radiator removal

[miketurk]

Hello friends,

My 78 is now leaking coolant at the lower driver's side corner of the radiator. The hoses and connections are good. It seems to be comming from the bottom of the unit and spilling over the Saturn airdam installed under the radiator support.

The Stud factory manual prescribes removal of the hood, is this necessary? Is removal of the radiator in a 78' II the same as the original Stud 63-64 cars? Any advice and hand holding for this would be very appreciated. Here in the Boston area it's tough to find mechanics willing to do this work and when you find them the per hour labor cost can be around $95/hour. A simple radiator repair looks to be around $5-600 ...ouch!

Thanks for your advice!

[Gunslinger]

First...pressure test the system to make sure the leak is actually coming from the radiator. No point in going to the trouble of pulling it out and finding it's something else.

Yes...removing the hood is part of the job. It's not difficult to remove, but it helps to have a second set of hands. Once the hood is off and safely stored, it does make access to the radiator much, much easier. The procedure for a '78 should be identical to a '63 or '64 as shown in the shop manual. Be careful when undoing the transmission cooling lines.

Any good radiator shop should be able to repair it for you. If it needs a new core, shops order them by dimensions...the make of car really has little to do with it. The shop can then attach the side tanks after making sure they're in good shape. If you do need a core, have the shop order a core with increased fins per inch. That greatly increases the cooling area and makes for much more efficient heat transfer.

You might also contact Dan and Betty Booth at Nostalgic Motors. I believe they carry reconditioned radiators. You can compare obtaining one from them with shipping costs to a radiator shop re-coring and repairing yours.

I've done it before...it's not a tough job considering how many other repairs on an Avanti are a royal pain.

[BobS]

Just one point to add. Before you remove the hinges to pull the hood. Outline their position with tape, marker or your choice. 

When you replace it, put it back where it was and no adjustment will be necessary and no nicked paint.

Bob

[miketurk]

Hi All,

Finally did the radiator repair on my 78 II. I DID NOT HAVE TO REMOVE THE HOOD!

Bob, from WCD Garage in Northboro ,MA advised me that this was true but, one needed to be careful and have 2 sets of hands to lift the radiator out.

In anycase, I did it myself.

I followed the Studebaker repair manual with the exception of the hood removal. I felt it necessary to remove the 4 bolts securing the fan to the viscous hub. With that done, I simply moved the fan out of the way, removed the shroud, unbolted the 4 bolts holding the radiator and removed the large bolt in the bracket above the radiator assembly which appears to have no function. This bolt will not let the radiator swing backwards toward the engine. The middle bolt at the radiator is not necessary to remove as it only secures the air conditioner exchanger and is better left in place to keep the exchanger from shifting around.

Then, Carefully removed the trans oil lines, the bottom return 90 degree fitting is not necessary and awkward for reinstallation, so I removed that from the radiator and simply installed a new fitting with barb and clamp on the trans oil hose to go directly into the radiator instead!

I used a floor jack to support the radiator from underneath. The radiator tilted back, lifting it was a bit like lifting weights but it cleared without any damage to the fins.

I brought the thing to Rodgers Radiator repair in Medford,MA where they tested it, acid bathed it, and soldered the holes, and painted it........the cost $104.

The reinstall was the same....balanced the thing on the floor jack and carefully lined it up to the bolt holes and exchanger brackets by raising or lowering the jack, the bolts went in very easily! Hooked it all up, filled the system with new 50/50. ran the car to test for leaks, tightened the hose clamps with a rachet.

It works real good. Again, I did not have to remove the hood and I did it alone! I am not an auto mechanic!

One may experience problems with the trans oil lines being old and frozen..........just cut the lines and remove the old fittings, then install barbed fittings with clamps to the cut hose end or have new lines made. You can have new trans oil cooling lines made on the spot at Lubrication Equipment & Accessories, Main st, Medford, MA....they can do anything!

Thank you all for your advice, input and enthusiasm for keeping these cars running and nice!

And now on to the bum A/C compressor, faulty fuel guage and finally the cruise control connection to the carb unit.

Yours truly

Mike Turk

[Gunslinger]

Congrats on getting the job done and also for such reasonable costs. That doesn't seem to occur that often with an Avanti. My experiences with a '63 years ago and my '70 is that everything gets repaired OK...it just seems to take two or three attempts before it's right. Nothing seems to come easy on these cars, but that's not why we love them so much.

[miketurk]

Congrats on getting the job done and also for such reasonable costs. That doesn't seem to occur that often with an Avanti. My experiences with a '63 years ago and my '70 is that everything gets repaired OK...it just seems to take two or three attempts before it's right. Nothing seems to come easy on these cars, but that's not why we love them so much.

Hi gunslinger, was just wondering if you had any idea how to make a positive fix on the cruise control linkage between the vacum unit and the carb linkage. All i have is a ball type ( key chain) looking thing with no end on it. It's just dangling in the wind.

MT

[Gunslinger]

I really couldn't tell you. My Avanti doesn't have cruise. I used to own a '78 Corvette with cruise and it had a setup similar to what you describe but I don't remember how it connected. It had a vacuum bellows that had the vacuum line connect to the back side and the front had the chain you describe that attached to the carburetor linkage...I just can't remember how.

I wish I had a better answer for you.

[BobS]

Mike

You have a Dana cruise unit in your car. The adapter is missing from the end. It's a simple thing. Go to your yellow pages and find a dealer that handles/installs Rostra cruise controls. They bought out Dana and should have all of that on hand. 

I just replaced mine with a Rostra unit and it works great. I'll bet there's more wrong with your's than the attachment but that would be cheap to test.

Bob