<VV> Corvair Mysterious Happenings

[Dave Keillor]

Where were you getting the power for the lights?  (Btw, you can now get LED
Christmas lights that draw a whole lot less power.)

Dave Keillor

-----Original Message-----
From: Ron [mailto:ronh at owt.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2005 5:00 PM
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: <VV> Corvair Mysterious Happenings

This last weekend our club participated in a Lighted Christmas Parade in a
nearby town (Walla Walla) about seventy miles away.  It's a big event with
many entrants and some huge floats with thousands of lights, or so it
appears.  Anyway, I took a recently acquired Monza Wagon as my Rampside
suffered an engine failure.  We quickly devised a lighting scheme with
twenty two amps of lights and two extra batteries and set off , my wife, a
friend of hers and myself.  On the way there I became aware of a subtle
thumping sound not unlike that from a problem with a tire but since the
tires are new, it was unlikely that.  It sounded like it was coming from the
left front.  Slowing down to enter the parade town, the noise became loud
and distinct, a regular clunk, clunk at about one turn per wheel.  We put
the lights on the wagon and the parade, starting at six PM, went fine with
no noticeable noise at the parade speed of one to four mph.  We had five
Corvairs in the parade and it went well.  

After the parade, we went for dinner and at city speeds it still clunked
well.  Other members thought it sounded like a U joint.  After dinner, we
started off to a local members house to leave the wagon there and the
headlights wouldn't go on!  The park and tail lights were OK but no
headlights and tapping the dimmer switch had no effect.  We decided that I
would follow immediately behind one of the other Vairs and hope that a local
cop wouldn't spot us.  After about a mile, the lights turned themselves on
and we continued on to the members house where he lent us his Chrysler van
and we drove home.  The next morning (Sunday) I headed back with a U joint
kit where we decided that I should drive the wagon to a place where the club
was changing engines on a '66 sedan as a charity effort for a semi-indigent
owner.  The wagon cluncked to that house and we jacked up the left rear.  No
noise.  Same for the right rear.  When we tried the left front, there was a
distinct plunk, plunk, but lighter in pitch as there was no load on the
wheel.  We removed the wheel but not the drum and there was no sound.
Tightened the bearing one hole and still no sound.  Replaced the wheel and
still no sound!

So, I tried the headlights and there weren't any so in mid-afternoon and
well before dark, I headed for home.  On the way there, I ran into some fog
and pulled the light switch to have tail and parking lights.  After a while,
I pulled over and found that I had headlights.  The rest of the trip was
uneventful, thank goodness, so now I'm left with a what-to-do as the wheel
is still quiet.  I'll check the connector to the headlights and for power at
the dimmer switch so that should be easy but as for that noise, it still has
me puzzled.

RonH
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