Watchamacallits ? WEIGHTED CYLINDERS (Cocktail Shaker?) CONVERTIBLE REAR CORNERS -1965 CORVAIR

[Marty Roth]

I don't remember what to call these things but they are about 30 pounds each and have upper and lower brackets , and are specific to 1965 (and maybe newer) Corvair convertibles. They may also have been used on Camaro.

 

I need a pair of these with upper and lower brackets for the rear of my 1965 Corvair Monza convertible,

and welcome any leads, or even what to call them.

 

I've learned that many prior owners mistakenly took them off thinking of reduced weight. 
I believe they are supposed to improve stability and handling

 

Thank you.

Edited February 8 by Marty Roth
typo (see edit history)

[Aaron65]

Have you tried asking around at corvaircenter.com or corvairforum.com? Cocktail shaker is the name I've always heard for those cylinders.

[rocketraider]

I've heard them called cocktail shakers, ballasts, snubbers and dampers. I think GM itself called them vibration dampers. They're used to reduce vibration and shake at certain road frequencies and resonance. They have a ballast weight mounted on springs inside the outer shell and are filled with a hydraulic fluid to damp the movement of the weight inside the outer shell.

 

I'm more familiar with their use in Camaro and Firebird. Lot of F-body people go the subframe connector route to stiffen the unibody and chassis and just eliminate the shakers (they's scarce and $$$). Don't know if that can be done on a Corvair, and Corvair and F-body pieces do not interchange.

[PWN]

Basically to make a poorly designed car behave?

[TAKerry]

Thanks for the brief explanation. I have seen these many times referred to as 'cocktail shakers' but had no idea what they were. I thought they had something to do with the operation of the top.

[Larry Schramm]

I would guess that they are vibration dampers used to reduce vibrations when the coupe with a top was cut off to make a convertible.  There are usually additional stiffening on the lower body/ floor pan but when you cut the top off a car everything changes for body stiffness.

 

Many convertibles use those dampners in different places to reduce a vibration harmonic.  

 

Also, think about how a convertible flexes when going over a railroad track or similar road condition.  You do not have that body twist in a full top coupe.

 

Those weights would be specified by an NVH Engineer to improve ride quality. (NVH= Noise, Vibration, Harshness)

[Frank DuVal]

11 hours ago, PWN said:

Basically to make a poorly designed car behave?

Maybe in the case of Camaros and Firebirds, but in the case of Corvairs, to make a GREAT performing car even BETTER!👍🍾🤣

 

These are used to replace the strength of the missing roof without adding way more weight to the "chassis" area of the unibody. The rockers of these convertibles already are reinforced with an extra section, but to get rid of the cowl shake it was either stiffen the floorpan/chassis area with more metal or tune out the shake with these harmonic dampers (not dampeners, that would just get it wet).

[Frank DuVal]

Also, Corvair Ranch or California Corvairs as possible sources.

 

But the two forums listed usually get results when asking for used parts. 

 

Cocktail Shakers. I'm sure that's GM's name for them, as I have never heard them called any other name!🛠️🤣☃️❄️

Edited February 9 by Frank DuVal (see edit history)

[hook]

18 hours ago, PWN said:

Basically to make a poorly designed car behave?

I don't think your comment would be very well received with owners of 1961 through 1967 4 door convertible Lincoln Continentals. They had these at each corner. 

[TAKerry]

Theres a guy that advertises in Old Cars. Hydroe.com  Says the #1 source for convertible top parts.  I was looking but could not find the contact info I had but there is a corvair specialist in Mass I believe. I ordered an unrelated part from him last summer and the service was outstanding.

[Frank DuVal]

Clarks Corvair Parts. The largest of the suppliers. His used stock is not as plentiful as the ones I mentioned. He is my go to supplier for upholstery and new / reproduction parts.

[60FlatTop]

2 hours ago, hook said:

I don't think your comment would be very well received with owners of 1961 through 1967 4 door convertible Lincoln Continentals. They had these at each corner. 

Lincoln owners? How about some of those other "poorly designed" car owners?

[8E45E]

3 hours ago, hook said:

I don't think your comment would be very well received with owners of 1961 through 1967 4 door convertible Lincoln Continentals. They had these at each corner. 

Same with Studebaker Lark convertible and Wagonaire owners.  They also have those deadweights ahead of the front wheels.

 

Craig

[Marty Roth]

8 hours ago, Frank DuVal said:

Clarks Corvair Parts. The largest of the suppliers. His used stock is not as plentiful as the ones I mentioned. He is my go to supplier for upholstery and new / reproduction parts.

Yes, and Thank You, @Frank DuVal,

 

I've dropped a modest fortune with Clark's over the past 8+ years, and especially the past few weeks, doing several upgrades and maintenance on the low mileage 1965 Corvair Monza convertible, with major help of our local New Orleans area CORSA members.

Edited February 9 by Marty Roth (see edit history)

[Marty Roth]

8 hours ago, TAKerry said:

Theres a guy that advertises in Old Cars. Hydroe.com  Says the #1 source for convertible top parts.  I was looking but could not find the contact info I had but there is a corvair specialist in Mass I believe. I ordered an unrelated part from him last summer and the service was outstanding.

Thanks,

 

I did check with them, and have dealt with them many times before - no luck.

[Aaron65]

You could also try the Corvair Ranch; they're great to work with in my experience.

[Marty Roth]

20 hours ago, Frank DuVal said:

Also, Corvair Ranch or California Corvairs as possible sources.

 

But the two forums listed usually get results when asking for used parts. 

 

Cocktail Shakers. I'm sure that's GM's name for them, as I have never heard them called any other name!🛠️🤣☃️❄️

Thanks again, Frank,

 

Corvair Ranch will be sending me the Cocktail Shakers and upper brackets-

Yes, good folk to deal with

Edited February 10 by Marty Roth (see edit history)

[Marty Roth]

5 hours ago, Aaron65 said:

You could also try the Corvair Ranch; they're great to work with in my experience.

Thank you, @Aaron65

 

 

Corvair Ranch will be sending me the Cocktail Shakers and upper brackets-

Yes, good folk to deal with

[joe_padavano]

21 hours ago, Frank DuVal said:

Maybe in the case of Camaros and Firebirds, but in the case of Corvairs, to make a GREAT performing car even BETTER!👍🍾🤣

 

These are used to replace the strength of the missing roof without adding way more weight to the "chassis" area of the unibody. The rockers of these convertibles already are reinforced with an extra section, but to get rid of the cowl shake it was either stiffen the floorpan/chassis area with more metal or tune out the shake with these harmonic dampers (not dampeners, that would just get it wet).

They didn't replace strength. They damped out deflections to reduce NVH problems like cowl shake.

[Frank DuVal]

Hey Marty, did you look at corvairforum yet????

 

https://www.corvairforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19103

 

 

Right, Joe, I should have left the strength comment out. The rockers already have enough strength, the cars do not collapse until the tin worm eats a lot of steel out of the rockers.

[Marty Roth]

21 hours ago, Frank DuVal said:

Hey Marty, did you look at corvairforum yet????

 

https://www.corvairforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19103

 

 

Right, Joe, I should have left the strength comment out. The rockers already have enough strength, the cars do not collapse until the tin worm eats a lot of steel out of the rockers.

Thank you, @Frank DuVal,

The link shows the full set of four for both front and rear, reasonably priced, and would have been a good option, although my '65 still retains the original front units. 

I will keep the reference for any possible future Corvair needs.

I'm thankfully awaiting shipment of a pair of rear units with hardware, sourced from Corvair Ranch in Pennsylvania.

https://corvairranch.com/

(717) 624-2805

[Littlestown Mike]

On 2/9/2024 at 10:37 PM, joe_padavano said:

They didn't replace strength. They damped out deflections to reduce NVH problems like cowl shake.

Exactly.  You don't make anything "stronger" by merely adding weight.  Added weight in the form of thicker body sections, or extra reinforcing panels does make the body stronger; reducing flex.  Dampeners mostly just disguise the problem.

[LARRYCAROL]

Around 1980 we had vibration issues with vw diesels, one fix was a weight in front bumper. Some cars had from factory but you could install one as per tech bulletin. Directions told you exactly were to drill bumper and part number to order.