plwindish
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Posts posted by plwindish
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I'm late to the post, but I've had good luck with Vogue Red lines that have the white wall. I ordered them through Tire rack.com. I started looking for other tires after getting the new aluminum Halibrand wheels from Real Rodders. Coker's were back ordered on me twice so I looked around and found the Vougues which were $100 per tire cheaper than the Cokers and came with a warranty. They were shipped to my local tire shop within 3 days of buying online and I've been very happy with them in the nearly year and a half that I've had them. They ride nice, no road noise and clean up quite easily.
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Geez, I knew there was a reason why I kept the 400 in my '76 (RQB-2392) through many overheating issues in traffic going to meets, two engine rebuilds in '11 and again in '17, though the rebuilds were for different reasons. The '11 rebuild was to modernize the engine with new pistons, roller cam, roller lifters, aluminum intake, performer carb, block hugger ceramic coated headers as well as work done on the heads passages for better intake and exhaust air passage. The work resulted in an engine dyno stand performance of 360 horsepower and 400 foot pounds torque. A rebuilt 200R4 AOD transmission was also installed after the engine was reinstalled in the car making for a nice highway cruising Avanti until traveling to Colorado Springs in '13 for a Meet where car completely fell on its face after being in the altitude for a week, needing to be shipped back to Illinois to get straightened back out, carb, spark plug wires and distributor were all suspect.
The '17 rebuild was due to a decision to go to an MSD EFI and my mechanic suspected and found a cracked head with some cylinder damage, making it necessary for the second rebuild. The motor is now a 408 with only the block, crank, fan and oil pan original engine parts. The EFI set up is all MSD with the EFI kit, Ignition box, and distributor. This time the dyno test stand readings were 522 lbs of torque @ 4400 RPM's and 471.5 HP @ 5400 RPM's. BTW, with the exception of an inline electric fuel pump failing within the first year, there have been no issues with the EFI system on the car since installation in August 2017. I put the car in storage around November every year, disconnect the battery, cover the car and sometime in April uncover it, reconnect the battery and it starts right up to drive home.
Dart aluminum heads, a re-cored radiator and 160 thermostat seem to have taken care of the over-heating issues. The nearly 600 mile round trip to Livonia MI for the AOAI Meet September saw the AC working comfortably the entire trip, the temperature gauge staying in the 160-185 range except in a back up on 80/94 in Illinois on the return trip where the temp got in the 195 range before I turned off the AC and opened windows and vents. Economy wise, with the cruise set at 74-75 when feasible, 20.94 going up and 21.13 coming back.
I got the car in January '11 to drive to AOAI and SDC Meets while heading toward retirement in '17. Since the first rebuild I've put just over 54000 miles on the car. Its been to the East coast 3 times and the West coast once as well as all over the Midwest from our home in Illinois. The car has had pretty much a frame on restoration over the years I have had the car with the last major project being the interior vinyl, carpeting and seat belts being completed in early '23.
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Your seats look nice! I had the carpet and entire interior along with seatbelts redone in my '76 over last Fall and Winter in a vinyl very similar to what was in the car but was getting very tired.
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Call Dan Booth at Nostalgic. He has said in the past, send in the old seals and he will match them sending you back the new ones. Call to see if that's still his policy.
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The '89 Convertibles used the Caprice tank and would hold 25 gallons, that tank was under the trunk and had the fill door on left rear side fender just rear of the tire.
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I just replaced the temp switch, fan speed switch and vents on my '76 (RQB 2392) yesterday. They all were very easy to replace. The variable speed rheostat type switch according to Dan Booth is no longer available, the 3 speed switch is its replacement. All wires clipped onto the switches and the new vents hold the position they are set at whereas my old vents were too worn to hold position. My rheostat switch was wrapped with electrical tape and the tape was pretty brittle indicating it had gotten pretty warm operating the AC. The temp adjusting switch was still working, but I figured do them both and be done with it. I got them the next day after ordering them.
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Just got back to the Forum and saw your question. I used the retractable as that's what my '76 had originally.
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A few thoughts about the above topic:
1. Rear Disc brakes - I'd love them for my '76, but rebuilt the drums after the Turner rear kit did not fit (in 2011). The Turner's upfront are fine.
2. 200R4 trans was installed in my '76 after the 400 SBC was overhauled and updated in '11. I've been very happy with it and put over 50,000 miles on it since installed, rebuilt last year.
3. Even after overhaul, headwork, 400 still would overheat if in hot weather and stuck in traffic. Went to switch to EFI in '17 and found a cracked head with some cylinder damage necessitating another rebuild, this time with aluminum heads and re-cored radiator seems to have eliminated the problem. Car runs great now. 20-20 hindsight in effect, I might have gone with a 383 crate motor or LS when I got the car in '11 instead of 2 motor rebuilds. The 400 now is no slouch on the road, plenty of HP and Torque, getting around 22 on the road at 70.
4. I had a ''89 convertible for 7 years the same time I had the '76, buying the '89 already resto-modded with a crate 383 SBC, 4L60E AOD trans, Ford 9" rear end, air shocks, 18" and 20" torque thrust wheels. 305 owners, I think the 383 crate is a great drop in answer to upgrade the power in your Avanti. It would go in with little or no modification that an LS likely would need. I do understand a desire to keep the original power plant in the car, a problem I wrestled with in my '76. We also need to consider the originality tag doesn't mean much on any Avanti after Studebaker stopped production.
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Other than appearance, what function would they serve on an Avanti? During the Spring of 1970, I was driving my '67 Chevelle SS396 to my student teaching assignment and had the front opening hood pop up on me and completely obscure the windshield, luckily I wasn't going fast enough to seriously damage the hood or windshield. Something like that would never happen on a rear opening hood.
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Dan, I just had the interior redone on my '76 and decided to also redo the belts as well. I went to seatbeltsplus.com in California. They have a nice selection of belts. My belts were the 3 point in front and two point lap belts in the rear. If the belt is attached on the upper part of the roll bar where the 3 point belts are attached, I'm betting you'll be able to easily adapt them.
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Bill
Looking up the p/n you listed, it said it would fit Mopar 83/4" A,B, and E body as well as Dana 60. I thought the rear end was a Dana 44. I have no idea if the backing plates are the same on 44's and 60's.
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Bill,
As I'm remembering,(I might be wrong as it was the Spring of '11), the kit I got from Jim Turner for the rears, the mounting bracket only had 3 holes and there was no way on my Dana that 2 of those holes could be lined up with the backing plate bolts. Is it possible the bracket doesn't go all the way around and mount with 5, but 4 bolts? Did Jegs list what company made the kit and are the replacement pads available through anyone other than Jegs?
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Let me know if you find out. My ‘76 poblably has the 5 bolt backing plate.
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Sorry you had that happen with getting new seat covers. I'm having a local upholstery shop redo the interior in my '76. Interior was the Acorn brown vinyl and I was able to find some good replacements for the Acorn brown. The shop did the front seats console and redid the carpeting last Fall and I got the car back to him 3 weeks ago to finish the back seat, door and side panels and rest of interior. Good luck with getting your deposit back and getting a shop to do the work.
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Bob is one of Studebaker's legends. Ed George and Bob Ashton rightfully recognized Bob as a Living Legend at the MCACN show in the Chicago area in November. My prayers are with you Bob!
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I just saw the post. My '76 is RQB-2392. Johnstone's site had several owners listed, did you add that information? I'm owner #4 for 2392. I've had it since January 2011.
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My '76 would overheat in warm weather, traffic jams, slow moving traffic, in town until the motor was rebuilt and aluminum heads were installed and radiator was recored. No issues since then.
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Same area, different idea... Before I had my '76 repainted in '15, for several years I had some tasteful pin striping on the location for the gun sight..
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Bill
Twelve years ago I had a lot of work done on my '76, replacing the brake lines, adding Turner front disc brakes and I also got the rear disc set up from Turner as well. The mounting plates for the rears would not line up as they had a different pattern and I ended up rebuilding the rear drums. What are the rears you're getting from Jegs, brand name? The fronts I have work good, but I'd still like to get discs on the rear
I had a resto-modded '89 Convertible for 7 years that had Wildwood's on all corners and they worked real well.
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There is an adjustment screw on the steering box to help tighten or loosen the steering. One shop adjusted mine. A year or two later, the car seemed to wander in the lane while driving. I had it checked out and the bolts mounting the steering box to the frame had loosened, once tightened up, it handled just fine.
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On 12/21/2021 at 3:48 PM, mfg said:
No, it wasn't three
....However you were correct in including Chicago & LA....New York wasn't on list!
Any other thoughts here?
New York wasn't on the list? My '89 was built for the '89 New York Auto Show. It's be surprising as NY is considered one of THE shows.
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25 gallon tank. The '89 convertible resto-modded with a crate 383 that I had loved gas station fill ups.
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He wasn't quite so lucky on his new paint choice that wouldn't stick to the car bodies.
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I really wonder who gets the credit for the saying "There's nothing more expensive than a cheap Avanti."
Repower or sell?
in Avanti Pub
Posted
I bought an ‘89 convertible that been resto-modded with a crate 383 producing around 400 HP, backed up with a 4L60E automatic overdrive transmission and a Ford 9” rear end with 4:82 gearing. Tires had 18” on front and 20” American Racing Wheels on the back. The rear gearing was too insane so I had a more sensible 3:55 set put in. The 383 is a drop in compared to going the LS route. I had the car for seven years and enjoyed it, deciding to reduce my Avanti inventory to. Just my ‘76. The 383 used instead of the 305 would have made a lot of Avanti owners much happier with the power of their cars.