Nelson

So how is there two of them?

Maybe a counterfeit out there?#

This is the PO info:

Now that is strange. I thought maybe it was a typo but body and serial # match. Here are some photos of mine. The edge color on the body tag is silver metal not white.

Bob. Just went out and checked it. Serial # is 63R3544. Body # 63RQ5082 engine # R2497. Where did your info originate? This car is all original. Never repainted with exception of spot work paint is still shot. Body tag is as you would expect mostly gold. Serial number on plate on frame with correct rivets. 140 speed not 160. I had checked the PO prior to purchase and all was correct.

It’s not real early. 6R3544. I also have a white with orange which is 48##. I think there were two or three with a little later number but less than 4892.

That texture paint is interesting. It mentions dashes but also bumpers. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a textured bumper which leaves me wondering if the product allows a textured finish to me added using texture stamps often used in vinyl repair.

Thanks for the compliments. Yes it’s pretty much all bondo. I did use fiberglass mesh on the large cracks in an effort to keep them from returning. I also did the crack areas with the better bondo with glass fiber already in it. That stuff is a lot harder to sand so all the major applications were done using light weight stuff as it sands easily. There is no grain in the bondoed areas. I bought some spray bed liner thinking it might look like grain but it just looked like paint. I was thinking you might be able to shrink wrap a grained skin on the whole dash? Actually it looks good enough. I doubt there will be many people that notice the different textures

Well I’ve been playing around with a 63 Avanti I bought out of Phoenix Arizona and yesterday I decided to try to resurrect a really shot dash pad. The pad had actually fallen down far enough to hide the instrument. The Arizona heat had pretty much cooked the dash. The car really deserves a new dash pad but trying to recoup a $2000 plus plus investment can be difficult to do with a run of the mill 63 Avanti. So yesterday I decided to try to repair the dash to bring it to something presentable. I didn’t get a picture prior to starting on the project but the dash pad was really BAD! My first picture is after I heated the underside of the pad by the instruments using a heat gun. I was able to raise it back up to its original location with a 4 1/2 inch by 12 inch piece of plywood and a wood prop from the underside of the plywood to the steering column. I left that prop there through the entire process and removed it prior to paint. I then sanded the top of the pad with 80 grit paper. I also completely cleaned the entire dash with “Prep All” prior to doing any work. All cracks were reinforced with fiberglass mesh to keep the crack from returning. After those repairs were made I started with the bondo. Shaping the bondo a cheese grader was used to rough in the shape followed by 36 grit sand paper to 150 grit to 400 grit. I found a close match to the original elk dash color in a Rustolium spray paint called French Beige. I have about $25 wrapped up in the project and a good day to day and a half worth of work. It looks pretty decent. Not a new pad for sure but beats what was there and looks better than a carpet covering the pad.

Hi Steve. Are you driving or flying to the meet? I’m going to the show also. Is there any way to bring the shroud? What do you need for it?

Hi Steve. I just now saw I had a response to my wanted ad. Where are you located?

Anybody know when the salt and pepper carpet was dropped in favor of the solid black?

Your pitman arm is not clocked right on the steering box or someone really screwed up adjusting tie rods with the steering wheel not on center.

Ok, that sounds right.

I thought they were black? I saw one back in the day but don’t remember it being silver?

Just sent a pm.

They probably would have lost the vinyl top at speed.

Anybody have a damaged Avanti radiator shroud. I’d like to do some cutting and reforming but don’t want to cut up the good one on my car.

Probably 62. Not sure of any being titled as 1962.

Who wrote that article? Pretty screwed up from what I’ve read. For someone pushing the marque their information is very flawed.

Does a racing water pump circulate more water or less water. I would think less water to not use extra HP?

You are right on the traction required. The traction actually comes from the steel balls giving a little bit at the interface with the race. Sort of like where the tire meets the ground. A friend tried precision ceramic drive balls in a blower thinking since they were lighter they wouldn’t have the tendency to spread the outer races from the centrifugal force at higher rpm. What happened is the balls easily slipped on the inner race. The ceramic balls did not flatten at all at the interface so could not get traction to transfer the energy. As for Valvoline synthetic trans fluid not working out in your blower I’m not sure what to tell you. I’ve had multiple failures with type f fluid and none with Mobile 1 synthetic. A friend down in Australia just wrote me the other day. He has less than 2000 miles on his rebuilt Paxton running type F fluid and it started growling so is now off the car and into the repair shop. Also, at one time Paxton Products used the engine oiling system to lubricate the blower. They discontinued that method but I think due to contaminating the engine oil when the inevitable blower failure occurred.

I’ve mentioned this before years ago using type F trans fluid.I noticed the dipstick would get very hot, especially on long trips. It was so hot that I needed a rag to insulated my fingers from the dipstick when pulling it out to check the level. I also went through drive sets too often. I changed over to Mobil 1 synthetic trans fluid. I found that I could now check the oil without using a rag but just my bare hands. I would think this tells me the fluid is not being sheared at the bearing interface which would produce the heat. My bearing problem is gone. Maybe the B&M Trickshift does the same thing? Did you notice a reduction in blower temperature on trips or even around town?

Maybe I was just more impressionable at twenty years old but it sticks like glue in my memory. I’ll bet you were in your younger years when that tri power GTO made its mark in your memory?

I’ve driven Studes with all the different R engines and the one that sticks with me as the best sounding from the driver’s seat is actually the R1. The reason could be that my first hippo Stude was a 63 R1 4 spd which I flogged relentlessly. The exhaust was running through silent mufflers and was a good sound but the induction noise when the secondaries of the afb opening was shear symphonic. It just made me want to run it to 6200 rpm and power shift to the next gear which I did often. The only improvement to the induction noise would be four two barrel Webers.