<VV> What the Heck are Those Things?

[Kent Sullivan]

"No one in their right mind" -- Well... Remember that the Chevy engineers
were probably operating with a 5-7 year lifespan as their target. In that
world, all sorts of things make sense that don't make sense when viewed 40
years later by someone doing a restoration.

--Kent
-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of John Kepler
Sent: Tuesday, July 04, 2006 6:41 PM
To: 'P.H. Raker'; 'Virtual Vairs'
Subject: RE: <VV> What the Heck are Those Things?

Even
though the wagon was heavier, the extra stiffness made them handle so much
better that they would average a higher speed around a road course.

A flexible chassis is what engineering degrees, MIG/TIG welders, and 4140
chrome-moly tubing are made for.  This is why the "cocktail shakers" out of
my 67 Monza Convertible are propping the door to the parts shed closed!

It really doesn't take an engineering degree to just look at a late
convertible and see it as a complete improvisation......no one in their
right mind buries 2 unprotected, ungalvanized steel structural members blind
inside a rocker in a world where highway departments are allowed to buy salt
(in my part of the world, I've seen more late convertibles in multiple
pieces than fully assembled.....when the 67 came home, about the only thing
holding it together was the throttle linkage!).  The "cocktail shakers" were
further evidence of a band-aid being used stop the arterial hemorrhage on a
marginal piece of engineering.  I broke the paradigm and
re-engineered/re-manufactured the platform out of 1/4" wall 2.5" square
tube.  My convertible is as stiff as a grizzly's "member" as a
result....that's the "good news".  The "bad news" is that it took 5 years
and was, without putting too fine a point on it, a colossal waste of
time...not that I'm not completely happy with the outcome, just that it was
a massively complicated problem that demanded an even more complex solution.

John

     


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