<VV> sagging convertibles

[Mark J. Murphy]

Another good indicator of bad shape is in the operation of the top.  The top
on my '63 (cancer victim) seems to jump off of the header when released, and
needs to be fought back down to make it latch.  If it gets much worse I'll
have to gain some weight as I already have to hang full body weight on it to
get the hooks to reach.  She's not long for this world...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      ,-----___\----,    Mark Murphy
      \--(o)----(o)--'  Derry, NH, USA
    http://m.j.murphy.home.comcast.net/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tony Underwood" <tonyu@roava.net>
To: <virtualvairs@corvair.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 5:23 PM
Subject: Re: <VV> sagging convertibles

> Remember...  it's the widening of the door jambs in Vair ragtops that you
> see when the body is starting to sag.    Corvair convertibles sag the
> opposite way.   The rear of the car is heavier than the center passenger
> area and the weight of the driveline causes the back half of the body to
> droop, causing the channel between the door and rear fender to widen...
> depending of course upon where the worst weakening of the unibody actually
> occurs.   The majority of the basketcase Vair ragtops I've seen (which
> still had drivelines in them) seemed to droop rearward.
>
> Of course one can get a good idea of how rigid a Vair ragtop body still is
> by how badly your left arm gets pinched if you're longlegged and you push
> the seat all the way back and then drape your left arm back across the
> joint between the door and rear fender... such as what happens when
backing
> up and you twist around to the left to see where you're going... and roll
> over some dips and bumps going in and out of a bumpy driveway.      Lates
> tend to be worse than earlies.   My Corsa ragtop remains pretty stiff...
> but the '66 Monza ragtop my brother used to have really needed some work
on
> the bottom.