[Relocate the battery to the trunk]

I have just moved the battery to the trunk after heat killing two batteries.  This is my second battery change.  Two years ago I got rid of the 3EE for a NAPA Legend 7551.  It is narrow enough to fit in the 3EE space even with power steering.  It lasted twice as long as the 3EE and had 20% more CCA.

[Avanti engine for sale]

I have an extra set of Avant heads, so if you still have it, I could be interested.  I am only eleven hours north of you.  Attached picture is of my Avanti when I bought it.  It was like putting together a kit, with only partial IKEA instructions.

[Instrument Illumination, crankshaft seals]

I wanted to change to LED wherever possible.  It found brighter LED lights that still fit the blub space in the gauges.  Unlike the first LEDs I tried, these brighter ones made a noticeable improvement for night driving.  I can now no longer tell the Trooper that I could not read the speedometer when doing 100.

[The Avanti lake]

On 11/6/2019 at 5:26 PM, mfg said:

 Studebaker Avanti door window and vent window sealing was marginal at best.....By 1989, (same body,) the seals around those areas were much improved.

About all you can do (if you intend to keep those seals original), is to replace the seals with supple new ones, and carefully adjust the doors (and side and vent window frames) as best you can (per factory shop manual.)

Also, the drain holes for the plenum chamber, ( which is under the grill in front of the windshield), are located at bottom center of the L&R front fenders....These drain holes are about the size of a dime and tend to plug up over time!

I did poke a screwdriver up the plenum holes and the one on the passenger side was plugged.  About a pint came out of it.  Also my hog troughs both have 1/8 inch holes on the bottom near their rears.  The driver side was plugged and some water came out of it.  We will do the hose routine next, thanks.

[The Avanti lake]

When I leave my 63 Avanti outside and it rains, I get Lake Avanti on the front floor pans.  Could the air/heat vents be leaking into the cab?  Where are the drain holes for the water than enters the grille in front of the windshield?   The windshield does not show signs of leaking, it was installed with fresh weather striping just two years ago and I keep the car in a garage for obvious reasons.  What else should I be looking for as a source of this flood?

[Slow Windshield wiper]

As I was driving my 63 Avanti home from the Studebaker Swap Meet in Dunkirk Friday, I caught up into a monsoon.  I quickly realized that the wipers while prefect for a light rain were no match for a heavy rain.  They work properly and reset but have only one speed.  No matter where I turn the knob, the wiper speed does not seem to increase.  Is this a wiper motor or a rheostat switch problem?

[Vapor lock?]

All good mysteries need an exciting ending.  The regulator issue was not primarily with the regulator.  Just because you have relied on your faithful battery charger for thirty years, that does not mean that someday it it will create a mystery on its way to the scrap yard.  Even after I insulation wrapped and then replaced the starter, insulated the exhaust pipes, checked all my connections I found that the battery was showing over 18 volts.  It had fried its plates.  A lot of voltage but no amperage.  So I replaced it and then checked the battery charger.  As a test I hooked it to a known good battery that was fully charged at 12.8 volts.  It charger immediately started raising its voltage past 13, then 14 towards 15.  The circuit that should lower its output had stopped working. 

I took this opportunity to also upgrade to a 55 amp alternator with integral voltage regulation.  The article explaining the suggested wiring changes was easily accomplished.  Plus I added a new series 51 battery which just need a fabricated new hold down and I am now smiling each time my Avanti starts up.  Thank you all for your advice and fact checking.

[Vapor lock?]

Well, it has been a couple of interesting weeks.  I started with heat shielding the Delco starter, that did not help.  I them used DE exhaust pipe wrap back to the gear shirter, that did not help. I got a rebuilt starter Prestolite from Myers Studebaker. So now I got the correct starter and that did not help.  I did a test on the battery first when charged and after running it at highway speeds for 30 minutes and both times it shows 18.2 volts.  Then when cranking the voltage downs from 16 to 9 volts after about four revolutions and then the starter speed drops to a stop.   So I have the 3EE tested at two stores with the same result, instead of having 400 CCA, it has 299 CCA.  So I buy both a new Series 51 battery with 500 CCA rating and 1/0 cables they will get installed Wednesday. 

Even though I converted the voltage regulator to a electronic circuit, could it and/or the alternator be charging a problem with the battery due to overly high voltage?  Is 18+ just too high?  I did recently check the 3EE and all the cells had water over the plates and I topped each cell with more distilled water.  What else am I missing?

[How to Correct Reported Build Specs for Interior?]

Since no one else responded, I will agree that you did the correct thing so that the keepers of the information have one more detail for our basis of knowledge.  The only other thing that I would do, assuming that he does not already know, is to forward this information to the Archivist at the Studebaker National Museum.  He is Andrew Beckman and his email is: abeckman@studebakermuseum.org

[Heater water flow direction]

I am installing a Vintage Air a/c system.  The instructions state that their heater valve will only work properly if installed with the correct water flow direction.  Therefore which is the output flow from the water pump, the connection next to the passenger side head, or the connection that goes straight up out of the water pump manifold? 

Thank you all again for all the assistance that you give the rest of us.

Okay, since no one has replied, here is how I am trying to figure this out:

The fan when looking from the front turns clockwise.  The pump should be pulling coolant from the radiator through the hose on the lower art of the radiator and pushing it into the engine and heater core.  Those connections are on the top of the water manifold.  The result is that I probably had the flow backwards into the heater control valve of the Vintage Air unit.  Am I looking at this correctly?

[Vapor lock?]

I just looked at my starter.  It is a Delco-Remy Model 110765 Series 9K21.  When I took it apart to check it and found it to be a four pole starter, I was hoping that it would be suitable. 

I know that it is not original to the Avanti.   But I also know that the person who had this car apart, was also parting out a couple of 289 Hawks around the same time.  I checked all my connections and they are all tight and clean.  I will fabricate the heat shield and do the amperage test next.

[Vapor lock?]

As to the current starter.  Although I cannot remember the model, it is a four pole Delco-Remy.  I will get under it Wednesday evening and give the model number.  I will check all the connections.  I do have the battery grounded to the engine block.  I will look into wrapping a heat shield.  I do know that although the gauge shows that I do not have an engine overheating issue, that the engine compartment is the hottest of my vehicles when I open the hood immediately after it running.

When I first put everything together, I found that I was over zealous with painting and the starter would not turn due to the paint insulating it from a proper ground.  A bit of scraping and sand paper worked wonders.

[Vapor lock?]

Gunslinger, the car came as a do it yourself kit, as the original owner had taken it apart forty years earlier.  Attached is the photo on Ebay that almost made me not get this car!  It did not come with a carburetor so I bought a new Edelbrock 1406 to install on it.  Therefore I not not have any idea how it ran before the rebuild.  I will recheck all connections, but they were all tight and clean when I last looked.  It only does this when it is hot, if I let it sit an hour or two it starts fine.

By the way, I do not know if there is any correlation, but my vacuum gauge never seems to move much above 10 or below 5.

[Vapor lock?]

I have a R-1 with an Edelbrock 1406.  If I stop and come back within an hour, it starts hard.  The starter can barely turn over the engine.  Even with a jumper box, it turns slowly for the first 5 to 10 revolutions, then if I am lucky, it speeds up and starts.  My impression is that this is vapor lock and cranking the engine clears it out after a number of rotations.  Am I correct?  And what can be done to minimize this problem?

[1557139 Flange & insulator assembly]

Thanks for advising me to look for this part.  I found several available online and via Napa.  Be sure to count your spline and measure carefully the diameter as there are different spline counts and diameter sizes available.  I measured the Avanti as 3/4 inch dia with 36 spline, which is the most common available. 

[1557139 Flange & insulator assembly]

I wish that I was talking about the rubber.  The rubber is fine.  It is the actual cast metal collar that was stripped.  It is now smooth and can not hold tight against the steering gear.

[Adding AC]

I bought a Vintage Air system and am almost finished with the installation.  It takes some doing, but it is possible to reverse engineer the existing Avanti console controls and the overhead switch to control the Vintage Air system without it showing.  There is an extra tab on the overhead switch which allows power to the A/C system.  The only disadvantage so far is that instead of three fan speeds the Avanti give you only two choices.

[1557139 Flange & insulator assembly]

When assembling the steering column on my 63 Avanti, I did not torque the collar on the Flange Assembly properly.  The good news is that I found out that the serrations on the Ross Steering gear are of a stronger steel than than the collar's steel serrations.  The bad news is that there are no longer much of any serrations left on the collar and that I need a replacement part.  SI does not have this in their catalog, any options or alternate sources?  

[Pinch bolt socket size?]

Thanks, neither the Parts or Service manuals specify.

[Visor repair/restoration]

Has anyone ever tried to remount them closer to the windshield so that they can be a bit more effective.  It seems that I could move them about an inch forward by adding to the mounting blocks. Or what is the most authentic larger substitution that people try instead?

[Pinch bolt socket size?]

It need to take apart the steering flange and need to know what kind and size socket fits the special bolt holding the flange tight onto the steering gear shaft?

[Speedometer erratic]

Finally got my 63 R1 out of the transmission shop.  So I took it out into a cloverleaf pushing 40 and then on the four lane and floored it.  When it hit about 40 the speedometer cable started whining and the needle erratically jumped up to 100 to 140. Figured I had it over 70 for a short stretch then slowed down because of the noise. I know that I have a correct pinion gear in the transmission and thought I had a good cable.  What should I check first?

[Multiple electrical & other glitches]

I drove Avanti R-4051 for its first test since the beginning of a frame off restoration began in 1973. This barn find was delivered to my garage in December 2014 as a shell full of boxes and plastic totes full of parts. Mechanically it is together and working. The electrical is challenging me. I have used the original wiring harness which looked almost new and tested continuity in all the individual wires. Even though I cleaned all the connectors with fine sandpaper and the female sides with a very small wire brush, when I connected everything the following do not work:

1. Turn signals. I did change over all the bulbs except headlights to LED's. They did work before I blew the fuse due to a bad new instrument panel bulb that shorted directly to its case. Bulb and fuse replaced and now nothing. I also replaced the flasher with a LED matching electronic flasher. When that did not work I tried two other original flashers with no better results.
2. Horn. Worked before I took the steering column apart to trace and insulate the column wires from the steering column jacket. Found out tonight that it works when I am not pressing the brake. But does not work when the car is in the garage whether the ignition is on or not or with any combination of switches on.
3. Gas gauge. I think that the connections at the tank are not conducting. Is there any other typical things that I should check?
4. Wiper motor. Also did work. I think that I have this fixed, it appears that the 5 amp circuit breaker is not resetting, as there is not continuity across its terminals.
5. Back up lights. this blew a fuse due to a terminal on the automatic transmission switch had bent out in my installation and shorted against the aluminum under lining that the second owner install in the transmission tunnel. I re-bent the terminal and covered the terminal with electrical tape.
6. Heater. I replaced the original heater with a Vintage Air heater/AC system. I think that I have the heater wires correct, but cannot get the heater blower to go on. I have not yet installed the AC compressor yet.
7. Clock. I did add a ground between the case and the Z bar, but still nothing.
8. Grounding. Besides the clock ground I also added a 10 gauge ground between the Z bar of the dash and the engine.
9. Speedometer. I installed a new speedometer cable and used the correct gear at the transmission, but no speed readings.

A couple of early observations about the car. Gee does the engine compartment inner fender walls get hot, is that normal? And boy am I am glad that Jon Myer sold me the "silent" mufflers. Cannot think about how loud it would be otherwise. And yes even thought I only had it up to 50 mph, it is more fun than I deserve. I appreciate all the assistance folks like the Myer family and Dave Thibeault have graciously given. Gary Landrio

[FIDANZA aluminum flywheel]

I am thinking of replacing the stock steel flywheel with a Fidanza aluminum replacement on my 1963. What is the correct part number to fit the Borg Warner automatic?

[1963 metallic gray paint formula]

The auto paint stores cannot find a paint formula to make the Avanti metallic gray paint. We have the paint codes but they do not cross reference to an actual formula for the mix. Any suggestions?