mfg

I’d definitely be interested if it were closer… I have an ‘84 ‘nose’ that would be a perfect start for a rebuild.

Was the Royal Bobcat a 421?…I’ve heard they would switch the 389 out for a 421.

And the many present day Studebaker and Studebaker Avanti owners who have been able to obtain a copy of the PO for their cars really appreciate the work your father did!

Yes… that water pump thing… it did seem extremely common for water pumps to fail on Studebaker Avantis…. Some owners felt that, on R2 models, and R1 with A/C versions, too much pressure was applied to the water pump bearings from the supercharger and or A/C system system. Personally, I think the frequent water pump failures happened because of Avanti owners replacing the original water pump with a standard duty non-flanged type, which really wasn’t designed to be strong enough to take the extra pressure.

A Shelby Cobra at eighteen….WOW!!

You’re welcome!… Good luck!

Yes…. If the engine was removed from my Avanti, I would have probably pulled the heads off and cleaned things up. And yes… that ‘KD’ tool is the one… A decent tool similar to it can be purchased at Harbor Freight.

I like using the ‘two legged’ valve spring compression tool…. Easy to use, and relatively inexpensive if you don’t already have one….. Pulling the rocker shaft gives you more room to ‘operate’, and doesn’t hurt anything as long as you re-torque the four head bolts.

It would be interesting to see an updated list of the whereabouts of those nine Avantis.

With the cylinder heads in place, I’ve always removed the rocker shaft, then went down the line of cylinders, filling each in turn with 125 lbs. or so of air pressure to keep the valves closed… Some folks feed nylon rope into the cylinder, then turn engine by hand until that cylinders piston comes up and compresses the rope against the valves.. I’ve never tried that…. Br careful not to lose the two valve keepers after you compress the valve spring….. Also, in my opinion, only the eight intake valves require valve seals.

You count CORRECT!

No thoughts on this?

Good thought but no…. The answer to this one is FALSE!

AMC is CORRECT!

Personally, I think the Studebaker Avanti came out AWESOME considering the limited funding and time constraints placed on its development…… I believe that’s why we, on this forum, are still talking about it today!

Anyone know if all nine factory production R3 powered ‘64 Studebaker Avantis have been accounted for?

In a period road test photo of Avanti 63R-1016, it appears that the fan shroud is missing…. If it was, I wondered if it was destroyed when the twin supercharger belts blew off the R3 engine during the HRM performance evaluation of the car? A Studebaker Avanti being driven in a warm climate (California) would almost certainly overheat without a fan shroud…. Interesting!

Back in the day, when a Paxton supercharger was overhauled, the American made drive element set was found superior to the German made drive element…..True?

A Paxton Supercharger’s fluid dipstick is made up of …..?….. pieces. 1) One……2) Two…3) Three ….or…..4) Four

The windshield wiper/washer switch found on the dash of 1983 Avantis was ‘borrowed’ from …..?….. 1) AMC….2) GM Saturn….3) Ford…or…..4) Chrysler

I’ll bet the mod was done by somebody who was sick of his cars getting ‘rear ended’, and decided to risk bumper damage but save the body itself…..Definitely interesting, however, I doubt if this modification will catch on!!

We’re discussing a fawn/elk interior here.

The dash pad and upper vinyl on door & 1/4 panel upholstery is ‘fawn’… The console and lower door vinyl should be ‘elk’…. My Avanti has the same color interior as yours and ‘I THINK’ the roll bar cover is fawn……. (I haven’t thought about that in so long I’ll have to double check!!) Yep…. Fawn!

Same shifter…. but with longer shift rods and a completely different shift lever.. also possibly a different shifter to trans mounting bracket.

No, not the rubber shims…..I believe the poster is speaking of supplemental brackets extending the entire rear bumper face bar rearward, away from the body.