Mark L

My 63 has the same issue, but the opposite side. My hood prop is on the left side, and it's sagging on the right rear corner. In my case, I've determined the underhood reinforcement that goes from left to right across the under surface of the hood skin has disbonded from the skin. While the hood is open, I can see movement between the reinforcement and the skin when I gently lift and lower the right rear corner.

Avantis are generally quite rare everywhere. Yes, there might be more in North America, but even in the United States and Canada, many people have never seen one.

True, but if the knock sensor is detecting a knock and the timing is retarded, doesn't that mean a knock has occurred and the engine is already toast? The answer is 'no', because if that was true, the computer would also set the check engine light and the owner's manual would tell you to have the engine checked. I believe most automotive gas engines are designed to withstand a certain amout of light detonation without being damaged. Severe detonation over a "long" period would be a bigger problem. That leads me back to my original thought. I was taught that an engine can have light detonation and a knock sensor will pick it up before a driver will hear it. The computer will retard the ignition to elimimate the detonation and the driver will probably never notice anything was amiss. If a simple circuit to drive a light on the dashboard could be created that was sensitive enough to detect the voltage created by the knock sensor, it seems that it would be a helpful addition to a high compression, non-computer classic car, at least to let the driver know detonation has been detected. I wonder, though, if all the valve noise on a properly adjusted Studebaker engine with solid lifters would create false positive detections. The fameous sewing machine ticking comes from the tiny valve lash being taken up by each moving valve train.

Yes, that's what I had in mind. I know that a knock sensor detects the ping and can be tested by tapping something metal near the sensor with a hammer, but I'm not familiar with how the "signal" is read, or if a computer must be used to read it.

Randy Bohanon is selling a 1963 Avanti R2 automatic he recently had restored at NW Avanti. I saw the car in 2024 just after the restoration was finished. It's a beautiful car. Turquoise over turquoise. https://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/forum/your-studebaker-forum/sale-want-found-cars/2067012-1963-avanti-r2-for-sale

Since a knock sensor should theoretically detect a ping before the driver could hear it, could a knock sensor be installed on the engine and wired to a red light on the dash in such a way to alert the driver?

The final fracture occurred suddenly in the small, "frosty" looking area. The crack spread gradually across the larger area where the "tree rings" are located.

The car was originally shipped to Austrailia and raced on road courses. About 15 years ago it was restored back to it's original street-use configuration and sold. From the following SDC thread, the R4 may have been installed after the car left South Bend and soon after it arrived in Austrailia, expressly for racing: https://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/forum/your-studebaker-forum/general-studebaker-specific-discussion/11401-anyone-know-about-this-r4-car

Desert Driver, thanks for asking the question, because that's what teased out all the information. Recently my driver's outside mirror has become loose. I've discovered that somewhere along the way, someone used plastic sheetrock / wallboard inserts in the fiberglass instead of the correct well nuts. The screws are tight in the inserts, the inserts are loose in the fiberglass. Fortunately, the holes in the fiberglass are still really small. It looks like I'll be buying the correct well nuts very soon. Mark

I bled the new MC and installed it, and bled the front brake circuit over the weekend. One thing I noticed is that the front calipers have the same issue as the rear calipers. With the car level front to back and left to right, the bleed valves for the front calipers are not at the very top of the wheel cylinder. They are actually forward of center. I had to remove the upper caliper bolt and loosen the lower bolt, then rotate the top of the caliper towards the rear of the car about 20-30 degrees to put the bleed valve at the very peak of the wheel cylinder. The brake pads were still on either side of the rotor (barely). I prepared the rear calipers for bleeding by disconnecting the emergency brake cables and return springs from the calipers. Several months ago I found a super simple method to adjust the emergency brake brackets that are connected to the rear calipers. Most of the internet instructions have you remove the bracket from the caliper and use wrenches to re-position the automatic adjuster so that when the bracket is installed, it has the proper gap to the bracket. The instructions I found adjust the bracket without removing the bracket from the internal adjuster. I'm going to make sure I check the adjustment of the emergency brake brackets (again) the simple way, then bleed the rear calipers the same way I bled the front calipers: Removing the top bolts from of the calipers and loosening the lower bolts, then rotating the calipers to the rear to get the bleed valves to the top center of the wheel cylinders while the pads remain on either side of the rotors. If I ever get this to work, I'm going to be an expert at the Turner kit.

Today I was finally able to get back to working on the brakes. This evening I bench bled the new master cylinder I mentioned in my May 19 post above. When I took it out of the box, I was pleasantly surprised that it's actually an aluminum master cylinder, and it does not have a hole pre-drilled and threaded for the brake light switch. That's just fine, because I removed the hydraulic brake light switch from the circuit and I'm installimg a dedicated mechanical switch at the brake pedal arm. I uncovered and aired out the car a few weeks ago. I was surprised how rusty the new cast iron master cylinder had become since last fall. The aluminum MC will probably stay looking nice for a longer time. Over the next few days I'll get the MC installed and start bleeding the system for the umpteenth time. When I get to the rear calipers, I'm going to remove at least one of the bolts and make sure the bleed valve is not pointing down as it is now with the bolts installed.

Most newer master cylinder covers have a gasket with a built-in diaphragm or bellows. As the brake linings wear and fluid is pushed out to the cylinders, the diaphragm extends into the ullage space above the top of the fluid. This keeps a somewhat constant air volume and pressure above the fluid.

AD stated above he was able to find a shop that would tint them with the window installed.

Would you happen to have any from San Bernardino? My Avanti was sold new from there.

For a non-Avanti vehicle, I found my local auto parts store had the bottle of defroster grid liquid/paste. It was super easy to apply and it worked great. Installing the masking on the grid on the back window of an Avanti will be a lot more difficult than the back wimdow of my minivan, however. Once the edges are masked, however, the application should be easy.