Updated 05-Dec-2021 - Copyright (c) 2021 Corvairs of New Mexico.
MEETING TIME: First Wednesday of each month at 7:30 PM LOCATION: Galles Chevrolet, 1601 Lomas Boulevard NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110 PRESIDENT: Hurley Wilvert 281-1732 hurley.wilvert @ fmglobal.com VICE-PRES: Robert Gold 268-6878 beisbol30 @ hotmail.com SECRETARY: Charles Vertrees 299-0744 vertrees @ swcp.com TREASURER: Wendell Walker 892-8471 defarge505 @ aol.com MEMBERSHIP: Sylvan Zuercher 299-7577 zuerchero @ hubwest.com NEWSLETTER: Jim Pittman 275-2195 casa unm edu DUES: CNM: 12 months $15.00 or 26 months $ 30.00 CORSA: 12 months $35.00 or 26 months $ 70.00 BOTH: 12 months $50.00 or 26 months $100.00 ===== CONTENTS EDITOR: Jim Pittman NEXT MEETING: Wednesday December 6th, 7:30 PM J.B.'s at Lomas and I-25 (this month) THIS MONTH: Dues Due Sylvan Zuercher New Members Sylvan Zuercher November Meeting Notes Chuck Vertrees November Board Meeting Chuck Vertrees The Driver's Seat Hurley Wilvert Coming Events Everybody Seven Years Ago Jim Pittman Cars and Parts For Sale Everybody Mr Murphy Del Patten Frostbite Tour Report Mark Martinek Frostbite Commentary Mary Lou Martinek Old Route 66 Cleanup Report Oliver Scheflow TECHNICAL: Restoring a Monza Richard Finch Addenda to Service Schedule Michael (VV) Home Speedometer Calibration Rad Davis (VV) Tire Sizes Jim Simpson (VV) COVER: At Gillman Tunnel - and other CNM events ===== This election reminds me of the advice the old lawyer gave to his protege. "When the law's on your side, pound the law. When the facts are on your side, pound the facts. And when neither is on your side, pound the table." - John Allen Paulos, Philadelphia Daily News. Dues Expired or Due or Approaching Due: Jon Anderson 10/2000 Jon Lovett 10/2000 Alicia Romero 10/2000 John Topp 10/2000 Doug Gadomski 11/2000 John McMahan 11/2000 Wayne Christgau 12/2000 David Huntoon 12/2000 Jerry Goffe 01/2001 LeRoy Rogers 01/2001 John Dinsdale 02/2001 Carl Johnson 02/2001 Steve Lesher 02/2001 Mary Lou Martinek 02/2001 Clayborne Souza 02/2001 Frank Stadler 02/2001 Mike Stickler 02/2001 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! The CORSA Home Page: http://www.corvair.org CNM's home page: http://corvair.org/chapters/chapter871 ===== NEW MEMBER by Sylvan Zuercher Dana & Glen Gollrad 147 Candelario St. Apt B Santa Fe, NM 87501 505-995-9773 Dana & Glen Gollrad recently moved to New Mexico from New York after purchasing a neat 1965 convertible via the internet from an Oklahoma owner. They entered the State Fair Show and came away with an award. Glen is an architect and Dana is in graphic arts? Many CNM members met them at the Fair and for those who haven't, it will be possible to do so at our meetings. A hearty CNM welcome to Glen and Dana! - Sylvan ===== NOVEMBER MEETING NOTES by Chuck Vertrees The meeting was called to order at 19:45at the restaurant that we usually go to after the meeting. When we arrived at Galles Chevrolet, we found that the meeting room was all torn up for remodeling and we had not been notified. As it turned out we were able to catch almost everyone and the restaurant did not have their back room full. All officers were present and we were very glad to see Ilva Walker among us. New Members Glen and Dana Gollard were announced. It was also announced that Tarmo's mother had died, The minutes of the last meeting were accepted as printed in the newsletter. Treasurer Wendell Walker announced that CNM had $362.47 in the checking account and $5,652.03 in the Money Market account for a total worth of $6,014.50. He also announced that we had received our check from the Car Council for our work on the 1998 Swap Meet. There were no reports from Galles or CORSA. CAR COUNCIL REPORT: Mark Martinek reported that the C.C. held its last meeting of 2000 on October 18th. The President called the meeting to order at 19:40. The treasurer reported that there was $6,209.59 in the checking account and $10,113.24 in two CD's. The C.C. has paid out $2,099.00 for the swap meet on Oct. 21-22. A total of $1800.00 has been paid in already and it is assumed that the Swap Meet will be a fiscal success. The meeting was devoted to finalizing volunteers for the set up, gate personnel and clean up. CNM accepted the 8-10 Sunday gate duty. The following CNM people volunteered to work the gate, help set up on Friday, or to help clean up on Sunday afternoon: Mark Martinek, Larry Blair, Jerry Goffe, Robert Gold, and Chuck Vertrees. The next meeting will be January of 01. The meeting adjourned at 20:30. REPORT ON THE CNM LADIES: Anna Mae Gold sent a report by her (I quote "her darling husband") on the CNM Ladies. The CNM ladies did not meet in October because we felt that more people would attend he Aspencade. That weekend was packed for the Gold's so they were unable to go on the Aspencade. The plan for November is for the ladies to meet at Debbie Pleau's home at 10:00 so this will assure that their house sells. We will meet there and then caravan to the antique stores in the North valley. Afterwards we thought we could unwind by going to a winery and do some tasting. Gruet will charge $5.00 per person. Casa Redona will host us for free with the hope of selling us some wile. The lady at Casa Redona suggested that we bring a picnic basket along with some bread and cheese, then we could each buy a glass of wine and take it outside to eat on the patio. We will not have a separate meeting in December, but will be at the Christmas brunch. Some of Santa's elves will be in attendance, so keep your eyes peeled. In January we will resume our normal schedule of meeting on the second Saturday of each month from 1-4 pm. The January meeting will be at the Gold residence. OLD BUSINESS: The Christmas brunch will be on December 3rd at 11:00 at the Kirkland Officers Club. Prices are $13.15 for adults, $4.35 for children under 12. Children under 5 are free. Go in the Wyoming gate and immediately turn left. You MUST have your card showing that you have insurance, or you cannot bring your car on base. Ollie Scheflow reported that there were 8 people that came out on the 14th of October to help clean up our portion of old Route 66. Steve Gongora will contact Dennis Pleau at the Fan Belt Toss to get the information on how to access our web page. When we have this information, Steve will teach Chuck Vertrees how to take care of the page. Steve reported that the license plates were not ready yet. The company that is doing them is buried with political work. The CORSA annual report has not arrived yet. Hurley will check with Mark to see if he can find out when we will get it. NEW BUSINESS: Hurley is looking for someone to be a liaison with the legislature to keep track of any legislation being introduced that would affect the automobile hobby. Car laws just seem to proliferate. Someone please volunteer for this. Bob Gold reported that his speaker for this meeting backed out at the last minute. He does have Steve Gongora prepared to give a talk on convertible tops at the December meeting. He has contacted the man from the Route 66 Society who will be at the January meeting. Mostly the talk will be on historical things about old Route 66. Bob has also sent a letter to Clarks for a production that they have available. Hurley is a member of SAE and reported that at a meeting he recently attended, one of the members presented information that showed with the modern car, the exhaust gas was cleaner than the air being drawn in for combustion. The meeting was adjourned at 20:45 ===== NOVEMBER BOARD MEETING NOTES by Chuck Vertrees The meeting was called to order at house of Covers at 17:10 on 11/15/00. Present were Jim Pittman, Wendell Walker, Hurley Wilvert, Robert Gold, Steve Gongora and Chuck Vertrees. The minutes of the last board meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter. Treasured Wendell Walker reported that CNM had $364.69 in the checking account and $5,652.03 in the Money Market account for a total of $6,016.72. The first order of business was what would be considered a family member as for as dues and voting was concerned. On checking the CNM constitution we found that there is such a thing as an associate member. After some discussion it was decided that CNM does not have a problem at this time. It was decided that we do not need to establish a rule as to what is considered a family member and that it was not necessary to establish an amount of dues for an associate member. The CNM web page was the next thing discussed. Steve Gongora say Dennis Pleau at the Fan Belt Toss, and Dennis said he would send Steve the information needed to give us access to the web page. Steve has not received this as yet so he will contact Dennis by e-mail. There was some discussion of what we want in our web page. The CNM awards were next on the agenda. The last three recipients have chosen the recipient of the Ike Meissner award for this year and Wendell will order the plaque. It was felt that there is possible a need for a change in the Meissner award. There are only a few members in CNM now that knew Ike and what he did for the club. It was felt that the members who knew Ike should consider any change. It was also felt that we need to determine some specific rules for who should receive the award. It was also discussed as to whether we should include the Colorado clubs in the consideration of the Francis Boydston award. Francis was well acquainted with many of their members. There was a suggestion that both the Meissner and Boydston awards be combined. Bob Gold made a motion that the name of the awards be up in the air right now, and there would be no award at the Tri-State and the next award would be at the Christmas dinner in 2001. This would be made after a decision on the criteria and name of the award was decided. After discussion the motion was passed. It was then suggested that the name might be changed to "The CNM Award in Honor of Francis Boydston and Ike Meissner". Steve said that he has the new CNM license plates, but has not received the new business cards. The license plates will be at the next meeting. We need to establish a new Properties Manager. This should be someone who is almost always at the meetings to handle license plates, badges and other club items. The board will be looking for a candidate. President Hurley will see that invitations to the Christmas party will be sent to our sponsors. Since the Christmas dinner will be before the next meeting, it was decided that the board would set up a calling tree to contact all the members about the time and place. Bob announced that at the April meeting we will have a video on Clark's operation plus some donated items for the membership from Clarks. After the December meeting, Steve Gongora will give a presentation on convertible tops, and after the January meeting we will have a presentation from the Route 66 society. The meeting was adjourned at 18:25. ===== FROM THE DRIVER'S SEAT by Hurley Wilvert I hope this month gave everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Now it's time to get ready for Christmas. If you're like me, you don't start thinking about present buying until a couple of days before. I usually manage to get everything, but it's close. Remember our CNM Christmas Party on December 3rd! If you haven't been to it before, you are really missing some good food and company. Last month we had an unexpected change in our meeting place. Galles Chevrolet is remodeling our meeting room to make it nicer. Unfortunately, Joe was on vacation that week and we didn't know until we got there. I hope that no one showed up late and found the place empty after we'd all gone down the street to JBs Restaurant. This month, the situation is still the same; the room is still undergoing remodel. We have the back room at JBs reserved for us on December the 6th at 7:30 PM. JBs is just west of Galles Chevrolet on the opposite side of the street; near I-25. However, due to the Big I project, it is a little difficult to get there. The best way to get there headed west on Lomas, is to turn south (left) off of Lomas, as though you were going into Melloy Dodge. There is a frontage road in front of Melloy that goes west to Medical Arts Ave. Turn left there and JBs is just up the hill. If you're coming from the west, you can turn right on Medical Arts. If you miss it, you can turn right at Melloy Dodge and come back. Since we are at a restaurant, you can have dinner or dessert during the meeting! This month our speaker will be Steve Gongora, who will talk about convertible tops. See you all there. Hurley Wilvert, President NEXT MEETING: I just got off the phone with Joe Trujillo and he says that the meeting room will not be available in time for our December meeting. I have reserved the JBs back room for 7:30 for December the 6th, so we can meet there. As you are calling around for the Xmas party, tell everyone that the meeting will be at JBs again this month. ===== * * * * * * * * * * * * * FOR SALE, TRADE OR WANTED * * * * * * * * * * * * * Wanted: 1962 to 1964 Corvair air conditioning unit, less the compressor and Corvair evaporator. Richard Finch, Tularosa, NM 1-505-585-8037 Office, e-mail: finchbird @ juno.com. Wanted: Lower housing for A/C evaporator Wendell Walker 505-892-8471 For Sale: 1961 Rampside with camper. 74,167 miles. $4500.00 with camper or $4000.00 without. Ruth Boydston 505-821-1506 For Sale: 1965 Monza 4-door $500.00 Dennis Pleau 505-345-0351 * * * * * CNM ADS ARE FREE TO CNM MEMBERS, $5.00 TO NON-CNM MEMBERS * * * * * ===== MR. MURPHY'S IN THE HOUSE by Del Patten As many of you know, Mr. Murphy and I are pretty good friends and I have in the past shared these times of fun and adventure with you. This latest opportunity to visit with Mr. Murphy was a singular experience though, as with every turn, I found him sitting calmly as he awaited my next decision. In fact, this last experience made me wonder if he wasn't really a woman after all. Seems he takes great delight in changing the circumstances enough so you never know what is going to happen next!!! So as we start the weekend, I find I have a chattering clutch and the parts from Clark's have arrived. Actually the clutch has been chattering since the 110 engine stopped and I stuck in the 102 from the convertible. I __assumed__ at the time that since the clutch was good 15 years ago when I parked it, that it would still be good!!! Twasn't so, of course, and that is where Mr. Murphy takes his first shot at me. Anyway, out with the fluids in the tranny and diff and all the rest of the hookups. Comes out easy enough and I soon (that's all relative you understand) have the flywheel in front of me. So far so good. Off comes the clutch pack and I have the new pilot bushing in hand to replace the old worn out one. The old one is too wobbled out though to use the simple tricks for removal so I resort to the chisel and hammer. Still pretty easy and I soon have the new bushing and clutch in place and have slid the differential back in place. Since the old tranny was not running as smooth as one would like, I thought to myself that now is the time to slip one of my __newer__ spares on. No problems there (not yet!!) and I stick the whole thing back in the van and was soon to the point where I could turn the wheels to be sure I had everything hooked up!! But that is when Mr. Murphy smiles on me and I find that just because a tranny bolts up, that is no reason to __assume__ that I have the right input shaft in there (actually it took me awhile to remember about the input shafts)!! At that point I wander into the house and break the news to Kim who advises that perhaps I should consider a real car!! Actually her words were much stronger than advice but you probably guessed that. And you probably have guessed my answer even if it was uttered under my breath as I retired to my __den__ - NEVER!!! So I take the next weekend off but then get into the mood again the week after and I drop everything all over again and switch out the trannies opting for the old one again. It works pretty good if you double clutch so I'll be fine, fingers crossed. Since that went so well, I decided to fix the leak from the top cover seals and push rod tubes on one side. Already had the parts and the weekend was young!! Enter Mr. Murphy to spoil the fun!! The first problem is so simple that I can believe I fell for it!! I forgot to install the push rod guides!! And the next problem is even simpler!! I installed all of them with the U looking out at me - all but one. Yes, there's only three per side in the first place and how did I forget it again?? Must have been the excitement of the moment!!! And hey, I'm not the immediate past president of the DoM club for nothing! At least I figured it out before I had the valve cover back on!! And well, two out of three isn't bad for someone as (un)skilled in auto mechanics as I am!! So there is still time for the top cover gaskets. Now I have done these several times and on this very same engine as I remember. Lots of chances here for Mr. Murphy but he lulls me into a false sense of security with the only problem being that the adapter cover gasket had a leak I didn't know about till after I got everything back together. No, I didn't change that gasket, OK?? Yes, I had a spare but the old one came off clean and had no tears so - well, you get pretty good at taking the alternator off after a couple of tries in the same afternoon!! And no lie, I did NOT forget the fan! But wait, we aren't done yet!! Having seemingly left for better subjects (personally I was hoping he would move on to Larry's house), Mr. Murphy found more time for me the next day!! At least he let me walk around for most of the day thinking I had finally won the battle!! The guy is sneaky though (even more signs he must be a woman) and as I was pulling out of the parking lot at work to go home, I heard this awful sound. This was not good (no kidding??) but it went away and I continued on down the road!! Then the power to the wheels suddenly went away even though the engine was still running strong!! Even I know what that means, having experienced this phenomenon on at least one occasion!! Yep, differential is kaput!! But I just rebuilt the darn thing and Mark even set the lash and all!! I __assume__ that all the chattering had hammered the spider gears into submission and the drive to work finished off the job. Knowing the problem didn't change a thing though and so I called AAA to the rescue. The fun isn't over yet though as they claim I wasn't where I said I was and after two hours wait and numerous phone calls, they finally found me right where I had been all the time (it isn't like a Greenbrier with a kaput differential can go very far, now is it??) and we get home with no further adventure. And in time the differential gets new innards and everything goes back together without a visit from you know who!! I think he must have taken a vacation after all the time he spent at 66 Kiva Place. And so far he hasn't been back but we all know he will be. I think he likes us Corvair folks don't you??!!! Still Fulla Gas - Del ===== FROSTBITE TOUR ADVENTURES by Mark Martinek The Santa Fe Vintage Car Club's Frostbite Tour started out at the J & R Auto Museum at 10:00 on Saturday. CNM members in attendance were: Tarmo Sutt, with two young exchange students, one from Switzerland and one from Brazil, in his Corvair; Ilva and Wendell Walker in his Pantera; Debbie and Dennis Pleau and family in Wendell's Charger; Julia and Chuck Vertrees and Mary Alice and Oliver Scheflow, both couples driving modern autos; and Mary Lou and myself in her Corvair. After touring the museum and enjoying doughnuts at the museum we set out for the Ponderosa Winery. Because of the semi nice weather all the convertibles left with the tops down. At the winery the group was separated into two groups; male and female. While the men toured the winery the women sat and tasted the wine. Then the roles were reversed, the women toured while the men sipped. Both groups had the opportunity to purchase the wines of their choice. Several bottles of wine departed with the tour group. When we departed the winery for the two tunnels on NM Rte 548 the two exchange students joined Mary Lou and me and rode in the back seat with our stuffed mouse. It was like having the grand kids with us again. We made the journey through the tunnels without incident and spent a few minutes on the far side of the tunnels enjoying the scenery, taking photos, and visiting with the other drivers. The exchange students decided they had enough of the open-air ride and decided to continue on with Tarmo. We departed when we were advised that large trucks and machinery were moving down the road and could not get by us. Once back on NM Rte 4 and realizing that the rest of the group was heading on to Jemez Springs, Mary Lou and I decided to return to Albuquerque. As it was a little cooler now and looking like rain, I pulled off the road to raise the top. After raising the top I tried to start the car. It fired and ran for only a few seconds and then died. Just like I was out of gas, which could not be as I had filled the tank in Bernalillo. While I had the motor compartment open and was pondering why the car would not start Wendell and a few other members of the group stopped to see what was wrong. After giving a brief description of the problem, i.e., It starts but dies like it is out of gas, Wendell removed one air cleaner and observed that gas was being pumped in. Being the trusting soul that I am, I double-checked Wendell's observation. We then decided that it might be an electrical problem. I removed the distributor cap and observed that the points apparently weren't opening. After resetting the points I again tried to start the car with the same results. Because of the constant attempts to start the car the battery was now getting rather weak so one of the group had an Emergency Start kit that we hooked up, but this too failed to start the car. I decided to call it quits and call a wrecker. Almost everyone had a cell phone with them and offered to call 911 or a wrecker for us, but as Mary Lou and I both had our cell phones with us I declined the many offers. This was a mistake, as they departed before I attempted to place a call. Only after dialing did I learn that I could not transmit from the road. Looking around I realized I would have to climb to the top of the nearest hill in order to send a message. After huffing and puffing my way to the top of the hill I placed a call to 911. An Albuquerque operator took the initial call. Because of the location they transferred my call to 911 in Bernalillo. However, the Bernalillo operator could not hear me so I gave up on 911. I then contacted the Good Sam Club Emergency Road Service operator and arranged for a wrecker to be sent out. After making my way back down the mountain I decided to see if the gas pump really was pumping gas. I disconnected one line at the T-connector and had Mary Lou run the starter. Gas came flowing out. I reconnected it and disconnected the other line at the carburetor. Again gas flowed when she tried the starter. I pulled the filter and blew through it. There did not appear to be any obstruction in any of the gas line components. After reconnecting the gas line and filter I pulled a plug wire to see if the engine was getting any spark. This time when Mary Lou tried the starter the car started with no problem on five cylinders. After getting a couple of jolts from the spark plug wire I got it reconnected. I turned the car off and restarted it several times without any problems. I decided to re-climb the mountain and cancel the wrecker. You guessed it, halfway up the hillside I see the wrecker arriving, so back down the hill I go. Since the wrecker had come from San Ysidro I asked him to follow us that far just in case it stalled again. The car ran fine and we had no other problems all the way home. So what was the problem? Was it a vapor lock? Can a Corvair vapor lock in 50-degree weather? Why did our Corvair die??? ===== COMMENTARY by Mary Lou Martinek Hi! Jim, I changed my mind for adding a p.s. to the article from Mark. First it was State road 485 that the tunnel was on, not 458 like Mark typed - probably just slipped on the keys there? While Mark was up the mountain calling for help I kept noticing down at the bottom of the hill that we were stopped on, people kept driving out of a place with a white fence so I got curious and thought maybe would be a pay phone there or someone to help with a call. I walked down there (about two blocks) and found much to my relief (pun intended), no phone but an outdoor privy. This was at the National Fishing access called Las Casitas; it also had a cement walking trail towards a river (?) with lots of wild grasses. I was tempted to check it out but was concerned that Mark would get the car going and leave me there, and anyway all the wine was in the car. Anyway I would like to go back when we didn't have to hurry and check Las Casitas out and the tunnel and view from there some time in the future, like next spring. - Mary Lou ===== RESTORING A MONZA by Richard Finch I really enjoy working on Corvairs. Especially if the work is mostly restoration of a solid car or even an Ultra Van. I think that Corvairs were intentionally designed to be easy to maintain and keep going. A Corvair car can be completely disassembled in a home workshop in less than 2 weeks. There are many cars that can never be completely disassembled because they just were not meant to be owner maintained like the Corvair obviously is. Thanks again to Ed Cole for the Corvair Automobile. The picture that accompanies this article shows both of our Corvairs parked in our two car garage here in Tularosa, New Mexico. Newsletter readers will remember that Gayle and I bought the 1964 Monza Convert from Dennis and Debbie Pleau recently. My plan is to restore the 1964 Monza Convertible so that we can use it as a daily driver and a car to drive to Corvair events and to car shows. When it is completed, it will replace our 1991 Chevy Cavalier Convertible that now has 133,000 miles on its odometer. I will still use my 1965 Corvair 4 door as my daily driver and occasional CORSA event car. It has 255,000 miles on its odometer . We plan to install Corvair Factory air conditioning in the Monza Convertible much the same way that Del Delaney of Arizona has done in his 1962 Monza Coupe. Del used the Corvair evaporator and ductwork under the dash just like a factory car, but he installed a small condenser and two electric fans in the spare tire location in the engine compartment and he used a Sanyo compressor in place of the larger GM Frigidaire compressor. The benefit of making these changes in the engine compartment is that the engine is completely accessible and the air that is now used to extract heat from the condenser does not pass through the engine cooling system, but is merely dumped out into the area of the right wheel well behind the tire. Del simply cut a hole in the spare tire well so air could be blown out into the rear fender area. The incoming air for the condenser is taken from the engine compartment, but does not adversely affect engine cooling. If more Corvairs could be air conditioned by this new, simple method, there would likely be more Corvairs used as family cars. A Lexus or a BMW has just four wheels like a Corvair, but they all have factory air conditioning, therefore making them nice to drive when the family wants to go along. Other things we plan to do to the '64 Monza are to completely rebuild the front and rear suspension and undercarriage. The car is now yellow with ragged black seats and those are our last place choice of colors. At Palm Springs at the annual Corvair event, we decided that a white car with red interior would suit us very well for a daily driver car, so we will strip the paint off and repaint the body. We have already started ordering red interior parts. Since I am still in the book writing and selling business, we have made a deal with a major Corvair Parts supplier to trade books for Corvair parts and upholstery for the Monza. It seems less expensive that way. I took my parts want list to Palm Springs and found a bunch of parts that the Monza needed such as new tail light lenses, chrome trim, spare starter for one dollar! and even a pair of MiniLite Mag wheels for $20. Gayle and I were happy to see the Domzalski family, the Pleau family and the Gongora family there too. Palm Springs is a very pleasant Corvair event every year and a chance to find and sell a lot of Corvair parts. And there are always dozens of really nice Corvairs to look at there. Because Gayle and I have made Tularosa, NM our "Retirement Village", I decided to fix up the 2 car garage for a very nice car workshop. I took all our mandatory boxes of "good ole stuff" to a storage building and then I painted the garage floor with 2 coats of snow white concrete paint. That makes it a lot lighter in the garage and I can also see small parts that I inevitably drop on the floor. I built a new work bench in the garage and added electric heating and will have swamp cooling in the summer. I will soon have cable TV wired in so I can watch the races without having to go into the house. My office phone will have an extension in the shop so I can take book orders while I am cleaning carburetors. The coffee pot is just around the corner in the kitchen so that I can keep working without going for coffee. If any Corvair people are on the way to Ruidoso, NM or to Ski Apache, stop by to visit with us and our project car. And if anyone has an early model air conditioning unit to sell, give us a call. - Richard & Gayle Finch ===== OLD ROUTE 66 CLEAN-UP by Oliver Scheflow The Club held its third and last clean-up for the year 2000 on October 14th. A chilly early morning turned into a sunny warm day by mid-morning. We were lucky that the ground had dried out from rains earlier in the week. The canyon cottonwoods and aspens were in full golden color. Participating were: Larry Blair, Steve Gongora, David Huntoon, Ollie Scheflow, Chuck and Julia Vertrees and Hurley Wilvert and son. During the year eighteen Club members participated in clean-up on our mile or old Route 66. Seventy bags of trash, plus large pieces of cardboard, wood and tire treads were picked up. Thanks to all who are helping us keep our part of New Mexico just a little more pleasant to drive through. -- Ollie ===== Subject: ADDENDA TO SERVICE SCHEDULE (VV) From: Michael (goofyroo @ excite.com) What do you say we all use our accumulated knowledge to fill in where the Shop Manual's service schedule left off? For example: Every 125,000 miles or 6 years: Replace ignition coil. Every 150,000 miles or 8 years: Fix tail lamp grounds. Every 175,000 miles or 12 years: Rebuild steering box. Every 200,000 miles or 15 years: Replace motor mounts. Every 225,000 miles or 17 years: Replace all fan belt-related items in response to inexplicable onset of belt-throwing. (Belt will function normally after 2,000 miles, regardless.) Every 250,000 miles or 20 years: Rethread spark plug holes. Every 275,000 miles or 22 years: Replace fuel pump with an aftermarket model. Two miles after that: Replace leaky fuel pump with another aftermarket model. Another two miles: Find that guy on the VV list with the in-tank electric pump thingy. Every 300,000 miles or 38 years: Clean the battery ground-strap contact surfaces after parking-brake cable becomes a welding rod. Every 325,000 miles or 40 years: As child-rearing expenses mount, remind spouse of how longtime Tucker owners made out after that Jeff Bridges movie. Every 350,000 miles or 43 years: Add up your Clark's receipts. Drink heavily. After 55 years: Sell car to a museum; invest proceeds in a new General/Microsoft Home-Based Laser-Beam Transporter. ****************************** This message was sent by the Corvair list, all copyrights are the property of the writer, please attribute properly. To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo @ skiblack.com with "unsubscribe virtualvairs" (without the quotes) as the first line of the message. To post, mailto:virtualvairs @ skiblack.com. For help, mailto:vv-help @ skiblack.com. ****************************** Subject: HOME SPEEDOMETER CALIBRATION? (VV) From: Rad Davis (rad.davis @ mindspring.com) I can't believe that I'm telling all these smart people (and yes, I *do* mean that) to do such a simple time-rate-distance problem. Really... especially given my checkered history in mathematics. I think you're just too close to it to see the answer. Try it this way: 1) Let's use Tony's favorite calibration speed (60 mph). It's handy for calculation purposes. 2) Now chuck up your broken off speedo cable end/whatever to the variable speed drill. 3) Stick your repaired speedo onto the drive stub. 4) Spin it up until it indicates 60 mph on the speedometer. Hold it at that RPM. 5) Get out *any* timing device that can count seconds with reasonable precision and accuracy. A stopwatch is nice... but nearly anything that counts seconds will do grandly. 6) Look at the odometer. For a rough check, it should take six seconds to traverse a 1/10 mile division (the white drum) on the odo at 60 mph. Once you're close with your magnetization and hairspring adjustments, the fine measurement is to spin it at a constant RPM (which will show a constant speed on the speedo) for a mile and count how many seconds it takes to 'travel' that one mile. 7) If your calibration speed is 60 mph, it should take exactly 60 seconds to trip the mile drum one division. There's a fairly close 1:1 seconds:mph inverse relation for about 10 MPH either side of 60. So if you get 55 seconds/mile, you're really doing ~65, and if you get 65 seconds, you're really doing ~55. Adjust until 60 MPH on the speedo and 1 mile/minute on the odo happen at the same RPM. 8) You're done. Clean the fingerprints off the face and lens, and put it back in the car, unless you want to play like it's a police car and calibrate it at full scale. But then you have to figure out how many seconds it takes to traverse that mile at 80, 100, or whatever mph and use that as your standard of measurement. Most of us, most of the time, find 60 MPH convenient and close enough... At 08:20 PM 9/6/2000 EDT, you wrote: ) In a message dated 09-06-00 11:20:02 Eastern Daylight Time, ) tonyu @ roava.net writes: ) )) In other words, if your drill is spinning fast enough for that 60 hz lamp to )) "freeze" a mark on the drill chuck, the drill would obviously be spinning at )) 3600 rpm. If you spin the speedo head at 3600 rpm you will pin the needle )) into the far right corner. You will need something considerably slower. ) ) Indeed. When I said "too slow" in my original reply, I really meant _what you ) are trying to do is too slow_ for a 60 Hz bulb not vice-versa. It didn't come ) out right. Needless to say, that's why I thought using an engine timing light ) was a better idea. ) ) Well, clue us in on this Jim Davis stopwatch method, anyhow.... ) Jim Rad Davis: rad.davis @ mindspring.com Side Drummer Co-keeper of Scottish Drumming Web-- http://drums.tico.com/ Corvairs--65, 66 Corsa coupes, '65 'brier Deluxe http://www.corvair.org/ "Autre Pays, autre merde." -Capt. John Aubrey, RN ****************************** This message was sent by the Corvair list, all copyrights are the property of the writer, please attribute properly. To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo @ skiblack.com with "unsubscribe virtualvairs" (without the quotes) as the first line of the message. To post, mailto:virtualvairs @ skiblack.com. For help, mailto:vv-help @ skiblack.com. ****************************** Subject: TIRE SIZES (VV) From: Jim Simpson (simpsonj @ bellatlantic.net ) The recent thread on tire sizes got me thinking about current size and which were the appropriate diameter for a late model Corvair based upon the speedometer/odometer 825 rev/mile calibration. 825 rev/mile comes out to be a tire with a diameter of 24.4 inches. (And no, I did not worry about rolling versus standing diameters, nor did I take into account any expansion due to centrifugal force or anything else. I did the straight geometrical calculations. But these are the same numbers that the manufacturer's publish for radial tires -- they don't seem to worry about any of these effects either.) I also figured that +/-2% was close enough for most of us. So I got busy with my spread sheet and did the calculations for 13, 14, and 15 inch tires and came up with the following table: Tire Size Diameter 245/60-13 24.6" 235/60-13 24.1" 215/70-13 24.9" 205/70-13 24.3" 185/80-13 24.7" 175/80-13 24.0" 225/60-14 24.6" 215/60-14 24.2" 195/70-14 24.7" 185/70-14 24.2" 165/80-14 24.4" 245/50-15 24.6" 235/50-15 24.3" 205/60-15 24.7" 195/60-15 24.2" 175/70-15 24.6" 165/70-15 24.1" 155/80-15 24.8" The real question is how many of these size tires actually exist? And how do them match up to the OEM 7.00-13's? We already know the desired diameter -- 24.4 inches (though I don't know how close the 7.00-13 was to that diameter) -- but the section width should be close to 7 inches which is 178 mm. So to match the OEM tires, we should have a 175/80-13 (slightly on the small side) or a 185/80-13 (slightly larger). It turns out that both of these sizes are available according to the current Tire Rack ad in Road & Track. There is a listing for Dunlop Axion Plus tires in both 175/80-13 & 185/80-13 ($30 & $32 each, respectively). I have no idea what this series tire looks like, nor do I have any idea of its handling or wear qualities -- but the size would match up with the OEM tires. What others are around? In 13" tires we are pretty limited. No one seems to make a really wide low profile 13" tire (although I didn't check the manufacturer's web sites -- they may sell sizes that aren't commonly listed in ads); the largest I could up with was a 205/60-13 which is to small in diameter which would throw the speedometer/odometer off quit a bit and run the engine revs up a bit high for long distance highway driving. In 14" tires there is a bit better selection, though even here, it seems 14" wheels are going out of fashion. Dunlop and BF Goodrich both list 225/60-14's. (I'm using this size on 7" wide rims with no problems.) Similarly, 185 & 195/70-14's are available. (The 185/70-14 would be about the same width as the OEM tires.) I didn't notice an 80 series tire in 14", but they are probably around if you really wanted some. Finally, in 15" tires, I could find listings for 245/50-15, 205/60-15, and 195/60-15's (and didn't really look for 175 or narrower tires). The bottom line is that you can find many tires that will give you the correct rolling diameter and even tires that come really close to the original size. But you will have a hard time finding a low profile 13 inch tire with the correct diameter (unless our Canadian brethren export). To get a low profile tire that is tall enough, you virtually have to go to a larger wheel (and hubcap, etc...) As I noted earlier, I'm using 225/60-14 tires on 14x7 steel wheels (from a Camaro) with a set of 14" GM mid-60's wire wheel covers. The tires look "right" on my '66 Corsa -- not too tall, but aggressively wide. And they clear all the way around and from lock-to-lock with no signs of rubbing. Jim Simpson, Group Corvair. ****************************** This message was sent by the Corvair list, all copyrights are the property of the writer, please attribute properly. To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo @ skiblack.com with "unsubscribe virtualvairs" (without the quotes) as the first line of the message. To post, mailto:virtualvairs @ skiblack.com. For help, mailto:vv-help @ skiblack.com. ****************************** ===== INDEX TO ENCHANTED CORVAIRS NEWSLETTER - VOLUME 26 - 2000 Every Month: Dues Due Sylvan Zuercher Meeting Minutes, Board Minutes Chuck Vertrees Treasurer's Report Wendell Walker From the Driver's Seat Hurley Wilvert Cars and Parts For Sale Everybody Seven, Fourteen and Twenty-one Years Ago Jim Pittman Coming Events Everybody Corvair Ladies Anne Mae Gold Billiken (occasionally) Mark Morgan COVER: Our new sponsor, Galles Chevrolet January COVER: At the Board Meeting, January 17, 2000 February COVER: How Your Newsletter is Produced March COVER: Scenes from recent Club activities April COVER: Tour to Las Cruces and El Paso (photos by Steve Gongora) May COVER: My '66 Corsa wasn't in the car show, but it WAS at the Tri-State June COVER: Steve's 1966 Corsa at VLA Radio Telescope. Photo: Bill Reider July COVER: Cleaning up Route 66 in July August COVER: The Gang "Camps Out" at Ruth's Cabin September COVER: At the Galles Car Show - Steve Gongora October COVER: Mark Domzalski at the State Fair November COVER: At Gillman Tunnel - Mark Martinek - and other CNM events December Christmas Party - Heula Pittman. Photos: Jim Pittman January CNM Member List for 2000 - Jim Pittman January Letter to the Editor - Larry Blair (Dummy of the Month) January Progressive Dinner Preview - Debbie Pleau January CNM Member Roster January Snappy Repartee! (Dummy of the Month Rebuttal) - Del Patten February Dark Intrigue (the 1960 Corvair Introduction) - Tom Martin February The Secret is SMOKE! - JVHRoberts @ aol.com (Virtual Vairs) February Flippin Belts - Diane Galli (VV) February Ten Commandments for the Corvair Enthusiast - Ray Bagley February Garage Tour Reminder - LeRoy Rogers and Wendy Walker March CNM Ladies Reminder - Anne Mae Gold March Progressive Dinner - Debbie Pleau March How Your Newsletter is Produced - Jim Pittman March Definitive Dummy of the Month - Sylvan Zuercher March A Poem for Springge - Sir Geoffrey April Las Cruces - Warbirds Museum - Sylvan Zuercher April It's OK to Touch This Car - Donna Cunningham (Newsweek) April Club Holds First Year 2000 Cleanup - Oliver Scheflow April CNM Trip to War Eagles Museum at Santa Teresa - Sylvan Zuercher April Spyder Dash Bezel and Low Gloss Black - RThompson @ mirro.com (VV) April Greasing Steering Gear Box - dcvjrv @ flashcom.net (VV) April Corvair 110 Carb Benefits - Jim Burkhard (VV) April In Memoriam: Ralph McDonald - Linda Ewing & Jim Rushton May In Memoriam: Sylvia Vertrees - American Cancer Society May Tri-State Registration - Debbie Pleau May Tri-State Bar-B-Q - Mark Domzalski May Due South: Las Cruces / El Paso Trip - Elizabeth Domzalski May Tail Light Ghost - Dale & Marilynn Dewald Hancock (VV) May An Evening with the New Mexicords: Review by Ilva Walker June Tri-State Report - Dennis Pleau June Bill and Lee Reider - Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary June CNM Ladies, June, July - Anne Mae Gold July Campout 2000 Preview - Debbie Deck July Request for Data on Past Tri-State Traveling Trophy - the Editor July More Road Apples about Ralphie - Dennis Pleau (VV) July Possible Group Purchase of CO Detector - Ray Sedman (VV) July Stock Tire Sizes - Bob Helt (VV) July Early FC & Car Rear Wheel Bearing Identification - Stan Light (VV) July Idiosyncratic Turbo? - Harry Jensen (VV) July You Can't Always Get What You Want: Route 66 Cleanup Adventure - Jim August CNM Ladies, July and August - Anne Mae Gold August Campout 2000 Preview - Debbie Deck August Unintended Acceleration - Jim Pittman August Demise of the Corvair: Who Killed the Corvair? - Bob Helt et al. August The Naked Lady and the Boy in the Swimming Pool (found object) August Despite these two airbags, it's still unsafe at any speed. September State Fair Car Show - Robert Gold September Report on Pecos Camping Trip - Debbie Deck September Campout in the Pecos - Ruth Boydston September Report on Galles Car Show - Steve Gongora September Ilva in California Hospital - Wendell Walker September Lucy the Ultravan and "Artspedition" - Steve Gongora September Bosch Spark Plugs - Chuck Armer (VV) September Matching Wheel Appearance Side-for-Side - Rich B. (VV) September Ventilator Weatherstrip - Anil Mittal (VV) September August Campout Report - Steve Gongora October Saving Another Corvair! - Richard & Gayle Finch October Preview and Map for Aspencade / Frostbite Tour - Wendy Walker October Cornering Camber Change - Seth Emerson (VV) October Click and Clack are Clueless - Dennis Pleau (VV) October Replacement for Delco Remy Ignition Coil - Rich Thompson (VV) October Spark Plugs and Antiseize - Norm Helmkay (VV) October State Fair Report - Robert Gold November Spark Plug Lubricant - Richard F. Finch November Out of Oil? - Mary Lou & Mark Martinek November 1961 Monza: "Early" Early - Bill Hubbell and Doug Mackintosh (VV) November Backlight Fears (Glass Installation on Earlies) - Smitty (VV) November Self Flooding Carb Problem - Bob (VV) November Who Makes the Tools - Corey Homer (VV) November Late Convertible Rear Seat - Joel Rushworth (VV) November NHTS Handling Study on Corvairs - Kenneth Schifftner (VV) November Mr Murphy - Del Patten December Frostbite Tour Report - Mark Martinek December Frostbite Commentary - Mary Lou Martinek December Old Route 66 Cleanup Report - Olliver Scheflow December Restoring a Monza - Richard Finch December Addenda to Service Schedule - Michael (VV) December Home Speedometer Calibration - Rad Davis (VV) December Tire Sizes - Jim Simpson (VV) December =END=