plwindish
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Posts posted by plwindish
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Gunslinger's reply jogged my memory about the '64 I had 45 years ago. I also had the alternator whine, which disappeared after wiring something into the alternator to eliminate the noise.
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Lew,
Nice job with the pix! I was very impressed with the number of fine looking Avanti's on the field at the first AOAI meet I attended. Yes, there were "trailer queens", but the vast majority were driven to the meet. Thanks also for putting people's names with their cars. Great job!
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What are the dates for the 2012 meet in South Bend? Is it the same as the SDC meet in South bend?
Steve
July 29 - August 4? I believe the dates are. Members from South Bend passed out registration forms for the AOAI meet, at the Inn of St Mary's during the AOAI Banquet Friday night at Gettysburg.
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I got back home last night from the 2011 AOAI meet at Gettysburg. Congratulations to Keystone & AOAI for having a good meet. Having over 75 Avanti's on the field was quite an impressive site. My first meet was very enjoyable. Traveling from Chicago to Gettysburg and back with two fellow Chicagoland members driving an '02 Avanti and my '76 was fantastic. The looks, questions, comments and conversations from travelers at rest stops was priceless. My 3 1/2 month project getting the engine rebuilt and trans swapped helped make the '76 a reliable ride. The only miscue for the car was the ac crapping out in Ohio. Two cans of 134 in Gettysburg kept me cool for the trip home. The '76 ranged from 21.2 to 22.8 mpg on the road to and from Gettysburg, making the decision to swap in the 200R4 a good one. It was truly a great time seeing fellow club members, meeting many fine new friends while talking about all things Avanti. I'm already looking forward to the 2012 Meet in South Bend, a much easier 90 miles distance than the 700 to Gettysburg.
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The two car Chicagoland Avanti Owner contingent with 3 members arrived in Gettysburg late Wednesday evening. The 700+ mile shake down ride for my '76 went pretty well. Only casualty was the air started blowing warm halfway through Ohio. I forgot to take it back in yesterday to the Radiator/AC guy to check the charge after refilling it a couple of weeks ago. Luckily it was fairly cool today for the ride. Maybe some Keystone members can hook me up with an AC shop before the trip back. The rebuilt motor and new trans were great. Since we were stopping every 2 hours I topped off the car 3 times, getting 21.5 - 22.8 mpg with the 400 and 200R4 combo and doing the speed limit. I didn't want to lose the '02 traveling with me!. Looking forward to a great meet.
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Right now, I'm sticking with the mechanical linkage set-up. It does take more pressure to push down on the pedal to get the car started off, too much burns tires, but I've gotten used to applying the amount of pressure needed without doing burn outs every time I start up. I'm going to drive it to Gettysburg on Wednesday and see how it is on the trip before I decide to change to a cable set-up. Friday was the day for new speakers, xm radio, cigarette lighter/power plug, keyless entry remotes and 4 new tires. The 215R70-15's I replaced had less than 5,000 miles on them, but were put on the car in 1998. I'm not feeling that daring to travel to Gettysburg on 13 yr old tires.
The car is running and sounding great. I did get it up to the local cruise night in my home town last Tuesday night and up to Mt Prospect for the Chicagoland Avanti Owners meeting on Wednesday. I'll also take to the Black Hawk Studebaker meeting in Oak Brook next Tuesday night before leaving Wednesday morning for Gettysburg.
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The attachment for the mechanical linkage is in the middle of the throttle bracket and the tv cable attachment is on the bottom of the bracket. There is about a 1/2" hole at the top of the bracket where the most leverage would be for the linkage to attach to, but a spacer is needed to fill the hole and also a bolt with the ball end for the linkage to attach to. My trans guy took off the throttle return spring and its bracket that was on the carb because excessive force was needed to overcome the return spring when giving it gas. There is also a small spring inside the mechanical linkage are that he pinned so it also would not add to the pressure needed for operation. The linkage was set up of a quadra-jet, so marrying the linkage with the Proformer 650 is a little more challenging. I must say that I'm getting used to it with the driving around town that I did today. If anyone else drives the car, they'll be in for a surprise.
I spent the afternoon and some of the evening cleaning some of the accumulated grime on the car from 2 1/2 months in a machine shop.The interior got cleaned, engine bay spruced up and engine bling cleaned. After a seminar at the Stude Meet on cleaning cars, I got a Meguiar's kit and washed the car, claybarred it, washed it again and put it under cover in the garage. Rubbing compound and waxing will be on the agenda tomaorrow. The car should be looking good for the Chicagoland Avanti meeting Wednesday night. See you there.
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The car has the Dana 3:31 (non -posi) rear end in it, which may be another place to upgrade in the future along with a Turner 4 wheel brake system.
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I picked up the '76 this afternoon from the engine builder. The engine rebuild and trans swap did not get done in time for me to travel to the International Meet in Springfield MO last week. I was disappointed, but now I have time to see how things "shake out" before I start for Gettysburg on the 12th. I drove 81 miles tonight after filling the newly sealed gas tank. I refilled the car upon getting back in town using 3.66 gal for 22.1 mpg averaging 70 mph. The mpg is not too shabby considering the 12.5 I was averaging before the engine rebuild and trans swap. The 200 R4 works real well, engine rpm's are around 1800-1900 @ 70 mph versus 2800 before with the TH 400. There are a couple of glitches to work out, one is the pedal pressure needed to start moving the car. The throttle now also has a tv cable attached for the trans, so there's added load. Too much pressure has the tires spinning and jack rabbit starts. The trans guy said I might be happier putting in a Lokar cable throttle set up instead of the mechanical. I'm going to drive it a bit and see if I get used to it. The new Autometer speedo is reading about 7 - 8 mph fast compared with my GPS. The miles seemed right for the distance I drove but speed was off. The trans guy thought he had it within 3 mph. Oil pressure was running at 50 psi and engine temp was 180 during the drive. All in all, I'm a happy camper after having the car gone since early April.
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I got the August issue of Hemmings Classic Car magazine today. One of the featured articles(6 pages in length), was about the 14 year restoration on a white '63 R-1 with a manual 3 speed. Its a good read, don't miss it.
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My '70 was damaged recently and requires a new front quarter panel and drivers door. The shop obtained a NOS panel and excellent used door from Nostalgic and started cutting off the damaged panel and revmoved the door. The inside of the body once it's sawed off isn't exactly a thing of beauty!
OUCH! On the positive side, NO RUST, EVER!
Best wishes for a speedy repair.
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Thanks for the replies, guys. Mark, I know what you mean after having a motor overhaul, the tool (money) pouch might be better utilized for keeping a supply of money on hand for the vehicle. The only problem with money storage is that the individual pouches aren't quite wide enough to put the bills in. I suppose the pouch was a well meaning addition, but its a stretch to reach in and get tools out of that dimly lit area. Given the seemingly frequent need to fix things on our lovable "orphans", Its a good idea to have tools with when the need arises.
Mark, how did the "de-grilling" of the '64 turn out?
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I have a couple of questions about the tool pouches in the Avanti. Did the pouches start with the '66 models? What tools came with the kit? Thanks for any help.
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I just had all the gauges on my '76 replaced with new Autometer gauges. If you can't find a replacement speedo, I have the complete '76 set and all (including clock) are working. They are SW gauges black face with white needles, numbers, and markings. The gauges differ from the 63's & 64's in that they do not have the chrome ring that protrudes on the dash side. The ring on these gauges is a thick black rim with a chrome or brushed metal finish on the very outer end. The speedo (160 mph) and tach are 3 & 3/8" while the clock, vacuum, ammeter, fuel, oil, water temp gauges are the standard 2 & 1/16", which should be the same size as your gauges. Speedo is showing just over 61 K (original - 1st time around). Speedo pix is attached.
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This is a detour from the topic I've been doing for updating my '76 Avanti. After the car got back from the muffler shop last week from having larger stainless pipes from the headers to the new mufflers and on back to the rear with new stainless tips, the lower radiator hose crapped out back at the engine shop. The Avanti hoses, both top and lower than I ordered and got from Studebaker International are not even close to fitting. The engine shop also ordered both upper and lower hoses through their supplier and had the same luck. They sent the old hoses back with the supplier to match up the hoses. Who out in Avanti land can tell me where to go for readily available hoses for a '76 Avanti II with the SBC 400 motor? When I had the motor rebuilt, I opted for new fuel pump, water pump, carb, starter, alternator, distributor and radiator hoses. Studebaker International's catalog stated the hoses would work up to '83, SURPRISE!!!!! Has anyone had good luck with Auto Zone, Pep Boys, O'Rielly's or NAPA for radiator hoses? I didn't know if Avanti would still show up in their books or not. I guess when I do find a supplier, I'd better lay in another set for "just in case". Until the hose "snafu", I was getting stoked for a great ride tonight. Oh Well, hopefully, just 1 more day to wait.
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I'm sure that's a good sound to you. Did you also change motors and go with a 350? My 76 is at the muffler shop now after having the 400 completely rebuilt. After the shop is done with it, its off to the trans shop to get the TH 400 swapped out for a 200 R4.
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It won't be long now! The newly revitalized 400 is back in the car. New motor mounts did move the pulley up about 3/8" off the steering. Everything needs to be hooked up on the motor yet. The gas tank is back from being cleaned, coated, soldered and tested with the new sending unit installed. Here's a bit of trivia - 56 spot welds hold the baffles in place. My radiator guy soldered each one to make sure it wouldn't leak at some time in the future. Some surgery is needed on the exhaust pipes joining the new headers since the headers dump a little lower than the cast iron headers did. With the exhaust work, gauges hook up, gas tank install and the rest of the motor work, hopefully it will be ready by Thursday night. The 200 R-4 tranny is ready and waiting for the car to get to the trans shop after all the motor work is done.
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Now your Avanti has something in common with the earlier Avantis, door hinge issues. My round headlighted '64 Avanti had 5k on it when I bought it in April ' 66. The front edge of the driver's door was out a good 1/4 " from the back edge of the left front fender. I believe it had been repaired some time before I had got it and I heard later that there were a lot of door fit and hinge issues with the earlier Avantis. At high speeds, I had a whistling air leak by the wing window front support. It sounds like you have a top quality body shop that should be able to correct the problem though.
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You have a pretty thumping engine there! More than enough to get you into trouble! My '69 Corvette 427 is rated at 435 hp and 460 ft/lbs of torque. It feels like it can pull tree stumps and your're getting that kind of torque from a small block. That shop's doing a nice job.
Thanks Gunslinger. That power should make my drives to Springfield MO in June and Gettysburg in July interesting. Its amazing to me that the guys at the shop could take a "smogger" like the 400, clean up air flow through the heads, add a mild cam, new pistons, intake and carb to "merely" double the original rated 180 horsepower. Now if after the 200 R4 is put in and I'm able to get north of 20 MPG, I will think I've died and gone to heaven. Best of luck in getting your repairs to door done in time for Gettysburg. I'll look forward to meeting you and hopefully your car.
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Just got back from the shop. The guys @ the shop did another dyno run to show me. The 400 is cranking out over 460 lbs torque and 360 horsepower. That performance will be more than enough to get me in trouble. The radiator repair shop that has the radiator and gas tank is located in the same complex as the Engine shop, so I stopped in there and was assured everything will be repaired, coated and dry for the guys to put back in the car Monday morning. The guys have to put on the water pump, fuel pump, and headers to get it ready to put back in the car. Block Hugger Headers are Pro Former, steel, ceramic coated and polished, center drop. We will have to see if any mods will need to be made with the exhaust pipes to mate with the new headers. Our Chicago-land AO Club had our May meeting last night, 6 or 7 of the members drove their Avantis. I'm getting anxious to get back on the road with mine.
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My '76 had the fuse diagram on the inside of the fuse box cover. I don't know if they kept up that practice in succeeding years.
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A lot has been going on the past few days with the car. Gas tank is out and at the radiator shop getting leak tested, cleaned and the interior coated. Old gas line has been replaced with the wrapped braided line. The SW gauges have been removed and the Auto Meter gauges have been installed. The motor was together yesterday afternoon when I stopped by the shop. Valve covers, water pump, fuel pump and carb all needed to be installed yet. The motor will get running today, cycled to get broken in and then have three runs on the dyno to see where it is at horsepower wise. The shop works Monday thru Thursdays, 10 hour days, so I anticipate the car being back together some time next week, barring any exhaust system issues with using the new polished ceramic coated block hugger headers. After the motor is back in, then its off to the trans shop. The trans shop has a freshly built 200 4R trans ready to go.
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Gunslinger,
Really sorry to hear about the door. It really bites that the only one to blame is yourself. Hopefully the repairs won't take too long or cost too much $$$$$.
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I stopped in the shop again this afternoon. The block was in the machine getting cylinders honed. They did go .0030 over on the bore. I now longer have a 400, but now have a 406. Sounds more like a '63 Ford motor now. The majority of the parts are in to start putting the motor back together tomorrow. The roller cam, new pistons, lifters, crank bearings, harmonic balancer, ARP bolts are ready to go. The heads are all cleaned up and ready to have all the valves put back in them. They are going to use an Edelbrock Performer intake and a new carb with a low rise air cleaner. I'm starting to get anxious!
84 Avanti sold at auction
in 1984-91 Avanti
Posted
That would be a nice turn around on the guy's investment if it goes for the BIN price. But I think the bidding will stall out a ways before $22 K. If it were that easy to double one's investment with Avanti's, there would be a lot more people into that business. I don't think many Avanti enthusiasts got an Avanti with the goal of doubling their investment. More often than not, an owners' original investment doubles in the car, getting it in "perfect order". Most owners, like me, get an Avanti for the love of the car, not as a profit maker.