Nelson

Hey Gunslinger. I just noticed you are in Sun City West. Are you a snow bird? I’m over on the east side of Phoenix for the winter.

That was planned and prototypes or at least one prototype was built. The bore of that engine was 3 7/8 inch. With the std stroke of 3 5/8 the displacement went to 342 ci. Oil gallies on this block had to be moved upward and outward to gain clearance for the larger bore. A longer stroke by 1/4 inch would yield 365 cubic inch. I believe this engine was aimed at the 1965 model year.

What is stamped on the pad on the engine block under the fuel filter?

For whatever reason I remember the Avanti blowers being black and The R2 Lark and Hawk versions being orange. This made some sense as the Hawk and Lark back ends were clocked differently than the Avanti so you couldn’t interchange the two without re clocking the case. I imagined the two styles would be different colors just to keep the confusion down when stationing the blowers at their particular installation point. However, the first Avanti predated the R2 Lark and Hawk by maybe several months so the first Avanti could have been orange, red or black. It’s too bad there aren’t a bunch of color pictures from back in 1962 and 63.

Yes, Dwight. A weight saving at the front end could have been considerable by just manufacturing the water pump housing and pump itself in aluminum, blower mounting and idler in aluminum along with crank pulley and water pump pulley. Even an aluminum intake. Also tube headers as you mention and placing that heavy ass battery in the trunk on the passenger side. I wouldn’t be surprised if the weight distribution could have gone from the road test thought of 58/42 to 55/45 maybe better. As for the Ferrari engine: I’m glad the offer was made just for bragging rights but the cost would have been high, warranty cost out the roof and no time or money to make the change.

Drop me a line. I might be able to help you out.

I imagine you’re looking for an original 64 setup that will take the original Avanti steering wheel. I know Studebakers spline count is different than any of the others. These setups are very rare.

that pinion seal sure sounds high. I think it is the same as any Dana 44 or Dana 27. I bought one from NAPA a few months back. It was higher than I had remembered but I don’t think it was even near $90. I remember U joints where about $5 each about fifty years ago but they have to be way more these days.

I think there are three settings and the wording stamped is sometimes not the same. Something like soft, medium, HD or sometimes export instead of HD. I know you need to collapse the shock completely and rotate the bottom against the top and you will hear or feel the click when it changes position. That sounds pretty cool that you are getting your Avanti out of hibernation after fifty plus years. Especially since you are the original owner. What year and serial number?

I’m not certain but StuV may have made the first set and that tooling could have been acquired by Studebaker or it may have been the other way around. I had or probably still have a set that has the name StuV cast into the header.

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.

I’m in Cincinnati and will probably be at the South Bend meet in June.maybe someone could deliver them

Only original 63/64 Avanti wheels. Not Chrysler or after market.

Ive owned a few of the Avanti II s but never worked on them much. I know they did jack the body up off the frame at the cowl about two inches maybe a little less but that would end up being more up at the radiator. As for the radiator shroud I would think, like Zedman, that some tweaking would have been done at the radiator shroud but I could be wrong.