Nelson
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Posts posted by Nelson
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Heck, I often run 45 psi in the front. If you’re really worried just drop it to 44. 🤫
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put more air in the front tires. Try 45 psi for a start.
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23 hours ago, mfg said:
Yes Nels, A physician who lived in Newburyport, Mass ordered the car in late ‘55… The purchase order notes ‘special order’, monochromatic velvet black, overdrive, power steering, and delete hood and fender top ornaments.
Also, there’s a Speedster streamer attached at the body tag so, I guess, folks on production line would understand what was going on.
The car was driven to 130K, then in 1965 its 259 engine spun a bearing and the car was put into storage for years.
I purchased it in 1990, and gave it a fairly nice restoration, including complete rebuild of the original engine, repaint, new leather interior, etc.
Back in 1990 I really wasn’t looking to purchase a Speedster, as I had owned one previously, and had moved on to Avantis, however, I felt this one was an oddity I couldn’t pass up.
PS…. At local Stude meets I made up a little sign I place in front of this Stude… l refer to it as…’THE DOCTOR’S CAR’!
As I said, pretty cool. The doctor had good taste.
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That is pretty cool to have that work done at the factory and then being painted black. Did you ever get the history on the car?
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16 hours ago, Dwight FitzSimons said:
Not that it matters (also), but I have R-5407, originally R1 and 4-speed, no AC, gray with Claret interior.
Now has engine problems and is going into garage for engine repair. Paint (Avanti Maroon) will come later.
Dwight. Is that Walt Boetchers old car?
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A note on correct Avanti water pumps and how they differ from standard pumps. The tower on the Avanti pump is taller than a standard V8 pump, the bearing used in both pumps is the same. The position of the Avanti bearing is closer to the front of the car which is allowable due to the taller tower. The fan pulley mounting flange is pressed on the shaft almost to the top of the casting tower on the Avanti style and not nearly as far as with the standard V8. The distance from the fan flange mounting surface to the gasket surface is the same on both pumps. The water pump bearing have a front set of ball bearings and a rear set. The Avanti setup, with correct pump, all the belt load is distributed evenly between the front and rear bearing set. When using a standard V8 pump all the load is taken by the front set of bearing. The result is rapid bearing failure at the front of the pump.
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I noticed that hole also. I don’t remember why it was there but I put about five layers of aluminum duct tape over it as I’m sure the ice would find it and walk right in.
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Great photo. I would love to have met him and taken him to dinner just to bs.
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Some of the Bonneville cars had #’s lower than B9. I would think the B #’s started at 1. Some may have been destroyed on a dyno but the numbers certainly would have started at 1.
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I always thought the car probably had frequent engine changes so they just never reinstalled a fan shroud. However, the broken idler during the road test could be the reason. I remember Andy saying the car always overheated which it most certainly would with no fan shroud. You would think Andy would have realized that? That was back in the day when Avantis had shrouds with the bottom section in it. Later everyone started cutting the bottom of the shroud away which made changing water pumps a much easier job.
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23 hours ago, mfg said:
I’ve wondered how much attention was paid to the occasional ‘streamer’ attached to a body tag screw….With the streamer, body tag, and firewall all painted the same color, and the bodies moving along on an assembly line,I’m sort of surprised those occasional steamer tags were noticed at all!
Did the ‘64 R3 Commander sedan have a streamer? With all of its special equipment one would think it would have!
No. It may have a 4 speed tag but I don’t think it does. It was a 259 three speed car (?) pulled from the assembly line and moved to engineering for installation of the R3 package. I imagine the car was pretty near completed when it was pulled. I know convertibles started life as a hard top then went to another area where the roof was cut off and convertible components added. I would think that would be Pre frame but i am uncertain of that.
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I imagine a build order sheet was in the car as it traveled the assembly line so the proper equipment could be installed.
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Bob. I never heard Studes were delivered without floor covering? I know seat belts were in the trunk in 1964. Are you sure you don’t have that crossed up? The carpets were installed with twist type nails to get a nice fit. The tool would have been air powered I would think.
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I’ve found production orders in Studes under the carpet, seats, console and glovebox but I’ve never found one in an Avanti.
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Shims or spacers at the door latch mechanism at the B pillar. Spacers at all four corner connections of bumper to body.
Just a lot of shims in our Avantis🤔
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Spacers at the hinge to door connection for adjustments.
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And shims at the top of the king pins., at one side of the axle in the rear end on R1 and R2.
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There are spacers/shims at the disc brake bridge to square with the rotor.
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Burnt fluid?
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22 hours ago, bob caser said:
It would delight me to have a R3 powered car in the showroom. I have seen in person every Bonneville car over the years, Sherwood Egbert's personal car and # 1025 when Vince Granatelli owned it. But I have never seen your R3 Lark. A car that I consider to being very significant, and I thank you for saving it.
Thanks for the comment, Bob. I just wish I could see those cars you saw back in the day. Good photos of those Bonneville cars, especially under hood shots and inside trunk shots of the two R3 convertibles. I own both of those cars and have one pretty much finished. If it wasn’t for having those two as samples plus the HR road test Lark it would be anyones guess on how things were supposed to go together and how they should be fitted. One big surprise was they didn’t run an air cleaner at Bonneville and evidently were sold that way. One of the convertibles has never been restored under the hood and witness marks made by the hose from the air intake to the blower are pronounced as wear on the inner fender. When this one gets restored I will do nothing to the paint work or misjudgments made during the original build. To me that is what is so cool about original cars……they are still able to tell their story.
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Sort of like a Graham Hollywood after the coffin nose Cord.
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Low or no trans fluid?
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If my memory is serving me today I think the steering column at the dash was shimmed as needed to accommodate the shims under the cowl?
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Factory R3 Avantis typically used shims at the back side of the lower control arms to gain positive caster.
R3 Numbers!
in Avanti Trivia
Posted
No they didn’t number them. Even the standard casting number was on them. They were cast on Veterans Day 1963 by the date code. There is a V or N (?) cast into the side of the block. This block was discussed in an old SDC thread.