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Nelson

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Posts posted by Nelson

  1. Number one is the furthest cylinder to the front. It is on the driver’s side front. Number two is right across from number one and is the front cylinder on the passenger side. Three is next to one and four next to two and so on. Firing order is 1 8 4 3 6 5 7 2. The rotor is pointed toward the back of the carb when the firing order starts. The rotor is pointed at the number one plug wire on the cap when the timing mark is at the pointer on the compression stroke. Note: it is at the top dead compression once every two revolutions. 

    I think I would see if you are getting any spark Pull any plug wire and plug a spark plug into it. Lay the plug on the block and turn the engine over while looking for a spark. Don’t put it on the valve cover as it won’t be grounded if the cover has good gaskets and o rings at the hood downs. Try cleaning the points with solvent. Do you have 12v at the coil when you try to start the engine? You might try just hot wiring the coil right to the battery as a last resort.

  2. Leo. Good idea on the marine varnish. I never thought about water coming through there. What I did when I was trying to find the leak was to run water through the cowl vent with the door open and my head under the dash looking for a leak.That’s when the the water level came up high enough in the A pillar and started flowing out the lower hinge pocket onto the molded rubber threshold and into the footwell. The carpet would get wet near the door jamb on that particular Avanti. 

  3. I’ll tell you exactly where it’s coming from. Water goes in the cowl grill and is supposed to drain out a drain hole at the bottom of the front fender just in front of the door. Those holes are either not there too small or plugged up. The water rises in the A pillar and overflows at the “hing pocket”. It then flows onto the rubber threshold and into the footwell instead of running out the door. The threshold is actually slopped toward the inside of the car.

    To fix it you need to take the interior vent grill off and the vent door behind it and reach down in the bottom and pull out leaves, dirt, old sandpaper etc. Either the holes are too small or don’t exist. You will need to open them up larger or put the drains in yourself. Just be careful as there is little room for error.

    This problem has plagued Avantis from day one and I don’t think they ever realized where the problem was coming from. The fix isn’t hard and is certainly worth the effort.

  4. Geoff is right. There were blocks cast and machined to at least 3 7/8 bore. I have one on an engine stand in the garage. The oil galleys were moved higher and closer together. I believe the casting is dated November ‘63. It is fully machined and capable of assembly. I’m sure the cylinder cores were on center and modified.

  5. I think the odd even rods have different part numbers due to the oil hole location in the main journal. Quite often after market rods have two holes in the rod journal so they will work in any location. The hole is there so as to squirt oil on the cylinder wall.

  6. Yes, too much oil in the valve covers and not enough in the pan. They also added windage trays in the pan to help oil get to the pump instead of frothing it up with the crankshaft. A lot of simple but effective ways to keep oil under control at high rpm’s.

  7. Leo. I also read, back in the day, the additional breathers in valve covers and pan was to allow oil return to the pan without fighting windage headed toward the valve covers. This is more true with the pan breather as the ones in the valve covers would seem to have a counter productive result to some degree. I also know high pressure in the oil pan will rob  hp as your combustion pressure to crankcase delta is reduced. Some drag race cars actually pump crankcase pressure out to maximize power. 

  8. 2 minutes ago, Rick Allen said:

    As my previous comments mentioned, I don't have the correct pads yet but my assumption is the pads would stay in place the same as the original Dunlop pads would, and as far as the pins, they are something that may fit into the Jag caliper brackets but not the Avanti ones and should/will be removed, they are only "pressed in" light duty roll pins, other wise the Cobalt caliper is the same,,,

    The Stude pads are retained by a center pin on the piston which the Cobalts don’t have. I Imagine they will be fine as is. I think the center pin on the Stude acted to retract the pad with the piston. Most disc brakes just rely on rotor runout to do the same job…. I think?

  9. Dwight. I agree, as much as I hate the sound of metal against metal it is a great warning sound that tells you it’s time to replace pads or shoes. The problem with the positive stop on the pads is you don’t realize your ability to make a panic stop does not exist when the pads are at the end of their life. I found that out the hard way and it was a good learning experience. 

  10. Dwight. Back in the early 70’s John Shanahan told me about a machine/speed shop in South Bend that did a lot of work for Studebaker and that it had lots of performance parts still in stock. I made a point to stop there and check it out. Most of the parts were gone but I was able to buy the remainder (not many) of their R3/4 head gaskets. While there I noticed a lot of lose disc brake calipers on shelves and asked why so many. He said that Studebaker had, I assume, raw cores and they were boring them to different sizes as engineering was trying to balance the braking from front to rear. That made sense to me and considering how well the cars stopped back then I have to wonder if the additional 10% piston area is the right thing to do. I will say that a vacuum failure does make for a dangerous situation and I can sure see your concern. I will be interesting to see what difference these make with engine off braking.

    Your concern with engine off braking certainly has plenty of merit. I wonder if a vacuum accumulator might be the best approach. 

  11. WhenStudebaker received the shipment of R3 rods they failed inspection for the wrist pin diameter was at the high limit. The rods got approved with a deviation permit. I know of several failures due to the wrist pin broaching the cylinders. With possibly  50 of 110 or so engines using the R3 rod, several is a pretty high failure rate.

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