MikeValent
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Posts posted by MikeValent
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Yeah, a rendition of an Avanti done by a 12-year old graffiti "artist".
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Looks like an '84?
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Thanks for that tip. It got me under the dash to try to tighten connections the ammeter and voltmeter. The ammeter had been registering apparently normally (maybe 10-15 amp initial charge, subsiding to not much past neutral after some running). Did yours give normal readings before you tightened the connections?
I'd been dissatisfied with the voltmeter from the time I'd bought the Avanti 2 years ago. It always indicated between 10 and 11.5 volts, but when I put a meter on its connections the meter would show normal charging voltages so I'd assumed the voltmeter was just inaccurate. The connections seemed pretty tight, but I moved them enough to jam them very firmly - this at the same time I was trying to tighten the ammeter connections. when I was finished, the ammeter behaved as it had before, but the voltmeter now shows between 12.5 and about 13.7 volts. Having messed with both instrument at once, I wonder whether the voltmeter connections were just that bad or if the ammeter connections improved enough to make the difference in the voltmeter readings.
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Assuming that the starter turns the engine normally (that it just shows no sign of firing) It may be the distributor's electronics. I just cured that problem on mine by replacing the distributor.
If it acts like the starter is dead, then starts fine after it's cooled down,I've had that too. That was explained as a "common GM small block problem". Starter getting so heat-soaked that it shorts or binds or whatever when you go to start the car. Let the car cool for a while, it starts fine. New starter solves that problem - for a while. On my '83 - yours should be the same - the starter's so close to that side's exhaust pipe that they put a sheet metal "heat shield" on the pipe. I suppose that helps some.
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I wouldn't normally comment on something like this, but Back in 1963-64 I owned a '64 R-2 automatic in Miami.Plenty hot there in the summertime too, but I can't remember even a hint of overheating. If yours has been completely rebuilt then I wouldn't expect to have it overheat. Is the fan original? Does the radiator have a shroud around the fan? Are you sure the viscous fan's spinning as fast as it should at idle?
For the past two years I've owned an 83 Avanti, use it as a daily driver. It has the usual Chevy 305, has factory air conditioning and a PO-installed Paxton supercharger. Equivalent engine size to yours, blower - plus air conditioner. Original radiator. It heats up to 190 degrees normally, no more than 195 just sitting in traffic. This is in Ft Lauderdale, hotter now than Miami was way back then. Mine does have an electric radiator fan (comes on at 180 degrees plus a smaller fan in front of the a/c condenser that's wired to come on with the compressor). The only time my 83 showed overheating like your car has it was because the radiator fan's thermal switch had failed.
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You have to consider that there's epoxy resin, polyester resin, and other kinds as well. The original Avanti body panels would probably have been chopper-gun blown glass with epoxy resin as would the 63 Corvette. But more than likely Corvette's panels in the ensuing years have been changed to some mixture less expensive and easier to work with than epoxy. These body panels aren't load-bearing in the same sense a boat hull is, so the panels wouldn't need the strength that woven or mat glass with epoxy binder provides. I can understand why a Vette specialist wouldn't want to take on repairing a fiberglass body that few people know anything about.
Boat repair articles always stress that you must repair a fiberglass hull with the same or a compatible resin; same applies with doing fiberglass repairs on a car. So the choice of engaging someone who has a good rep repairing fiberglass damage on boats is a good one.
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Browsing through a do it yourself boat and propulsion design/building forum, I came across this gem:
"There once was a passenger car with water injection, the Studebaker Avanti.
Like you said just to allow a 12:1 compression without detonating the pistons to pieces. Because the car had an unorthodox shape for that era and when Studebaker closed down, the Avanti was continued by a small private company that silently disappeared after a couple of years.
A stillborn child, no serious company ever used the technology again."
This from someone billing himself as an engineeer, and trying to answer some fool who believed that water injected into a carb actually separated into hydogen and oxygen and burned. The ignorant trying vainly to lead the insane to wisdom...
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1964 models came with the dash the same color as the interior; of course they had the fake wood inlay as well.
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Seat belt warning light (at least on my 83) is on the console. The small dash red light is the choke on indicator. The larger red light below it is marked "Brake".
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Maybe of interest, maybe not: The Avanti was designed in a different era - with what were then considered adequate cup holders molded into the inside of the glovebox lid. In those days, nobody drove while drinking coffee or soft drinks, and those who drove while drinking beer used a paper bag as their drink holder. So the Avanti's holders were quite sufficient for holding sofrt drinks or coffee while parked at the local drive-in restaurant or theater.
I have RQB3771 whcih is an '83, and its console (with the emergency brake handle) will hold a 3" diameter glass or cup on either side of the brake handle. The Recaro seats have fat enough bottom bolsters to held the glass or cup against the brake handle and the console has enough of a depression to keep it from sliding forward or back.
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And one more if you would; thanks
MikeValent@bellsouth.net
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Of course if the car had its original Avanti Red paint job at this point it would probably need repainting anyway, so why not offer what you would for one needing repainting?
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Avanti Red was at the time considered an iridescent red. I used to call it "burnt red" as it was deeper than a tomato red with what would be later called a "metallic" look to it. BTW, the maroon appeared only on verty late production '64's, probably no earlier than November 1963 production Avantis.
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I can't give you a direct answer to your question, but can strongly recommend that you also post it on two more active boards. For some reason, the Yahoo Avanti board gets much more traffic from the more mechanically involved Avanti owners. It's address is: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/avanti
And, though Avanti's aren't its main focus you'll find a lot of useful Avanti info on the message boards at: studebakerdriversclub.com
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Why not go with a 350 crate engine since it's really the same block dimensions, same mounting points and all that? A prior owner of my 3771 installed a Paxton SN2000 which does improve power quite a bit, but a good 350 (or 383) would give the same or better result with less complexity.
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SI has (800237, $12.50) 11 oz spray cans of "Fawn steering column and instrument overlay paint". They also carry vinyl dye 11 oz spray cans (800188X3, $12.50) "Fawn (on 1963 models used on dash and top of door panels)".
They also have touch-up spray cans in the 1963-64 Avanti white, turquoise, gold, red and gray. Vinyl dyes come in turquoise, elk and red, in addition to fawn.
Yeah, the rolled outer edges of these dash and console pieces always were the unpainted silver color. I keep trying to figure what to do with my '83. It's a brushed metal (which itself may or may not be an overlay) which looks worn on the console pieces. The gauges appear to be the same white on black with black plastic bezels that Blake used on the "blackout" Anniversary models. Very dull dash appearance, and a dark wood veneer probably wouldn't improve it that much.
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If I understand the system (I have 3771, an '83 and its a/c setup should be the same as yours), there are two dash (actually vertical console) "switches" that must be connected properly and working right for the a/c to blow and blow cold. The fan speed rheostat should be the bottom of the two and have three wires attached t it. One power, one ground, and the third a jumper to the adjustable thermostat. That switch in turn has one wire going further into the console and presumably providing either power or ground to the clutch.
I can't remember which is power and which ground, but the thermostat gets power (or ground) from the fan switch (from a lug that is not controlled by the rheostat). Are these wires in their proper places? When you jumpered the clutch, did you jumper directly from battery to clutch? That wouldn't indicate whether the switch wiring was properly set up.
If your fan speed switch is the round "infinite adjustment" type, the lugs marked 1 and 2 take the black and yellow wires coming from inside the console. Attach lug 3 to the thermostat switch with a jumper (should be a black wire if there is one already there). You may need to swap the wires for lugs 1 and 2 - I can't remember which goes where.
If the fan speed switch is of the 3-speed type that Nostalgic Motors sells it also has three lugs, two on one side and one on the other. Attach the yellow and black wires to the two lugs on one side. Attach the jumper wire to the single lug on the other side. Again, you may have to swtch yellow and black wires to make it work.
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Is the gauge overlay on a 1963 a painted metal piece?
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Wendell, *where* in Lowes or Home Depot? Large wood tape? Very thin wood overlay. I've had no success finding them (or any help finding them).
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Best suggestion would be to contact Nostalic Motors for the faceplate and maybe the controls, then buy the rest of the a/c gear from someplace like Vintage Air Conditioning. If you have an R-1, that's 1963 or 64 and a complete a/c setup for that probably would not only be improbable to find but more than a little obsolete if you could find one.
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I've found a third article on this: Dick Shurson of Illinois, "Dashpad Replacement in a 1963 Avanti", on pages 33-35 of the Spring-summer 2002 Avanti Mag (issue #118)
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The round single-rheostat "infinite speed adjustment" switch is a Four Seasons (div of Standard Motor Products) switch #35700. www.autopartswarehouse.com carries it as their item #W0133-1615744, listed as fitting 1968-73 Mercedes 280SEL with Thermo-King air conditioning. At $55.95 it's not dirt cheap, but considering that the original switch lasted almost 25 years and still functions fairly well, why not? I ordered the new one Tuesday, got it this afternoon.
for what it may be worth, I prefer this switch to Nostalgic's 3-speed one since it doesn't limit my fan speed choices.
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Wayne, AOAI now has a CD containing all the issues (to issue 141) for $95. That, combined with the index CD, gives us access to an incredible amount of useful information.
My 3771, a 1983 model, has a 160mph speedo (which in the opposite direction is as absurd as yours). What years had the max 85mph ones?
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I have the same situation. October of 1963 was 44 years, two wives, four jobs and maybe ten houses ago. Any paperwork on the car is long gone. Mine was a true 1964 model, Avanti Red inside and out, R-2, Twin Traction, 3.07 rear, AM radio and roll-up windows. Delivered in October of 1963 through a Coral Gables, FL dealer, and later sold to a young guy who worked for a Sears Distribution Center in Greensboro, NC. Since I special-ordered it to get the equipment I wanted, the factory paperwork might have my name on it. Ah well...
1981 interior parts RQB 3231
in 1965-83 Avanti
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Hi, Ross, I have 3771 - also an 83. Nostalgic sold me a new windshield washer reservoir a couple of years ago. If you find where to get the Recaro seat... no, you mentioned adjuster knobs. Mine didn't have the seatback releae knobs. At any rate, of you find them please let us know where. 3771 has a Nardi wheel so I can't be of help there.