Dwight FitzSimons

How could it have been "cost" when, only 5 years earlier, Studebaker spent the money to add quad headlamps to the '58 Studebaker sedans? I say the styling department personnel all were still having nightmares about those 1958 quad headlamps. --Dwight

The original 15 x 5" steel rims are inadequate for use with modern radials. There seems to be widespread agreement on this. Perhaps they are adequate for use with bias-ply tires. This is supposing that you're satisfied with the going-to-crash-any-minute feeling that you get when driving with bias-ply tires. Also, the steel is so thin on those rims that modern tire store equipment will easily bend them. (I had that happen.) So, make sure that you don't have a bent rim. --Dwight

Yes. --Dwight

The disc brake calipers do need to be centered on the rotor with shims. These aren't floating calipers like modern cars, so they won't center themselves. If the caliper is significantly out of center, then when the brakes are applied the cylinder closer to the rotor will push first and try to bend the rotor. That would likely cause a vibration. But, it sounds like your vibration isn't under braking conditions. If so, then the calipers would have to be quite a bit out of center to cause a vibration (when not braking), and I wouldn't think a brake vibration of this type would be quite as speed dependent as your symptom. So, I would guess that the vibration is something else. But, I would check the centering of the calipers to ensure that the brakes will work correctly. --Dwight

Good on the vlogger too. The videos are informative and encouraging too. --Dwight

Re the THM200-4R trans: I once read an article about a '63 Tempest drag car with a 455 Pontiac engine with something like 600 HP. Because the 700-R4 has only a Chevy bolt pattern he had to use a 200-4R trans (which has a dual pattern). The 200-4R was built to racing specs and held up behind that 600 HP engine. --Dwight

The fan blade measures the same as my R2 Avanti (7" from capscrew to tip of blade), so it isn't a 14" fan. There's much more gap at the top between the fan and the shroud, though. --Dwight

B69 is installed in Avanti R5407 (originally an R1 4-spd car, gray with Claret interior). --Dwight

Not to throw in a wild card, but my R3 engine (B69) was originally shipped from STP in Des Plaines, IL (going from memory). --Dwight

Looks like the car is speedometer limited to 140 MPH. --Dwight

Dan Booth of Nostalgic Motors in Wixom, MI makes them. They appear to be very high quailty, but are expensive ($2000). --Dwight

It looks like these are the Moog CC655 springs, originally for the back end of GM cars from the 1980s or '90s. For a while there was quite a bit of discussion on the SDC Forum on these. Reports on them seemed to be all positive. One comment was that they might raise the front end of a Studebaker (depending on the engine). There is/was a lighter duty version of these springs, but I can't recall the number of those. --Dwight

I guess everyone knows this, but I'll point it out anyway. You have to re-align your front suspension after installing the quick steering arms. --Dwight

True enough; that's a result of my obsession with handling. Lowering the car might help with the appearance of the tires in the wheel openings. Maybe 1" in back and 2" in front. Along that line I wish that the Halibrand rims were reproduced in 16" or 17". --Dwight

I have them on one of my '64 Avantis and agree fully with gunslinger. One thing I might add is that one of the main contributors on the SDC Forum has bent a pair of the original arms so their length is about halfway between the stock and the quick arms. That seems to me to be the best of both worlds. I don't recall who the gentleman was who did that but I do remember that he is one of the more astute members technically. An inquiry on the SDC Forum, or here, might turn up something. --Dwight