Convert an afterthought, was: <VV> Convertible damper canisters

[airvair]

>From the evidence I've seen as how the LM convertible is designed and
built, as opposed to the coupe/4door, I firmly believe that it was
really almost an afterthought. Consider these: Item 1) ever have the
chrome windshield header off a car? It looks as if someone had taken a
coupe and TORCHED, yes torched, the top off. Definately NOT up to GM's
usual standard of building dies specifically to neatly trim off any
unwanted metal. Item 2) the kick vent covers on a coupe/4door are
one-piece, as opposed to the convert's two-piece design. Had GM REALLY
thought ahead, they would have also been a two-piece design, thus
allowing GM to use the vent stack in ALL LM Corvairs. This would have
created no additional molds or other expense, yet they would have saved
money by the 55-gallon drum just in gray, slimy body putty for which the
coupe/4door kick panels are notorious for using. Not to mention the line
assembly time would have been dramatically improved.

What's really surprising is that no one (to my knowledge) ever put in a
material savings suggestion about item 2. Had I been there, I certainly
would have. Probably would have gotten the max award, too. Would have
been interesting to know the real story here..... Was the convert really
an afterthought or not? If not, why these anonomolies, so
uncharacteristic of GM?

-Mark

Chris & Bill Strickland wrote:
> 
> 'Cowl Shake', of some sort, is a problem in nearly all open cars
> (especially so in roadster style hot rods)  -- other than the hotrods,
> my personal experience is in my 356 hard top cabriolet, ie a convertible
> with a factory hardtop -- on a road trip, it is a completely different
> automobile with the hard top removed. So I expect some bright boy
> engineer at GM decided to attack the problem before it happened,
> possibly thinking of our friend Ralphie,  and designed the shakers with
> this in mind (before they had computer enhanced vibration analysis). I
> have no idea how successful the design was, as there are numerous
> reports of folks that have removed them without complaint.  Had the
> original design been better, I would expect one could notice a
> difference.  I drove a late model vert (66 Corsa 140) without the
> shakers briefly in my 'earlier years' and never felt I was missing
> anything except the top ...
> 
> would be nice to uncover the original engineering papers for the
> vibration analysis that lead to the shakers, but I expect that if it
> hasn't surfaced by now, it is long gone. remember, vibration/resonance
> science was in the dark ages until just recently -- note all the recent
> earthquake upgrading to bridges and buildings -- and, of course, to
> return to an automotive theme, there was 'Galloping Gertie' ...
> http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bridge/meetsusp.html
> 
> Bill S
>