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Thomas

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Posts posted by Thomas

  1. Looks like a good Avanti, I'm sure you'll do it right.

    I am extremely impressed with the way JDP conducts his Studebaker business. That he cared enough to put this one back on the road rather than cutting it up for parts speaks volumes about how much of a friend he is to the Studebaker and Avanti community.

    Thomas

  2. Congrats! I've only had my Avanti since April and it is a fairly straightforward car to work on - fun to drive too! Since your Avanti has been sitting for a while you really need to flush out the brake system - you may be amazed what comes out of the lines. The three hydraulic flex hoses, two for the front and one for the back, rot from the inside out. When checking over all the hoses on the car do not forget to check the hoses coming out of the fuel tank. If the car has been in outdoor "storage" then you may also find a bit of rust scale inside the gas tank.

    Thomas

  3. Your experiences with the G-Tech are like what I have heard others say. Its just a tool, it can't make your car any faster or slower. 10+ seconds for 0-60 sounds about right for what you have.

    The real interesting part of the G-Tech is to compare real 1/4 mile e.t. and mph with your G-Tech data.

    As a tuning tool the G-Tech allows you to do real world back to back tests. Even if the specific numbers are off, it can give you an idea of the trendline of your performance tuning.

    Thomas

  4. I no longer have the order guides and specifications to the late great '94 - '96 Impala SS's and various police Caprice variants. I do know that the last police '96 Caprice sedan, with the LT1 and not the L99, that I delivered had the mechanical fan....but I'll leave that debate to a non-Studebaker forum, maybe it wasn't a 9C1 car - I don't know.

    Mark, from what I gather, lower cost solutions are a Studebaker owner's tradition :) If you get it all worked out it would be nice to see some pics posted.

    I may veer away from the original topic, but I think that its all good - the forums actually getting used that is.

    Thomas

  5. Jim, its nice to see the forum being used - even if the replies have veered away from the original post. Otherwise you would have to admit that few Avanti travelers online seem to make it over to the forums. I've puzzled over this, maybe Avanti people are largely not interested in the online world. Maybe it is just a percentages issue: like what percent of the owners of the ~ 2,200 remaining Studebaker powered Avantis like the online format.

    I do believe the Avanti specific Studebaker water pump has additional support for the bearing vs a standard Studebaker water pump, the parts vendors do list Avanti, and non-Avanti Studebaker V8 water pumps. I understand that they otherwise interchange.

    On my 496 El camino I once had the water pump hub separate from the shaft about half way down the dragstrip, but that was a machining issue from the Weiand water pump - I still won the round, and with a quick scramble for a radiator I made the next round too!

    I'm sorry that your medium duty fan clutch locked up and broke off. When my gas engine medium duty customers repower their trucks around 200,000 miles a new fan clutch is part of the package.

    Mark, move your radiator, I'm okay with that.

    Thomas

  6. Jim, yeah I'm definitely not the guy to pointing out how much time people spend on their cars - because long ago I crossed over the lunatic fringe :)

    Some clutch fan setups can have more fan noise on initial startup and driveaway. Neither the one on my Avanti or ElCamino are noisy this way. I know that some thermostatic clutch fans will initially keep the fan locked when the engine is first started, then allow the clutch to operate in clutch mode with engine compartment heat. I generally favor viscous fan clutches in a performance application, and thermostatic clutches in a heavy duty truck or towing application.

    Water pump shafts breaking off are rare occurances - I have seen nearly everything fail on some car or another, like wheels coming off while driving etc. Once I even had a steering wheel come off in my hands while I was driving a car - now that was exciting! The counterpart to the broken water pump shaft is how many times modern cars have overheated and fried engines when the electric fans failed - I've seen this many times - but it too is a rare occurance.

    Actually Jim, it is worth noting that in the heavy duty applications of the LT1, like in the 9C1 police Caprices (the general platform for the performance based Impala SS of '94 to '96), they all had a mechanical fan and fan clutch setup. Check it out, its not driven off the water pump because of the LT1's camshaft driven water pump. To this day GM pickups, even the light duty ones, have fan clutch setups.

    As to airflow at idle and city driving speeds - I haven't seen the specific cfm figures. However, I would note that virtually all applications with a fan clutch have much larger fan diameters and blade sizes than any electric fan. I suspect that the low rpm airflow with a fan clutch setup is much higher than you would guess.

    I really have nothing against Mark installing electric fans on his Avanti, but the idea of moving the radiator to make space for the electric fans seems like an obtuse solution for a simple matter. Simply having a good fan clutch and a fan that is positioned correctly in relation to the shroud opening would solve any cooling issues without a need for re-engineering the radiator location. It might be worth noting that Karl Sparks twin Paxton supercharged 504 hp Studebaker powered Avanti still uses a conventional fan and shroud setup.

    Thomas

  7. I must say that I am impressed with the amount of work and trouble people will go through to install electric fans. For those in the know: a proper clutch fan only gives up a couple of horsepower when compared to an electric fan. Another fact often ignored: a mechanical clutch fan has a much higher CFM of airflow than an electric fan (please note the obvious: that a fixed non-clutch fan is a definite power drain at higher rpms). If you check with any of the common electric fan companies you will find that they do not recommend their product for any heavy duty application - simply because no electric fan can out flow a properly shrouded mechanical fan clutch setup. Electric fans came into vogue almost entirely out of underhood packaging issues - especially with front wheel drive layouts. There were also some packaging benifits for certain rear wheel drive cars.

    I've driven my Avanti a few hundred miles in the same day, through the California desert - with nary a cooling issue even when buzzing along at 3,400 to 3,600 rpm (no overdrive).

    I'll bet that a lot of cooling issues on older cars are simply because of a worn out fan clutch or badly shrouded fan. A properly shrouded fan should have the fan blades only ~ 1/3 into the shroud opening, and 2/3's behind the shroud. Most of the airflow through a fan occurs around the perimeter. A fan that extends more than 1/2 way into the shroud opening will actually push a considerable amount of airflow back towards the radiatior - in effect "stalling" the airflow. Simple stuff.

    I also run a standard viscous non-thermostatic clutch fan on the thumping 680 horse 496 BBC in my ElCamino. My El Camino can be driven anywhere, city or highway, with no cooling problem whatsoever. And in full street trim on pump gas it runs ~ 126 mph at the drags.

    Mind you I have no issue with the auxillary electric fans to supplement a fan clutch setup, but if airflow determines the winner, then a clutch fan is the king.

    Thomas

  8. Perry, unless you have a body jig to check dimensions it will mostly be a guess on how much additional shimming needs to be done. Basically you should loosen the front mounts, then jack the body up until you are uncomfortable jacking it any more - then add shims to fill the gap.

    That said, I prefer to use hard rubber or polyurethane body bushings with shims as needed - rather than straight steel shims. I believe that it is important to allow for some movement, because your frame does slightly twist at times.

    Thomas

  9. Just FYI: the Olds engines into an Avanti frame require the front frame crossmember to be sectioned and the steering bellcrank lowered by 1". That is a lot of work, and only worthwhile if you are dropping an Olds 455 into your Avanti II.

    There is no way I could believe that someone would have gone through all that effort for a smog era Olds 307 - that would be such a step backwards in performance!

    As noted, Chevy small blocks used an oil fill pipe on the front of the intake on '60's era cars. I might have expected your '69 to not have the the fill pipe on the intake, but I'm not sure of the Avanti II engine spec for '69.

    Fire your mechanic.

    Thomas

  10. I thought this would be as simple as lifting the hood and looking at my wiring. Wrong - all my wiper motor wiring is black!

    So I cribbed the following from my books:

    Black wire to wiper armature-field (series) to wiper switch

    Blue wire to wiper park switch to wiper switch (depressed parking)

    Yellow wire to field (shunt) "ground" for running to wiper switch

    Red wire to field (shunt) "battery" for running to wiper switch

    I hope that helps.

    You may want to recheck your serial number, that is not an Avanti sequence. The serial number plate is mounted on the top side of the passenger side frame rail, seen just forward of the firewall while looking down through the engine compartment when the hood is open. It is likely covered in crud, use a good cleaner and a toothbrush to get through to the shiny part of the tag. If the sequental is correct, then you should see: 63R-3275. If it really reads 63V03275B (still small "B"), then it is probably off of a non-Avanti The small "B" (or small "A" on some Avanti's) appears following the serial number on some Avantis, but is not actually part of the serial number. Visible, when the hood is up, on the top of the passenger side inner wheelwell is your body sequental embossed number plate. Note: the serial number on the frame and body number on the right inner fender do not match up - and this has been a source of trouble with Avanti's since they were new. Yours should have two lines: the upper line embossed "63RQ", and the lower line embossed "22XX" (or possibly 23XX) , with the two x's likely being some number close to, but differrent than 75" . Many Avanti's have screwed up titles and registration serial numbers - mine was not correct when I bought the car, a minor bit of legal work later it is now registered correctly for the original serial number - plus I got a vanity license plate "6T3 R2".

    Thomas

  11. When Avantis start to show some serious price appreciation, that is when you will see kit car Avantis.

    Very few Avanti's are being used as daily transportation. The reason why bad frame Avanti's tend to get parted out is because the economics do not support the kind of devotion that a re-frame project requires. Usually always, a bad frame Avanti has a multitude of issues - of which the frame is just the worst issue. Reality check: the current pace of new Avanti production is zilch - and will probably remain that way until the next rich dude with car dreams comes along to scoop up the remnants of the company at a liquidation sale.

    I already have the LED taillights, complete new assemblies came in the big box 'o parts that came with my car. I'm happy that someone made them - but the relatively low numbers of remaining Avanti/Avanti II cars make parts like this a labor of love of the car.

    Thomas

  12. Sorry, but you have entered the dreamland zone. Kit cars are different, and I'm not sure if that format would appeal to the late model Avanti clientele. Not all of those Cobra companies have the cakewalk you might think - not all states welcome such cars with open arms.

    The basic math on production numbers rules out an Eleanor/Avanti. Shelby can find thousands of old Mustang shells to use in building the Eleanor models etc. Total Avanti, and Avanti II, production through 1983 was maybe 8,000 units. Not all of which are currently extant. Only a portion of the remaining survivors suffer from rotten frames that need a total replacement. The business case for continuing Avanti in this manner is weak.

    Take a look at what has happened everytime someone tries to make modern parts for the Studebaker engine - they go nowhere. Too few real buyers among the several that talk about alloy cylinder heads, a new big bore block, new cams, etc.

    Now if a moneyed individual wants to take on any of these causes without the economics to support it in the business sense, then it would be interesting. So far I see little such activity.

    Thomas

  13. No manufacturer is exempt from the federal standards. Avanti over the years was given time extensions vs. volume manufacturers, but that was years ago that they had to "catch up". Even the major modern rod builders have to make their creations smog compliant. Some choose to dodge this in creative ways, but the raid on Boyd Coddington's shop proved that the government is closing in on the scofflaws.

    The idea of resurecting the Avanti name in a kit car format is great except for one major issue - the company/individuals that currently own the rights to the Avanti name. They apparently do not want to be found, probably creditors in pursuit. The Avantis from the last few years are very nice cars, I especially like the LS1 powered examples.

    Whenever you meet a contemptuous car enthusiast, just remind them that its okay to be ignorant, and someday they may grow up.

    Thomas

  14. Welcome, and enjoy the drive.

    Your new Avanti, is it a 2006 model? Is it one of the new V6 models, or a V8?

    Beyond the city of Villa Rica moving into the Avanti Motors Corporation land/buildings, the current status of Avanti seems lost in the vapors of the early morning dew. Only parts of their website are functional, the last "news" was from October 17th, 2005.

    Thomas

  15. Dennis, ANYTHING can be done if you spend the time and money. Have you tried to contact any of the Avanti parts vendors to see if the have all of the parts you will need?

    The Avanti II/Chevy will be far easier to do a manual trans changeover, the proper bellhousing and clutch parts are more readily available (not everything, but more than Studebaker.

    Thomas

  16. Tom, The T-5 in the Motorsport World Class version is rated for 325 ft lbs torque, which should be fine as I have no real drag racing plans for my Avanti (I have other cars for that). I may consider a different 5 or 6 speed trans, as long as the shifter can be reasonably close to where it would be for the T-10. The non-WC T-5 versions are too weak to be considered, I'm pretty sure the T-Bird never got the WC version.

    Thomas

  17. Jeff, I see that I even made it into a pic or two - thanks for being such a shutterbug. I enjoyed looking over all the pix of what I didn't get to see. One of the guys I hoped to meet was Karl Sparks - somehow I found him as I was researching Avanti's online before my purchase and he was nice enough to answer some of my questions.

    I haven't really checked out what shifter is on the car - but it definitely is not a short throw shifter. Somewhere in the past the shifter plate below the console trim plate was cut out to accomodate the wider throws. In some ways it really is a moot point since I plan on a T-5 trans conversion.

    I'll have to check out t-bow's stuff. I had found Lionel Stone's stuff online, I left a message on his voicemail - but no reply so far. I can't believe there are two people making these kinds of alloy parts, seems to me that the market for such items would barely keep one vendor busy. I have no illusions of cheap and easy Stude power, but I would like to keep the car all Stude appearing but at the same time enhance the handling and braking etc.

    Thanks for the Yahoo Avanti link, I joined up!

    Thomas

  18. Tom, I emailed Fairborn, and they emailed back with a set of instructions on how someone had converted a Ford Motorsport T-5 into their Studebaker. I may just seek out a Studebaker Truck bellhousing (which I understand has a larger mounting face), buy a new trans, then do my own conversion. One of the things I would like is a modern clutch setup rather than the Stude pieces.

    My solution on the late model LT1/LS1 F-body cars is to install a tubular K member. Once this is done, along with a few thoughtful parts relocations, the amount of working space increases dramatically. All modern cars have a lot more equipment under hood. Requires creativity for the home shop. For engine removals instead of using the engine hoist to lift the engine out, I use it to lift the front of the car up after disconnecting the engine subframe - then slide the engine out the side/front. The 4L60E can be sereviced by the do it yourselfer with just a few specialty tools.

    Jim, you are so right about there being many different kinds of shops out there. I would say the first tipoff that a person might want to look elsewhere is when the shop makes comments expressing concern about the time to work on a classic - like that they prefer newer cars etc. The cool shops are the ones that ask if you can be flexible on the time the car is in the shop, because they want you to know that extra time has to be allowed for mail order parts - these are the shops that have worked on classics.

    Thomas

  19. Jim, I think I should have worded that differently - rather than being a blanket indictment, I just meant that it can be hard for the non-mechanical owner to know when they are being well served. There are shops I trust and use when I am pressed for time.

    I do believe that I have seen where a person can obtain the factory build information on their specific Avanti for a fee from one of the vendors. That has to mean that someone has all of the specific build data - but it may not be on any sort of data file that allows for easy retrieval of the answers to my questions of how many with this option or that option. More than anything else I just find that kind of trivia interesting.

    Thomas

  20. Tom, I'll have to look up Fairborn Studebaker to see what they have. Considering the money that Doug had spent having this T-10 rebuilt (some new gears, synchros, bearings, etc.) I might have expected this trans to be quieter and slicker shifting - but it is not. Which brings up one of the sad facts of classic car ownership for the non mechanical owner: it is hard to find a shop that gives you your money's worth. Doug had thousands of dollars in receipts, but a fair amount of the work was really just indifferent in quality. The kluge method of dealing with the broken off power steering pump stud was almost comical, yet he paid someone money to "repair" it. How the broken motor mount was "missed" defies explanation, because I'm positive that Doug would have paid for any necessary repairs that the shop advised.

    Yes, the Avanti is very servicable. Its just that I can already see that I need to add some stubby wrenches to my tool chest - there are some suprising tight spots in the engine compartment.

    Jim, I hear ya buddy. Doug had mentioned that he looked at Avantis for 2-1/2 years before finding this one - and for me this was the only Avanti that I called on and went to look at. Only because I find such things interesting, I am wondering if there is any sort of break down on the actual numbers of: R2, 4 speed, etc. I looked all over the internet and didn't find any data like that. All I know is that my engine is RS2087, which should make it the 1,087th R2 installation for the '63 model year.

    Thomas

  21. A few weeks ago, I bought a Red '63 Avanti R2 four speed from a listing in the AOAI classifieds. I looked at it one weekend, then about a week later Doug and I came to an agreeable deal. I really wanted a '63 because I like the round headlights, this one also has power windows and aftermarket wire wheels (TruSpoke?). Also included were a couple of boxes of miscelaneous extra parts (fuel pump, LED tail lights, carb bonnet, etc.), and a couple of boxes of documentation and maybe 30 years of Avanti Magazine. Original window sticker and dealer paperwork and all the books and manuals too.

    Old cars can be interesting when you start really looking them over. This one has mismatched cylinder heads: one is a proper 67 cc combustion chamber size, the other is a '58-'60 58 cc size. Hmmm...

    I drove it home (77 miles) just fine, but there were a few issues to repair before hitting the road again. The power steering pump mounting studs were broken off flush at the engine block, and a motor mount and mount bracket were broken. All of that was more work than it should have been - I'm finding that Studebaker's are a full size car wrapped in a 9/10'ths scale body.

    I did manage to fix those things in time to drive out to Palm Springs on Monday (110 miles each way). I met a good group of people, and went to the seminars that day, and the reception at Don Hedgepeth's house. I really wish that I could have gone back for the Wednesday car show, but business was calling.

    My plans are to go through and fix all the mechanical and functional aspects of the car, maybe later in the year I will strip it all down and smooth out all the body panels and give it a proper paint job (it has a low to fair cruise night paint and body appearance) . I'll also likely add a T5 five speed trans in place of the T10 four speed trans. I am a high performance nut, but mostly I'll build this one for fun cruising - maybe with some of the aluminum heads etc. I'm thinking that if I went nuts with all the aluminum parts available that I could take close to 200 lbs weight off the front of the car - which would make things more fun for cornering and acceleration. One of my other old cars is an unlikely El Camino with a monster pump gas 496 that has laid down 564 rear wheel hp (close to 700 at the flywheel) and 562 rear wheel torque. That one is a genuine street car (overdrive for the freeway) that has run high 10 second 125 mph 1/4 mile times in full street trim.

    I am my own mechanic, I enjoy fixing old cars for a hobby. I'm pretty good and have a nice home shop, but I'm also very slow to get things done.

    One of the questions I have is where to source a new body tag with the proper embossed numbers. Some previous owner got confused and stamped a body plate with a matching sequence to the vin plate. The vin plate is intact on the frame of the car, it was merely covered with many years of grime.

    Thomas

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