Mark L

I have an extra 2025 calendar available for free. It was sent to me to pass along to someone else, but that person already has one and didn't need it. I'll even pay the shipping.

The third Avanti sold to the public, 63R1003, is available. It was donated to the Studebaker National Museum, and the museum is now auctioning it through the Hagerty Marketplace with no reserve: https://www.hagerty.com/marketplace/auction/1963 -Studebaker-Avanti/a674bfb8-d821-492c-97ff-496058ccb07a The car is pretty rough. White with orange interior. 289 with serial number RS1003. Body 63RQ 105. 4-speed manual transmission, power steering, power brakes, twin traction, aftermarket AM/FM radio. The supercharger was removed at some point and replaced with air conditioning.

In the parts catalog illustration in post 2 above, illustration number 1110-40 is a threaded rod that passes through the center of illustration number 1110-16. There is a nut threaded on the rod on the front-facing side of 1110-16, and another nut threaded on the rod on the rear-facing side. Turning the nuts toward the front of the car will apply more brake (or apply it earlier with less handle travel) as the handle is pulled. Turning the nuts toward the rear will apply less brake (or apply it later with more handle travel) as the handle is pulled. If it's been a long time since the nuts have been adjusted, it is very likely the threads of the rod will be rusty with a lot of road dirt and debris embedded in the threads. It may be a good idea to first remove the nuts and 1110-16, run a thread die over the threads on the rod, and run a thread tap through the threads on the nuts. This will clean them out and make it much easier to adjust the nuts when it is reassembled.

I recommend that when you get the screwdriver inserted through the fiberglass hole and the tip of the screwdriver in the hole in the latch mechansm, avoid the temptation to use the edge of the fiberglass hole as a pivot point for the shaft of the screwdriver. The metal shaft of the screwdriver is harder than the edge of the fiberglass hole. I had to release the hood once due to a rusted release cable. The tip of the screwdriver kept slipping out of the latch. After a while I noticed my hands were getting itchy from the glass fibers. When I finally got the hood open, I found the screwdriver shaft had chewed up the edge of the fiberglass hole.

Today the stars aligned for a few hours for me to work on the car again. I re-installed the first new master cylinder. Last month I found the speed bleeders on the rear calipers didn't have enough thread sealant so that the bleeders were loose in the threads when they were open. I made sure all the speed bleeders had fresh thread sealant on the threads. Still no luck. With the engine running the pedal still starts to build pressure, then goes to the floor. Next (when the stars align again) I'm going to reinstall the original single chamber master cylinder, since I know it was good, and connect it only to the front brakes and see what happens. Then I'll connect it to the rear brakes only and see what happens. Maybe I'll be able to isolate the problem to half the system. This has been a royal PITB.

aardvark, I'm glad to hear you are well. I've also about given up on getting my brakes working this year. I might be able to sneak a day or two in to work on them, but our rainy season has set in, the days are getting shorter, and with the infernal time change on November 3, it will be dark by the time I get off work. What few dry weekend days we now have between now and February will be prioritized on yard work, exterior maintenance of the house as needed, and maintaining our daily drivers. My Avanti is now stuck in the driveway under a cover. I'm looking forward to retiring and moving out of Washington state in favor of someplace drier and less expensive to live.

You might also call Dan Booth at Nostalgic Motor Cars in Wixom, Michigan. Wixom is 77 miles from Rossford vs. 200 miles from Duncan Falls. BTW, Nostalgic's website indicates that Dan Booth will be retiring "soon". It doesn't say when, or if anyone will be taking over his business.

My wife is the same. Her father passed 10 years ago, but she's holding on to some of his things that we'll never need or use because they remind her of him.

Thanks. I'm thinking about springing for new replacements. I've run out of dry weather and daylight to get my brakes working, so it looks more and more like it will be parked until next spring before I can work on it again. I should have new lens covers and gaskets before it's back on the road.

There's a 1988 Avanti convertible available in Wisconsin, VIN 12AAV2225J1000226. Black exterior with a red interior. https://madison.craigslist.org/cto/d/wisconsin-dells-1988-studebaker-avanti/7790064604.html

Today I was finally able to do some troubleshooting/isolation. With all three ports on the master cylinder plugged and bled (port for front brakes, port for rear brakes, and port for hydraulic brake light switch), the pedal is rock hard with almost no travel when the engine is off, and a slight bit of travel before the pedal gets really firm with the engine running. In either situation, there is no sponginess in the pedal. With the line for the front brakes connected to the port on the master cylinder and fully bled, but the other two ports still capped off, the pedal has a slight bit of travel before getting really firm when the engine is not running. When the engine is running, the pedal moves about half way to the floor as it gets firm, then it gives way a little and moves closer to the floor before getting firm again, where it stops moving. At this point the pedal arm is about 1 inch from the carpet. It reminded me of the "double brake" feel on a modern front disc / rear drum car. I've found on some of the Toyotas I've owned that when the rear brake shoes need to be adjusted, the front disc brakes will clamp up (the first "brake"), but the rear drums are still moving a bit. After the first "brake", the pedal continues to move slightly until the rear shoes seat on the drums, then the whole system brakes (the second "brake"). However, on my car, the rear calipers are not even in play because the port is capped off at the MC. I wonder if the fluid in the capped-off portion of the chamber for the rear brakes is bleeding back into the chamber for the front brakes when I feel the "give", since the rear port is capped off and all that pressure is trying to go somewhere. When both chambers are capped off, the pressure is balanced. I ran out of daylight, so I wasn't able to do any more variations. Tomorrow I'll put the cap back on the port for the front brakes and reconnect the line for the rear brakes to see how they feel when they are independent of the front brakes.

Glad you're safe. My wife's aunt and her relatives live near Franklin NC. The center of the storm went over them. They're safe. Their electricity was restored a few days ago, but their roads are still a mess. We have property in north Georgia my wife inherited. We had some relatives look in on it, and fortunately there was no damage.

I'm finally getting back to working on the car this weekend. I had a death in my side of the family, and my wife I flew to Indiana for the services.

Thanks. On my car, neither gasket has any holes. There are no holes in the edges of the covers, only V-shaped notches at each hole location. The shop manual does not have any instructions for the orientation or stack-up/relationship of the retaining ring, gasket, cover, and the fiberglass nose panel. To remove or install the headlight bulbs, it basically says to remove and install the cover and gasket. Not helpful. A cross-section view from an engineering drawing would certainly be a big help. I was only 90 miles from the Studebaker National Museum this week, but I didn't have any time to go to see if I could find a drawing.

Before our parents passed, my siblings and I spent a lot of time traveling back to South Bend to help them. My youngest sister stayed at the Avanti House multiple times.

I think the gaskets for my headlight covers are not properly installed. The car currently has acrylic headlight covers, and the gaskets seem too big for the covers. The attached photograph shows how my right headlight cover is currently installed. The gasket covers the exterior of the trim ring and partially covers the screw heads. I checked the index of technical articles in the AOAI magazine, but this topic was not specifically covered. I also searched the SDC Forum. I learned that the aftermarket acrylic plastic covers are smaller than the glass covers, which explains why the gasket seems too big for the cover. Regardless of the cover material, what is the correct way to install the gasket?

After consulting with Jim Turner, we decided the new master cylinder might have been bad out of the box. The new one arrived on Friday Sept. 20. After bench bleeding it, I installed it, along with a good used booster I got from John D. I installed them Sept. 21 and re-bled the entire system. Same results, pedal goes to the floor with almost no resistance. Thinking I may have not adjusted those finicky Cadillac rear calipers the right way, today I did a complete simulated rear pad replacement and readjusted the parking brake levers so they have no more than 1/8th inch travel off the stops before the pads clamp on the rotors, and re-bled the rear lines. No good. The brake pedal still goes to the floor with the engine running. I've been through almost 4 quarts of brake fluid bleeding the system. All the connections are dry. Other than capping the front line, then capping the rear line to isolate the side where the problem is, I'm not sure what else to do.

Short story: After consulting with Jim Turner, we believe the new master cylinder is bad, out of the box. Today I had more time to work with the pushrod between the booster and the master cylinder. I initially shortened it, and the brakes were much worse when the engine was not running and running. With the engine not running, there was a lot of pedal travel before there was any resistance. With the engine running, the pedal went straight to the floor. I then returned the pushrod length back to its starting point, then began incrementally lengthening it one or two full turns each time. After each adjustment, with the engine not running, the brake pressure built up earlier and earlier ("higher" brake pedal) and was firm. With the engine running, the pedal still moved about 3 inches without any resistance before finally building up pressure towards the end of the stroke, getting firm about 1/2 to 1 inch above the carpet. Then, the pedal slowly sank to the floor as I held pressure on the pedal. The single MC on my Lark Daytona was like that before I replaced it. The pedal would initially be firm, then pressure slowly bled off due to an internal leak. Also, each time I lengthened the pushrod, I checked to see if I could turn the rotors at each wheel by hand when the brake was completely released. The longer the pushrod was, the harder it was to turn the rotors by hand. This meant the pushrod was too long (wasn't allowing the fluid pressure to release from the calipers). I spoke with Jim Turner. He had one last new MC on the shelf, so he's shipping it to me tomorrow. I should have it later this week.

Congratulations. That's a beautiful color combination. It appears to have been maintained well.

John, I checked my Lark chassis parts manual. If the '63 Cruiser the booster came from had disc brakes, it's the same part number as on the '63 Avanti.

Yes, I initially adjusted the eccentric to get the 7/8" measurement in the shop manual. Since the pedal is going to the floor, I've temporarily adjusted the eccentric to get the pedal as close to the seat as possible so I can get more pedal travel. I've spoken with Jim Turner for additional advice, and when the weather improves in a few days I will work with the pushrod adjustment some more, experimenting with various changes to see what happens. Other than adjusting the pushrod, I have not disturbed the booster. I still have my Lark manuals. I'll compare the part numbers and let you know if I can use it. Even if it's remporary, it looks like it would be an easy swap. Thanks.

After work today I bled the master cylinder again, on the car using the brake pedal to provide a full stroke and additional leverage over the internal springs. I think some additional air was bled out. Since I disturbed both brake lines coming off the MC, I re-bled the entire system. It appears there was additional air in the rear circuit. I then had my daughter hold pressure on the pedal while I slowly loosened the plug I installed on the junction block. I heard a tiny pffft, immediately followed by a dribble of brake fluid and my daughter saying the pedal was now slowly moving toward the floor. I then quickly tightened the plug while she kept pressure on the pedal. The brakes felt better afterward, but I wasn't able to start the car to really test it. I determined all my activity at the MC had disturbed the lead wires at the start solenoid. By the time I figured this out, it was getting dark and time for dinner. I'll test the brakes using the booster tomorrow after work.

I confirmed in the instructions provided with the MC by Jim that the rod is to be adjusted so there is only a small gap (0.005 or less) between the end of the rod and the cup on the piston when the mounting flange of the MC is against the face of the booster. Since the piston cup on the new MC was as not as deep in the piston as on the original MC, the rod had to be shortened vs. the measurement of 1.245 to 1.250 listed in the shop manual in order to get the MC to seat on the booster. It's very possible there is air trapped in the drilled passage between the plug and the center of the junction block. The block started out as a solid piece of brass. The areas drilled/tapped/machined for the flare nuts are at most only 5/8" deep into the sides of the block, but the block is about 2" across. That means there's about 3/8" length of a drilled passage that's only 1/8" to 3/16" in diameter before all the drilled passages come to a common point in the middle. If the passage is oriented with a vertical angle, there's space for an air bubble to be trying to rise up against the plug I installed. You have to remember, I replaced all the brake tubes, and I removed the junction block from the frame to clean it. There was absolutely no brake fluid anywhere in the system before I refilled it, only air. Any part that touched brake fluid was replaced, except for the junction block, and that was thoroughly purged.

I'll call Jim Turner tonight since I bought the MC from him. His instructions say to make sure it's adjusted properly, but doesn't give a value. I bench bled the MC, but thinking back, I may not have had enough arm strength to fully push the MC pistons against the internal springs and get a full stroke. Since the MC is now installed, I think I'll re-bleed the MC on the car, since the brake pedal and my leg will provide more leverage. Also, I was thinking about the plug I installed in the brass junction block where the line to the rear axle use to connect. The junction block is now oriented so that the plug is somewhat above the center of the block. There may be an air bubble trapped at the end of the plug that can't be flushed out. After I re-bleed the MC and the lines, I'll have an assistant push on the brake pedal while I loosen the plug to see if there is any air trapped in the junction block, then I'll re-bleed the front lines.

The 1.245 to 1.250 measurement is for the stock single MC. Before I installed the new MC, I measured the distance to the piston from the mounting face. The old stock MC matched the dimension in the shop manual, but the distance to the piston on the new Raybestos dual MC was much less. I shortened the pushrod to match the new MC. Otherwise, keeping the stock MC dimension with the new MC would cause the pushrod to compress the piston during installation. It's only suppose to have a small gap when installed.