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Kennie B.

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Posts posted by Kennie B.

  1. Well, I finally pulled the trigger, in the next week I should be picking up this baby and she'll be mine. Seller and I have an agreement, it's a matter of getting a mutually good day to pick her up

    She doesn't currently run but the problems that sidelined her are known and should be straight forward to sort.

    Original paint should come back pretty well, NO rust in frame nor hog troughs, both front seats need to be re-done as well as a headliner but the rest is quite nice.

    Wish me luck,

    Ken

  2. One other thing to keep in mind. E85 doesn't always have 85% Ethanol. Your only assurance is that it will be no more than 85% Ethanol. With Flex-Fuel vehicles, this isn't important as the engine's managaement system is able to adjust to obtain stoichrometric balance but with a carburetor, you have not the ability to adjust jet sizes "on the run".

  3. There is a car on E-bay that the owner claims he galvanized the frame and hog troughs. He sent me some pictures showing the frame removed from the body and fresh back from galvanizing, then painted (red) with drive train and all mounted, ready for body re-instal.

    Have any of you seen somebody do something like this too? I should think that would have solved a lot aof problems for owners over the years!

    Here's the listing; http://www.ebay.com/itm/Studebaker-Avanti-II-2-door-hardtop-1970-avanti-ii-/171498854256?forcerrptr=true&hash=item27ee20d770&item=171498854256&pt=US_Cars_Trucks

    And the frame;http://mesgmy.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewMyMessageDetails&View=MyMessageDetails&CurrentPage=MyeBayMyMessageDetails&FolderID=0&SourcePage=MyeBayMyMessages&MyMessages2.Filter=&itemid=-1&SortOrder=DESCEND&SessionId=0&MoreViewFilter=NONE&GotoPage=1&MyMessages2.Period=Last122Days&Column=Received&CurrentView=all&SubmitAction.Show=x&readingPaneOpen=true&messageId=m61294104030#

  4. In the end, I didn't end up buying the car, someone else came through with the money before me.

    No hard feeling in the least, the seller and I were still talking and someone else had the coin. I knew this was a possibility from the beginning.

    I passed on the tips that came on both this forum as well as the SDC's. As it turns out, the relay was the problem.

    When the happy day arrives for me, you can rest assured I'll be letting you all know.

  5. A strange thing happened to me today when I looked at a `63 Avanti.

    The engine started fine (once fuel reached the carb) and settled in to a nice idle. The car moved forward and back fine, stopped fine but when we shut her off, the engine continued to run. When moving the ignition switch through the positions of run, off & accessory the tach would indicate, go to zero and indicate again. Everything else electrical behaved normally. Here's what I found odd, we disconnected the battery and the engine ran just fine. The only way to shut it off was pull the lead from the coil to the distributor. No, it does not have a magneto.

    What gives?

  6. The carpet is out there but I cannot speak to how "correct" it is. If I remember where I got the literature from or stashed it, I'll will post later. I saw it a couple of years ago at the SEMA show in Vegas. I came across it a while back and looked the vendor up on the web and it was in their web catalog.

  7. If I recall correctly, the earliest II's used bodies that were originally intended for Studebaker and had panels bonded into the wheel opennings in the modification process to reduce the rake of the body. That would have been a couple hundred bodies. How long was it before the fender molds were modified in the wheel openning by MFG?

    I confess, I have never owned an Avanti, I just remember reading this tidbit somewhere. If it's true, depending on the vintage of the car, you may find a lip on the backside already in existance.

    Good luck, Ken

  8. Joe,

    I think you're mixing up what sounds to be happening.

    It sounds as if you have pulled the latches out and cleaned and this is a good place to start. By this time, the grease in them was dry and stiff.

    But now, you mention that the doors lock and un-lock from inside. The problem is outside, the key is unable to work. As mentioned in posts #2 & 4, the tumbler is the problem. This is the unit that the key slides into. With time these wear but even worse, get gunked up. A good locksmith can take these apart and clean the pins and determine if the parts are still good. If they aren't, it is very likely that a GM tumbler is the solution. While the latches were made by the same vender as Benz, the tumblers weren't. Again, a locksmith can make the old key work with a new tumbler.

    For future referance, you do not want to use liquid lubricants in tumblers, white graphite works best long term.

    Good luck, Kennie

  9. Warren,

    A Merry Christmas indeed! Congratulations, you lucky dog! May reality be even better when you get it home. It's a good thing it doesn't have a stick shift, then I would be commiting the sin of envy to no end. Not that I am not on the edge there already.

    To you and all the others on the forum, may you each have a Merry Christmas and a safe, successful and happy New Year!

    Ken

  10. "Like you said...not hard to see why the seller lost interest. If the car had a bad frame, he would have been far better off to part the car out. But lots of interesting ideas have gone on the rocks when reality sinks in. "

    You got that right Gunny, on the otherhand there are people out there with the means and skill and most importantly, determination as this;

    http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?66299-A-Different-Stude-Restomod-AWD-Hemistude-55-President-2009-Charger-Melding

    Too bad the Avanti project is in the wrong hands.

    Ken

  11. I saw this on E-Bay this evening, http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1974-Avanti-Project-Car-Corvette-Chassis-Chevrolet-LT1-Motor-/281009342401?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item416d7647c1, yikes!

    I guess my question is, how would someone go about this? How much of the Corvette frame would need to be modified and how much of the Avanti's floor needs to be re-worked? I'm thinking that the original frame and hog troughs were rotted beyond salvage so what is there to lose?

    Or is this a reasonable solution for the various geometry issues with the front suspension as well as getting independant rear suspension?

    It's not hard to understand that the seller has lost interest, no doubt he has worked himself into a corner and can't see a way clear.

    Either way, I am sure this one will win the contest for the most expensive "cheap" Avanti.

    Ken Buchanan

  12. . Hell, if I were to move 42 miles west, into Calif. I would not need smog inspection. In Ca. anything over 20 years is exempt.

    George

    Sorry George, your info is slightly off. Currently the cut-off is `76 or earlier are exempt. Originally it was to be a rolling 25 years or older but shortly after the exemption was made in 2001 the changed it to a fixed date. There has been an effort to push it to a later date but that failed (just like the rest of our state's governance).

    Ken

  13. I can speak with only limited experience as I am still a wanna be, I have never owned a Studebaker however this is advice that generally works.

    Most recentl,y I put a very well used Suzuki GS1000 back on the road after a long period of poor storage mixed with short runs (I'm not he guily party, just the rescuer). When I started to use it, it had okay compression and horrendously erratic oil consumption. It could run for a couple of tanks of gas and only consume a pint of oil, then in the nextcouple of tanks another pint with each re-fill! Some mornings the start would be with a clean exhaust, the next I was abating the mosquitto population. The bike ran like this for over a year and I was about to give up and do a top end (it has near 100K miles). While my commute covers 10 miles each way on the freeway plus a couple of miles surface streets, evidently I never really cleared the crud that had built up in the rings. A couple of months ago I took the bike out for a weekend run from Pasadena to San Jose on back roads as well as highway. Basically running the bike at varying speeds and loads for hours on end. In short, I must have worked loose the crud in the rings as the oil consumption is now gone.

    If you go with Gunny's suggestion (and it's a darned good one), and then take the car for a good long run, she'll probably be good as new. Just change the oil again, you'll be amazed at how much crap will still be ready to come out after the flushing!

    On the otherhand, you could just sell me the car for the 7200 you were offered, for that kind of money I think I could handle the months of apologizing to the wife for not getting her permission first.

    Kennie B.

  14. I can speak with only limited experience as I am still a wanna be, I have never owned a Studebaker however this is advice that generally works.

    Most recentl,y I put a very well used Suzuki GS1000 back on the road after a long period of poor storage mixed with short runs (I'm not he guily party, just the rescuer). When I started to use it, it had okay compression and horrendously erratic oil consumption. It could run for a couple of tanks of gas and only consume a pint of oil, then in the nextcouple of tanks another pint with each re-fill! Some mornings the start would be with a clean exhaust, the next I was abating the mosquitto population. The bike ran like this for over a year and I was about to give up and do a top end (it has near 100K miles). While my commute covers 10 miles each way on the freeway plus a couple of miles surface streets, evidently I never really cleared the crud that had built up in the rings. A couple of months ago I took the bike out for a weekend run from Pasadena to San Jose on back roads as well as highway. Basically running the bike at varying speeds and loads for hours on end. In short, I must have worked loose the crud in the rings as the oil consumption is now gone.

    If you go with Gunny's suggestion (and it's a darned good one), and then take the car for a good long run, she'll probably be good as new. Just change the oil again, you'll be amazed at how much crap will still be ready to come out after the flushing!

    On the otherhand, you could just sell me the car for the 7200 you were offered, for that kind of money I think I could handle the months of apologizing to the wife for not getting her permission first.

    Kennie B.

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