The September 2008 Newsletter - Text Version Updated 10-Sep-2008 ==== Copyright (c) 2008 Corvairs of New Mexico EDITOR: Jim Pittman NEXT MEETING: Wednesday 3 September 2008 at 7:00 PM Highland Senior Center at 131 Monroe NE THIS MONTH: Dues Due ................................. Membership Committee 2 August Meeting Minutes ......................... Chuck Vertrees 3 August Board Meeting Minutes ................... Chuck Vertrees 4 Birthdays and Anniversaries ................ Sunshine Committee 4 Econo-Run in October - Preview ................. Chuck Vertrees 5 Stick to Corvairs! .............................. Mike Stickler 6 Taos '09 or Bust (TTTT?) ...................... Brenda Stickler 6 Calendar of Coming Events .............. CNM Board of Directors 7 State Fair Car Show Preview ....................... Robert Gold 8 AAH--OOH'--GAH-- Tech Tip Report .............. Sylvan Zuercher 8 For Sale, Trade or Wanted ............................ Everyone 9 A Note About the 2009 Tri-State in Taos ....... Brenda Stickler 9 The Original Crossover ............................ Robert Gold 10 Gas Mileage: 180-HP vs 140-HP ..................... Jim Pittman 11 Steve McQueen's Corvair Starter ................. Richard Finch 12 The Orphan Corvair (All-Clubs-Picnic) ....... Pat & Vickie Hall 13 Seven, 14, 21, 28 Years Ago .................... Club Historian 14 COVER: Steve McQueen's Starter Motor from THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR Pictured here is Steve McQueen's Corvair starter from his 140-HP Myers Manx featured in the motion picture THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR. It is currently mounted on our Corvair powered Ultra Van, a 1969 model. Note that the starter has never had its paint touched up because that is the way Steve last saw it. I simply put a new bendix drive on it and it continues to work just fine today. The full story may be found in this issue, page 12. Richard Finch =[CNM]= PRESIDENT: Mike Stickler 856-6993 sticorsa @ hotmail.com VICE-PRES: Pat Hall 865-5574 patandvickiehall @ q.com SECRETARY: Charles Vertrees 299-0744 vertrees @ swcp.com TREASURER: Wendell Walker 892-8471 defarge505 @ aol.com PROPERTIES: Ruth Boydston 821-1506 sg730 @ comcast.net CAR COUNCIL: Cary Hubbard 350-0483 bus63kombi @ gmail.com CAR COUNCIL: Art Gold 620-7434 rollerart @ gmail.com MEMBERSHIP: David Huntoon 281-9616 corvair66 @ aol.com NEWSLETTER: Jim Pittman 275-2195 jimp @ unm.edu DUES: CNM: 12 months $25.00 or 26 months $ 50.00 CORSA: 12 months $38.00 or 26 months $ 76.00 CNM & CORSA: 12 months $63.00 or 26 months $126.00 CORSA's home page: http://www.corvair.org Steve Gongora's page: http://www.corvair.org/chapters/chapter871 What's new on the CNM newsletters web page? == Don Heath's 1967 "Stinger" is once again in the news. == Photos from our evening party with Catherine & Dan Palmer. == Photos of backyard hummmingbirds. CNM's newsletters: http://www.unm.edu/~jimp =[CNM]= MEMBER LIST & DUES DATE = 24-Aug-2008 Due last month, inactive as of 25-Sep-2008: 2008/08 Barbara & Gordon Johnson 2001.06 Due this month, inactive as of 25-Oct-2008: 2008/09 Kay & Tarmo Sutt 1976.07 Due next month, inactive as of 25-Nov-2008: 2008/10 Debra & Jon Anderson 1992.10 2008/10 Guadalupe Arellanes 2006.10 2008/10 Mary & Art Hurley 2007.10 Coming due later: 2008/11 Linda & Dick Cochran 2006.09 2008/11 Leslie & Kevin Sullivan 2002.07 2008/11 Nancy & Bernard Urbassik 2004.08 2008/12 Elizabeth & Mark Domzalski 1994.01 2008/12 Gayle & Richard Finch 2000.06 2008/12 Vickie & Pat Hall 2005.10 2008/12 David Huntoon 1994.11 2008/12 Walter Huntoon 1992.11 2008/12 Steve Johnson 2001.08 2008/12 Roger Pape 2002.12 2009/01 H. C. "Lube" Lubert 1987.10 2009/01 Carolyn & Dan Palmer 2006.01 2009/01 Emma & LeRoy Rogers 1975.07 2009/02 Carl Johnson 1974.04 2009/02 Lee & Bill Reider 1974.09 2009/02 Brenda & Mike Stickler 1976.07 2009/03 Robert McBreen 1989.11 2009/03 Sally Williams 2003.09 2009/04 Deborah & John Dinsdale 2000.02 2009/05 Melba & Tommie J. Anderson 2008.05 2009/05 Fred Riggs 2008.05 2009/07 Anne Mae & Robert Gold 1982.08 2009/07 Geoffrey Johnson 2002.03 2009/08 Bob Philips 2007.06 2009/12 Diane & Robert Galli 2007.10 2009/10 Mary Lou & Mark Martinek 1990.08 2009/12 Kathy & Larry Blair 1985.11 2010/01 Marilyn & Richard Foster 1999.07 2010/01 Kim & Del Patten 1980.07 2010/02 Susanne & Larry Hickerson 2002.08 2010/02 Julia & Chuck Vertrees 1983.05 2010/02 Frank Stadler 1990.02 2010/02 Wendell Walker 1989.01 2010/04 Heula & Jim Pittman 1974.04 2010/05 Jack Bryan 1982.02 2010/05 Tracey & John McMahan 1983.12 2010/06 Joel Nash 1974.12 2010/08 Ruth Boydston 1974.04 2010/08 Mary Alice & Oliver Scheflow 1992.05 2010/09 Brenda & Hurley Wilvert 1992.10 2010/10 Sylvia & Ray Trujillo 2003.08 2010/10 Opal & Sylvan Zuercher 1974.12 2011/01 Wibke & Robert Garrecht 2005.09 2011/02 Kelly & Art Gold 2006.12 2011/03 Rita & Steve Gongora 1974.12 2011/03 Anne & John Wiker 2001.01 2011/04 Cary Hubbard 2006.02 INACTIVE AS OF 25-AUG-2008: 2007/02 Clay Keen 2006.02 2007/03 Clint Collins 2006.03 2007/04 Sandra & Jerry Chapman 2006.04 2007/05 Mike Hacker 2002.03 2007/06 Terry Price 1992.01 2007/11 Kathy & Doug Gadomski 1999.11 2007/12 Mark L Morgan 1974.04 2008/04 Florence & Bill Hector 2006.04 2008/07 Jerry Goffe 1977.05 =[CNM]= If your membership is due or has expired, please send your Dues to: Wendell Walker, CNM Treasurer, 301 Utah Meadow, Rio Rancho, NM 87124 Past due memberships will become inactive after a one-month grace period. The Club will mail in your National Dues when you renew, provided that you send us the renewal form from your CORSA Communique! =[CNM]= AUGUST MEETING NOTES Chuck Vertrees The meeting was called to order at 19:05 on August 6th, 2008 at Highland Senior Center. All officers were present. There were 26 people present, including two sets of visitors. Gary Calabrese has a 1964 Corvair and needed parts and knowledge on fixing it up. He joined before the night was over. Also visiting with us were Russ McDuffie and his son Josh. They have a 1965 convertible and a 1962 500 Corvair. Treasurer Wendell Walker announced that CNM had $372.21 in the checking account and $1,738.34 in the GMAC account for a total worth of $2,110.55. He also showed the printed envelopes that were discussed at the last board meeting. Review your last newsletter about how to use the envelopes to turn in money to Wendell. Newsletter editor Jim Pittman said that for the newsletter schedule this is a short month and everything for the next newsletter should be in his hand no later that Friday, August 22nd. As always, the sooner before the deadline, the better. Jim told us that Mark Morgan had sent e-mail to the effect that he will rejoin CNM. He was a founding member (he was our first president, and he started our newsletter) who kept up his membership as he traveled all over the world with the Navy and later with his jobs. Each month for many years he used to send us a short cartoon strip for the newsletter called "Billikins" if I remember correctly. He contributed many excellent articles to the newsletter over the years. Some of us remember Mark's "Driving In ..." articles where he'd report on cars and driving conditions in exotic locales like Taiwan and Mississippi and Pennsylvania. After 9/11 he went back on active duty with the military. He is now with the Park Service in Saint Louis and has remarried. Art Gold reported that the Car Council meeting went smoothly. There is another new car club joining, the Viper Club. The main subject was the All Clubs annual picnic at Villanueva State Park on Sunday August 10th. We learned of the death of the son of long time active member Chris Garcia. Condolences are in order. Another item discussed was the return in the legislature of the ever-popular proposal (to certain legislators) that New Mexico should require both front and rear license plates. This idea keeps coming up, and sooner or later it will be passed into law whether we like it or not. Such a law would kill the use of all special plates such as our nice "CNM" front plates. Heula Pittman said that the Sunshine Committee has been sending out birthday and anniversary cards and working on next year's Tri-State. Tarmo said that he got his birthday card but said that it was different from the one Kay got. How this could be so remains an unsolved mystery. The various August activities were discussed: The All Clubs Picnic on the 10th, the Palmers' Mountain Potluck on the 23rd and the TUNA at Pat and Vickie's place in Los Lunas on the 30th. The main September activity will be the State Fair Car Show. Robert Gold has this all set up. Cars will meet, as we have done for years, in the old Furrs' parking lot at San Pedro and Central and be ready to drive in to the Fairgrounds no later that 7:15. If we go in together we will not have to pay an entrance fee. We will get a great parking space and Robert says as usual there will be lots of ribbons. The only reason not to get an award is to not show up. Dave Huntoon has the club banner and Robert has the stanchions. For some reason there was no mention of the EAA Fly-in at the Moriarty airport on September 12th where, if you arrive reasonably early in your Corvair, you can join an informal old car show in addition to seeing all the exotic airplanes. October activities include the Old Route 66 cleanup on the 4th, and on the following Saturday, the 11th, there will be an economy run. See more information on this elsewhere in the newsletter. Maybe by next month we will have information on this year's car show affiliated with the Balloon Fiesta. On November 8th, Ray Trujillo will have a Bingo Night at "House of Covers" (thanks to Steve and Rita) and it's possible that there might be a silent auction. December 6th will be the annual Christmas dinner. It will be on a Saturday evening this year so that it will not conflict with the Sunday church activities of many members as it has done in the past. Any ideas for next year's events will be gladly welcomed. Surely some members remember something in the past that might be fun to do again. All we need are suggestions, volunteers to organize, and participants. Larry Blair said that he had all of his engine shrouds powder coated and they really looks nice. He thought the price was reasonable at $250.00. The place is Kaehr's on Candelaria. In connection with powder coating, it was mentioned that there is no longer anywhere in town to get chrome plating done. The closest places are in El Paso or Phoenix. It was suggested that if enough people needed some chrome plating done, the jobs could be gathered up on a truck or trailer and someone could make a plating run. We had our (rapidly becoming a tradition) 50/50 raffle and it was won by Dave Huntoon. He and the treasury both made $13.50. The meeting was adjourned at 19:27. After the meeting we had a presentation by Sylvan Zuercher on the importance of torquing head studs in proper increments and in the optimal order. As was evident from the discussion, the finer points of torquing an engine are subject to debate! All our mechanics seemed to favor a somewhat different sequence. Considering that there are steel studs holding together aluminum heads, iron cylinders and aluminum blocks in the Corvair engine, torque settings and order can be very important. =CNM= AUGUST BOARD MEETING NOTES Chuck Vertrees At 17:10 on August 20th at Business Printing Services, President Mike called the meeting to order. Present were Mike & Brenda Stickler, Pat Hall, Jim & Heula Pittman, Ray Trujillo and Chuck & Julia Vertrees. Treasurer Wendell Walker was not present since he had an auto accident the previous day and was temporarily without wheels. He says he is OK but driving at night is getting to be a chore. However, this accident was caused by the sun in his eye when he turned a corner. The treasurer's report was phoned in to Jim. Wendy reported that CNM had $372.21 in the checking account and $1,738.34 in the GMAC account for a total worth of $2,110.55. These are the same numbers reported at the August meeting. There were no formal committee reports but Heula said that she thought that we should make of an effort to explain to new members what was going on at meetings. We say there will be a TUNA at such a time and place, but how many newer members know what that is. We need more explanation of events when they are mentioned. How many know that after the meeting many of us go to the 66 Diner and have something to eat and tell stories and lies. Everyone agreed that this was true and that we would take steps to correct it. Mike asked if all current officers would run for office in the coming year and the answer of those present was yes. Candidates for office should be announced at the September meeting, but nominations will be accepted at the October meeting when the election will take place. Anyone nominating a person for an office must first check with them to see if they would want to hold an office. It was considered that we might have another "old metal" recycle collection at the October meeting. Future events were discussed. September 13th is the EAA fly-in and old car show in Moriarty. This is usually very interesting and should be further promoted at the September meeting. September 21st is the State Fair Car Show. As usual we will meet before hand at the usual place, the old Furr's parking lot at Central & San Pedro, no later than 7:00 AM, and go in together. This way there will not be a fee for getting on the grounds. Also, with the talk of moving the Fair Grounds from its present venue, this may be the last Car Show there. We always get a great spot to park and there is a lot of interest shown by the fair visitors. It seems that everyone either had a Corvair or knew someone who had one! And they are eager to tell us about the one Uncle Henry had, you know, the four-cylinder. October 4th is our last cleanup of Old Route 66 for this year. A good turnout makes it go fast and is often followed by lunch. October is a busy month since the next day after the cleanup is October 5th which is the car show at the Balloon Fiesta. This is another event that should not be missed. You get to park close to where the action is instead of having to walk a long distance. On the next weekend, October 11th, I have planned and prepared for an economy run. We will see if there is any interest in having so many activities in one month. November 8th, Ray has planned a Bingo night at House of Covers. This will replace our usual auction and potluck. There would be possibly be pizza available to sell by the slice and also maybe a silent auction for some really nice items. This is still being planned, but keep the date open. This is a good opportunity to raise some money for the treasury. December 6th, Saturday evening, will be our annual Christmas dinner. Rita Gongora is taking care of setting this up. It was brought up that in many past years we have had an Aspencade in the mountains which was usually well attended, but this year October is getting pretty full and that is the only month that the trees are ready. There was some concern that many people no longer want to drive such distances as we have in past Aspencades. It is sure that we need to ask the membership if they have any ideas of events for the coming year. Pat said that he thought we should start having our monthly breakfasts again. Before there was usually pretty good attendance and people seemed to enjoy it. At the next meeting we will announce the next breakfast date: September 6th. It will be at Jimmy's Restaurant on Jefferson and the time will be later that usual so that some of the late risers might attend. Brenda was given a time to cover the upcoming Tri-State on May 29th and 30th of 2009. She has a confirming letter from the manager of the Kachina Inn in Taos for the room arrangements. They have set aside fifty rooms to start. Forty-two rooms will have two Queen size beds and the other eight will have one King size bed. The price for all rooms will be $69.00 per night. We are not sure how soon reservations will be accepted, but not yet. For the dinner we can have a Bar-B-Q by the pool or in a private room. The board leans towards the private room. There will be Indian Dancers at the dinner. Wine will also be available. Her committees are all set up. Car show: Pat Hall, Tarmo Sutt and John Wiker. T-Shirts: Rita and Steve Gongora. Door prizes & Raffle items: the Sunshine Committee. Goodie Bags: chairperson needed. Registration: Ollie Scheflow. Banquet & Tour to the Earth-Ship Home: Brenda Stickler. Advertising in the Taos papers: Ray Trujillo. It seems that Brenda has done a lot of work and has things well in hand. The meeting was adjourned at 18:20. -- Chuck =[CNM]= HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Sunshine Committee Twelve CNMers celebrate birthdays this month. HAPPY, HAPPY! Susanne Hickerson September 1 Jamie Anderson September 3 Gordon Johnson September 5 Janet Johnson September 7 Lori Nash September 8 Kevin Sullivan September 9 Curtis Shimp September 13 Connie McBreen September 15 Kelly Gold September 16 Dave Huntoon September 17 Carl Johnson September 17 Julian Trujillo September 22 HAPPY ANNIVERSARY wishes go to four CNM couples who celebrate this month: Brenda & Hurley Wilvert September 3 Emma & LeRoy Rogers September 4 Kathy & Larry Blair September 8 Kay & Tarmo Sutt September 24 =[CNM]= OCTOBER 11TH ECONOMY RUN Chuck Vertrees Come one, come all, on Saturday October 11th for an Economy Run. I hope for a good turnout of Corvairs and even Brand-Xs if you want. There will be awards for Standard transmission, Automatic transmission, Forward Control and Ultravans. No awards for Brand-X but you might want to see what your Brand-X would do. Do not expect mileage to compare with those reported in the last issue of CORSA Communique. Too many ups and downs on the route. You will have a nice 2-1/2 hour drive in the country with some pretty scenery, followed by lunch at a nice restaurant. Kokopeli's in Cedar Crest has been suggested and recommended. Put this on your calendar now! =[CNM]= STICK TO VAIRS Mike Stickler I can hardly wait for Fall. The cool evenings are a great time to work on Corvairs. I'm presently working on a retaining wall behind the new garage. The Keystone blocks I'm laying for that wall weigh 80 pounds each. (1200 blocks needed total.) It's a great way to get back in shape. To satisfy the Corrales inspectors I need to finish this wall so I can finally move into my garage and work on Corvairs. We have a terrific line up of club activities this Fall. With the State Fair car show, Econo Run, and Bingo Fund Raiser... just to name a few. I hope the membership will be able to attend as many events as possible to make this a very successful year for the club. Happy Corvairing !!! Mike =[CNM]= TAOS '09 OR BUST (TTTT?) Brenda Stickler Well, thanks for all who have stepped up to the plate & now head up vital positions to make sure we move forward on our Wonderful Taos Tri-State '09. Our Terrific Tri-state Taos Team Is: Car Show Pat Hall, Tamo Sutt & John Wiker Banquet & Earth Ship Homes Tour Brenda Stickler* Door Prize, Raffles & Decorations Sunshine Committee Logo Committee Bill Reider* Media Articles (NM) Ray Trujillo* Registration Olllie Scheflow* T-Shirts Steve and Rita Gongora *If you want to offer any of these folks assistance call them & see how you can assist them. (I don't want anyone to feel like the "Lone Ranger.") We have a confirming E-mail for the Kachina Lodge stating that 50 rooms are reserved on Friday May 29th and Saturday May 30th. Our contact says she is fine with us using either one of the hotel Kachina logos and even modify them if necessary. We are getting them faxed over to Steve & Rita now. With our own club's enthusiasm about this meet, we may be calling our host hotel in January to get more rooms opened for us. In the October newsletter I'll have the official date on which you can start making hotel reservations and any pertinent information for you. How Exciting!!! =[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 ============================================================================ | | | | | September | October | November | | | | | | : 1 2 3 4 5 6 | : : : 1 2 3 4 | : : : : : : 1 | | 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 | 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 | 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | | 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 | 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 | 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 | | 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 | 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 | 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 | | 28 29 30 : : : : | 26 27 28 29 30 31 : | 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 | | : : : : : : : | : : : : : : : | 30 : : : : : : | ============================================================================ Wed 3 Sep 7:00 PM Meeting: Highland Senior Center, 131 Monroe NE Wed 3 Sep 8:30 PM (time approx.) after our meeting, we go to the 66 Diner at 1405 Central NE (between University Blvd and I-25) for more Car Talk! Sat 6 Sep 9:30 AM CNM Breakfast - Jimmy's Restaurant - 7007 Jefferson NE Fri 12 Sep 8:00 AM Moriarty EAA Chapter 179 Fly-in and Old Car Display Wed 17 Sep 5:00 PM Board Meeting: Business Printing Service - 4316 Silver SE Fri 19 Sep 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Sun 21 Sep early! State Fair Car Show -- Robert Gold -- 268-6878 Fri-Sat Sep 26-27 30th NMCCC Swap Meet in Los Lunas / Car Show Wed 1 Oct 7:00 PM Meeting: Highland Senior Center, 131 Monroe NE Wed 1 Oct 8:30 PM (time approx.) after our meeting, we go to the 66 Diner at 1405 Central NE (between University Blvd and I-25) for more Car Talk! Sat 4 Oct 9:30 AM CNM Breakfast - to be arranged - suggestions? Sat 4 Oct 9:00 AM Our last "Old Route 66" cleanup for the year. Lunch? ... Oct early! Balloon Fiesta Car Show -- more on this later. Sat 11 Oct 10:00 AM Econo-run - date tentative - Chuck Vertrees Wed 15 Oct 5:00 PM Board Meeting: Business Printing Service - 4316 Silver SE Fri 24 Oct 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Wed 5 Nov 7:00 PM Meeting: Highland Senior Center, 131 Monroe NE Wed 5 Nov 8:30 PM (time approx.) after our meeting, we go to the 66 Diner at 1405 Central NE (between University Blvd and I-25) for more Car Talk! Sat 8 Nov 9:30 AM CNM Breakfast - to be arranged - suggestions? Sat 8 Nov 6:00 PM Bingo Night at House of Covers - Ray Trujillo Fri 14 Nov 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman - EARLY THIS MONTH! Wed 19 Nov 5:00 PM Board Meeting: Business Printing Service - 4316 Silver SE Wed 3 Dec 7:00 PM Meeting: Highland Senior Center, 131 Monroe NE Wed 3 Dec 8:30 PM (time approx.) after our meeting, we go to the 66 Diner at 1405 Central NE (between University Blvd and I-25) for more Car Talk! Sat 6 Dec 9:30 AM CNM Breakfast - to be arranged - suggestions? Sat 6 Dec 5:30 PM Christmas Party: Perennials Restaurant: San Mateo & Osuna Wed 17 Dec 5:00 PM Board Meeting: Business Printing Service - 4316 Silver SE Fri 26 Dec 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Wed 7 Jan 7:00 PM Meeting: Highland Senior Center, 131 Monroe NE Wed 21 Jan 5:00 PM Board Meeting: Business Printing Service - 4316 Silver SE Fri 23 Jan 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Wed 4 Feb 7:00 PM Meeting: Highland Senior Center, 131 Monroe NE Wed 4 Feb 8:30 PM (time approx.) after our meeting, we go to the 66 Diner at 1405 Central NE (between University Blvd and I-25) for more Car Talk! Sat 7 Feb 9:30 AM CNM Breakfast - to be arranged - suggestions? Wed 18 Feb 5:00 PM Board Meeting: Business Printing Service - 4316 Silver SE Fri 20 Feb 9:00 PM Newsletter Deadline - Jim Pittman Fri-Sat-Sun 29-30-31 May 2009 - Tri-State Meet - Taos, New Mexico ============================================================================= See the New Mexico Council of Car Clubs Web Site for more "NMCCC" activities: ======================== http://www.nmcarcouncil.org ======================== =[CNM]= STATE FAIR CAR SHOW Robert Gold Corvairs of New Mexico will be holding our eleventh annual State Fair Car Show on Sunday, September 21, 2008. This is the last day of the Fair. We'll meet at the former Furr's Cafeteria parking lot on the southwest corner of Central and San Pedro at around 7:00 AM. I encourage you to show up early so you can be part of the group photo. We will leave the parking lot around 7:15 to enter the Fairgrounds through Gate 3. This is the farthest gate to the south on San Pedro. We will park on Heritage Avenue just south of the Manuel Lujan Building. Think of the show as a really convenient way to see this year's Fair. You'll have free parking right smack in the middle of the fairgrounds, and if we're lucky, you won't have to pay to get in! Show times are from 8:00 AM to approximately 3:30 PM. Ribbons will be awarded for three "best of" classes and seventeen novelty classes. This should assure that you'll be getting at least one ribbon to display to the world. As in the past I'll be asking those CNMers in attendance to do the judging. That way we'll all share in the joy of awarding the ribbons. You'll get to display your awards as soon as the judging is completed, which should be before lunch. I have it on good authority that displaying a State Fair ribbon on your vehicle corrects any flaws you may have in your paint job! If you have any questions call Robert or Anne Mae Gold in the evenings at 268-6878 or send email to: beisbol30 @ msn.com We've had good support for this show in the past, so let's keep up the good work this year!! See you there. -- Robert Gold =[CNM]= AAH--OOH'--GAH AAH--OOH'--GAH TECH TALK REPORT Sylvan Zuercher Thanks to Jim for his great blackboard graphics for visual reference during the Tech presentation on torque values and sequences for Corvair engine blocks and heads. Thanks to Dan for connecting the "Dots" during the presentation to show the difference between the Shop Manual sequence and a better "X-pattern" sequence developed over the years. Thank to Bill for his input on a slightly different sequence that saves some socket changing but still has as the final result the desired "X-pattern" sequence. The bottom line is, these sequence patterns are much better than those given in the Shop Manual -- which seem to simply follow the method that is appropriate for regular cast iron Chevrolet engines and heads, not the aluminum-iron-aluminum Corvair engine. Our improved patterns take account of the aluminum block, iron cylinders and aluminum heads, held together by steel bolts. -- Sylvan (AKA Flat6, but still sometimes only firing on 2 or 3 cylinders.) =[CNM]= = = = = = = = = = = = FOR SALE, TO TRADE, OR WANTED = = = = = = = = = = = = = Without your $5.00 payment, your ad won't be in the newsletter. Tell me if any of these are obsolete! = = = = = = = CNM ADS ARE FREE TO MEMBERS, $5.00 TO NON-MEMBERS = = = = = = FOR SALE: 1966 Corvair Corsa 2-door coupe. 140-HP 4-carb engine. 4-speed. Gold with off-white interior. Fair condition. No rust. Has been sitting for some years in a driveway in Albuquerque. Good tires, new battery. Contact: Karen Kendall (Arizona) 928-899-0205 (cell) $900 or make offer. FOR SALE: 1964 Corvair Monza convertible. 110-HP with 4-speed. Red, white top, red interior. Really nice body but needs wash/wax. Back window has been removed because it was brittle and cloudy. Top is old but good. Tires are old. Minor tears in seats, otherwise upholstery is good. The car spent its early life in California. Has been stored indoors for about 20 years and was driven occasionally. Pretty much a 100% complete car - except it has headers and ratherloud mufflers. Asking $4,500.00 Contact: Dan at 505-384-1002 in the town of McIntosh, New Mexico FOR SALE: Four new Firestone 185/80-R13 radial tires, whitewall, mounted and balanced on original late Corvair 5-bolt, 13-inch x 5.5-inch rims. They'll work with early Corvairs too but you'd have to remount on your wheels and re-balance. Speedometer error may be negligible. New tires in this size are becoming impossible to find. $400.00 for tires and rims. $300.00 for just the tires. I can deliver locally. Jim Pittman 275-2195 jimp @ unm.edu FOR SALE: 1962 Corvair Loadside pickup .......... $6,500.00 -or- Make Offer! I have first title on this vehicle -- about 60,000 miles I rebuilt the engine about 2,000 miles ago -- excellent condition! Call my cell phone .............. 505-385-3333 ....... Jerry Goffe FOR SALE: 1963 Greenbrier -- runs, drives. Complete original truck. 80-HP with four-speed. Body OK. Call Cary at 505-350-0483 $1,500 FOR SALE: Rebuilt bolted flywheels $200 with exchange Rebuilt differentials starting at $250 with exchange Rebuilt late rear axles - 1965 $100 with exchange Rebuilt late rear axles - 1966-1969 $100 with exchange Lots of other parts available for cars and vans. Pat Hall - Los Lunas, NM 505-620-5574 (cell) or patandvickiehall @ q.com =[CNM]= From: Cheryl ( mailto: groupsales @ kachinalodge.com ) To: tounce66 @ msn.com ( mailto: tounce66 @ msn.com ) Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 12:11 PM Subject: Corvair Club in Taos New Mexico Brenda: Hope you get this for your meeting tonight. So far, I have not had a chance to do the contract or anything yet, because we have been extremely busy at the lodge all summer - tons of groups and banquets, etc., but I will get to it soon. What we do have is 50 rooms on hold 40 with (2) queen beds and (10) with one king bed, for the dates of May 29, 2009 and May 30, 2009 at a rate of $69.00 which includes a full hot breakfast . We can plan any Banquet services for your group such as a private dinner buffet. Hopefully, if the weather is okay, the outdoor pool will be open and also the Nightly Native American Dances will have started. If I can help you with anything else, please let me know. Cheryl Webster Manager of Group Sales =[CNM]= THE ORIGINAL CROSSOVER Robert Gold Since I'm such a car guy I spend a lot of time actually listening to all those car commercials to see what new things they're promoting these days. A big deal now is the concept of the crossover. This is a car that also has the features of another type of vehicle, say like a high performance luxury BMW that can be used off-road. Anyway, I attended a car show on August 9 that made me realize that I own an old-school crossover. The show was put on by a club called the Dry Heat Panzers (DHP). It was held at the Sonic on San Mateo near Montgomery. The DHP's are a bunch of VW guys and they had this "show and shine" event just for the fun of it. The event was open to anyone with a car who wanted to come out. George Sieber, an old friend of mine from my working days, encouraged me to attend, so I showed up in my recently renovated 1966 Corsa. As soon as I showed up I realized that what these guys meant as a show for everyone was really a VW get together. They were very friendly to me and my Corvair, but I figured I needed to have a car there that was more in line with what everyone else had. I made a quick call to my lovely wife, Anne Mae, and had her drive out our corvair-powered VW bus. For those of you who aren't aware of my bus, I've had it now for more than 20 years. It has a 110 Corvair engine with powerglide in it. It can easily haul my family and all our stuff. I don't know what I'd do without it. The 110 engine sure fools a lot of people when I accelerate in traffic. I really like the fact that the body features all that German engineering. I don't have to fight a bunch of rattles like those in my 1962 Greenbrier. Anyway, when CNMers complain that the bus isn't a Corvair I refer them to the picture our club had on the cover of the Corsa Communique in 1996 when we hosted the National Convention. My bus is among all the vehicles that were used to spell out the word "CORSA." Because it was included in that picture I consider my bus a certified Corvair! So let's get back to that VW-dominated show. When Anne Mae parked our bus it didn't get much attention. That is, until the folks noticed the Chevy bowtie symbol and Corvair script that Wendell Walker helped put on the front of the vehicle. It was fun to watch them walk around the bus and see that the manual shifter had been replaced by a small file cabinet with a powerglide shifter on top. Dave Langlois did that modification. They then went 'round back and spent a lot of time looking at that 110 stuffed in the engine compartment. That's when I realized that my vehicle was more than just a VW bus. It is crossover like the ones now being advertised! It's a combination of a traditional VW with the excitement of Chevrolet horsepower. I sort of sound like a commercial, don't I? The organizer of this "show and shine" told me he plans to have these events every few months. Next time I hear about one I'll be sure to let you know. It was a lot of fun, for us crossover folks! -- Robert Gold =[CNM]= TURBOCHARGED 180-HP VS. FOUR-CARB 140-HP GAS MILEAGE COMPARISON Jim Pittman Let's continue last month's discussion of fuel economy. Back in 1968 when I was dissatisfied with the performance of my two-year-old 1966 Corsa with turbocharged engine, Richard Finch advised me to get rid of the 180-HP turbo engine and get a 140-HP engine instead. He said I'd no longer have the turbo's annoying quirks, I would have more usable power and I'd get better gas mileage as well. We ended up "blueprinting" a brand-new replacement 140 engine and it turned out to be a highly successful engine rebuild. It indeed provided a major improvement in power, smoothness and reliability, but I never actually compared the fuel economy of the new engine to the old one. It just felt as if the gas mileage was significantly better. Since I habitually record the mileage and number of gallons for each and every fill-up in my cars, I have a little red book that I could use to help answer the question, Which had the better fuel economy, the 180 or the 140? It was a matter of finding the little red book, picking the range of fill-ups for each engine, and entering the data into a spreadsheet. I decided to start the 180-HP spreadsheet with the first fill-up when the car was new, then record every one until I thought I had a representative range of driving conditions. Then I'd go to the date that the 140-HP engine was installed and record an equal number of fill-ups for that engine. I guessed that driving conditions would be similar -- in each case I took the car across the country, then settled down to daily driving, going to work or school or to rallies or autocrosses or just driving around. To my surprise, fuel economy for the two engines seemed to be quite similar. But take a look at the graphs and judge for yourself. The top graphs are for tankful-by-tankful MPG calculations, while the bottom graphs represent the cumulative MPG, updated at each new tankfull. The 180-HP engine ended up with a 17.5 MPG average while the 140-HP engine had an 18.2 MPG average. I assume (I can no longer remember) that I drove the car fairly aggressively and that I had little regard for fuel costs. I was, after all, oriented toward making the car perform like a well-handling "sports sedan" if not an actual sports car, and gas mileage was a matter of technical interest, not economic necessity. There's an anomoly in these data as far as the 180-HP engine is concerned. At the left third or so of the graph there are three months of data when the MPG readings are really low. This represents the winter of 1966-67 when I was in Fairbanks, Alaska and I'd often drive to work when the temperature was down in the minus 30 degree range. The way to drive to work was to employ electric oil and battery heaters overnight, then start the engine, wait until it would run at fast idle, then let it idle for 10 to 15 minutes before leaving for work. Not a good test of the fuel economy of any engine. Suppose I take out nineteen of these "winter driving" fillups and take out nineteen similar consecutive fillups for the 140 engine. Guess what, this calculation for the 180 turbo comes to 18.0 MPG while that for the 140 comes out to 18.4 MPG. In conclusion, my 100,000 or so miles in a 1966 Corsa during the late 1960s/early 1970s gave me an overall fuel economy of just over 18 MPG, about half of this with a 180 turbo and about half with a 140 four-carb engine. There was little difference between the two engines. I certainly did not save enough on gasoline to pay for the cost of the engine swap. On the other hand, the smoothness, flexibility and reliability of the blueprinted 140 was a great improvement over driving the same car with a 180 turbo. =[CNM]= STEVE MCQUEEN'S CORVAIR STARTER Richard Finch You likely remember the movie that Steve McQueen starred in, titled: "The Thomas Crown Affair". In that movie, Steve was driving a 140 hp Corvair powered Meyers Manx dune buggy as well as a Rolls Royce Coupe. Steve McQueen usually leased out his cars to the studios to get them more publicity and to make a few dollars off the cars. I now own the starter off Steve McQueen's Corvair Dune Buggy. It was given to me in March 1973 after I drove a 140 hp rail buggy in the Mint 400 Off-Road race at Las Vegas, Nevada. I was working for Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, CA as a classroom instructor in auto shop, welding and as a pilot ground school training instructor. The college race car was being sponsored by Steve McQueen and a long time buddy of his, Lee Knox, who was the founder and president of Cyclone Headers and Lee Filters. Cyclone also sponsored the drag racer, Don Gartlis and a lot of other racers at that time. After the Mint 400 Off Road race, Lee Knox called the college and told us that he had a flat bed truck load of Corvair parts in an old filling station that he had shared with Steve McQueen for many years. They wanted to clear out the filling station and sell it. The Auto Shop department head and I drove down one morning, took a tour of Cyclone Headers' manufacturing facilities and loaded up the Corvair parts and hauled them back to the college in Santa Maria, CA. In the pile of parts was a factory new 140 hp crate engine and the Corvair starter. The department head took the new 140 hp engine and I took the new (I thought) starter. That was in March 1973 and I did not get around to using the starter until September of 1998. That was a period of more than 25 years and included company moves from Santa Maria, to San Antonio, to Titusville, Florida and back to Santa Barbara, California. When we bought our 1969 Corvair Powered Ultra Van in 1988, it need a new starter and that is when I decided to use Steve McQueen's starter, but alas, the starter would only spin and not work, so I took the starter apart on the Ultra Van and found that it had a defective bendix drive, likely the reason that Steve McQueen had it laying in his stack of parts in the first place. I replaced the bendix drive in place and it continues to work well today. I first began racing on the same week-ends with Steve McQueen when he was racing a formula junior open wheel race car. That was back in 1964 and I was then racing a home made sports racer. Jim Pittman helped me run my second D-sports racer in the 1970's. Jim helped me as a pit crewman for about 4 or 5 races while I lived in Alamogordo, New Mexico and worked at the Physical Science Lab, NMSU in Las Cruces. The last time I saw Steve McQueen was on a Saturday on June 23, 1979 while I was teaching a student pilot to make cross-country flights. We had stopped at the Santa Paula, CA airport for fuel. The student tugged on my sleeve when a beautiful yellow Stearman bi-plane pulled in to the fuel pump area and the student said "Don't I know that guy?" and I said "No I don't think so." Then later when we were inside the gas stop paying for the fuel, the student once again said, "I am sure I have seen him before," and I took another look and then said "Yes, you surely have seen him before." (For many years, Steve owned two dark green hangars at the approach end to the Santa Paula Airport. I worked there for a company that was building a P-51 Mustang replica powered by a Oldsmobile V-8 engine with a gearbox propeller drive. As far as I know now, these two green hangars are still called the Steve McQueen Hangars.) Outside the fuel stop, I explained that the man with the Stearman was indeed Steve McQueen. The next Monday morning I was at the Los Angeles airport to catch a plane to New York, and standing beside me at the ticket counter was none other than Steve's ex wife Alli McGraw. Steve passed away from cancer after a heroic fight, on November 7, 1980. You might want to purchase a book about Steve McQueen's cars that is now sold by Motorbooks International, phone # 1-800-826-6660, or see your local book store. It is a 176 page book and it has at least 200 photos in the book. It sells for $26.95 and proceeds will go to the Boy's Republic School where Steve once attended as a young boy. (In next month's newsletter, I will report on a letter of apology, to me, from former World Champion race car driver Sterling Moss. - Richard Finch) Pictured here is Steve McQueen's Corvair starter that is currently mounted on our Corvair powered Ultra Van, a 1969 model. Note that the starter has never had its paint touched up because that is the way Steve last saw it. I simply put a new bendix drive on it and it continues to work just fine today. - Richard Finch =[CNM]= THE ORPHAN CORVAIR Pat & Vickie Hall So there we were, in the parking lot of Smith's, anxiously awaiting the arrival of other CNM members so that we could begin our caravan to Villanueva State Park for the NMCCC All Clubs Picnic. While we were watching all the other cars drive in we of course had our eyes peeled for our favorite little cars, the Corvairs. Many "other club" members were there admiring each other's vehicles while waiting for the time to leave. At 9:00 AM they began lining up and off they went. Now the parking lot was empty except for one car, ours! Nobody from CNM showed up! But, giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, we thought that maybe others from CNM were planning to drive on up on their own. They'd either be ahead of us or they'd come in late. So we headed east to Villanueva expecting to find Corvairs there. But we were wrong! We were the "Orphan Corvair" of the picnic. What happened to everyone else this year? One of our club's newest members, Fred Riggs from Las Vegas, New Mexico, met us at Villanueva to get parts that we brought for him. We had a good time visiting with Fred. There were at least two tables full of baskets with various items to be given away as door prizes. Pat and I both came home with baskets. There were many "other" cars at the picnic and we enjoyed seeing them. I gave Jim a CD with lots of photos which, who knows, we may get to see at a meeting or other event. He was impressed by the race car setup for letting kids practice changing the tires on a race car. Nothing like having hands-on experience to turn a kid into a future race car driver! The food was just great and there was plenty of it. The dessert table was full of sweetness and ice cream topped it all off. We had a great time even without any fellow Corvairs. A big "Thank You" to the Route 66 Rodders club for doing a fine job. =[CNM]= SEVEN YEARS AGO Jim Pittman Seven Years Ago - September 2001 - Vol 27 - Nr 9 - Issue 312 The cover showed Ruth Boydston's cabin in the Pecos where we had a quiet, cool, damp weekend campout. Meeting minutes: Sylvan presided in the absence of president, vice-president and treasurer. There was no treasury report but at the board meeting the report was $5,570.86. Visitors included John Stichman, Steve Johnson, Gordon & Barbara Johnson and Roger Chavez and all joined. Another new member was Robert Harvey of Las Cruces. Jim Clements and Tom Willard made a presentation on the New Mexico Council of Car Clubs. An e-mail from Will Davis in Florida told about his 140-HP dune buggy. Steve Gongora received kudos for putting together the very nice Nob Hill Car Show. LeRoy Rogers told of having a new windshield split down the middle. Too bad it was not on a 1951 Corvair. Mark Domzalski reported on the CORSA convention and told us how fortunate we are at CNM in having such a congenial and healthy chapter. He was comparing our club's history with the travails he has seen with other CORSA chapters. Larry Blair in turn credited Mark with a major improvement in CORSA during the last three years while Mark was president. More CORSA news: next year there was to be an award for best chapter newsletter. Naturally several people said they thought we'd win it. Anne Mae reported on activities of the CNM Ladies. Sylvan said we all had to leave the meeting room and exit at the same time through the back gate because of a manpower shortage with Galles security. (Some of us used to park outside the Galles area just to avoid this restriction.) An article about the DOMC was credited to "any-old-mouse" but the writing style sounded like Del Patten's. The gist of the article was poking fun at an article written by former DOMC "president" Larry Blair. All this was an inside joke and made sense to some. "DOMC" is short for Dummy of the Month Club. On a more serious note, our new NMCCC rep, Mark Martinek, reported on the July and August meetings as well as on the Car Council picnic at the Elks' Refuge in the Manzanos. He said it was a fine picnic. Mark said he felt CNM wasn't doing its part to support the Car Council and recommended that we should either do better or withdraw. He also gave us a long article (with lots of photos) about the great Pecos Wilderness campout at Ruth's cabin and the fun of dealing with rain, mud and nearly impassable roads. Richard Finch provided his point of view of slogging along the muddy mountain road in his Ultra Van. Fourteen Years Ago - Sep 1994 Vol 20 - Number 9 - Issue 228 On the cover: drawings from the shop manual showing the smog control equipment on a 1969 Corvair engine. VP Dennis ran our meeting. The treasury overflowed with $1,063, of which $195 was a special convention expense account. Visitors were John McMahan and Brooke Martin from Long Island, NY. New member Bill Palmer had a "new" 1965 Monza. Car Council activities were reported by Bill Reider: a Labor Day tour; a swap meet; a Route 66 calendar. We needed someone to organize the State Fair Car Show. We planned a Villanueva camp out and another auction. Dennis reported on the CORSA Convention in Colonial Williamsburg. Del's "Fulla Gas" column praised the great Villanueva camp out. Debbie reported on recent activities by the planning committees. She said they picked up a lot of tips on running a convention at Williamsburg. Debbie also reported at length on their trip to Virginia. She had several "late airplane" and "missed connection" stories. Paul Coffman told us about a long process getting ready to restore a Spyder. Finally, Mark Aksamit (Cactus Club) told how to swap the driver's and passenger's seats to equalize wear. Twenty-one Years Ago - Sep 1987 - Vol 13 - Nr 9 - Issue 144 On the cover, Mark Morgan's "Urban Assault Vehicle" was apparently based on a Lakewood with armor plating and machine gun. Our August meeting was in Santa Fe at THE RAFTERS restaurant. Our June scavenger hunt had low turnout. LeRoy Rogers took his 1965 Monza to a car show in Alamogordo and won first place. Dale Housley made $25 for the club by organizing a car show. We planned an auction. Jim wrote an article on urban assault driving. Do freeway gunners make us pay more attention to our driving habits? Bill Reider told about the causes and prevention of overheating. Twenty-eight Years Ago - Sep 1980 - Vol 6 - Nr 9 - Issue 60 On the cover Pete Colburn was at a Winrock car show with a 1966 Monza sedan. The treasury held $273. We planned an econo-run/aspencade combination in October. We had a talk by a representative of the city's Environmental Health Department on the upcoming emissions inspection program. He said 1967 and earlier vehicles were exempt. Some of us were relieved to hear this. Tech tips: protecting your upholstery from the New Mexico sun; looking for an electrical leak at the heater hose near the starter; detecting a sheared woodruff key on the crankshaft gear; repairing the hold-open feature on your door hinge. Finally, your editor published the first half of his short story on rallying in sports car heaven (southwestern Ohio) in the middle 1960s. Featured were Austin-Healeys, MG-Bs, TR-4s, Jaguars, Volvos, Corvairs and several slightly disguised friends and co-workers. =[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]= Enchanted Corvairs Newsletter is published monthly by Corvairs of New Mexico, a chartered chapter of CORSA, the Corvair Society of America. Contents are copyrighted by the Authors and by Corvairs of New Mexico. 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 are not necessarily endorsed by Corvairs of New Mexico or by CORSA. Submissions for publication should reach the Editor by the 15th of the month. Send material as ASCII TEXT via e-mail ( jimp @ unm.edu ) or in ASCII TEXT format on computer disk, or submit a readable manuscript. I don't like MS Word documents or RTF files, but no problem, I can read them, so send whatever you have! Photographs as digital JPGs are welcome. Please, don't photoshop your digital JPGs -- send the originals. This ecologically green newsletter is produced in a Microsoft- free environment. I still print mailing labels with a 1989 Apple IIgs, Bernie To The Rescue, Addressed For Success and an HP LaserJet IIp. The newsletter is composed using a 2003 Macintosh G4 PowerBook and a 2004 Macintosh G5. Software includes OSX, AppleWorks, GraphicConverter, Photoshop CS, BBEdit & InDesign CS. If you care, ask for more details. Transportation: 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. =[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]==[CNM]= =END=