Dwight FitzSimons

I drove mine through all weather conditions near Pittsburgh, PA all during my Air Force service from 1966 to 1970. It had a 276 deg. cam and was as docile as the R2 I pulled out of that Avanti. --Dwight

I believe it still looks like this: --Dwight

I believe that photo is from the Greg Cone car, R-5054. Two pix from that set: --Dwight

IIRC, the fuel tank capacity of Studebaker Avantis and Avanti IIs, at least up through 1971, is 21 gallons. --Dwight

I don't really know copyright laws, but I would guess that you are ok with posting the article, for a couple reasons: 1) Hot Rod's copyright on this article expired a long time ago. 2) Posting it would be good advertising for Hot Rod. 3) You are not posting the article for any financial gain. --Dwight

Those are pretty wheels, but I would doubt that they would fit a '63 Avanti with the original Studebaker disc brakes. Most use either steel Ford 15x6.5" (or 6") wheels with wheel covers, OR Mustang 16" aluminum wheels OR something else. Many of us replace the original Bendix/Dunlop disc brakes with Turner disc brakes for safety reasons. The stock disc brakes will stop you if everything is perfect, but if everything is not perfect then you may have NO brakes. --Dwight

My answer is R5 too. I will argue that, if there are two valid answers to the question, then "R5" is a CORRECT answer. And, Nelson should be awarded the prize. This is where my critical thinking leads me. Think of Jeopardy. --Dwight

Do you mean dry sump? --Dwight

You guys in Massachusetts drive on the left side of the road? --Dwight

Virginia now puts the state inspection sticker on the lower left (driver's) side of the windshield because of the sensors at the top center of modern vehicles. It's there so passing police can see it. I doubt that any states put their inspection sticker on the right side of the windshield. So, if your state allows stickers on windshields, the lower right side should be ok. --Dwight

3) Ferrari

On my '64 the Dunlop disc brakes lost all braking power when the pads were worn down to about 1/3 of the original material remaining. This is with new rotors; with thinner rotors you would get even less wear out of your pads. That is a "gotcha" with the Bendix/Dunlop disc brakes -- don't let the pads get below 1/2 of the remaining material unless you want a rude surprise. I had to remove my cylinders from the car to get the pistons to retract so I could install new pads. I then used a C clamp with a few washers over the center pin on the piston so it wouldn't get damaged. Make sure the C clamp is centered and slowly tighten the C clamp until the piston is retracted to the bottom of the cylinder. You'll have to bleed your brakes afterwards. --Dwight

Oh shoot! Sorry this happened to you. The above answers are good. I'll just add a bit of info (which may help, or not). The problem with Studebaker Avantis with power windows breaking their fiberglass inner door panel is unrelated to breakage of the door hinge area, so I'll just address that problem. The power windows on a Stude Avanti are mounted to fiberglass that is too weak for the torque that the PW motor can produce. I guess Studebaker Engineering didn't test the power windows sufficiently under "abuse" conditions. By 1970 Avanti Motors had added reinforcement to that area in the form of another layer of fiberglass. I have a set of 1970 Avanti doors that I will put onto my '64 soon and they have this reinforcement. I can post pix if desired. So, my point is that, if possible, you should get a door from an Avanti II with this reinforcement. --Dwight

Years ago one could walk into a locksmith and get a Studebaker key made just from the key code (from the production order). They looked up the code in a book and cut the key. That's not true around here anymore, but perhaps there is someone in the U.S. who still does that. --Dwight

Both '63 and '64 Avantis came with two keys, one for the doors & ignition switch, the other for the glove compartment and console. By this point in time many Studebaker Avantis have had either their ignition switch (including the cylinder) or door locks changed, so will have different keys for the doors than for the ignition. But, when new they used the same key for the doors & ignition. BTW, with rare exception, 1963 Avantis used a different key blank than '64 Avantis. Studebaker switched at the start of the '64 model year. The two key blanks look entirely different. --Dwight