Big Blue's Transformation

[Nothing Special]

So this is the Morvair? I thought that was a Corvair - with a mod or two.

I think it's actually the Morrvair (2 Rs), as in Matt's Off Road Recovery. And it is a Corvair (wagon) with (at least) a mod or two! It's back story is pretty cool, as it's a car that Matt saw and wanted when he was a kid and ended up buying something like 30 years later (the exact same car, not just one of the same model). As a wagon it's pretty rare (he talks about buying every windshield for it that he can ever find, because you can't just go out and get one). You can debate whether what he did with it is a cool build or sacrilege, but he's a remarkably successful YouTuber!

And yes, I'm well acquainted with his videos! Also Trail Mater if I need help in Moab! (Trail Mater is the air bagged truck I posted a link to a little ways back in this thread).

[Gary Lewis]

I think it's actually the Morrvair (2 Rs), as in Matt's Off Road Recovery. And it is a Corvair (wagon) with (at least) a mod or two! It's back story is pretty cool, as it's a car that Matt saw and wanted when he was a kid and ended up buying something like 30 years later (the exact same car, not just one of the same model). As a wagon it's pretty rare (he talks about buying every windshield for it that he can ever find, because you can't just go out and get one). You can debate whether what he did with it is a cool build or sacrilege, but he's a remarkably successful YouTuber!

And yes, I'm well acquainted with his videos! Also Trail Mater if I need help in Moab! (Trail Mater is the air bagged truck I posted a link to a little ways back in this thread).

I vaguely remember seeing Corvair wagons. And even a Corvair van - the cook at our fraternity house had one. But they faded away pretty quickly, and I don't know if that was due to breakage or what. Maybe my memory?

So I can see the debate about whether to mod or not. But I like what he's done and have no affinity to those vehicles, so it is no bother to me.

And yes, I remember Trail Mater and his air bags. So I knew who we were talking about. Looks like Matt found his niche and is having fun while providing a much-needed service.

[85lebaront2]

I think it's actually the Morrvair (2 Rs), as in Matt's Off Road Recovery. And it is a Corvair (wagon) with (at least) a mod or two! It's back story is pretty cool, as it's a car that Matt saw and wanted when he was a kid and ended up buying something like 30 years later (the exact same car, not just one of the same model). As a wagon it's pretty rare (he talks about buying every windshield for it that he can ever find, because you can't just go out and get one). You can debate whether what he did with it is a cool build or sacrilege, but he's a remarkably successful YouTuber!

And yes, I'm well acquainted with his videos! Also Trail Mater if I need help in Moab! (Trail Mater is the air bagged truck I posted a link to a little ways back in this thread).

If you notice in some of the videos at his shop, there are a few Corvairs in the lot, one is a pickup, probably a Rampside. The first real job I had was at a place called Reed's Cycle Company in Norfolk VA. They had expanded into lawn and garden and had a Rampside for hauling some of the commercial mowers in for repair and returning them afterwards.

My son's first car was a 1965 Corsa with the 140 HP engine, that turned out to be .030 over and had an Otto OT20 cam. I did some clever tweaking to the carbs that both improved the economy and power.

[Nothing Special]

I vaguely remember seeing Corvair wagons. And even a Corvair van - the cook at our fraternity house had one. But they faded away pretty quickly, and I don't know if that was due to breakage or what. Maybe my memory?....

I think Ralph Nader had quite a bit to do with the demise of the Corvair in general. But even without his "Unsafe at Any Speed", Corvairs were quirky, nichy vehicles that were never likely to have a particularly long production run. And like most other vehicles from that era, they really weren't built to last mechanically, and they've rotted away pretty fast when they're not in deserts like Utah or Oklahoma.

[85lebaront2]

I vaguely remember seeing Corvair wagons. And even a Corvair van - the cook at our fraternity house had one. But they faded away pretty quickly, and I don't know if that was due to breakage or what. Maybe my memory?....

I think Ralph Nader had quite a bit to do with the demise of the Corvair in general. But even without his "Unsafe at Any Speed", Corvairs were quirky, nichy vehicles that were never likely to have a particularly long production run. And like most other vehicles from that era, they really weren't built to last mechanically, and they've rotted away pretty fast when they're not in deserts like Utah or Oklahoma.

They were even more sensitive to tire pressure than Explorers. Couple that with 13" bias ply tires and swing axle suspension through 1964 and you definitely had a quirky handling car. Most peoples reaction when they got "tail happy" was to hit the brakes, the outside rear wheel would tuck under and if the inflation pressure was too low essentially try to come off the rim. The full down swing of the rear axles would cause the back end to raise up and possibly roll over on it's side.

In 1963 there were some minor changes and in 1964 a camber compensator rear spring (leaf spring) was added in the rear, 1965-69 the rear suspension was very similar to the 1963 up Corvette, trailing arms, and a dual link axle/lower link system with coil springs on the back of the trailing arms where the Corvette's leaf spring links went. The actual half shafts are the same for both cars.

Funny story, I used to autocross (gymkhana) a 1966 Shelby GT350, my best friend had competed in the past in a highly modified VW beetle (all the running gear was Porsche 356 complete with a Hirth roller bearing crank). He spun the Shelby in an event, and his rear engine experience told him to floor it, he went around 1 and 1/2 times in a huge cloud of tire smoke and holds the distinction of being the only person to do that in a Shelby.

[85lebaront2]

I vaguely remember seeing Corvair wagons. And even a Corvair van - the cook at our fraternity house had one. But they faded away pretty quickly, and I don't know if that was due to breakage or what. Maybe my memory?....

I think Ralph Nader had quite a bit to do with the demise of the Corvair in general. But even without his "Unsafe at Any Speed", Corvairs were quirky, nichy vehicles that were never likely to have a particularly long production run. And like most other vehicles from that era, they really weren't built to last mechanically, and they've rotted away pretty fast when they're not in deserts like Utah or Oklahoma.

Matt is doing a live stream right now and giving away prizes.

[Gary Lewis]

Matt is doing a live stream right now and giving away prizes.

Well, the show did go on and now I'm in the recovery mode. I'd like to get the air springs on before we take off on our cruise in a couple of weeks as our son may be able to go overlanding in October - in spite of having had foot surgery last week. I'm not quite ready to start the installation as a couple of friends are bringing their vehicles over for a bit of work and Big Blue needs to be mobile. But that doesn't mean I can't start planning, so here are some thoughts and observations.

In the pic below the lower bracket is sitting on the 1" spacers that come in the kit in order to get it above the ends of the spring u-bolts - and it just barely is. The instructions say to get the installed height of the bag, meaning the distance between the upper and lower brackets, to be from 5 to 6 1/2". And as thing sit in that picture the brackets are 6 1/4" apart.

So that would seem good at first blush. However the minimum length of the air spring is 2 3/4" so 6 1/4 - 2 3/4 = 3 1/2" of travel. But the bump stop is 4 3/4" from the spacer block, so assuming the shock would let it go that far the air spring would stop the axle 1 1/4" before the bump stop would. IOW, I'd lose that much travel.

I think that means that I want to raise the upper bracket or lower the lower bracket by that 1 1/4" distance. And placing the bracket directly on the spring w/o the spacer would do it close enough, although that means that I need to cut off the spring u-bolts, but I was already pretty sure that was the case.

Also, look closely at the back holes in the upper bracket. There are already two holes in the frame very close to where I need them! The lower hole is almost perfect, and the upper hole is pretty close. I think they were from exhaust hangers, but they aren't being used now, so they are fair game.

Anyway y'all, please think through this with me. Do you agree with my logic that dropping the lower bracket will put the bag in the right spot? I realize that that will mean that there's 7 1/4" between the brackets, which is obviously more than the instructions call for. But the instructions assume that the bottom of the bag will be bolted down and the extra distance could cause the air spring to be the limiting factor in droop. But I'll have the Daystar cradles so the air spring won't be stretched. And, the extended working length for the bags is 8 1/4", so they could lift the back of the truck 1" higher than it is now with full pressure. I don't see a need to raise it higher than it is now since it is level, so that would seem to work nicely.

Does that make sense?

[Nothing Special]

Well, the show did go on and now I'm in the recovery mode. I'd like to get the air springs on before we take off on our cruise in a couple of weeks as our son may be able to go overlanding in October - in spite of having had foot surgery last week. I'm not quite ready to start the installation as a couple of friends are bringing their vehicles over for a bit of work and Big Blue needs to be mobile. But that doesn't mean I can't start planning, so here are some thoughts and observations.

In the pic below the lower bracket is sitting on the 1" spacers that come in the kit in order to get it above the ends of the spring u-bolts - and it just barely is. The instructions say to get the installed height of the bag, meaning the distance between the upper and lower brackets, to be from 5 to 6 1/2". And as thing sit in that picture the brackets are 6 1/4" apart.

So that would seem good at first blush. However the minimum length of the air spring is 2 3/4" so 6 1/4 - 2 3/4 = 3 1/2" of travel. But the bump stop is 4 3/4" from the spacer block, so assuming the shock would let it go that far the air spring would stop the axle 1 1/4" before the bump stop would. IOW, I'd lose that much travel.

I think that means that I want to raise the upper bracket or lower the lower bracket by that 1 1/4" distance. And placing the bracket directly on the spring w/o the spacer would do it close enough, although that means that I need to cut off the spring u-bolts, but I was already pretty sure that was the case.

Also, look closely at the back holes in the upper bracket. There are already two holes in the frame very close to where I need them! The lower hole is almost perfect, and the upper hole is pretty close. I think they were from exhaust hangers, but they aren't being used now, so they are fair game.

Anyway y'all, please think through this with me. Do you agree with my logic that dropping the lower bracket will put the bag in the right spot? I realize that that will mean that there's 7 1/4" between the brackets, which is obviously more than the instructions call for. But the instructions assume that the bottom of the bag will be bolted down and the extra distance could cause the air spring to be the limiting factor in droop. But I'll have the Daystar cradles so the air spring won't be stretched. And, the extended working length for the bags is 8 1/4", so they could lift the back of the truck 1" higher than it is now with full pressure. I don't see a need to raise it higher than it is now since it is level, so that would seem to work nicely.

Does that make sense?

Makes sense to me!

[grumpin]

Well, the show did go on and now I'm in the recovery mode. I'd like to get the air springs on before we take off on our cruise in a couple of weeks as our son may be able to go overlanding in October - in spite of having had foot surgery last week. I'm not quite ready to start the installation as a couple of friends are bringing their vehicles over for a bit of work and Big Blue needs to be mobile. But that doesn't mean I can't start planning, so here are some thoughts and observations.

In the pic below the lower bracket is sitting on the 1" spacers that come in the kit in order to get it above the ends of the spring u-bolts - and it just barely is. The instructions say to get the installed height of the bag, meaning the distance between the upper and lower brackets, to be from 5 to 6 1/2". And as thing sit in that picture the brackets are 6 1/4" apart.

So that would seem good at first blush. However the minimum length of the air spring is 2 3/4" so 6 1/4 - 2 3/4 = 3 1/2" of travel. But the bump stop is 4 3/4" from the spacer block, so assuming the shock would let it go that far the air spring would stop the axle 1 1/4" before the bump stop would. IOW, I'd lose that much travel.

I think that means that I want to raise the upper bracket or lower the lower bracket by that 1 1/4" distance. And placing the bracket directly on the spring w/o the spacer would do it close enough, although that means that I need to cut off the spring u-bolts, but I was already pretty sure that was the case.

Also, look closely at the back holes in the upper bracket. There are already two holes in the frame very close to where I need them! The lower hole is almost perfect, and the upper hole is pretty close. I think they were from exhaust hangers, but they aren't being used now, so they are fair game.

Anyway y'all, please think through this with me. Do you agree with my logic that dropping the lower bracket will put the bag in the right spot? I realize that that will mean that there's 7 1/4" between the brackets, which is obviously more than the instructions call for. But the instructions assume that the bottom of the bag will be bolted down and the extra distance could cause the air spring to be the limiting factor in droop. But I'll have the Daystar cradles so the air spring won't be stretched. And, the extended working length for the bags is 8 1/4", so they could lift the back of the truck 1" higher than it is now with full pressure. I don't see a need to raise it higher than it is now since it is level, so that would seem to work nicely.

Does that make sense?

Do you have the cradles yet?

How thick are they?

[Gary Lewis]

Do you have the cradles yet?

How thick are they?

Thanks for thinking through it, Bob.

Dane - Yes, I have the cradles and they are maybe 3/16" thick. Not enough to make a difference.