Looking back on 1998, the year has gone fast. The Chapter had a good year reaching a membership level of 85 members. We held meetings every month, had our Judging Meet and made some other interesting attempts at getting more people involved in the Chapter activities. An effort is being made for NCRS Chapter of the Year, but I believe we needed more participation to make this a reality. We’ve got 6 months to go, so there is time left to make this happen. Our 1998 Chapter Directory is enclosed.

January will be a busy month for several of our members. We have a board meeting Saturday the 9th, general Chapter meeting Saturday the 16^th, and the annual FOMOCO Polar Bear Swap Meet Saturday the 30^th, scheduled. The board meeting will be our first of ’99, confirming the new officers and the final preparation for our ’99 activities. The general meeting will be at Corvette City with the subject of the tech session on Fuel Injection and writing an article for the Founders Award on the computer.

I hope 1998 closed happily for you and 1999 is going to be a better year for all our Corvette owner members. Remember, if there is no snow and you can’t ski, drive your "Vette".

Our thanks go to Jim Lennartz, our outgoing Vice Chairman, for his service to our Chapter. He has ably served in this capacity for many years.

This will be our third year for participation in the Annual FOMOCO Polar Bear Swap meet to be held at then Adams county Fairgrounds, 9755 Henderson Road, Brighton, CO. Admission is $2.00 for Saturday January 30^th 8:00am-3:00pm.

As in the past we will stage the items to be sold at Corvette City 2730 Tejon, Englewood, CO Friday the 29th. All items brought to the event must be marked with the owner’s identification and price. The club will get 10% on items sold, or a negotiated fee for big ticket items you bring. You do not have to be there, but your items do! If you want to help, set up is Friday 7:00-9:00pm. We will plan on leaving Corvette City at 6:00pm to be in the fairgrounds by 7:00pm.

After a couple of summers of driving my shark without the A/C system working, I decided that the summer of ’98 would be different. One of my goals was to repair the broken A/C plumbing, pull out and open up the evaporator housing to identify and correct a significant airflow obstruction, and get the A/C system recharged. As usual, everything took longer than expected, and it was around Halloween before I sought out local A/C whiz Jim Lennartz to get me charged up and operational. The "cooler" seems to be working pretty well, however it will take some hot weather to really test things out.

One reference I found to be interesting as well as helpful was a 100 page softbound text titled "Air Conditioning Strategies for the 63-82 Corvette", subtitled "Written especially for the A/C illiterate". Author Michael J. Davis, ASC certified in air conditioning as well as 5 other mechanical areas, has driven his 1969 Corvette coupe in the hot Texas sun for over 20 years. I expect he has some experience with "hot" Corvettes.

Michael dissected the Corvette A/C system and it’s operating environment in an attempt to learn why similar systems in millions of other GM cars seemed to work much better. His approach to the problem is well thought out and quite interesting. Some of his findings validate the seemingly obvious, while other findings are rather surprising. The text is broken down into the following sections:

While the title suggests that this book is of help only to those with air cars, there is much valuable information to help those with non-air cars as well. The author examines the operating environment of the Corvette A/C system, which is basically the same for both air and non-air cars. He looks at such areas as:

Attention to all these areas can help reduce the interior temperature of your Corvette. For example, Michael Davis shows that significant heat is radiated into the air distribution system by the heater core even with the water valve closed. He presents several temperature charts demonstrating the effect that various changes to the heater core system have on the air distribution temperature.

My 1970 coupe came equipped with the option UA6 – audio alarm system. While I was replacing the carpet in the rear compartment area last winter, I found "UA6" written in chalk on the fiberglass floor along with a couple of other option codes, so I was pretty certain that this car was originally equipped with UA6. One item that did not fit the option description in the judging manual was the alarm key switch in the rear valance. The manual shows that a change from the smaller, open Briggs & Stratton switch used in 1969 – 1970 (to about 1970 S.N. 12,000) to a more conventional -appearing lock (like a typical trunk or door lock from the era) took place. The lock on my car looked like neither – it looked like the type of lock you would see on a vending machine –it required a key with a circular "cookie cutter" type end. I assumed that it was some type of replacement – perhaps from the hardware store.

Well, during our judging meet at Stevinson this summer, I was parked next to John Kratke’s 1970 big-block coupe. I noticed that his alarm switch was exactly the same as mine! What the….??? Was this merely a coincidence? Was this some type of service replacement? Judging team leader Dirk Gaddis properly deducted for the incorrect switch, citing the judging manual as a reference. I had no problem with this, but was still curious about the occurrence of two identical incorrect switches on these 1970 cars. After giving this some additional thought and discussing this with our own judging chair Jack Humphrey, I took a few photos of the switch in question and sent them along with a letter to National NCRS 1970-72 Technical Advisor Terry McManmon.

Terry graciously replied in reference to the UA6 switch:

"I installed the same kind of switch that is on your car on mine in about 1974. It is a hardware store item; and as I remember, all that I could find to fit the first design opening. The later design has a larger hole and I was, fortunately, not eager enough to enlarge the switch opening. Apparently a previous owner of your car did the same. The first design alarm switch is a high failure item since exhaust gases will enter the unshielded keyway and corrode the internal parts of the lock. No doubt that is the reason Chevrolet changed the design of the lock

"The 1969-1970 style lock is still available from Briggs & Stratton in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Any good locksmith should have one of their catalogs. I believe the most common use of the switch is as an alarm switch for semi-trailers……."

This satisfactorily answered my question and I thought Terry’s answer might be of interest to those who run across this in the future, either as an owner or a judge. I also want to thank Terry McManmon for his time and effort put forth to clear this up for me. This is another benefit of membership in NCRS.

ACTIVITIES
By Bill Bell	billbell@goldeninter.net

	***** 12/29/98  Important! Location of meeting has been changed from Bill Bell's house to Corvette City, 2730 Tejon, Englewood. You can call 303 680-5863 or 303 762-8388 for directions if you haven’t been there.
Map To Corvette City

We are also going to have a Fuel Injection seminar at the same time. I have videotape of Gary Tapp (from Tapp Automotive) rebuilding an injection unit. Gary races, in the vintage circuit a 1963 ZO6 coupe, so he knows a bit about them. Our own John Hilborn, for those of you who don’t know, has been involved in Corvettes for many years, even having his own shop some time ago. He is a fuel injection guru, and has volunteered to bring over some F.I.units, a manometer, handouts, and tell us what he knows about these classic engineering structures. I would like to thank John for volunteering to step forward and disseminate information from his knowledge base. For his efforts, he will receive one free "get out of speeding ticket" coupon from me. Dirk Gaddis said he would think about offering a "two for one discount" good at any county jail facility during dinner hours only, but that might take some doing. I’m still checking into that offer!

The Board of Directors met October 17 to discuss next year’s activities. Here are the tentative planned events:

As always, members have stepped forward to participate and coordinate club activities. This is not a one-person job. I need your participation and suggestions to make our club activities exciting, fun, and participatory to all. If you would like to chair a club activity, please meet me and we’ll make it happen. I would appreciate your input tremendously!

Also, our club general meetings are the third (3^rd) Saturday of every month, at
CORVETTE CITY, beginning typically at 11:00 AM unless otherwise posted in the newsletter.

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