<VV>Books

[Padgett]

>Every Corvair owner should at least have the factory manual for their car.

I do (and Clark's and "Classic" and "Alive") all of which are about 5/8" 
thick, the same as my Chilton's for the Corvair). In contrast I have quite 
a few Buick and Pontiac shop manuals that are more like 2" each and you 
would not want to fall on your toe. Can see about 20-25 feet of automotive 
service literature from where I am sitting, just have barely a foot of 
Corvair. So far.

The thing is that most Corvair books assume at least a basic understanding 
which is fine but it is the subtleties which most books assume that I have 
not found. These subtleties are what make the difference between a car that 
limps along and one that runs properly. Am also slowly dusting off (and in 
some cases replacing) the test equipment I had when last into Covair's. 
Like many, have been wrenching for quite a few years but that does not tell 
you how to detect a blocked idle vent when a wire slides in nicely 
(blockage was further down). An expert can tell by putting their hand on 
the carbs which is running right but a book cannot tell you that.

After a month and a half (and some really expert help), my new car seems to 
be finally idling well. The latest discovery being a voltage regulator set 
to about 17v but will find out more when the in-car puller arrives in the 
next few days so that I can replace the balancer with the Dale rebuild that 
is on the workbench and the next Clark's package arrives which should 
contain a new PE needle.

The bottom line is that I try not to ask stupid questions, just ignorant 
ones and usually am looking for things I cannot find in the book (though 
quite often after I understand what was happening it turns out there was a 
mention...)

No, my library is not yet complete, but it is getting better as I find out 
what is needed. And no I do not always know what is the right question to 
ask (but where I do know something I try to help). Frankly I usually enjoy 
the banter that means nothing serious is going on. I hope that others do 
also. Do know that the Internet is the best thing to happen to the car 
hobby and has made collecting possible for some.

Padgett