<VV> Origin of "Bone-Stock"? [LONG]

[Kent Sullivan]

Hi,

Based on the replies I received, it sounds like there is interest in the
details of the over-the-top things we did when restoring my '66 Canadian
Corsa turbo convertible. I should first mention that some important original
items were still with the car when I bought it, fortunately; specifically
the engine, transmission, and turbocharger.

One category of over-the-top items is well-documented on my website
(http://www.corvairkid.com/610767001602.htm): the replacement of rusted or
damaged sheet metal. To summarize, every external panel on the car was
replaced, except for the top half of the right fender. Had I known the car
had this many problems, I probably would not have started the project, even
though it is an extremely rare car. Most panels used were NOS, which were
very hard to find in 1999 and almost impossible to find now. Even then, the
quarter panels were for a coupe and the top lip around the rear window had
to be transferred from the original panels. The entire rocker section, inner
and outer, was fabricated for both sides. The entire A-pillar sections for
both sides were obtained from a rust-free car in an Arizona junkyard and
transplanted. And yes, the front hood and engine lid were also replaced with
better ones from other cars. If you've never seen a Corvair with all of
these panels removed, be sure to check the pictures on my site--some of the
pictures show the equivalent of simultaneous heart, lung and liver
operations! With all of this metal replacement, it's quite ironic that the
floor pans were perfect.

Another category of items are parts that took research to figure out what
was really stock for a '66 Corvair. Key examples are all of the different
types of nuts and bolts for the engine, the most difficult to obtain being
the bolt in the bottom of the skid plate. It is unique (only one per car)
and is often replaced with a more-common bolt with the same thread pitch.
Its only real purpose is to secure an engine removal cradle, so it's often
missing. Another example is the rear turbo muffler clamp. The particular
size and style of clamp took a lot of research to confirm, and then much
searching to find. Finally, months of research (and many people) went into
understanding the design and coding system for the paper tags on the coil
springs. This is documented on my site
(http://www.corvairkid.com/65-9_coil_spring_tags.htm).

A Canadian-built Corvair presents special challenges because several parts
were sourced in Canada and are different. Most often the difference is a
"made in Canada" stamp but some parts look very different, the most striking
being the seat belts. A list of what is known so far is on my site
(http://www.corvairkid.com/oshawa.htm). This research has taken many people
many years to put together and I am very grateful for their time. Some of
the fragile items, like engine compartment decals, required investment by
Canadian Corvair enthusiasts to reproduce. Duanne, Bill Jabs, and I went
together to reproduce the emblem (aka "flash") for the deluxe seatbelts. As
a side note, I ironically made great use of an "incorrect" NOS outside
mirror that GM U.S. made during the 1970s. It's incorrect for U.S. Corvairs
because the bowtie is missing, which no doubt was done as a cost-saving
measure. But it's correct for Canadian Corvairs, which had some of the
bowties removed, since Chevy was not a brand there at that time. Duane
Wentlandt also got extremely lucky and found the correct original material
for the trunk mat, something I never expected we would be able to do. (Yes,
this item is different for LM Canadian Corvairs.)

The final category of over-the-topness is surely the most crazy: date-coded
items. The battery cables have different part numbers (made in Canada) and
we had a stamp made so that we could emboss the cables correctly (using
heat, since the numbers are depressed). We also re-coded a differential case
using the correct size stamp set, since the original case was damaged. I
learned from a Corvette friend who is a former regional director of the NCRS
that the diodes visible in the alternator have date codes, and by golly
there is a fellow in Georgia who can recreate them, so I had that done
too...

The crown jewel though surely has to be the date codes in the glass. My car
is already rare (one of approximately 93 Canadian-built '66 Corsa
convertibles with RPO L87, the turbo engine) but it also has the super-rare
tinted glass all-around. The quarter glass in a convertible is different and
Canadian glass is also different from U.S. We know from the '66 Canadian
Corvair production report (http://www.corvairkid.com/66stats.htm) that
exactly 10 convertibles were produced with tinted glass all around (RPO A01)
that model year, and my car is one of them. Unfortunately, the glass was
pretty trashed (scratched) and the windshield had been replaced at some
point.

We were able to miraculously find one NOS specimen each of tinted quarter
windows (from different sources), but of course they were U.S.-made. We
similarly found U.S.-made NOS tinted front door glass, which is still quite
rare. We were able lift images of the date codes from the original Canadian
glass, plus the windshield code format from Bording Ostergaard's immaculate
'66 Canadian turbo coupe (#53 off the line in Canada in '66). Duanne Luckow
found a fellow who has perfected an almost-surgical method of using a small
sandblaster to remove the existing date code info from glass and then burn
in new information. So, yes, even the date codes on the glass are 100%
correct. This glass is so rare that there is literally no way to replace it,
so that is the main reason I drive the car very little.

Hope you found this entertaining. It was certainly an incredible challenge
to create, a feat I am sure I will never try to replicate. Although, I am
quite interested in Swiss-built Corvairs... <g>

--Kent
-----Original Message-----
From: Kent Sullivan [mailto:kentsu at corvairkid.com] 
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 11:18 PM
To: 'virtualvairs at corvair.org'
Subject: RE: <VV> Origin of "Bone-Stock"?

<snip>

I did a presentation at the Buffalo 2006 convention about items that fall
into the over-the-top/extra mile category on my car. If y'all want to hear
about them, let me know and I can explain some of the crazier things here on
VV, for amusement.

<snip>