SBCA96
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Posts posted by SBCA96
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Does anyone know of someone who makes a mandrel bent full exhaust for the
Avanti? I know Silvertone makes a crush and bend, but I want a performance
exhaust with minimal restrictions.
Tom
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Does anyone know of someone who makes a mandrel bent full exhaust for the
Avanti? I know Silvertone makes a crush and bend, but I want a performance
exhaust with minimal restrictions.
Tom
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Base coat/clear coat will be in the area of $5k to $8K, more if the shop finds significant prior damage repairs in the body. A single-stage acrylic enamel might be a bit less if you like a non-metallic with a softer-gloss finish.
I recently had my wifes 1986 Camaro IROC painted at Earl Scheib, they have
come a long way from the crappy quality paints they used to use, and the poor
applications. I am not saying that they are show quality, but for a driver, or an
improvement over a tired paint job, they are damn good. I paid 600 for the total
job, and that included stripping the paint off a couple panels, and filling a small
rust hole on the hood. They also removed all the stickers. They use only acrylic
urethane paint - which is the GOOD stuff. We got the higher end job, which also
included a clear coat. It has a 6 year warrenty - try getting that on a 7000 dollar
specialty shop job. Here are some before and after pics :
As I said, its NOT perfect, but its a HUGE improvement from an aged paint job or
one with a clear coat delamination problem like this IROC had. It looks GREAT
from 10 feet away and the Earl-Tech was upfront about that. You could work out
things to get an even better job then this, but I just wanted to make the car easier
to sell then the eye sore it was.
I actually plan on having the Avanti painted there as well, though I will work with
them to get an even better result. The only negative was the amount of dirt that
was on the paint in the front of the car. My guess is that the dirt along the edge
of the hood seam blew out as they painted the car. I recommend giving the car
a REALLY good cleaning BEFORE bringing it in. Earl doesnt do a WET cleaning of
the car, and this car had a LOT of dirt from sitting. They pressure air blew it out,
but it wasnt enough. Most of the dirt came off during the first waxing, so it wasnt
a big deal really. Compared to how it looked before - its a show car now! Also
keep in mind that these are the pics RIGHT after receiving the car, the paint is a
lot more shiny now after its first waxing. The paint is airborn and already painted
surfaces are 'dulled' by the airborn color landing on the surface. Rubbing out the
paint during waxing/polishing will fix that nicely.
Chrome platers vary... these places should offer quality work (triple plating), but expect to pay at least $400 to $750 to do a quality rechrome on a bumper.http://www.verneschromeplating.com/contact.html
These guys are in California, in Gardena. They were recomended to me by Jon
Myer, and also by a few guys on the Impala SS site. They quoted me just a hair
over 700 bucks for both front AND rear bumpers (all 4 main pieces). They do a
"triple" deal, but told me that most shops push "hype" and not quality.
They also told me to stay away from "black chrome", I was tempted to have that
done to my Avanti, since I am not a fan of chrome. They said that its not very
durable, so it would be bad on the front of the car (rock chips).
Tom
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I'm looking for a source for (original design and materiel) seat covers, carpet and trunk sets for my 63.
Thanks, John
http://www.studebakervendors.com/phantom.htm#ANCHORTOP
There is also another place that advertises in the Turning Wheels and Avanti Mag.
Tom
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Or you can get this one :
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?...pid=03473911000
Sears item #03473911000
Mfr. model #73911
$14.99
Reg. $19.99
Save $5.00
Sale ends 01/07/06
I have a long tube flouresent bulb work light from YEARS ago, the bulb has lasted
forever. Puts out a lot of light, and I have dropped it MANY times.
Tom
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My problems: Can anyone help me with the proper wiring hookup for the distributor (GM high energy)
The distributor must have a FULL 12 volts when the key is "ON". You can not use
the wire that goes to the coil, since its a resistor wire. On my Hawk with the HEI
I ran a NEW wire from the Ign switch to the power, though using an inline fuse is
a good idea.
alternator (Delco with built in regulator).I put a GM Alt on my Studebaker powered Avanti, I did a write up for the Avanti
magazine a few years ago, you might check there.
I found this though :
http://patriot.net/~jonroq/Text/GMs-10.txt
Tom
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The engine was kept stock except for the .030 over pistons. So, what I am looking for is input.
There is a LOT of improvement to be had from porting the stock Stude heads, if
you also go with 1.94 intake valve you will be amazed at the difference in power.
Some things I know I want to explore are changing the two piece rear axles to the one piece design (I don't have much info about that)http://patriot.net/~jonroq/Text/flangedaxles.txt
converting to rear disc brakes (I don't have any info about that)Dave at Steeltech makes them:
http://www.steeltechsolutions.com/REAR_DISC_PAGE_CODE.html
using wider wheels and wider tires for better handling (I have found a decent amount of info about that).See my thread on here about what I am running.
Tom
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I am running Crager Black Slot 8 15" rims with P215/70R15 tires and am thinking of going to 16" rims to get a better selection of performance tires. I'm looking at a P215/55R16 or P225/55R16 tire size. Is anyone else running these sizes?
17 x 8 w/ 245/45 tire.
http://www.aoai.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=293
You would need to verify your rotor offset to spindle, and get spacers for the front.
As I found, the available rim designs for 16 and 17 inch rims that fit the olderstyle
offset like Avanti and Mustang are pretty bad looking on our cars. Mustang can
'get away' with a more muscle car look rim, but the Avanti is 'european'.
Once I get the brake mod done, I will be able to test drive it. The rims fit perfect
in the rear, but the front was off by 1/4 to 3/8 inchs. Your car has a different brake
and suspension design then the original Avanti.
Tom
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finished talking to factory reps, et.al.
the xref are either "certified" or otherwise noted
Judging from the LOOKS of the Bilstein shocks I got for my 1995 Impala SS, they
should fit the front of the Avanti with minor mods to the lower A-arm. Once I get
to that point, I will address it. Right now I am using Dodge Van front shocks with
larger washers, and then the rear shocks are the same as full size GM truck, but
it required using an early Studebaker bolt thru lower mount on the leaf spring.
Tom
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Why don't they create a classification for the manufacture of limited production or specialty cars that has the same safety requirements of a motorcycle?
I could sware that this did exist, it was for companies that create UNDER a certain
number of vehicles per year. If memory serves, this is how Avanti was able to
"dodge" the smog police back in the late 60's and then held out against the bumper
police in the 70's. The 80's saw the larger bumper "bookshelf". I assume, ( and
wrongly perhaps) that the magor body is complete and the chassis/driveline from
the Mustang is used. If thats the case, then an Art Morrison frame could be used
instead of the Mustang. Obviously I dont know all the herdles that exist in creating
a vehicle in the current market, but it would seem that purchasing a frame from
the likes of Art, with existing suspension parts (Corvette), would be cheaper then
buying a whole 25,000 dollar Mustang, and cutting it apart. Dont you change the
crash test results anyway by swapping body panels, and interior pieces?
XUV?:
Tom
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The new Mustang chassis will be superior to the previous Fox-type Mustang chassis. As to the V-6 and V-8 offering..the original came in 2 flavors: R1 and R2.
Superior to the Fox platform? God, I hope so, what a crap setup that was, to be a
superior design to such an inferior suspension setup isnt saying much. Ford did a
great job of copying the 4th Gen F-body (Camaro/Firebird) suspension, so yes its
a definate improvement, but their decision to go with a hydro-boost brake setup
and the ignition-kill steering lock up is screaming for a lawsuit. The Modular V8
that Ford boasts about doesnt even have cam bearings on those overhead cams
and a high RPM they are starved for oil. They finally fixed the spark plugs from
shooting out of the heads, but the intake manifolds still crack. Nope, I think that
staying with the GM LSX engines would have been a better plan. Maybe a call to
Art Morrison (http://www.artmorrison.com/index.html) would have been a good
place to start, since they already make a Hawk based frame that has many types
of suspension options. Since the Lark frame is basically a shortened Hawk frame,
this would be easy to adapt. Avanti used to use their own frame, with the limited
numbers they should be able to find a loop hole for production, even if it required
selling an "almost turnkey" car, like some of the Cobra kit cars and the Australian
GT-40 (which would be a better buy then the new Avanti at only ~40k).
Sorry but its just not right for the Avanti to have a V6, doesnt matter the HP rating,
thats like a V6 Corvette, you have to go back to the 50's to find a 6 cyl Vette. I'm
not debating the use of brand X parts, obviously there will never be a Studebaker
Avanti again, but Ford was the wrong direction, many problems with the engines
that will become a liability in an 80k car. I have a friend who is a diehard Ford guy
and he seems to tell us a new "recall" with the 4.6/5.3 each week. His intake was
over 2000 dollars to have fixed, at first Ford said they would replace it, so he had
the Dealer do it, then they said no. It barely has over 100k on it - pretty sad. I put
almost 200k on my LT1 powered F-body, the heads have never been off.
He has also had to replace the rack, all the brakes (worked out good for me) and
ball joints ... etc. With 214k on my Camaro (bought it used, beat the crap out of
it) I have yet to replace ANYTHING except the shocks. Hopefully Avanti owners
will not drive their cars very much, and then it wont be a problem.
As for the XUV .. the SUV is dead .. check GM and Fords storage lots, pretty soon
they will be coming off the line, and into the shredder - which doesnt bother me at
all, the less of them on the road the better, they keep flipping over around here,
and then I am late for work while they scrape up the body parts.
But then, you mentioned overseas, so maybe there isnt a completely saturated
market like here in the US, where you can sell them. Too bad you had to use the
"Studebaker" name on it ... but I guess "Edsel" is still copyrighted by Ford huh?
On the other hand .. I read that in Russia they refer to ALL trucks as "Studebaker"
still since we gave them all the second issue service vehicles after WWII. There
are some pretty hot looking women in the Ukraine, you could get some to model
with the new XUV in fatigues and holding automatic weapons and crossbows.
A wagon would have sold, of course, then Avanti would have been sued by Dodge
because the Magnum already LOOKS like an updated Lark, I saw a few pics in a
car rag and at first glance I thought it was a custom Lark.
As for investment money? Nope, the RIAA took all my cash. Sorry. But then you
guys know how it is to be sued. How come Avanti didnt counter sue GM for that
sliding roof feature on one of their MANY SUV's? On a similar note, when will GM
be sued by Honda for the blatent rip-off of the 2005 Accord with their 2006 Impala?
I mean, COME ON guys! If the original XUV was a rip off of the Hummer, then that
Impala is a carbon copy of the Accord take a look!
2005 Honda Accord
2006 Chevy Impala
They say revenge is a dish best served cold, Dan, an anonymous tip to Honda??
Tom
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Here is the finished hub - ready for a Ford rotor!
Here is the difference between the stud rotor and the Ford, the Stud is non-vented
and only about 3/8 thick, each half of the Ford rotor is 3/8 thick. The Stude one
worked great in its day, and still is good for a few stops, but I wouldnt trust it on
a twisty auto cross course!
Here is the dinky little bracket that holds the stock Stude caliper in place, it only
uses three of the available 6 holes, and mounts on the back side.
Compared to a Craftsmen 9/16 wrench .... so cute!
Here is the hub and the spindle flange just waiting for the new brackets to come
out of my head:
Sorry, I didnt get a shot of the rotor on because the battery in the cam died, but it
does fit and spins true. The thickness of the rotor made the passenger side clear
perfectly and the drivers side almost clear the upper A-arm. It is driveable now (if
the brakes worked), I think that I will use an 1/8 spacer in between the rotor and
the wheel, the wheel studs are long enough to handle this. They are larger studs
then Ford used anyway. I took all the dimensions that I needed to draw up the
brackets in CAD, they look fairly simple to do.
Tom
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Sorry about the focus on some of these pictures ....
The Studebaker hubs are now modified to accept the Ford rotors with the rotor lug
holes drilled out to the next SAE size - 5/8. The original Ford rotor holes being
metric these days. Here is the stock hub after separation - before mod :
The Ford rotor is 5.6 inchs in diameter where the hub needs to fit, the outside of
the hub was turned down to 5.5 inches, if you were to want to go with the Cobra
13 inch rotor from the start, I am assuming that the Cobra has more room in the
back, but this is not verified yet. I know that the rear rotor will fit the stock Stude
hub without being turned down:
I used Chrysler wheel studs, which are for a 1/2 and 3/4 ton truck from the 70's
all the way to 2003 - nice huh? Wide array of availability. Napa part number is
BK6412184, they come in boxes of 5. The only problem in using them is they are
for a larger hole. The Stude knurl is .645, but the knurl on these studs is .668. I
used a 21/32 drill to give me ~.012 of interference fit, then added Loctite. It is
pretty easy to do, with a hand drill and a vice. The studs are 1 3/4 inch long, with
a shoulder that would extend out to center the rotor.
I found that the old Stude rotor makes a perfect holder for the hub when pressing
the studs in, nice and stable. I might mention that one of the hubs on my Avanti
was a drum brake hub, with a disc pressed on the back, so I know that this will
work for either hubs. I found that the disc brake hub, accepted the stud straighter
then the drum brake hub. This is because the drum brake hub is not machined on
the back. This was easy enough to "fix", by putting the rotor on the hub, and then
tightening the wheel on to draw the rotor onto the hub. This straightened the studs
to the correct position (since the tapered hole in the rim will force the stud to
perpendicular to the hub face). I didnt have to do this with the disc brake hub.
Tom
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Excuse me for asking a real newbie question....
What horsepower does an R1 engine produce? I know the factory didn't give a number (at least to the public) and I've read sources that range from 180 to 250.
Anyone know (or have an educated guess...or better yet a dyno readout?)
"Safe instant passing power".
Tom
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I am having trouble with persistent leakage from the radiator reserve tank on my '63 R2. It's enough to spray small amounts of coolant all around my recently rebuilt engine when I drive.
I had the SAME thing happen ... but I had it repaired at a local radiator shop and
its been fine since. They actually opened it up .. and then soldered the HECK out
of it. You can not even SEE the seam anymore. It was a little hole in the wall shop
but they did an excellent job.
I think that other specialty cars had them, like the Cobra, but .. its not going to be
cheap. I would bet you could have one made by a good shop for less.
Tom
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Technically, I shouldnt, at worst I should only have to install an adjustable valve
to set the proportion between front and rear. I already upgraded the car with a
dual master cylinder (something I suggest ALL Avanti owners do!!!).
Tom
I dont remember, I know it was for a Chrysler, early 70's. I have the box in the
garage somewhere, I can look it up when I find it. I found a site that even had
the number a couple days ago, thought I saved it, but now I can not find it.
https://www.studebakerparts.com/studebakerp...es/dskdual.html
http://www.aoai.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=224
Tom
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Sounds great! Won't you have to change master cylinders also.
Technically, I shouldnt, at worst I should only have to install an adjustable valve
to set the proportion between front and rear. I already upgraded the car with a
dual master cylinder (something I suggest ALL Avanti owners do!!!).
Tom
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Edit per new picture location : 12/1/08
Well ... I guess I will share what I have been doing on my Avanti
lately. As many of you might remember I bought a set of rims for
it - 2003 Mustang Cobra rims.
Well, one problem I found that I had was the rim would contact the
upper A-arm pivot in the front on a turn, this is bad for the rim!
I contacted a guy back east who sells a 12 inch rotor disc brake
setup that bolts on. The problem - its $650 plus shipping. I also
want to upgrade my rear brakes, he sells a rear disc kit, but there
is another problem - its $450 plus shipping.[V] I wouldnt be that
concerned, but after sending out the $4250 check to the RIAA, I dont
have much left over for the mortgage, let alone brakes for a car I
rarely drive. The Avanti brakes need to be completely refurbished,
so even if I decided to keep the stock brakes, I am looking at over
1500 dollars in vintage discontinued brake parts ...
But .. along came my Mustang friend. See, Ford uses the SAME 5 on 4.5
inch wheel pattern (obviously since I could bolt the rims on) so the
rotors will fit my hubs also. My Mustang friend GAVE me his whole
1998 GT disc setup when he upgraded to Cobra brakes. 11 inch vented
front rotors, calipers, rear solid rotors, calipers (with parking
brake), and axle brackets. Since I am a CAD operator, I took the
dimensions of the bracket, and drew them up in CAD, I also got the
dimensions from the Dana 44 axle. It looks like the rear setup will
require some milling to thin the bracket a bit to move the mounting
surface out, and then a bolt pattern change, and open up one side so
it can slip over the axle tube and mount on the backside of the axle
flange. It will use three bolts to attach, which is common with a
disc brake caliper retrofit. The rotor will fit over the hub, and it
looks like the tapered backside of the stud holes, will nicely center
the rotor on the studs. Hopefully I can have the brackets modified
this next week at my work.
The front is a different story. I didnt get brackets, as the caliper
mounts to the spindle. I did some research and found a guy who makes
brackets to mount 03 Cobra brakes on a first Gen Mustang. I pulled
the image off his website and then imported it into CAD, then traced
it to get the basic angle and spacing from hub center for the caliper.
This is important to keep, as bleeding would become difficult! So,
armed with this new info, I felt good about using the GT front brakes
as well, you have more drive to adapt something when you get it for
free!! But, I ran into a problem. The Stude wheel hub is a larger
diameter then the inside diameter of the Ford rotor! Damn! This is
not the end of the world, as I can have the wheel hub machined to the
right size, removing metal is easier then putting it back. The rotors
on the Avanti are junk anyway. So I wasnt able to take the next step
of dimensions, so that I could continue with my brackets. I did some
research tonight on the web, looking to see if there was a hub that is
the right size for the rotor, that would fit my spindle - no dice. I
would rather use the Stude hub if I can, and the bearings are still
available. Interesting though, the 1994-04 Mustang hubs are NOT able
to be repaired! You can NOT put in new bearings! No joke! Now I
could get the hubs from my buddy (he mentioned that a bearing is now
making some noise, and then have my buddy at work machine the inside
to fit the Stude bearings, but .. thats a pain (though a possibility).
Back to the spacing problem, it looks as though moving the wheel out
1/4 inch will solve the clearance problem. The Stude rotor is mounted
on the backside of the hub, so it doesnt effect wheel position, but the
Mustang rotor is on the outside, between the rim and hub, and the
rotor thickness is .275, just a tad more then 1/4 inch. So if I can get
this to work, then it will work beautifullly with these rims. Though it
would not work well with stock steel rims, as the caliper position will
cause contact with the steel rims. Right now, because of the design
of the Cobra rims, the stock Stude brakes look pretty silly sitting WAY
back, and looking quite small. The NICE part about this swap, is the
Cobra uses the same hub, and caliper mount position as the GT, so
I can EASILY upgrade to 13 inch rotors and 2 piston calipers in the
future ... nice huh??
Tom
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new 63 R2 ownee with Questions.
Here is the cruising guage readings.
Vacuum 10 PSI
Oil pressure 50P
Amps ~1
Temp ~215.
very different than my VW. If I had these on the VW, I would have stopped at the first VW dealer.
Question is:
1. are these ok?
2. if not, what is ok and optimal?
3. if not, what needs to checked/fixed?
The oil pressure looks about right, the vacuum I never paid attention too, the temp
is "OK" but getting high. I would suggest checking the coolant level and color. If
its brown, then get a back flush done. Could also be a worn out viscus fan. Amps
are not important really, check the voltage with a volt meter, should be about 13.6
to 14.6 volts. I would rather see the temp around 180.
Tom
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Cool ... lookin good!
Tom
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Here is someone who installed a Rack & Pinion in to a 53 Studebaker chassis, the
Avanti uses the same front suspension, so the majority of this will be the same:
http://home.houston.rr.com/baker53/
Tom
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Always wondered what Jason traded it on.
I dont know ... Jason is weird. I lost contact with him years ago. I was going to
look him up, but his last name is one of THE most common! I have one of the
wiper arms from that Avanti. When I bought my 63 from him, it had NO wiper
arms, so I borrowed one to match up. He went and traded it in WHILE I had the
wiper arm still! I dont understand. He got hooked on SVO Mustangs and Merkurs.
Become a Ford guy, I bought Chevys. My guess is he traded it on a Merkur.
Tom
Calling Wayne C!
in 1965-83 Avanti
Posted
Hey Wayne .. I got a message from you to my EMail, I sent a reply, but didnt get
a reply back, I'm wondering if it went through?? My dad is visiting from Michigan
until next week, I was HOPING to drive my Avanti to In & Out Burger in S.B. off
Turnpike this Friday night. Usually we hang out there starting about 8:30 pm. I
have never driven my Avanti there since the brakes were so bad, but the Mustang
GT brakes are excellent. I need to repair a coolant leak, and then I am planning
on being there. My dad was going to come with me, so if you might want to say
hi, he still has your old 1969 Avanti (its dark blue with a 700-R4 trans now).
My Email is sbca96@aol.com - drop me an EMail or reply here!
Tom