<VV> steering options

[airvair at earthlink.net]

I think Crawford's problem is that he had let his car intimidate him. I
lost that intimidation back in '71 when the day before I was to leave for
the first CORSA convention (in Chicago) and my newly purchased '67
convertible began leaking around the pushrod tubes. I asked my mechanic if
he could squeeze me in. He replied that that job was something I could do,
and he handed me his pushrod tube removing tool. After all,  I had the
factory repair manual and hand tools. 

The bottom line is that I did the job myself, and haven't let anything
intimidate me since. What Crawford needs is for his mechanic to do the same
thing. Toss him overboard and tell him to sink or swim (so to speak.) Bet
he'd learn fast that not only are Corvairs easy to work on, but maybe he'd
actually discover that he'll actually ENJOY working on them, just like I
did.

To date, I can do or have done everything on the Corvair, including a
pavement-up resto of a complete Corvair that I took down to the last nut
and bolt (including the steering column!) That car has run flawlessly for
well over 15,000 miles. I am in the midst of my second pavement-up resto.

BTW Crawford, I can even outdo Larry on some jobs. And that is not my word,
but a customer's. A man had Larry do an a/c install in one of his cars, and
then later on asked me to do one. Afterwards, he told me that while there
was nothing wrong with Larry's job, he simply liked my work better. Larry
IS good, and his name is legendary, but he's not the only one who is
qualified to work on Corvairs. There are others of us out here. Don't sell
me (or others) short.

And for the record, Larry and I both respect and have the highest regard
for each other's expertise. I especially like to do a/c installations on
LM's and factory stereo speaker systems, plus dash and wiring work. I've
even designed and/or built some reproduction/restoration parts.

-Mark

> [Original Message]
> From: John Kepler <jekepler at amplex.net>
> Subject: Re: <VV> steering options 
>  
> In a message dated 2/26/2010 1:17:53 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
> crawfordrose at msn.com writes:
>
> I reject  your arguments, Mark. I would not trust the average corvair guy 
> with a  steering column seeing the other ingen-eered solutions that I 
> frequently see  in our cars - 
>
> Bud....you ever been in an auto assembly plant?  Trust me, the guy that
put
> that steering column in the Vair at Willow Run didn't have a Mensa Card in
> his wallet and wasn't some mechanical savant, but he managed to get a
> tele-column in right if the paperwork told him to!  A steering column
> install ain't rocket science (not even close in fact), and I agree, there
> are other far more critical jobs in a Corvair than that!