mfg

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.

No factory rear bumper extension….. ever…….. (Bolt on rubber rear bumper guards were factory installed on later Altman Avantis)

Right…. but what I’m referring to is/was a brand new Hurst shifter that one of our vendors (Dave Thibeault) would reconfigure to fit a Studebaker Avanti Additionally he could replace the rectangular Hurst factory lever with a lever very similar to the Stude original…. I’m not sure if Dave still offers this service.

No problem.. but I don’t see this as really a ‘precision’ fit… The body clips themselves can be moved around slightly…. So, in my opinion, if it looks right to the eye when you stand back… Go with it!

As an aside… When I asked one of our dependable Stude suppliers the cost of a new Hurst Competition Plus four speed shifter, set up for an Avanti, the price was approx $800…That was three years ago, and I’m not sure if new Hurst shifters are even still available.

Excepting the very first handmade Corvette bodies, I don’t think normal production ‘55- ‘62 Chevy Corvette body panels were any “thicker” than Studebaker Avanti body panels.

Yes… exactly the same radio opening…. I replaced a ‘dead’ Blaupunkt also.

That’s a great story!… It really brings back how much of a ‘traffic stopper’ the Studebaker Avanti truly was when it first hit the streets……. Avantis still turn heads… but NOTHING like the excitement this dream car caused when first introduced…. Again, Great Story!…. Ed

‘Avanti Turquoise’ is not a solid or ‘straight’ color…. It has a fine metallic content. I wish painting was simple… or even better if more customers were color blind!!