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Dave Thibeault had some cast in aluminum a few years ago. Dave generally does things well. --Dwight

Both were designed by Raymond Loewy? --Dwight

In the fall of 1962, what was the connection between the United States Line steamer “American Chief” and Studebaker’s new Avanti?

Back in the early '60s when Pontiac was a force on the drag strips...the days of their "Swiss cheese frames" to lighten the car...they also had aluminum headers. Supposedly one could always tell when one of these cars made a run due to the molten aluminum drops on the track.

From what I've always understood Lionel Stone's repops showed a lot of flashing and required some work to get them to fit properly.

email sent Tim

One of our Stude venders showed me a pair of R3 type exhaust headers cast in aluminum…. Not sure how that worked out.

OK Tim…. I’ll snap a couple photos and send them along today…. Right now clearing driveway… 6” snow fell overnight!

Ed, my email address is tr8tim@gmail.com Sorry for the delay; busy times right now - Tim

Left & right exhaust manifolds ARE identical on ALL Studebaker Avantis, whether standard R1-R2 manifolds or R3-R4 "headers." There was no need for a boss for an alternator bracket on Avanti manifolds. Your R3-R4 manifolds will fit any Studebaker V8 from 1955 through 1964, whether 224, 259, 289, R1, R2, R3, or R4. I have a set of Studebaker International's reproduction R3 headers and they have no numbers or letters cast into them, so yours are not the most recent repros. --Dwight

Any of you guys headed to South Bend for the June meet? Do any of the wheels still have a Firestone 500 mounted on them?

They appear to have been port matched. They certainly look original issue but I think the Lionel Stone versions were cast from the same tooling so I think those had the numbers also.

Not sure, but I’d guess you own the real McCoy… Amazing how, after all these years, rare parts like these still turn up !

I have what I think is a pair of unused R3 headers. Three pictures are attached. Please help to answer a few questions. -The left and right look exactly the same. -These don't have the alternator bracket sticking out of the front of the passenger side. -There is a part number 1558353 cast on the right horizontal face on each. On the other front face is cast 206-86. -Pictures of the reproductions don't seem to have a number. What do I have? What models do these fit? Thanks

Pretty easy… drain battery acid, then slice case open near the top. (mine had seam about 1” down from top ) Then slide out and properly dispose of internals, (saving top posts) Then wash out case thoroughly, put top back in place and install a couple of ‘dummy’ battery cables, routed down the side of the now empty battery. You’ve removed about 35 lbs of weight from over the left front wheel and put it where it’s needed… over the rear wheels! I frequently open the hood of my Avanti at car shows, and no one has ever ‘caught on’ to this!

Hog.. Ya gotta keep a trickle charger on em.... and I've never gutted a battery Brad..to be a critic I could say 2 of the engine bays are without complete spark plug noise suppression panels and from a dealership the engines never looked like that having dual carbs and a few other options....But the reality to me is all 3 look excellent.

I will have a set of 5 available in Washington state whenever I get my Turner 4-wheel set-up working.

The SDC Forum will be migrating to a new web host. It will be offline on Sunday Jan. 18 through Monday Jan. 19. It should be back online by Tuesday Jan. 20.

How do you go about gutting the battery? Mine is 6 months old and already faltering, just a matter of time

I’d call it “correct” rather than original. I think some of the suspension bushings and rubber parts on mine may have been “original”. It wasn’t that pleasant to drive with those old parts.

I've built them for authenticity and concourse national non Stude AACA judging for Amelia Island. Also some of them most heavily modified ones using Stude power you will ever see. It depends on customer preferences, and desired shows.

Removing the up to date Turner disc brake system and re-installing the now archaic Dunlop’s??… R5408 best be headed for a nice warm museum!!

Good points from You both.

The instructions are in the Avanti Workshop Manual.

SDC FORUM UPDATE: The SDC Forum will be OFFLINE on Sunday and Monday, January 18-19, 2026, as they move to their new webserver. Apologies for the inconvenience, but in the meantime, the AOAI forum is alive and well and welcomes all Studebaker and Avanti members!!