AM CNM Breakfast - TBA Sat 19 Nov 10:30 AM Car Project at Ray Trujillo's. H:839-7436 W:266-4011 Sun 4 Dec 12:00 noon CNM Christmas Party at Kirtland AFB Officers' Club Wed 7 Dec 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat 10 Dec 1:00 PM CNM Ladies - TBA Wed 21 Dec 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 23 Dec 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Sat 24 Dec 8:30 AM CNM Breakfast - TBA 2006: Wed 4 Jan 7:30 PM Regular Meeting - GALLES CHEVROLET 1601 Lomas NE Sat 14 Jan 1:00 PM CNM Ladies - TBA Wed 18 Jan 5:00 PM Board Meeting - House of Covers Fri 20 Jan 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Sat 21 Jan 8:30 AM CNM Breakfast - TBA Sat 21 Jan 10:30 AM Car Project at Ray Trujillo's. H:839-7436 W:266-4011 Fri-Sun June 2-3-4 2006 Tri-State Event - Montrose, Colorado =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=++=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= IMPORTANT DATE TO REMEMBER Saturday, November 5, 2005 - 6 PM Heula Pittman MARK YOUR CALENDARS and don't forget to go to House of Covers on Richmond for our annual Pot Luck and Auction. This is always a fun event for the whole family. Rita and Steve Gongora are the best hosts by supplying their building and by acting as auctioneers for us. Those two have a way of describing donated items, not seen since the glory days of legendary Auctioneer LeRoy Rogers, convincing us that we just must have them! So, start collecting your items now to donate. Most anything is suitable. What's the quote someone once said, "One person's junk is another's treasure!?" Clean out your garage and your closets of all your junk (or treasures!) and join the fun. And as Del reminded us, bring money! Guys and Gals, this is the time to sharpen your culinary skills and cook up your favorite recipes and come on out and enjoy a terrific meal with the Club. This is a great chance to get to know each other. At the same time we can help our Club's foreign exchange and balance of payments as well as hold down unemployment statistics; last year we made approximately $450 dollars for the Club treasury and some fifty of sixty people were employed in enjoyment. * * * * * * * * * * * * * FOR SALE, TRADE OR WANTED * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * PLEASE TELL ME IF ANY OF THESE ARE OBSOLETE AND SHOULD BE REMOVED! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * FOR SALE, TRADE OR WANTED * * * * * * * * * * * * * * FOR SALE: "CORNADO" is for sale. 1966 Corsa Hardtop with 425 Olds V8. Great looking car. Runs great. Lots of POWER. Over $10,000 invested. $4,500 OBO. Call Robert Gold 505-268-6878, email - beisbol30 @ aol.com, or Geoff Johnson email - geoffj @ unm.edu WANTED/FOR SALE: Interested in buying Corvair. I have several parts used. Pat Hall 505-620-5574 (cell) 505-865-5574 (home) Los Lunas, NM WANTED: Wire hubcap with prong spinner -- Bernie Urbassik -- 294-7751 FOR SALE: Two 1964 heads 110 hp $100 Call Bill Reider One 1966-1967 head 95 hp $ 40 299-4597 One 1962-1963 Turbo head $ 60 or email: Two 140 heads with a lifted valve seat $ 40 each BREIDER @ GTE.NET FREE PARTS CAR: 1964 Corvair Monza Coupe. Fairly straight body, little rust. Has all windows. PG, has early crankcase in place, would need new engine. No title. Geoff Johnson geoffj @ unm.edu - 505-720-1484 FOR SALE: 1962 Wagon 700 $1.500.00 OBO -- Terry Price 872-0100 1967 Monza 2-door coupe, 110-HP, automatic. $2,500.00 OBO Great interior, good condition. -- Terry Price 872-0100 FOR SALE: 1961 Monza coupe, '66 110-HP engine, Powerglide. New interior, needs paint and minor body work. Make offer - Hurley Wilvert 281-1732 - hurbrenwil @ peoplepc.com FOR SALE: 1968 Monza coupe, 110-HP rebuilt engine with 4 carbs, Powerglide. New paint, good interior. Make offer - Hurley Wilvert 281-1732 - hurbrenwil @ peoplepc.com * * * * * CNM ADS ARE FREE TO CNM MEMBERS, $5.00 TO NON-CNM MEMBERS * * * * * * * PLEASE TELL ME IF ANY OF THESE ARE OBSOLETE AND SHOULD BE REMOVED! * * * * * * * CNM ADS ARE FREE TO CNM MEMBERS, $5.00 TO NON-CNM MEMBERS * * * * * CHRISTMAS BRUNCH and TOY COLLECTION December 4, 2005 at 12 Noon Heula Pittman RITA GONGORA SAYS THAT all the arrangements have been made to have our Christmas Brunch at Kirtland Air Force Base again this year. Go on base at the Wyoming gate. Have your driver's license, car registration and proof of insurance handy and allow time to check in at the gate. As soon as you get through the Wyoming gate, take the first left and head for the officers' club. This is a terrific location; we've had our party there for several years now and always have had a really good time. The food selection on the buffet is outstanding. Everything is always delicious and the company never fails to be outstanding. At our last Board meeting, we decided to collect toys again for Christmas gifts as we did last year. Emma Rogers organized this effort last year and will be working with us again this year. We are asking each CNM member to bring your UNWRAPPED gifts to our Christmas brunch at Kirtland. Last year we gave the toys to the Bernalillo County Jail and they were distributed to the children of the prisoners there. In next month's newsletter we'll have more details about where the toys will be taken. It is for a good couse, so help us! STATE FAIR CAR SHOW September 25, 2005 Robert Gold IT IS HARD FOR ME TO BELIEVE that another State Fair Car Show has come and gone. This was the eighth one that I had organized. As Bill Reider pointed out at the September CNM meeting, we've been doing the State Fair for over twenty years! I realized that this year was going to be a good one when I arrived at the meeting place well before 7:00 am and I was greeted by about 6 hearty members ready to go. We totaled eleven cars by the time all was said and done. I'll described those who attended a little later. According to plan we entered the fairgrounds around 7:20 and again beat the ticket takers, so the Fair was free! Another nice aspect of this year's effort was that the weather was great from the beginning. No wind, no rain, and no cold. After we set up it was time for breakfast. After our usual green chili breakfast at the Daughters of Job the CNM'ers began the car judging. By 10 O'clock I had the results - just one problem - no ribbons. It seems that this year the Fair had changed procedures and did not give me the ribbons before the show. However, I shouldn't have worried. It was too nice a day to have anything go wrong. Craig with the Fair showed up a little later with more than 80 ribbons -- an all time record! In no time all the cars were decked out in red, white, blue, and purple. I want to single out Geoff and Sally for doing the technical judging and deny any rumors that I paid them off to give me the best FC ribbon. I must thank Larry Hickerson for that. It seems that for the first time in a long time Larry was unable to attend with his purrrrfect Rampside, so my lesser entry was able to win this time. I would have preferred to have had Larry there -- maybe next year. WITHOUT FURTHER ADO I'll now give you a list of those who attended and those who got the "best of" ribbons. In additions to those ribbons we gave out 51 "novelty class" ribbons and 11 participation ribbons. That's a lot of ribbons. These Folks Got The Purple "Best Of Show" Ribbons: 1. Best car late (1965-1969) 1st Tarmo Sutt 1965 Corsa Coupe 2. Best car early (1960-1964) 1st Bernie Urbassik 1963 Spyder Convertible 3. Best Forward Control 1st Robert Gold 1961 Rampside 4. Best Gold Family Car 1st Anne Mae Gold 1961 Lakewood Here is the list of the cars that were entered in the show: 1. Robert Gold 1961 Rampside This is the vehicle featured in the tech newsletter article about replacing front springs and shocks. It looks really nice now if I say so myself. 2. Mike Stickler 1962 Greenbrier I really like this van - it had a nice set of pipes! 3. Bernie Urbassik 1963 Spyder Convertible You can tell that Bernie put a lot of "elbow grease" in this entry -- nice paint! 4. Geoff Johnson 1963 Red Ferrari Spyder Convertible How did that car get in to our show??!! 5. Sally Johnson 1963 Monza Coupe Yellow car is the greatest! 6. Carl Johnson 1961 Sedan The Highway Patrol showed particular interest in this car... I wonder why? 7. Anne Mae Gold 1961 Lakewood This was the Gold daily driver, but it has now been refurbished and is on the show circuit. 8. Tarmo Sutt 1966 Corsa This car is too fine! Tarmo and company's arrival looked like a scene from National Lampoon's Vacation -- except Tarmo was awake! 9. John Wiker 1965 Corsa My mission is to make sure John keeps this car.. it is too nice to sell. 10. Kevin Sullivan 1968 Ultravan This vehicle got the most attention, and deserved it! 11. Bob McBreen 1962 Monza Convertible This was the car way at the end of the line -- we saved one of the nicest to display last! As you can see a fun time was had by all. So I want you all to plan to attend next year and have a good time too! -- Robert Gold CAR COUNCIL REPORT September 2005 Robert Gold I'VE PARTICIPATED IN a number of car events in the years since I moved to Albuquerque in 1981. It is unique however, that I managed to miss two car meetings at the same time! I accomplished this on Wednesday, September 21 when I not only missed the CNM Board meeting but I also missed the Car Council meeting... but I have a good excuse. You see I had initially planned to miss the Board meeting because my kids were having an open house at their school and also since Anne Mae teaches there I couldn't skip the school event. It wasn't until a week later that I realized that I had missed the Car Council meeting that was scheduled a week earlier than usual in preparation for the annual swap meet. So before I knew it I had shirked two of my CNM responsibilities. But not to worry, like old Kirt Gibson in the 88 World Series I managed to make a great comeback. On September 24 Geoff Johnson and I (and my son Javi) at 6:00AM motored down to Los Lunas to work at the swap meet. We arrived even before most of the main organizers and were there to greet the exhibitors as they streamed in. It turned out to be a wonderful day. The weather was nice and there were plenty of cool things to see. After Joyce Clements and the other organizers arrived we were fed donuts and later even a nice lunch. We even got official Car Council volunteer caps for our efforts. Of course Geoff and I found some really nice "treasures" to take home. I still regret leaving that 1964 SS Chevelle down there, but I'm running out of parking space around the house. CNM can now take pride in volunteering in all three of the Car Council activities this year- the Museum car show, the picnic, and the swap meet. We might not be in attendance at all the monthly meetings, but we're there when it counts. I want to thank all the CNM'ers who helped with these events. Things will be slowing down as far as council activities are concerned. I do plan to attend the October meeting at the end of the month. There aren't any meetings in November and December. Unless I can interest someone else in being the Council Rep I guess I'll report about the Council goings on next year. Oh yes, as a sort of P.S. I wanted to mention that the Council held its luncheon for volunteers on Sunday, October 2. I would report on who attended, but unfortunately I missed that meeting too. You see I was exhibiting a car at the Balloon Fiesta with a bunch of other CNM'ers and several hundred other folks. I'll talk about that fun time in a separate newsletter report. See ya later -- Robert Gold ULTRA FUN AT THE BALLOON FIESTA! Kevin Sullivan HEY, WE SURE HAD A GOOD TIME at the Balloon Fiesta car show put on by the Rainbow Roadrunners Car Club. For those who were unable to go, I can tell you that this is the best way to go to the Balloon Fiesta. You don't have to get up really early and sit in traffic and you don't have to pay to park or to get in. You do get excellent parking right down on the balloon field with a hundred or so other really cool cars and car people. We took the Ultra Van. Larry was there in his awesome Rampside. The Golds were in their great white Lakewood. Geoff had his yellow car and Sally was in the turquoise coupe with its great looking new wheels. Very cool. There was a great variety of interesting cars. After the show I was looking at the Balloon Fiesta section from the Friday, September 30 paper. It had an article "Classic cars to roll onto the field after ascension." Paragraph seven states "Rainbow Roadrunners was formed in 1998 and is a member of the Lambda Car Club International, a gay and lesbian car club with more than 1,400 members and 25 chapters throughout the country, according to Lambda's official Web site." I had no idea! That is really funny because Leslie said that when she and her mom and aunt were sitting in the Ultra talking to one of the organizers, she said something about her husband sitting outside, and the guy looked really confused for a second. I also got the vibe that some of the people that came up and talked to Robert and me when we were sitting in the shade of the Ultra thought that it belonged to "us". Anyway, thanks to the Rainbow Roadrunners for putting together a great show that we really enjoyed. I hope more people from our club will show up for it next year. CORVAIR TRAVELS AND AIRPLANES Richard Finch GAYLE AND I AND OUR TWO CATS took a major trip in our three-ton Corvair (Ultra Van) this summer. The trip was equal to nearly 1/3rd of the way around the world! and we did it with only one set of points and condenser plus one fuel pump kit. Every summer we drive the Corvair Ultra Van to Oshkosh, Wisconsin and I spend about 2 weeks in working for the EAA during the annual fly-in. This year was different. First we drove to Chama,NM then to Colorado to 10,000' elevation, then we drove back home to install a generator in the closet so that we can have 110 volt roof air conditioning for the hot trip across the USA in July and August. It is a good thing that we had the generator on the trip because on our way to Oshkosh, we encountered 111 degree temps in Nebraska. After we did the EAA Airshow, (at which I turned 70 and retired from active money-making), and then after the show, we drove about 70 miles over to Manitowoc, Wisconsin and put ourselves and the Ultra Van on the ferry and sailed across Lake Michigan to Ludington, Michigan where we visited with a family who also own an Ultra Van. Then we drove into Canada and stopped for four days at Niagara Falls. The next leg of the trip was to the Finger Lakes area of New York (beautiful area) and then on down into Pennsylvania where we then visited with another family who own another Ultra Van and who live on a beautiful old farm with a restored old farm house. The next leg of the trip was into Massachusetts where we had an appointment to meet with Cal Clark and officially shake hands on his take over of my book "How to Keep Your Corvair Alive." Cal will now be the official publisher of that book that I wrote over thirty years ago. That was a great visit and I highly recommend that any Corvair owner should drive up to Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts to see the really neat little town there, and do the annual, once a year car show at Clark's. Unfortunately, I hit the wrong delete button and lost all my pictures of Clark's employees laying on the parking lot, looking under our Ultra Van! Cal even donated three sets of points and condensers to the trip. After that very memorable visit, we headed on up the East Coast, through Maine, New Brunswick and into Prince Edward Island, Canada. Gayle has always been a fan of the Green Gables books, so we stayed at a KOA Kampgrounds for five days and ate lots of lobsters while we took in all the "Anne" sights and the really pretty farms and all the far Eastern scenery. (It was kinda scary to be in a foreign country where they had no Corvairs!) WE TRUNDLED OUR WAY back home by way of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and of course Texas and into New Mexico. Our odometer showed 7,890 miles as we parked in front of our house after the trip. We were gone a total of 48 days. The 110 HP engine, Powerglide trans and differential were running just great as we arrived home and in fact we also did a two night camp-out at White Sands this past week-end. During that long trip, I made the decision to buy a Zenith Kit Plane and put a Corvair engine in it. We will drive the Ultra Van to Missouri in December and pick up the kit. I will be able to fly the 2-place, 138 mph airplane with only a driver's license. I will tell you more as the days go by. SEVEN YEARS AGO Jim Pittman Seven Years Ago - November 1998 - Volume 24 - Number 11 MARK MORGAN'S CONOCO FUEL TRUCK was our fantasy Corvair cover. Billiken had another fantasy: a Spyder retrofitted with air bags. Our $7047 treasury was no fantasy. We learned more about the Wheels Museum - maybe another fantasy. Bobby Unser was on the board. Would it happen? Officers elected for the coming year were Dennis Pleau, Paul Campbell, Charles Vertrees and Wendell Walker. We had 12 Corvairs at the State Fair car show and Robert reported that all had a great time. The best early car was the Gongora Lakewood, the best late was the Anderson 500, and the best FC was the Domzalski Rampside. Tech tips abounded this issue: Benny Abeyta tipped us on the ease of installing a Fiero seat in a Corvair. LeRoy told us that new windshields from Libby-Owens-Ford of Toledo, Ohio would cost us $269 for earlies and $351 for lates plus $68 shipping. If we ordered several we'd get a discount. As reported in OLD CARS by Linda Clark, L-O-F was a source of glass for many collector cars. A series of Questions and Answers to Corvair related lore and a detailed article on batteries were reprinted from Virtual Vairs. Finally, Ilva Walker wrote about our Aspencade tour through the Jemez and up along the Rio Grande to Embudo Station where we had a great lunch. The fall foliage was not bad either. Fourteen Years Ago - November 1991 - Volume 17 - Number 11 The cover showed a Corvair maze; did anyone successfully navigate from one side to the other? At our meeting we had two guests with cars for sale. We had $578 in the bank. We heard about Corvairs for sale all over the state. We discussed trying to sell Bill Reider's "CARE & FEEDING" book as a Club project. Our newly elected officers were Steve Gongora, Dennis Pleau, Charles Vertrees and Wendell Walker. We had a tentative list of activities for 1992. A tech article by Bob Henrich of Columbia Basin Corvairs told us how to repair a bad '61-'65 backup switch. Short tech tips included: adjusting the thermostat linkage, preventing objectionable fumes in your heater, replacing heater hoses with the right part, replacement door hinge bushings, a way to remove the pilot bushing, and pros and cons of the spring type battery cable. We also had a "Shoe" cartoon with a 1963 Corvair in a junk yard. Twenty-one Years Ago - November 1984 - Volume 10 - Number 11 The cover showed the ascent of man from shambling proto-human cave dweller to suave, sophisticated Corvair driver... oh, wait, this may have been okay to publish way back in 1984, but these days it would never do to hint at a Darwinian view of life. These days we'd have to do a cover depicting "Intelligent Design" instead. Well, never fear, friends, I assure you that Corvairs are definitely the result of Intelligent Design! OCTOBER'S ELECTION was hotly contested and we picked for our officers Francis Boydston, Clayborne Souza, Bill Hector and LeRoy Rogers. Sylvan reported on our rally to Alamogordo. Bill Reider told us of a Corvair so neglected that the oil pan was covered with half an inch of rubbery gunk. The cause? Apparently the customer didn't change the oil very often, but added STP religiously. Bill advised us to change our oil and not to waste money on STP or other additives. Several short tech tips included: a substitute for the interlock in a '61-'64 four-speed, keeping your Corvair running smoothly with the help of electrical contact cleaner, keeping cool by removing casting flash, installing a '64 differential in a '68 Corvair, preventing burned alternator brushes due to regulator failure, repairing the spark plug wire holders on your top shrouds, and removing early transmission mounts. Twenty-eight Years Ago - There was no newsletter for November 1977. CELEBRATING THIRTY YEARS OF TRI-STATE HISTORY Sylvan Zuercher (This article is based on CNM newsletters and the author's notes and recollections. Last month's article ended with CNM members ready to go to the 1976 Tri-State in Montrose, Colorado.) MEETING NOTES FROM my files from July 1976: The Tri-State will be held in Montrose, July 9-10-11, 1976. Make reservations at the Black Canyon Motel, 302-249-3495. (Note, they will list this same phone number 30 years later.) Rates are $20.00 for a double and $23.00 for two doubles. Rooms are also available at the Best Western Red Arrow Motel. FROM THE NEWSLETTER: July 1976 Vol 2 Nr 7 - An article by Steve Gongora with writer's memory and commentary. Ten CNM members attended. Steve Gongora in his 1965 blue Corsa accompanied by Jack Sellers and Andy Ciupryk. Bob Langlois towing his V-8 powered Corvair with sons Dave and Rick. Ike Meissner and son John driving a school bus converted into a camper and towing a yellow 1965 Corvair. My wife and I in a (Chevrolet product) El Camino. Steve mentioned speeding across desolate parts of New Mexico (old two-lane NM 44) in no time flat to get to the Green Mountains of Colorado where the roads were made for Corvairs. Upon arrival, the three club presidents discussed the final plans for the Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday morning activities. The Friday afternoon event was a 60-mile roundtrip Econo Run set up by Jim Foreman from Salt Lake City. After arrival, we bought our lunches and went to the Box Canyon and Falls to socialize, get acquainted and, just maybe, do some lyin' and braggin'. The Run was won by Jim Foreman with his 1965 Corsa at 29 MPG. Steve Gongora came in number six with 25.5 MPG. Leo Ford from the Denver Rocky Mountain CORSA Club made several trip to Montrose to make all arrangements, and also planned a Fun Run around Montrose for one of the Saturday activities. You were to follow instructions and answer questions that had to do with identifying certain objects. The Fun Run started in a wooded park area and ended back at the same park. It was a real blast! Corvairs were passing each other going in different directions. The question was, ARE YOU LOST? No, you were only following directions. It was planned that way. Ike Meissner and son John did get lost, though, and were backtracking the route when they were found by other participants only a short distance from the end. Ike refused to be shown the way back, stating that he would find the way. Returning to the Park, our cars were shown, and we had more interactions among the club members. One happening that I recall was, two young men in a yellow 1965 Monza coupe on their way to North Carolina stopped by the car display. Their Monza was filled from the rear floor to the top of the rear seat with six packs of Coors beer. Coors was not available out of state at that time, and they were hoping to pay for part of the trip by selling the cans in North Carolina for $200 each. I wonder if they were successful? The Saturday evening banquet facility was changed at the last minute due to a fire at the restaurant where arrangements had been made. WE WERE ACCOMMODATED at a place called Mary's(?) in a 2nd floor loft above a closed-for-the-day Eatery. The meal was very good, and later, Leo showed films and photos from the Denver club's events. During the Sunday gathering for breakfast, before returning home, it was suggested that we meet again next year, since the first Tri-State was such a success. I have not been able to come up with attendance from RMCC or Salt Lake, but I would guess at least 40 people total attended that first year. Tune in for the next installment in December. -- Sylvan ROUTE 66 CLEAN-UP Ollie Scheflow THE CLUB HELD ITS THIRD and final clean-up for the year on Saturday, October 8, 2005. We had very nice weather and a light trash load and a fair turn out. Those participating were: Dave Huntoon, Geoffrey Johnson, Del Patten, Jim Pittman, Ollie Scheflow, John Wiker and Hurley Wilvert. We did not find any unusual items this time and we were finished by 11 AM. We've had eighteen different participants during the year and we have had a variety of both Corvair vehicles and Brand-X vehicles to look over and talk about before heading out to pick up trash. This time we had three late coupes to admire, two with very nice yellow paint, plus an early convertible, a motorcycle and a Brand-X pickup. Maybe next year we should have a contest to see how many Corvairs we can convene at the Route 66 Clean-Up location! Thanks to everyone for the help and I hope to see you next year. D.I.Y. DIFFERENTIAL ADJUSTMENT Bill Wells North Texas Corvair Association - Transaxle Telegraph October 2005 Issue No. 363 VOLUME 31, NUMBER 10 "I told Parsley you can't set it up with this much backlash!" THIS PROCEDURE ASSUMES you have removed and disassembled your differential and replaced all four tapered roller bearings and races in the differential carrier, side adjusters, case and pinion shaft. I highly recommend cleaning the threads on the adjusters and cases to enable easy turning by hand. Do not install the O-rings at this point. * Place the differential carrier into the case. The ring gear goes opposite the starter side. Lube the bearings with 90W. * Place the pinion shaft into the rear race and thread in the pinion adjuster to hold it in place. Lube the bearings with 90W. * Tighten the pinion adjuster slowly by hand, while turning the pinion shaft clockwise. You will feel the turning resistance increase. This is the bearing preload. There is sufficient preload when the shaft rotates 1/2 turn or so when spun by fingers. * Install the side adjusters by threading each in, while guiding the bearings on the carrier into the races. * Turn the driver side adjuster in until the main body of the adjuster is approximately flush with the case. This will leave the square "labs" protruding out. * Turn the passenger side adjuster in just until there is no backlash between the ring and pinion gears (If you rock the ring gear back and forth while turning the adjuster in, you will hear the slight "knock" decrease until it's gone. This is the backlash you are hearing.) Back off four or five notches from this point. * Turn in the driver side adjuster while moving the ring gear side to side, until no slack is felt. This is the zero preload point. * Now, alternately loosen the driver side adjuster one notch and tighten the passenger side adjuster one notch, rocking the ring gear back and forth after each pair of adjustments. Repeating this process will slowly decrease the ring-to-pinion backlash while maintaining the zero preload on the side bearings. You should be able to audibly hear the backlash decrease, but "feel" works, too. * Once you have reached the zero backlash point, back off the passenger side adjuster one notch. This will establish the initial backlash. * Tighten the driver side adjuster 2 to a maximum of 3 notches to preload the side bearings. Two is the minimum. If you must turn a little more to line up the tabs, do not exceed 3 notches total. Note: You should need to use a tool to tighten the adjuster this amount. If not, start over, as zero pre-load was not reached. This will have set the ring-to-pinion backlash somewhere between .003 and .010 of an inch. Five to eight thousandths is preferred. More is better than less, but it should be no more than 10. You must absolutely have some backlash or the gears will not last. Mark an adjuster lab and the case with a crayon, then remove the adjusters one at a time to install the O-rings, heavily lubed with grease. If you have any questions, please call me. Bill Wells (972) 523-6133 PROJECT CAR REPORT Ray and Mary Collins The Iowa Corvair Connection - Iowa Corvair Enthusiasts Vol 16 Nr 9 October 2005 FRONT END ALIGNMENT -- The caster adjustment was done first as instructed in the publication "Corvair Wheel Alignment" by Fred Johnson. The garage is level from side to side so no floor compensation was necessary to measure the camber angle on the wheel rim. It still does take a little time to do though. CAMBER -- To set the camber, we first measured how much needed to be offset from the top or bottom of the rim to make the level held against the camber tool read vertical. Then we had to lift the car onto jack stands, and make a guess on how much to turn the eccentric bolt on the lower A-frame control arm to move the bottom of the rim in or out. Then the car goes back down onto the wheels and must be driven or moved two tire revolutions to let the suspension "find" its natural position. The camber measurement is then made again. The tool should read closer to vertical when pressed against the rim this time. We then repeated the entire procedure a couple times until the level read vertical when held against the rim. Since the top of the tool is about .25" less in length where it contacts the rim, the top of the rim is out about .25" more than the bottom when the level is vertical. This is the correct camber setting for a '65 Corvair. CASTER -- After setting the camber, we set the caster in much the same manner. The garage floor was not level from front to back, so we--had to compensate. We measured the garage floor drop from the front tire center to the rear tire center and then added a board of this thickness under the rear tires. This effectively put the car on a level surface for the caster measurement. The caster tool has notches that are positioned against the ball joint grease fittings. The top extension is 0.36" longer than the bottom. When the side of the tool is vertical, the bottom ball joint (steering axis bottom) leads the top ball joint, (steering axis top) by 2 degrees. The large nuts on the strut rods were hard to turn, but the tool gave very repeatable measurements and the caster adjustments took less than an hour to complete. TOE-IN -- This setting is simply the difference in length between the tires, at axle center height, in the front versus the rear. On a '65 late model, the front should be 5/6" +-1/16" narrower than the rear. When the car is moving down the highway, the tires are forced outward at front and thus with the toe in, end up rolling straight ahead at speed. Rotating the threaded tie rod connecting sleeves sets the toe-in. When we removed the nuts from the bolted tie rod clamps, we realized that these were the original parts and they had not been removed when the front end was rebuilt. As feared, the tie rods and linkage had been cleaned up and sand blasted but never freed up from their original rusted in place positions. A large pipe wrench just peeled metal off the tie rods with no movement. We oiled the threads as best we could with "Kroil" penetrating oil. This oil works well for us in most applications. I checked the auto parts shops and bought a tie rod adjusting tool made by Lisle. The tool has several notches at various offsets that are designed to fit into the slot in the tie rod sleeve ends. It does not slip off the tube's slotted end. It is also fairly short so that it can be positioned under the car in tight quarters. After a week of penetrating oil and yanking on the tie rod tool, only one ball joint end had been broken free. After heating a sleeve with a torch, and putting a cheater pipe on the tie rod tool, we broke one sleeve completely free. Since we had another couple spare tie rods and the tool was taking the abuse very well thus far, we decided to try "brute force" to remove the final tie rod. The tool was placed straight down. Pat placed both feet on the tool and held on the bumper for support while pushing on the tool with both feet. The tie rod grudging moved, and with some more "foot" pounds of force, it finally started to move more easily. We then took the tie rod sleeves completely off the car and cleaned all the threads and coated them with anti-seize compound before reassembling. We could finally perform the toe-in adjustment now, with free moving tie rod sleeves. The steering wheel was placed at the straight ahead position, and a three foot long board was placed across the driver's side tire to check our straight ahead position. We then adjusted the driver's side tie rod until the wheel appeared to be aligned straight. The toe-in adjustment was then made with the passenger side tie rod sleeve. The toe-in was measured with the weight on the car. Toe-in changes quite a bit as the suspension is loaded. We made our preliminary adjustments with the suspension in the air and found the wheels to be toed out quite a bit once the car was taken off the jacks. After driving the car in and out of the garage a couple times to allow the suspension changes to settle, measuring again and changing as necessary, we tightened the tie rod clamps and prepared for a test drive. TEST DRIVE -- The first check out run was to the filling station and back for a couple gallons of high priced high test. The handling and steering felt good. The engine was missing some, but by the end of the three-mile trip it was much improved. It was getting dark and the instrument lights did not work since we had previously removed the fuse to quiet the clock buzz. We removed the dash cluster and took out the noisy clock. A "clock-delete" cardboard circle now covers the opening, and we again have instrument lights. We then took it out for a longer, higher speed run later that night. The steering wheel is just a few degrees to the right of dead center when going straight. We may tweak the tie rods just a little but are not going to worry about it right now. The tracking is good; no pull either way on the wheel. You can let go of it momentarily on a good road, and the car continues straight ahead. The engine miss went away totally during the seven-mile trip. The car was stable and quiet with only a little wind whistle with windows up at 60 mph. [photo] A reminder of gasoline prices in April of 2000 =end=