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Was he mounting an A/c compressor there ?

My '63 R1 Avanti has distinctly lower pressure from the driver side exhaust pipe - probably a third of the velocity of the passenger side. I checked Youtube and found various ways of checking for exhaust restrictions, including using a thermal imagining camera . Don't have one, but used my trusty laser thermometer instead. The results were rather dramatic: Driver side muffler 104 degrees, can easily hold my hand on it. Passenger side over 300 degrees, hot stove territory. This is a fully rebuilt engine that runs (in my opinion) very strong. What could cause this?

The '63 R1 I inherited from my dad, an electrical engineer for NASA who bought it new, no longer charges the battery. What should be my first step? A tiny bit of background; when I got the car 8 years ago, it ran great. AC blows cold, everything works as it should. Then it sat too long. The horn and interior lights quit working. Otherwise, it still runs beautifully until the battery dies. Now the lack of charging. Could something other than the alternator be the issue? Dad moved the battery to the trunk and put a fake up front. Do people still rebuild alternators, as I saw my dad do for countless other cars and maybe even this one? I'm curious about that Wilson sticker... Paul in Sarasota, FL

Nice car. One of the first things should be to change the fuel line arrangement from the carb to the fuel pump. A rubber fuel hose laying on the block and water manifold is asking for a fire. There should be a metal line all the way except for the 2 inch long rubber pieces on each end of the fuel filter.

I believe that black is what Studebaker engineers originally had in mind for the superchargers… however, since the blower is the ‘star’ of the engine compartment, they decided orange stood out much better. (and I agree with that!)

Very odd upper radiator hose set up…. The plate you were asking about must be there just to support the upper hose. If it was my car, I’d make some changes there. (Looks like a lot of $$$ was spent on your Avanti by the prior owner!)

The heads are not r3s with the proper casting number as I suspected. he has added parts to make it look like it. The engine has been rebuilt but without reciepts so have no idea of the internals. I put a bore scope in each cylinder and the piston tops are new and you can see honing marks on the walls. No oil in the engine yet and bore scope in through the drain plug all is as if it has never run. mystery oil in each piston going to use an old distributor to spin up oil pressure and then spin the motor without plug before trying to start up.

I have no idea of what all has been done. I will check for the casting numbers this evening after work. Its always an adventure to come on board after the fact and not have the original worker around to talk about what parts and procedures have been done.

The essence, and qualifier, for an R3 engine is the cylinder heads. More pix will help us identify your engine. R3 heads are identified by the casting number on the center exhaust port of the head. The last three digits of that casting number are 479. From your picture it looks like you have a Lionel Stone reproduction R3 intake manifold. --Dwight (got one R3 & that's enough)

Should be like this. That looks like a solution of its own.

That makes two of us!!

Putting together a 63 that was started by a friend that has passed away. Almost all is new and looks to be R3. I am at a loss as to the purpose of this plate other than as a place for the alternator bracket.

Black was the original color of the super chargers. The color was changed to Orange as the model year progressed.

I noticed in the latest issue of AVANTI MAGAZINE (213) that the Paxton supercharger on 63R1001 (first production Studebaker Avanti) was refinished in the color black….. I’m certain that the restorers of this particular Avanti were striving for authenticity, and I found that interesting.

Hopefully soon! I mentioned this because a ‘follow up’ story about the Due Cento (hopefully with more pics!) was mentioned in the last AVANTI MAGAZINE (Issue 212)…. Perhaps next issue?

Well, since I am one of about 11 that signed up for the digital version, I hope it is available electronically sometime soon either on the AOAI site or JOOMAG.

I would think that a 1955 Studebaker Commander super-short stroke 224 CI V8 engine would be a good starting point for an 8,000 RPM Stude engine… with some expectation of reliability!

Yes, Issue 213….. winter/spring 2026

So all black carpet was available in 63 afterall? I thought only 64 had solid black. See the gold and red cars in the table.

Latest issue, meaning Spring 2026?

This is from the 1963 Avanti Order Guide.

Your flyer must have been printed between the time ‘Avanti Black’ was discontinued and replaced with ‘Avanti Grey’….. and before ‘Avanti Black’ was offered again as an extra cost option. PS…. Your black Avanti is a nice ‘stable mate’ with your all black ‘51 Commander!….Ed