<VV> Corvair Revelations

[Kent Sullivan]

Tom Keosababian has told the story more than once that his propane-powered
Bonneville car was very stable at speeds in excess of 175 MPH. He loved it
because he could spend most of his time looking down and around at all of
the instrumentation rather than having to keep the car on course.

My white coupe, which has been lowered a little, has Bob Coffin's
anti-swaybar kit, and 15" tires (205-50/15s on 7" rims in front; 225-50/15s
on 8" rims in rear) is mostly built for torque, not HP (i.e., not high
speed) but it is quite stable at and above 100 MPH.

--Kent
-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of Charles Lee at Prop
Per
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2006 7:54 PM
To: Bill Kronen
Cc: Virtual Vairs
Subject: Re: <VV> Corvair Revelations

Driving my 66 Monza 110 PG convert to Florida from NY a while back, I kept
the top up, wanting to improve MPG, and although my average MPH was about
75, got over 30 MPG.

On the way home, I just couldn't keep the top up, and didn't care about the
MPG, but at about 75 MPH, I got over 33 MPG !!!

I guess the wind just went right over, as if there were a top there ?

This little trick served me well later when, at speed with the top down, it
started to rain with the top down, and none came in the car.  All was well
until I realized I had to slow down eventually, so I just timed a quick
pit-stop under a bridge, put the top up, and continued through the
torrential downpour.

Another lesson I learned was that, after being parked in the rain with your
top down, empty the header before raising the top or you'll get quite a nice
shower when it empties on your head.  Oops !

Convertibles are still worth the trouble, since you can cut the top off of a
garbage truck and it looks great !

Chaz

1967 Monza Coupe (#$%#%^@#!!!)


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Kronen" <billpat at telusplanet.net>
To: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2006 4:53 PM
Subject: <VV> Corvair Revelations


> Had a moment on Sunday enroute to a local Show and Shine. Early morning, 
> nice open stretch of highway and some young feller coming up behind me. 
> Thought I'd see how fast he wanted to go....within reason. As the 63 
> Spyder vert (top up) went through 70 mph it seemed to enter a new zone, 
> smoothed out, sounded better.  Have I been babying this car by keeping it 
> to 60-65?  Tracked well, seemed stable. (Guess you have to reach 100 to 
> have that problem of instability). It had a spoiler but I removed it since

> it was a bit damaged.  Where do you guys who do, drive 100mph?  And is it 
> a surprise that a car that began as a 'family' design, might have some 
> issues at excessively high speeds?  Anyway, I'll probably drive a little 
> faster as conditions permit.  Responses?
> Bill Kronen
> 63 Spyder vert
> 66 Monza coupe
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