On Thu, 17 Feb 2005, oliver wrote:
> OK. i obvously missed something here. what is the improvement in going to
> corvair rear hubs?
The stock hubs use a "taper joint with woodruff key". The design is faulty
in that the woodruff key is "staked" to the tapered axle. This staking
forms a perfect spot for cracks to form/propagate.
It should be noted that racers have experienced stub axle failure since
these cars were new. Here are two salient points:
1. Kastner's Comp. Prep manual for TR6 indicates that the rear hubs should
be swapped out every FOUR races. It doesn't say "rebuild".
2. The Group 44 TR6 had the Corvair hubs and a custom bearing carrier
designed by Brian Ferstenau... these are still on the car (now owned by
Bill Warner of FL.)
Kastner's motto is "never beaten by equipment". If you know there's a
limited duty cycle for a part, you swap it out before it becomes a
problem. Yes, this is expensive. The question, therefore is "how much is
too exspensive?"
The Group 44 reputation speaks for itself.
SO - the "improvement" is that you don't have to worry about the stub
axles breaking. Period. This means a LOT when you chuck your car into a
corner just this side of the "hairy edge" and no thought is required other
than sterring/throttle/brake. You don't want to be thinking "gee, I wonder
if the wheel is going to break off this time" when you're on the hairy
edge.
For a street car, the Covair conversion is OVERKILL. It would be "kool" to
show folks at a car show or a "cruise", but def. not a necessity.
FWIW, I have this conversion on my race car. Thanks Dave W!
regards,
rml
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