[1969] 68 to 9 differences, was: Frt Brake Hose

[Kent Sullivan]

Yes, exactly. I was able to help part out a really-far-gone '69 years ago
and snagged the clutch stuff, which now resides in my somewhat-modified '66
500 coupe.

--Kent
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Corbin [mailto:airvair at earthlink.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2015 3:45 AM
To: Kent Sullivan; 1969 at corvair.org
Subject: 68 to 9 differences, was: [1969] Frt Brake Hose

Indeed you are right, Kent. The end of the clutch pedal arm is different in
order to accommodate the attachment of the Heim joint with a pin, instead of
having a ball riding in a hook assembly. Almost three quarters of the '69's
were automatics, so when a '69 is parted out, if it's a manual trans car,
the clutch pedal assembly is indeed worth salvaging. Any '68-earlier
standard trans car owner would probably love to upgrade their car with that
set of parts. And yes, they'll interchange.

While we're on the subject of '68 to 9 differences, I'll offer a few more. 
While I've only had one '68 and three '69's (one of each body style) and
thus won't claim to be a total expert, I can say that I've found a number of
differences, more than most people may realize.

We're all familiar with the front side marker lights being different, as
well as the clutch cable and front brake cylinders, but add these: the '69's
brake lines are wire wrapped in various spots, the arm rests on the '68
Monza models have a chrome strip that is not on '69's, the head restraint
posts are different, and some cars have an omega shaped strap around the
outboard front seat belt retractor just below the sill plate (though I have
not been able to pin down the exact application of this strap.) I also think
that the shoulder belt assembly was different from '68 to '69 (it was only
standard on cars built after the first of the year.)

And yes, only the black interior color was common. The '68 had a lighter
blue than the '69, and it was Ivy Gold in '68 instead of Medium Green in
'69. Not to mention the available paint colors.

-Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: Kent Sullivan
Sent: Wednesday, April 1, 2015 2:44 AM
To: 1969 at corvair.org
Subject: Re: [1969] Frt Brake Hose

Another item that amazingly made it onto '69s is the redesigned clutch cable
that has the Heim joint at the pedal. Great idea, but way too late to make
any appreciable difference, especially considering the small size of '69
production -- and the low percentage of '69s that were equipped with manual
transmissions. I believe the clutch/brake pedal assembly also had to change
to accommodate the new cable.

--Kent
-----Original Message-----
From: 1969 [mailto:1969-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of Mark Corbin
Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2015 1:17 PM
To: David Brown; 1969 at corvair.org
Subject: Re: [1969] Frt Brake Hose

All,

Having worked for 30 years for GM, I'd venture a guess that it was some
engineer's pet project, something that he thought should have been done
years ago but they didn't have the money to do it. Just like the '69 clutch
cable fix. There are several other small items on only the '69's like this.

You see, every year the management earmarks a certain dollar amount for each
car line for upgrades and redesigns. With the Corvair, the management was
probably unconcerned about the car, so they blindly allocated "X" dollars
towards "federal safety and emissions standards", not realizing that most of
that work was probably accomplished on the '68's. So this gave the engineers
some "play" money to spend (because if they didn't spend it, they possibly
would have been cut back on the projects they really wanted and needed to
put through). So they made sure they spent it, even if it was on someone's
pet project.

It may have been that said engineer in question had felt that the original
design was lacking in some respect. So he had this idea, and this gave him
the opportunity to put it into effect. But whether the original design was
deficient or not is irrelevant. What is important is, from an historical
perspective, if you are going for truly stock hardware, stick with the
"special" design parts. Otherwise, there's no reason that you absolutely
NEED to stay stock.

Bottom line is that I learned long ago that there's the right way, the wrong
way, and the GM way, and that what GM does often times defies rationality
and logic, at least from our perspective.

-Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: David Brown
Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2015 9:27 AM
To: 1969 at corvair.org
Subject: [1969] Frt Brake Hose

Hi All,

Just a quick 'minutiae' question that is bugging me since I am currently
replacing my original front brake hoses (*only* available from your friendly
Corvair parts folks).

Does anyone know the history on these hoses?  I have spent about an hour
checking & can't find anything else that might have used these.  Are they
really specific to 69 Corvairs only?  Why would the factory make up
something specific like this for a car they were phasing out (and were
trying to use up all parts specific for the Corvair)?  Since the front brake
hose for 65->68 Corvair is the same part used on the 69 Belair, Biscane,
Nova, etc., it doesn't make sense to me that the factory would make an
effort to use something different, and specific for only the 69 Corvair,
when there was a huge supply of the 'regular' ones available!  Any comments,
thoughts, history facts??

Regards,
Dave

David Brown
#3287
140/4, Posi Monza cp.
Wimberley (Austin), TX


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