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Posts posted by plwindish
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Right you are Gunslinger! A big honking Cadillac 429 really fills up the engine bay.
One of our Chicagoland AOAI members has had some health issues lately would like to thin his Avanti collection from 12 to 2. The Grannatelli car is an orange-ish gold metallic with a brown cloth interior with Recaro seats and wire wheels. Battery is relocated to the trunk. Car runs but needs a repaint as paint is peeling around the cowl under the windshield. This historical car is available for $12,900. The car was on display in the ACD museum for a time. Lately, it has been stored with the other Avantis in a totally enclosed shed with concrete floor until we got the cars out for viewing a week and a half ago.
PM me with your email if you'd like to see info on the cars, pics and contact information.
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Boogieman, my 76 with a 3:31 rear end was turning just about 3000 rpms @ 70 mph. With the 200R4 and same rear end, its barely turning 2000 RPM's at 70 MPH. The 1000 rpms make a big difference in engine noise and fuel economy. Driving 70 mph now will get me between 23 and 25 mpg. Before with the TMH 400, it was 14 to 14.5 mpg. Cost-wise, the trans shop rebuilt a 200R4 and installed it with me supplying the shift rods, tv cable,trans mount and new shift position indicator plate(sourced from Dan Booth) for $1600 in the Chicago suburbs. The total was at or just over $2000 adding the cost of the parts I supplied. I think it was well worth the cost to add the AOD.
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Be thankful you have all that room in the footwell. My 76 is the same way, having enough room to completely stretch out your left leg. My 89 convertible does not have that kind of room. The P.O. aggravated the problem by also putting 6 x 9 speakers in the kick panels on both sides with a raised plastic grill extending out from the speakers at least an inch. The result of the speaker placement and shorter footwells means there is no place for my #13 left foot to go but on the floor in front of the kick panel, putting my knee at an uncomfortable angle which makes any trip over 100 miles challenging without stopping to stretch the legs. I'm going to remove the speaker, but I think I still won't have much room to get the foot past the left edge of the brake pedal and stretch out the leg in what is left of the footwell. I'm thinking that Avanti Motors going with the Caprice perimeter frame probably shortened the footwells at least a foot from the older model Avantis.
I'm driving in the Great American Tour of Rte 66 in June, driving from Chicago to Santa Monica and also returning, for a total of around 5000 miles. I am taking the 76 on the tour, not the convertible as the 76 is much more comfortable traveling in than the convertible.
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The Granatelli's, well known for their "tinkering" with cars, putting different motors in, etc., put a different motor in a 64 Avanti that originally had an R2 in it. Brother Joe owned this car which is in the Northern IL area and currently for sale. What motor was put in this 64?
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wildfeir, just saw your post. Hopefully you got some input. Dan Booth from Nostalgic Motors is a great resource and will let you know exactly what is needed. I had a 200R4 put in my 76 RQB2392, replacing the TMH 400 trans. My trans shop recommended the 200R4 over the 700R4 because of the gearing in the 200R4 and the trans length being about identical to the TMH 400 trans. 4 yrs later and over 20,000 miles, the trans has worked out very well.
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The capacity listed for my 76 is 21 gallons. The window sticker on my 89 listed 25 gallons. Swapping the 200R4 for the THM400 changed the fuel economy from 14 to over 27. My 89 has a 4L60 AOD trans in it, but with a 4:86 gear, which keeps the economy in the 10 - 14 range. I'm swapping out the 4:86 gear with one in the 3:55 - 3:70 range to improve the mileage.
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Good luck on the weather as its raining/drizzling here in Norther IL today. The Twin Cities Cruisiers are getting and early start on Cruise nights starting this Saturday, 4/11. The Cruise Nights I go to in the Tinley Park/ Frankfort area aren't starting until May.
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I passed through Normal/Bloomington Friday and Saturday with my 89 Convertible going to a car show in Pekin IL at the Avanti's Dome. Stopped in at Avanti's Carry-out in Normal on the way back picking up Gondolas to take back home to Tinley Park.
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The fender cold air induction isn't only for the supercharged motors. I don't know the exact years that Avanti Motors did the cool air induction, but my 76 has it for the 400 SBC it came off the assembly line with. I went with an open type air cleaner after getting the motor rebuilt 3 years ago and plugged the fender hole with a piston for a conversation piece. A couple of years ago, I got a great looking polished aluminum cold air induction air cleaner from Jegs and hooked the original cold air induction system back up with both the old hose and new hose and circumference clamps. The updated system looks and runs better than pulling all the hot air into the motor.
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Was that when he demonstrated how slippery STP was by dipping the tip of a screw driver into STP and then could not hold onto the tip of the screwdriver?
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Raymond, those wheels should really set off your car!
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Got the "official" confirmation I'm in the tour this week. 25 cars are going to be in the tour. In 3 months we'll be on 66.
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Welcome to the AOAI Forum Greg! I am fortunate to have a 76 - RQB 2392, and an 89 convertible. You'll find this site a great benefit to you for all things Avanti.
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Joe, A member of our Chicagoland Avanti Club has had some health issues and a good friend of his says he will be "thinning out the herd" as he has multiple Avantis. The friend has classified them as projects. Are you looking for one to work on or one that doesn't need work? Send me a PM with your email and I will send you info as it evolves.
Paul
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You've enjoyed the "lively banter" as well I assume?
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Boogieman,
Since my 76 had power door locks and electric release trunk, its really easy to put keyless entry on it with remotes. My remotes have a button on the back side of them for the trunk release.
Regarding the emblems, I've got Dayton wires on my 76 with the three bar center caps and the circle in the center is 2", so the emblems look fine.
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The biggest problem with the block hugger headers on my 76 with the 400 motor was clearing the steering box on the driver's side. The last pipe had to be "dimpled" for enough clearance. I think my ceramic coated headers are Sanderson.
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Studebaker International has those Avanti Logo wheel center emblems in stock all the time. There are two types, a black background and a silver or chrome background.
My 76 has the trunk release cable and pull as well as the electric solenoid, but the cable does not put out. It might be rusted, but did not look rusted when I had the interior out of the car doing the Fat Mat to floor, sides, and rear seat back. Of course, I never investigated as to why the cable wouldn't pull and release the trunk mechanism. As long as the electric button and my remotes open the trunk, I'm good.
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I don't believe the 87's, 88's had a dashboard glovebox either. I'm saying true.
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Wildfeir, The trans shop can set it up by pressure or speed as well without any external switch is what I had done when I had the 200R4 installed. I also switched out the shift indicator plate that has 1,2,D,N,R, P on it for the later plate having 1,2,3,D,N.R,D. Driving in town, I usually shift it into 3 instead of drive and it acts like a THM 400 3 speed trans. When the trans is locked up and I start to decelerate,to the point where it about to start lugging, I'll pull the shifter back to 3 to disengage it. Its not necessary at highway speeds, but bumper to bumper traffic on the highway, I'll leave it in 3 until the speeds get back to normal highway speed.
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StudeNorm,
Standing on the corner in Winslow AZ is one of the "attractions" listed in the information about the tour. Nothing was said about the girl in a flatbed Ford driving by to take a look though.
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True
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Avanti magazine arrived intact yesterday, 03/07/15, 2 weeks after it was first mentioned as being out. That's a lengthy traffic jam.
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I'm in agreement with Brad as I have seen a lot of R 2 63's with orange superchargers.
Joe Granatelli Hot Rod
in Avanti Trivia
Posted · Edited by plwindish
Serial # for the car is 4795. According to John Hull, who's done a good amount of checking and also consulted with other sources, no production order record for the car exists. The car does have Supercharged badging on the fenders, leading one to assume it started life as an R2. The 9 R3's were pretty well documented so I doubt it was an R3. My thoughts are that the car was a test mule for Paxton Products to play with. It does seem odd that no Production Order can be found for the car. If there was no production order, would it be included in the 64 production stats?? Maybe this will be a +1 to the final production numbers.