Gunslinger
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Posts posted by Gunslinger
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No problems with 70 series tires on a 15"x6" rim. 6" is standard width for them. I have P215/70R15 on 15"x6" Magnum 500's.
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At a certain VIN, Studebaker installed all black carpets in all Avanti production, regardless of what the interior color combination was. I don't have that VIN when the change was made, but it's at least possible yours was originally black.
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If the core is bypassed, it likely was because the core leaked and the previous owner didn't want to repair it or saw no need to do so. There's two ways to test it...reconnect it, open the heater control valve and pressurize the system and see if it leaks all over your carpeting, or remove the heater core and take it to a radiator shop to be tested. If it is leaky, a good shop may be able to repair it depending on how bad the leaks are. You could be able to find a good used one...I'm not aware of any interchanges on the market but there may be some that can be adapted. The other alternative is to live with it the way it is and leave it bypassed.
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For a time in the '70s...I believe only one year...the Federal government in its eternal and ongoing wisdom required all new cars be equipped with an ignition interlock. If you were in the seat and didn't connect your seatbelt, the interlock kept the car from starting. To say the least, it was not popular with the public...people would disable it or leave the seat belts connected and sit on them or whatever else it took to defeat the interlock. And that's when the interlock even worked properly to begin with. I think it was after one model year that the government relented and eliminated the requirement due to the negative response from the driving and voting public.
Try starting your car with the seat belts not connected and see if the interlock works anymore. If it no longer works, it's up to you whether to do anything about it. What it comes down to...if it doesn't bother you, don't bother it.
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Joe...
You can jump start it though it might take letting the other car run awhile with the battery cables connected before enough charge is transferred to crank and fire your Avanti. If you do jump start it, it will probably need a bit of driving to bring the battery up to full charge. It would probably be better to simply hook up a battery charger and let it bring the battery up over several hours or however long it takes.
I use a battery tender over the winter or whenever I know the cars will sit for extended periods. The '02 Avanti is probably the more critical one as modern cars with lots of electronics can run a battery down in about a month of sitting.
BTW - I had planned on coming up your way for a car show today at Hedgesvile High School, but the weather put the kibosh on that!
Bruce
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What I use on each car is a Battery Tender Plus, though there are other brands available. Just hook them up and leave them on the battery all winter. They have an electronic regulator that when it detects the battery drops to an 80% state of charge, it kicks in and brings it back up. You can't hurt the battery if you hook it up backwards as it has electronic circuitry to prevent damage. It helps a battery last far longer than it would otherwise from constant drops in charge and recharging.
The Battery Tender Plus is pretty widely available at places like Pep Boys, Auto Zone, etc., as well as on-line.
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There's at least one member here who is running 16" Mustang rims on his car. I think one of the limiting factors on any Avanti is the front coil springs...if they've sagged at all over the years you'll have problems with many wheel/tire clearance at least when bottoming out or hitting bumps. Make sure you have good springs before making any deviation from stock wheel or tire sizes.
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The front speaker was standard with the AM radio. The rear speaker was an option. The front is 4"x10" and I believe the rear is 5"x7". I think the radio was a delete option, though I've not seen an Avanti without one.
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The best place for a radiator overflow tank is on the front right bulkhead next to the hood hinge. It's as perfect a spot as you'll find. The washer reservoir bag should go on the right side inner panel just ahead of the blower motor. That's the space it goes in when the car came factory equipped with one. If you have the parts manual, the engine bay exploded diagram will show the location. Save the battery space for clearance of an a/c compressor.
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Look in a Summit Racing or Jeg's catalog or their websites. They each sell their own brand of fuel pumps, as well as Carter, Edelbrock and Holley. Each is shorter than stock and are usually able to be "clocked" in order to line up the fuel line for any application. The down side is they likely will be somewhat more expensive than a stock replacement type but on the other hand are going to be better quality.
Summit Racing also has a line of stock replacement parts as well...look and see if that will serve your purpose as well.
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I recently purchased a 1970 Avanti Motors Parts and Accessories price list to go along with my '70 Avanti, and when I looked through it, out fell an eight page Avanti II Parts Supplement as an addition to the Studebaker Avanti Parts Catalog.
It lists Avanti Motors part numbers for post-Studebaker Avanti parts, the vendor each was sourced from, and the vendor's part number for each. It's a 1970 listing, so it may not be much help to those who own later Avanti II's, but it should still be a help to all to some degree.
I've scanned the list as a .pdf file and anyone who wants a copy, just send me an e-mail and I'll e-mail it back as an attachment.
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I can only answer a couple of your questions...
engine color...black;
p/s pump reservoir...on the '63 R1 I owned way back when...black...but the paint regularly came off when fluid spilled on it;
harness clips and such...look at Eastwood's website...they have plenty of products to clean and refinish those things...Griot's Garage has engine bay dressings to keep those parts looking good;
the original exhaust did not have a crossover pipe...what you have has been added later;
Mopar ignition module...your choice where the a/c evaporator is a good one...another good place would be behind the passenger side of the dash where it's also away from engine heat.
Hope someone else can answer your other questions.
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Jerry...
I don't know if it's the same windshield, but if it is, Studebaker International carries them. There's also a vendor who advertises them on Ebay on occasion. If it's not the same windshield I have no idea where to find one outside of a donor car. Hopefully, someone here can say whether it's the same part or not.
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PM sent to you.
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When I had my '70 completely rebuilt, I considered a trunk location for the battery, if for no other reason than get some weight off the front end, but ultimately I left it up front. I didn't want to lose any trunk space, and after the body shop did their magic on repairing the poor earlier repairs on the car, made it feasible to leave the battery in the stock location. The custom shop that installed the engine and transmission, also reinforced the battery location and installed a battery hold down made for the Optima battery and it looks great.
Of course, the car doesn't take a 3EE battery as '63 Avanti's do, so the inner fender body contours are different. The 3EE is an industrial battery and can't always be found, though farm and tractor shops often carry it. What I have seen done on one '63 Avanti is use two Optima 6 volt batteries...They're narrow and long and take up no more or even less space than a 3EE. The owner connected them in series for 12 volts. It was a nice looking installation though I'm not sure I would do it...those Optima 6V batteries are quite expensive.
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How stock is the car going to be?
If you're going stock, leave it in the front...if not, put it in the trunk.
One of the reasons people put them in the trunk is to reduce the 60%-40% front weight bias. Anything you can do to lose weight in the front will help that and improve handling. That's why people put in modern AC compressors, aluminum pulleys (from Lionel Stone) and replace the heavy stock Studebaker steel wheels with lighter ones (Ford steel or aftermarket "mags").
If you're doing anything major to the drive train to make it other than stock, I'd suggest any or all of those changes.
But if you're trying to keep it stock...might as well go all the way and leave the battery where God and Stuidebaker intended.
BTW...I haven't read much about battery weight induced cracks. I'm not sayingthey don't happen, but they don't seem to be a big problem on solid cars without damage.
Agree 100%! My '70 had stress cracks under the battery when I bought it, but then the car had been struck in the left front sometime during it's history and had poor repairs done to it. Since you have a '63, I'm assuming you have the long, narrow 3EE battery. If you decide to change it to a trunk location, get a standard size battery such as a Group 24 which fits the later Avanti's. Also, standard size batteries are less expensive, than a 3EE, more powerful (in far more choices of quality level) and have better warranties. You can check Summit Racing and Jeg's and they each sell trunk mounted battery kits with a box, hold downs, etc. A trunk mounted battery should be shielded from anything in the trunk hitting the positive post. You should also use a heavier gauge positive cable from the battery to the starter due to the extra length needed.
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You're going to need a ton of parts of which many may be completely unavailable unless you have a donor car...regulators, motors, relay, wiring harness, switches, circuit breaker, drives, idlers, springs, stops as well as many small parts. You might even need to get new door panels as the switches may not be located in the same place as crank handles so you don't have holes showing in the door upholstery. Motors are available as new reproductions ($200 each), switches you might be able to adapt from other cars, but the hardware will be difficult to locate in good condition. Almost nothing beyond the windows themselves and the tracks will interchange with the electric parts.
In my '70 I had to replace a regulator for one of the power windows as somewhere back in time the door had been damaged in an accident and the regulator was damaged and never fixed properly. A good used regulator and its attached parts did not come cheap.
Not that it can't be done, I think this is a case where the orange isn't worth the squeeze. You'll be halfway through the installation wondering why you ever started.
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You have to be careful with parts that may simply "bolt-on". Just because they fit doesn't mean they're the correct application. The internal valving, etc., may not be correct for an Avanti. Not to say it won't work fine, but there's always the chance it will cause a problem such as too much or too little boost for the application.
What you might do is look at Summit Racing or a Jeg's catalog. They have many different brake boosters that will fit...maybe with a bit of adapting the bolt patterns...but they will still require some engineering knowledge to make sure they will function with going to a custom master cylinder, adjustable proportioning valve, etc. There's a lot of custom cars out there with updated brake systems such as these and someone had to figure out which was correct for the size and weight of the vehicle, caliper capacity, etc. Go to a custom speed shop and see what they say. There has to be a formula to figure it out.
Also...sent you a PM regarding this.
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Corvette bodies at the time were made by Molded FiberGlass, the same as the Avanti bodies. Chevrolet later had several sources for Corvette bodies but Avanti Motors stayed with MFG. I don't know if Studebaker specified a different bonding agent for Avanti bodies, but I would suspect they left that up to MFG since they allegedly had the expertise in that area. It's quite possible, and maybe even probable, that Chevrolet received the body panels from MFG and assembled the bodies themselves and would have used whatever bonding agent they could buy from any number of suppliers. They probably used the same brand at all times..."Low Bid" brand. I do remember reading that a major reason for early Avanti body fit problems were traced to MFG's not having experience at actually assembling bodies, so that could support the idea of Chevrolet assembling Vette bodies themselves.
There were contemporary accounts in car magazines when the Avanti was new that mentioned a superior body finish to the Avanti compared to Corvettes. Corvettes also used larger and fewer panels than on the Avanti. The Avanti, when assembled, has a one-piece body. The Corvette doesn't depending on which generation you're discussing.
Another potential explanation is all the handwork that went into the Avanti body. It probably has far more man-hours in assembly and finishing than a Vette which by comparison, is a high production volume car. Corvettes (again, depending on generation) also have specific problems that after time and lack of care, makes for body problems that can be mistaken for joint problems.
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There's a number of different carb bonnets available for the 5 1/8" neck of new carbs. The downside is I don't believe there are any that look identical to bonnets used by Studebaker. Do a web search on carburetor bonnets, supercharger bonnets, supercharger accessories or some other word combinations. I know K&N makes a bonnet as well as other manufacturers.
If you want original appearance, you may be out of luck without having one custom fabricated. There are some carburetor pressure boxes similar to the R3 style available. Vortech makes one for their blower kits and are made for Holley or Demon carbs linkages. Maybe an Edelbrock will work.
You might also log onto Edelbrock's Community Forum and see what is said there. I have seen discussions there regarding superchargers. Someone there should be able to give advice on that.
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Power steering was an option, so it's not unusual to see it added. There was no smooth dash option to the best of my knowledge. Of course, if your car was an original prototype (there are a few of them out there), the smooth dash might have been done but that's conjecture on my part. Prototype cars also came with the rear view mirror mounted on a ball socket on the dash rather than be glued to the windshield. They also VIN's added later with numbers outside the R1001-R5643 range.
If your car isn't a prototype, the dash was changed later or professionally recovered and filled in.
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Most unrestored Avanti's I've seen had the interior of the wheel wells black...as in undercoated. I believe that was done by dealers. Even Avanti Motors later had undercoating optional, but they said it was for sound deadening purposes only.
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I've never seen one for anything but the schematics for a Stude Avanti. About the best you can do is use that and work around it. I believe if you search around Bob Johnstone's site there are some additional hand drawn schematics for various years posted for a/c, power windows, and maybe a few other systems.
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I believe I read they were also used on the 63 Corvette???
Yep...6.70-15 were factory tires on Corvettes from '53 through '64.
Avanti Friendly Aftermarket parts?
in 1963-64 Avanti
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Short of dropping a small block Chevy in it, there's not much on the aftermarket specifically for a Studebaker engine to increase its performance. Basically, you follow well tried and true techniques to increase its performance, but first, you need to decide what you want out of the car and assemble the parts necessary to achieve that.
There is an aftermarket of some performance parts offered by several Studebaker vendors...some aluminum intakes, ignition systems (HEI and some other types), superchargers, aluminum heads, etc. I have no personal experience with the aluminum heads or intakes available, but some say they need some work before they can be used. True or not, I cannot say. Basically, when it comes to aluminum intake manifolds, given equal runner design, the air doesn't care what the intake is made of, so the only real advantages of aluminum is some weight reduction and some better efficiency at shedding heat. In a well designed engine system, that can mean a lot or a little. Supposedly, Edelbrock has shown some interest in making a run of intake manifolds for Stude V8's, but it would probably take a lot of Stude people asking for it as a minimum number of intakes would have to be manufactured to keep the price reasonable for resale and profitable for Edelbrock.
I'm not aware of any fuel injection units available for a Studebaker engine, outside of some custom fabricated units which are probably quite pricey to accomplish. I understand that Mopar small block intakes can be adapted to a Stude V8, so an aftermarket EFI like Edelbrock could possibly work. You have to worry about hood clearance though. I have that unit for the small block Chevy under the hood of my Avanti II and we had to do some custom work for the air cleaner I wanted to clear.
There are a few Stude vendors that sell reground camshafts for additional performance. Whether a cam company would agree to design and make new camshafts for a Stude is highly problematic. Anything is possible, but there would have to be a lot of serious campaigning by enthusiasts before a company would invest the design and manufacturing time and effort.
Since you say you want to modernize your R1 a tad, I think you might consider a reground camshaft from a Stude vendor for a step up in performance, not a huge increase or you'll end up with a badly loping idle with little engine vacuum (unless that's what you want), have the stock intake ported and polished, install a new Edelbrock Performer carburetor with electric choke which is an updated Carter AFB (500 cfm should be adequate...600 or 650 only if you do some serious porting on the intake or heads and like to drive at high rpm's).
A distributor converted to HEI or another type of electronics would be a good move...and it can be set up with an advance curve tailored to your engine specs. That alone can bring your engine alive. Having your stock distributor rebuilt and recurved, plus adding a Pertronix electronic conversion kit would accomplish the same.
There's quite a bit that can be done to wake that engine up without spending a fortune, it all depends on what you want out of the engine and work to attain that goal. An intelligent mix of the right parts will do far more than simply throwing together a bunch of performance parts, no matter what the names on them are or how high their quality.