Hogtrough

It has heat capability, but I'm sticking with the OEM heater for now. Should the core leak or motor quit, it will be easy to switch over. No wiring diagram with it but the Amazon listing had all that info posted. Pretty simple: red wire (fused) to power, green wire to compressor, black to ground.

I'm in the process of removing the "factory" air from my '63 Avanti R1 (personally I think most were dealer installed). So far I have the evaporator out and am taking the compressor and condenser out next week. Here's what I know about the system: 1) It was serviced in 2005 (documented) and recharged with R134. I assume it was converted at that time or earlier. However, its does not have R134 charging ports, so they must have done it through the old type ports. 2) The clutch does work. I applied power to it for a few seconds and the York compressor turned and pumped. The system then held pressure. The car had sat in a garage unused for the last 20 years and the system did leak down over that time. I did not try to charge it. 3) The blower motor is hard to turn and will need rebuilding or replacing. Bob Ziff , Avantiparts.biz apparently has them,, saw a post from someone who had bought one. 4) Hoses look good but are at least 20 years old. 5) Comes with the aluminum plate, "Studebaker AIr Conditioning" and charge info that would have been mounted somewhere under the hood (I assume). The tag was in my glovebox. I'll sell the entire system for $1200 plus shipping . If no one wants the whole system, I'll start selling it piecemeal. I'll post more photos here as I remove parts.

This is the particular unit, however, you can find it for various prices on both Ebay and Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CM8P3RMF?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title It is basically the same unit you would buy from Vintage Air for say $450 to put factory type A/C in your street rod , way up under the dash, and run hoses to the vents. I just removed the front faceplate where the hoses attach. You then drill a hole in your dash for each control. I just drilled out the holes in the stock faceplate to fit the controls. I also have a compressor and condenser/drier on the way and so far have a total of about $330 in the system. Of course at that price I'm dealing with Chinese components, which is why I check out reviews first. I'll still need some misc parts like custom hoses, which I'll probably have made up by a shop in Nashville that specializes in that. Vintage air probably gets $2200 for a similar setup. I imagine the old parts will sell for enough to easily cover my conversion, and I won't have to find surplus R12 at $40 a can!

Decided I would rather have all new components than mess with the old ones. There are lots of underdash kits on Ebay and Amazon that will work, but I decided to buy the parts piecemeal so I can research each one and check out reviews. So far I've gotten the evaporator . I noticed when I removed the old one that it looked VERY similar to an underdash unit of the time. Then I saw that underdash units had really not changed much in the last 50 years- dimensions are about the same. So I put two and two together and decided I would try to retrofit the new one in place of the old (which I will be selling along with all the other parts I remove). I followed Nostalgic's instructions on removing the old one and determined where I would have to trim the plastic evaporator cabinet and the fiberglas Avanti console to make it work. Pretty minimal work needed . I was even able to replace the old controls with new. Could have retained the old knobs but due to the length of wire provided, they would have had to have been reversed right and left, so I fitted the new ones. Next step is underhood, where I will use a York to Sanden adapter to fit a new modern compressor and swap out the existing 20 X 16 condensor with integrated drier for a new 20 x 14 with separate drier.

Just curious- can you pull that unit by just removing some screws and removing it from the RH side, or is there more to it?

Had mine ready, drove to the show, decided to check it out first. Sparse attendance, obnoxious music, only 4 or 5 cars of interest. Not worth the $20 fee, on to the next. I can rattle off the Avanti story with the best of them!

Looks like you can buy the replacement on Ebay, not as expensive as I thought. Happen to know what size the charge is?

I paid up for a used replacement from a well known vendor and got one that doesn't have chrome as nice as this one does. This bumper is for the guy looking for an inexpensive one for a nice driver- it has an area by the passenger side bracket that has a ripple. If you have hammer and dolly skills you can probably make it near perfect, except for the tiny rub on the chrome seen in the photo. Glad to take more photos of certain areas as requested. $175 plus actual shipping, which won't be too bad, they are very light.

So can I assume that since there are screw on connectors that it was never converted and the R134A note on the invoice was an error? Are there any economical replacement refrigerants for R12? Don't want to invest too much, not knowing if the existing system will even function. Might make more sense to install a modern compressor, etc.

1) Today I got the production order for my 63 R1 (4223) and air conditioning was missing from the option list. I assume this means it was dealer installed later? 2) Found an embossed aluminum tag in the glovebox that was at some point installed under the hood (I assume) with "Studebaker Air Conditioning" and info about the system. Where would it have been installed? 3) When I was a teenager in the 70's, if I got a car that with air that wasn't working or out of freon, I would simply pump down the system with a vacuum pump (maybe replacing the receiver/drier), recharge the system and usually that got it working. Any reason that won't work today, assuming I can find refrigerant? 4) Does the Avanti AC system have a pressure switch to keep the compressor from running if there is no freon? 5) How can I tell if the system has been converted over to R134A? (a service invoice from 2005 says that they added R134A to the system at that time)

All brake parts except for shoes are new, and the shoes look recently replaced. I tried slamming on the brakes in a parking lot and looked at the tire stipes. The left rear was nowhere near as strong, barely there. So I'll try re adjusting it.

He made the recommendation based on experience with his own cars, which never seemed to need a valve. Mine distinctly feels like the rear trying to come around, rather than the right front grabbing. Maybe I need to re adjust the rear brakes. I bought the dual master along with the kit

After buying a '57 Silver Hawk that had a fully documented mechanical restoration, I decided to try to find an Avanti with the same. I jumped on this '63 R1 when it became available, despite some FB forum advice to pass on it due to to very deteriorated interior (South Georgia humidity). It had a very compete engine and transmission rebuild in 2005, with all parts purchased from Myers and all parts and labor receipts provided. I was able to turn the interior around in a few weeks, as the seat covers had held up well. I only had to replace all the other vinyl pieces and headliner. Also required were a complete brake job including lines, power steering work and tuneup. The second part of the story is from this old advertisement for the car found on Bob Johnstone's site. It says the car got a "ground up" restoration, all needed parts replaced in the early 90's and described it as a "show car". The seller was Preston Hill, a rural South Dakota Studebaker dealer. I purchased it from the estate of the person who bought the car from this ad in '93 and have that title. Not sure if Hill sold the car new or bought it later. If anyone knows anything about the car or the dealership, let me know.

My OEM discs were frozen due to many years of unuse, so I elected to modernize with the much larger Turner disc kit (all lines and hoses replaced too, and rear drums checked and adjusted) . On Jim's advice, I didn't install a proportioning valve, but wonder if I might need one. Car veers heavily right on a hard stop and I think it may be the rears causing this (often described as wanting to "swap ends"). I think it would be downright dangerous on a slick road, so wondering if I need to have the rears doing less by installing a variable proportioning valve.

When you consider how many were wrecked or scrapped, that is an amazing percentage you have accounted for- probably 90%! Thanks for the years of diligence in doing that