<VV> Private email

Fri Oct 5 10:16:49 EDT 2018

Well, if GM engineers feared that 3/8" bolts would weaken the flange to the 
point of failure, then racers who successfully convert to 3/8" clearly HAVE 
proved them wrong.
And I'm sorry but I just don't buy the rest of your argument. I don't 
believe GM made a habit in the 60's of making their cars 'owner-proof', 
although that concept is certainly creeping in with modern cars. And there 
is nothing so uniquely special about Corvair flywheel bolts that would cause 
GM to make such a move. They could have used LH threads if they really 
wanted to make it difficult for amateurs. Weakening the fastenings by going 
down a size, even by 1/32",  seems a perverse way of making things safer. I 
would argue that there are many more critical fastenings on a car than the 
flywheel bolts. Ok, you mentioned a couple, but I still remain unconvinced 
that you are ascribing the correct reason for it.
I think there has to be a presumption that anybody who is skilled enough to 
rebuild an engine would not be stupid enough to go to Home Depot for fixings 
that are readily available from GM for a few pennies.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Charles Sadek
Sent: Friday, October 5, 2018 2:27 PM
To: 'Hugo Miller'
Subject: Private email

Hugo, BS. I cannot believe the GM engineers were "clearly wrong" about metal 
fasteners... Your discounting making fasteners of an odd thread count for a 
specified reason to keep folks from using cheap bolts or nuts doesn't make 
sense. Of course they did. Look at brake reaction rods/castor control rods 
underneath in suspension. They are large diameter with very fine thread.. 
Odd ball thread.. Why? Regular fine thread would be sufficient for 
adjustment. Maybe because the nut holds the rod and if it lets go, the rod 
my go up thru floorboard in an impact. Rods have impaled racers, thus a 
requirement for a steel plate  to prevent it in classes that use such a 
thing... Liability, my friend.
Note I sent this private, rather than disagreeing with you publically.
Take care,
Chuck

-----Original Message-----
From: VirtualVairs [mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of 
Hugo Miller via VirtualVairs
Sent: Thursday, October 4, 2018 4:35 PM
To: Seth Emerson; joel at joelsplace.com; virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: <VV> Fuel Leak / lug nuts

That all sounds a bit too devious for me. There’s nothing special about 
Corvair flywheel bolts – you could say the same about lots of other 
fasteners. My guess would be a simpler explanation – that they didn’t want 
to weaken the flange by drilling holes that were too large. If that is the 
case, they were clearly wrong, if racers can drill the holes out to 3/8” 
without the flange disintegrating.
It would interesting to hear if anybody knows the ‘inside story’ on this.

From: Seth Emerson
Sent: Thursday, October 4, 2018 6:20 PM
To: Hugo at aruncoaches.co.uk ; joel at joelsplace.com ; virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: <VV> Fuel Leak / lug nuts

Hugo - I cannot say, for sure, but this is my take. Those bolts are heavily 
loaded. If they had used 3/8"-24 NF bolts, it would have been possible to 
replace them with softer, grade 5 bolts during engine work, later on. Since 
the 11/32" was unique, only the original bolts could be used in this 
application, insuring that these bolts could take the loads required. That 
said, the holes in both the flywheel plate and the PG torque converter 
mounting plate are already 3/8". For many years racers have been 
re-drilling/tapping those six holes in the crank gear out to 3/8-24 NF. 
There is a special tool available to do that with regular hand tools. ARP 
sells a special "kit" of bolts that replace the stockers with extra-strong 
3/8-24 bolts.

-Seth Emerson

-----Original Message-----
From: Hugo Miller via VirtualVairs <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
To: Joel McGregor <joel at joelsplace.com>; virtualvairs 
<virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Thu, Oct 4, 2018 1:19 am
Subject: Re: <VV> Fuel Leak / lug nuts

Why would they use such an obscure bolt size? I don't think I've ever seen
an 11/32" bolt in my life. Why didn't they just use 3/8"? Is there some
obscure engineering reason for it?
I've never dismantled a Corvair engine, but I do know that GM products
generally keep things as simple as possible. Also that's an extremely small
size, if you're talking about the bolts that hold the flywheel to the crank.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Joel McGregor via VirtualVairs
Sent: Thursday, October 4, 2018 5:00 AM
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: Fuel Leak / lug nuts

Obviously I had switched to bolt head size. 11/32 bolt size - flywheels are
the only thing I think I've ever seen use that.

-----Original Message-----
From: VirtualVairs <virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org> On Behalf Of Joel
McGregor via VirtualVairs
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2018 10:33 PM
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: <VV> Fuel Leak / lug nuts

Coils and starter solenoids? I can't remember but I've used that size in
the last week for sure.

-----Original Message-----
From: Hugo Miller <Hugo at aruncoaches.co.uk>
Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2018 7:59 AM
To: Joel McGregor <joel at joelsplace.com>; virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: <VV> Fuel Leak / lug nuts

11/32"? When did you last see one of those!

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