It's Beggining

[rhusak]

As some of you on this list may know, I

just drove my new (to Me) Avanti home from South Bend Via Detroit and ultimately

here to the foothills outside Denver. I throughly enjoyed the trip.. Even with the

failed water pump hiccup I had..

I am now starting to plan the first projects

that I have found that need attention.

1. Very poor running at altitude. I am

planning to go leaner with the carburetor.. That one is obvious. I will also

bump the timing.. That too is SOP... Some of you may recall I have talked about

going with a TBI.. That may still happen but I want to get the car running as

well as is possible for the short to medium term.

I have also considered

going to a smaller supercharger pulley to try to regain some of the lost boost.

Is there any particular down side to this besides perhaps a bit of accelerated

wear? The car has a 3.73 gear so it spins the motor pretty fast anyway. Is there

any other way to accomplish this?

2. The tach will only read to about 3200

RPM! I never drove the car very much before this trip but am assuming it was

like this. Jim Maxey installed a Pertronix ignition in the car before I picked

it up. But, I fail to see how that could have such an effect on the tach. Below

3000 RPM the tach seems to work properly.. Sending unit? Any other advice?

3.

All of the cylinder and keys are badly worn. In fact you can remove the key from

the ignition in the run position. And, the door cyliners are very sloppy. I have

seen SI sells the ignition Cylinder.. Does anyone sell the whole set?

I

will.. I am sure bore all of you here with loads of questions.. Please be

patient and kind.. I am new here... ;-)

Ron

Edited March 31, 2011 by rhusak

[Gunslinger]

Welcome to the Avanti world...you're in good company and now own a fantastic car. As you're finding out...it's got a lot of years on it so expect problems to come up.

As far as the carburetor goes...they're voodoo to me...I'll let someone else address that.

You mentioned you have a Pertronix installed...they're a pretty good unit and save messing around with the dual points. One thing...that old Prestolite distributor (if it still has the correct distrubutor), has a reputation for fast bushing wear. If that's the case, it could be part of your running problem. What you can do is remove the distributor cap and wiggle the rotor. If you feel a lot of movement, the bushings are worn. The rotor and shaft should show little play. If the bushings are worn, the distributor should be rebuilt and have the advance curve checked. It's not uncommon to find a wrong advance curve, but also a completely different distributor with a completely wrong advance curve for an R2 engine...it could have an R1 distributor for all anyone knows. I'm not saying this is probable, but don't be surprised if you find that's the case.

Your tach sounds like it has a bad sending unit. If you look under the drivers side of the dash you'll see a round can attached to the steering column brace...that's the sending unit. You can buy reproduction sending units or repair kits from several of the Avanti vendors that advertise in the AOAI magazine.

As far as the keys and ignition go, I'm not aware of any vendor that sell a complete set of matched locks and keys along with the ignition switch. There may be...you'll have to call and ask several vendors. A good locksmith may be able to use new locks and re-key them, but the style locks used are difficult to do that with.

You may be able to find a high output R3 supercharger pulley...don't know how common they might be. That also increases wear on the supercharger planetary balls, so you have a trade-off for higher boost...faster blower wear. You also don't want so much extra boost it blows out the carburetor seals and creates leaks. R3 engines avoided that issue by gong to a complete carburetor enclosure. I would call Jon Myer or John Erb on that. They know the Paxtons and what is and isn't desirable. There's probably a couple of other supercharger experts to ask as well.

Best of luck with your Avanti. Most of us here have experienced many of the issues you may face in the future. Get yourself the shop and parts manuals...they're worth every penny. Ask questions...some factory approved methods may not be able to do anymore but many here have discovered other ways to do the fixes.

[63 Avanti R2]

If reference to the tach. My 63 would work when it felt like it. Another words it worked and it didn't.

I purchased one from Bob Ziff from Avanti parts. I paid $58.50 and $5.00 shipping.

The part # is 800008, picture of it in Stude Intl Cat.

You could take it out and blow some liquid air on it, but that didn't work for me.

Also, Welcome to the site.

Steve

[1963r2]

Welcome Ron

Matched door barrel and keys are available through Avanti parts.

You may need to get a new ignition barrel and have it keyed alike for the perfect set.

Peter

[ernier]

Before you swap pulleys check the hoses and carb hat to carb for leaks. Also, change the fluid in the blower and put in Type F. You won't see max boost until close to the red line and if your tach isn't working you don't know at what RPM your checking boost. Slipping belts aren't always obvious but will limit blower output and cause power and boost to drop off substantially at high RPM. They should be a matched set and be wider than most common fan belts. If the belts are down in the pulley rather than flush or slightly higher than the edge of the pulley they are too narrow and are probably slipping a little.

Also, are you sure the tach is off or are you not achieving more than 3200 RPM? An Avanti with 3.73 will sound like it's wound up as tight as can be long before it peaks.

When you carnyou want to check the timing's advance with a light. The distributors are known for worn advance weight attaching holes and sticking breaker plates the former wreaking havoc with centrifugal advance and the latter with vacuum advance.

You don't have to worry about posting questions on this forum, nothing but freindly help here. We all learn with every question posted and answered so don't hesitate to ask anything.

ErnieR

[rhusak]

Ernie..

The belts look like they may be worn.. Will change them.. I have wound it through the gears manually and am SURE that I was above 3200.. The Vacuum / Pressure gauge is almost 50 years old so I don't know it's accuracy.. It seems to read engine vacuum fine.. But it only goes very marginally to the + side at low altitudes.. I don't know what would be normal.. On the highway it really does sound wound up.. And, really feels like it could use another shift! The supercharger was overhauled by Mr. Erb recently as well.. The fluid was just changed as well..

Does it use a conventional air horn gasket between the bonnet and air horn?

This afternoon I bumped the timing a bit (allowable at altitude) and adjusted the carburetor so at least it will idle up here..

I drove it about 1500 miles home and it used a quart of oil.. The engine was overhauled by Jim Maxey about 3000 miles ago.. Jim adjusted the valves and torqued the heads before I left.. He also installed a Pertronix ignition with new cap and rotor and new wires.. It ran real well at lower altitude and didn't really get sluggish till I started gaining altitude..

Thanks for the input

Ron Husak

Before you swap pulleys check the hoses and carb hat to carb for leaks. Also, change the fluid in the blower and put in Type F. You won't see max boost until close to the red line and if your tach isn't working you don't know at what RPM your checking boost. Slipping belts aren't always obvious but will limit blower output and cause power and boost to drop off substantially at high RPM. They should be a matched set and be wider than most common fan belts. If the belts are down in the pulley rather than flush or slightly higher than the edge of the pulley they are too narrow and are probably slipping a little.

Also, are you sure the tach is off or are you not achieving more than 3200 RPM? An Avanti with 3.73 will sound like it's wound up as tight as can be long before it peaks.

When you carnyou want to check the timing's advance with a light. The distributors are known for worn advance weight attaching holes and sticking breaker plates the former wreaking havoc with centrifugal advance and the latter with vacuum advance.

You don't have to worry about posting questions on this forum, nothing but freindly help here. We all learn with every question posted and answered so don't hesitate to ask anything.

ErnieR

[rhusak]

Peter..

Who is Avanti Parts? How do I contact them?

Thanks for the welcome..

Ron

quote name='1963r2' date='31 March 2011 - 08:52 PM' timestamp='1301626063' post='6977']

Welcome Ron

Matched door barrel and keys are available through Avanti parts.

You may need to get a new ignition barrel and have it keyed alike for the perfect set.

Peter

[ernier]

3-5 lbs would be normal for a stock supercharger. If John Erb did the blower I definitely would be checking everything else first. The gasket is a normal one at the carb top but I couldn't get a good seal with the paper ones so I O ringed the carb hat.

Also, the PCV valve is also a one way check valve. If it isn't sealing under boost you could be losing intake boost to the crankcase.

Vaccum/boost gage should be connected right to the intake manifold at the "T" on the left side where the brake booster hooks up. Any where else may give false or low readings.

ErnieR

[63 Avanti R2]

Peter..

Who is Avanti Parts? How do I contact them?

Thanks for the welcome..

Ron

Avanti parts, Morrisville, PA Ph: 800-524-8142 ask for Bob Ziff

quote name='1963r2' date='31 March 2011 - 08:52 PM' timestamp='1301626063' post='6977']

Welcome Ron

Matched door barrel and keys are available through Avanti parts.

You may need to get a new ignition barrel and have it keyed alike for the perfect set.

Peter

[1963r2]

Peter..

Who is Avanti Parts? How do I contact them?

Thanks for the welcome..

Ron

quote name='1963r2' date='31 March 2011 - 08:52 PM' timestamp='1301626063' post='6977']

Welcome Ron

Matched door barrel and keys are available through Avanti parts.

You may need to get a new ignition barrel and have it keyed alike for the perfect set.

Peter

Sorry Ron I meant Nosalgic.

When there website was running they had them listed for about $40.00 a pair.

Try this link for phone and email details.

http://www.avantiparts.net/

pb

[rhusak]

Hi All again..

Well after a chat with Jon Myer yesterday I have decied to go with a carburetor overhaul (due to surging and leaks) and a supercharger blueprint. He says that closing up thew tolerances on the impellor and back cover and being sure the clutches?? are good he can significantly improve output without resorting to a smaller pulley.. I will pull those this weekend and send them off.. Unfortunatly he broke his wrist last week and it will take a number of weeks to do this.. He indicated in talking with me that someone has been in the carburetor "monkeying" around.. He felt the springs under the metering rod pistons were wrong causing the surging..

Can't wait to try it..

Ron

[Gunslinger]

Jon is first class...if he tells you something you can count on it being accurate. He has the knowledge and experience to go right to the heart of the problem...he's done that for me and many, many others. The Studebaker and Avanti community would be far worse off without him.