<VV> bilsteins for corvairs

[Bill Elliott]

Only real data is someone who has tried all the shocks on the same vehicles.  Since there are VERY few folks that have ever tried a proper Corvair 
application Bilstein, I would say this is a select crowd. In all honesty, I have only experimented with the front Bilsteins on the same car as the other 
shocks...would love to find a nice set of rears to complete my set... so my opinion is based on that trial AND the general use of Bilstiens on a wide variety of 
other cars... in general for a wide variety of cars, the Bilsteins are THE top shock. However, they have not made the proper application Corvair shock in a 
couple of decades.

I'm very confused by your Carerra comment. What "slots" are you talking about? The proper Corvair application Carerras (developed jointly by a Corvair 
expert/racer and Carerra) fit with only a very minor modifcation to the lower front mount. The Carreras that Clarks sold even have this issue fixed. No slots of 
any kind that I know of. I'm running them both on my tightly sprung street car and on the track car. (Note: my comments are only for Late Corvairs... I have 
never tried any of these on an early....so maybe the earlies have the "slots" in which case I would fully agree with you.)

One thing that sets the Carerras apart from the others is excellent control of the _rebound_ rather than just the compression. The Konis also do a great job 
here (I've only tried the proper Corvair application which were made in very small numbers and by mistake... I have not tried the more universal application 
Konis that are currently available, so I can't comment on those) ...the Garbiels do NOT control the extension well...but still do a reasonable job overall.

Bill 


--Original Message Text---
From: Crawford Rose
Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 18:40:52 -0500

Bill, I agree with this assessment but is there any real comparison to prove that the lowly oil damped Gabriel shock is "at the very bottom" compared to the 
Bilstein at the very top?  The main performance factor that I trust with the gabriel is correct fit. I find that the repro gabriel by virtue of never slipping out of its 
shoes is much safer than Carrerras for example which have the dreaded "slots".  One only need have one "slip" of the "slots" to become a believer.  It 
appears that the Bilstein may have the correct fitment so I would consider shelling out $80 apiece for them to see if these are better.
Crawford
snip
Clark's Gabriel shock is at the very bottom of what I consider to be an acceptable Corvair shock (but then I like very firm damping.) It's the cheapest shock 
I would use on a Corvair (after years of use of Red Ryders...). 

Bilsteins (the correct application anyway) are at the top. 

Carerras and Konis (the correct application ones, not the universal fit ones) are in the middle with the Koni being the best shock currently availabe for a 
street application and the Carerra for the track (due to its superior damping but much rougher ride.).

Just my $.02. YMMV.

Bill Elliott