<VV> WTBRT # 112

[Louis C. Armer,Jr.]

Hello everyone, Scott Trunkhill and I spent about 9 hours today going over all
the mechanicals of #112 in preparation for competing at Mosport and 
the autocross
at Buffalo. For those of you who don't know, #112 has completed 333 
runs in practice
or competition over a period from August 2003 thru March 2006. We 
have experienced no
mechanical failures and other than routine maintenance and safety 
inspections we have
had to replace only ULTRA tires which we wore out on the track or courses.
      Today was to be a complete inspection of everything and in the 
process we discovered
several previously unnoticed items that required immediate resolve. 
By far the most dangerous
was a very recent problem that arose while I was test driving. Upon 
hard braking and cornering,
followed by immediate strong acceleration, The whole front end of the 
the car shook violently and
was almost uncontrollable for a very brief but frightening time. I 
thought it was a braking issue but
found that I could not again duplicate the incidence. The brakes had 
been pulling strongly to the
right but only on soft application. When really braking hard 
everything felt right and the car would
stop quickly and straight.
      We first got the car in temporary Group Red status ( 4 
jackstands ) and removed all four wheels
and brake drums. The rear shoes and drums were fine but both front 
shoes and drums were not.I am
sure that part of the problems arose because "Beef" is an outside car 
and as such is exposed to all
of our southern heat, humidity and rain. It was obvious that rusty 
drums had an impact but in addition
the driver's side wheel cylinder was leaking and this was fairly 
recent as we had no problems at
St. Augustine during the SECC autocross. So the drums were sent off 
to be turned, new shoes were
purchased ( aaarrgh ........no ULTRAS were available ) new Clark's 
spring kits ( both axles ) and a new
wheel cylinder were installed. While all this was going on, we 
continued our inspecting. The engine oil and
filter were changed. Since all the wheels were off it was easy to 
inspect the suspension and also service all
the grease fittings with chassis lube. Scott was greasing the upper 
ball joint on the passenger's side when
he suggested that he might have found the cause of the incidence. 
Well BOY he sure did discover the problem.
The rear bolt and bushing cover for the upper A arm were GONE. The 
nice blue HD bushing was 1/2 way out
of the bushing hole in the A arm. This could have been a catastrophic 
failure during a track event or a spirited
autocross. Fortunately we were able to compress the bushing back to 
the proper depth and install an ULTRA
bolt and end washer. After the rest of the chassis lube we checked 
every bushing bolt in the chassis, sway bar,
steering assembly and drive train. The only other loose, snug but not 
tight, bolts we found were in the other upper
A arms. We are still not sure if the cause is the new higher 
durometer bushings or if the bolts were not torqued
down tight enough on our initial installation.
       The brake system was bled after the new front brakes were 
installed and a hard, harder brake pedal check
was done. We then checked the shifter, lubricated the shifter ball, 
shifter tube, all pulleys in the tunnel pan, the
emergency brake cable guides and the accelerator crank rod ends. All 
these areas were okay but had not been
serviced and inspected for over two years and we were going to check 
all this BEFORE the suspension problem
was noticed.
       So in closing, all who plan to race, autocross or travel to 
the convention, remember to give your car the time
and attention it needs to be safe whether you are on the highway or 
in competitive moving events.

Chuck Armer aka
FrontMan WTBRT PR #112 aka
da Chuckster





CORSA Tri-membership Chairman
Corvair Atlanta Member
Corvair Atlanta BOD
Corvanatics Member
SECC Member

1965 Corsa Coupe
1964  Greenbrier
1966 Monza Convertible
1966 WTBRT #112 xcrosser 1/2 owner
http://carmerjr.home.mindspring.com/