<VV> Damper Install

[Tony Underwood]

At 12:58 PM 6/21/2010, Bill H. wrote:
>                                          B"H
>
>Connie:  I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but some Late 
>Corvair convertibles had factory cannisters mounted at each of the 
>four corners of the body.
>
>These cannisters were filled with oil and a spring thingy, and were 
>used to better balance the body.



These canisters are resonance dampers.   They don't provide balance, 
they keep cowl shake from eventually cracking the unibody of the 
car.   Without them, the car's unibody can resonate and flex at its 
"weak points" generally at the base of the A and B pillars, usually 
the A pillars in late ragtops, from what I've seen.  Enough flexing 
and the unibody can and will crack from metal fatigue.

The cannisters are filled with oil and contain an iron piston with 
springs on each end... in effect, a big shock absorber that uses the 
iron piston as its "anti-reaction" mass.  It helps reduce body/cowl 
shake by killing off body resonance.   Yes, they ARE heavy.

Sometimes you would find late ragtops with these cannisters 
removed... check them for cracks in the unibody joints at the base of 
the A and B pillars... ;)   My '65 ragtop was missing its dampers in 
the back... but the fronts were still there.   At one time, it had a 
rear fender replaced with factory replacement sheet metal (paper tag 
with numbers still stuck to the inside) and evidently whoever did it 
removed the rear dampers.


So far, so good... no cracks yet although I HAVE heavied up on some 
welds here and there since doing some body work on the car, of 
late.   Poor car currently looks like Hell, hopefully to be a bit 
better looking soon as it's all the same color again...



tony..