1982 Avanti II for sale in Montana

[Gunslinger]

It's kind of unfair to put down the Avantis of that era...if you compare it to most other contemporary cars it comes off as good or better. Compare it to earlier, non-smogger Avantis and yes...it's a "dog". Even Corvettes for that era were not exactly tire smokers and for more power you had to go to a big displacement engine...and they were "dogs" compared to their own earlier versions.

What gave the 305 relatively reasonable performance was being mated to the 4-speed automatic...decent low end and upper end performance without resorting to a too numerically high rear axle ratio which would kill economy (such as economy was at the time).

Could a 305 be rebuilt to more performance? Sure, but why not go ahead and buy a crate engine already built to the standards you want? When rebuilding any engine, you have to assume it will need an overbore which requires new pistons and more. Machine time is not inexpensive. That's why crate engines are so attractive.

You don't need to add EFI for good performance...a carburetor can deliver lots of power if well tuned and matched to the car. EFI, while more expensive, is so nice for overall drivability.

[warren55]

I hope my comments weren't taken as putting Avant's of that era down, I might even end up with one.

I agree with everything you said; any American car from that era was anemic when compared to their pre-emmision brothers. (Most European cars had already adopted some sort of fuel injection, but were usually slightly de-tuned for the American market.)

Carburetors are fine, and an easier and cheaper alternative to EFI, but as you said, EFI is so much easier to live with. Especially when they sit for long periods of time, like my 67 Mustang did. I was having driveability problems with it and eventually found that the plating inside my Holley Street Avenger was delaminating and plugging up the jets and accelerator pump. It turns out that Holley had some casting problems in the 2005 to 2006 years and they replaced it for free. Still, it was a pain to have to ship it back to them before they would replace it and it took over a month.

Edited October 21, 2012 by warren55

[Gunslinger]

I never thought you were putting Avantis from that era down...they're fine cars but one has to be realistic them...and not just Avantis but all cars from that period. Check the values of Corvettes from that era...not much. That pretty much speaks for values of most cars from the era.

Holley had some severe financial problems several years back and either verged on bankruptcy or filed for bankruptcy protection. It wouldn't surprise me they would have had quality control issues leading to that. Supposedly the company is past that now.

[warren55]

If Holley is doing better now, it's probably because they finally started producing fuel injection kits. I hadn't thought about it until I had problems with mine and researched it, but carburetors aren't exactly hot selling items anymore!

[plwindish]

Bob,

Thanks for the compliment. The 400 in my 76 was bored .030 over, got new pistons, hydraulic roller cam, Edlebrock polished aluminum low rise intake, 650 performer carb, new valves and the heads worked over to improve flow. Chrome "bling" was added along with a low rise chrome air cleaner. Engine was dynoed @ 365 hp and 460 # torque before going back in. A rebuilt 200R4 behind It makes it much better for the road. With the THM 400 trans, 70 mph meant 3000 rpms. Now 70 mph is right at 2000 rpms. The Turner brakes, rebuilt rears and new lines stop the car really quick. The newly rebuilt suspension makes the car handle like new. The car will put you back in the seat when floored. My goal in having the work done was to have a modern running, reliable, original car that I would not be afraid to drive anywhere. Hopefully, I'm at that point now.

Warren55 - Don't expect the wires to be anything outstanding if they are original. My concern about wires that old is rust and how true they are. Companies like Dayton do recondition wheels, but some may cost more to recondition that the discounted prices they give you for new ones. I bought an older set of 5 this last spring that looked great in the pictures, but ended up keeping 1 for the spare. The others were too far gone to to reasonably recondition. The old ones also are likely to be tubed wheels also. My new ones are tubeless with stainless steel wires, hopefully they won't rust as bad as all chrome.

[warren55]

A big THANKS to all of you who have responded to this thread. I've learned a lot more about the later Avanti's!

I'm pretty sure this car must have been sold, because I'm getting no response from the owner in the last week. I'm still very much in the market for anything from a 63 to an 83 if anybody knows where they are hiding. I'm not interested in doing a complete restoration on a car, but I'm pretty capable with the mechanical side of things.

And by all means, keep the conversation going!

(PLWindish: I'd like to see some pictures of your car at some point!)

[plwindish]

Warren, If I ever figure out how to upload pix on this site, I'll get them up. Every time I try to upload a pix, I find out its too large to upload. The same pix upload fine on the Studebaker forum and on Facebook. Pix of my car are on Brad Bez's site, http://bez-auto-alchemy.blogspot.com/ . Brad had the car during September, rebuilding the front suspension, re-arching the rear springs, rebuilding the power steering pump and a list of other items.

Edited October 24, 2012 by plwindish

[warren55]

Oh, I just saw that on Facebook the other day. Silver Blue 83 Avanti II? Looks like a really nice job! That had to cost a few shekels! Beautiful car....

[plwindish]

The Silver blue 83 was his latest project. My car is further down the blog listings. Its a 76 dark metallic red , tan interior with wire wheels.

[warren55]

I apologize, my mistake. Still, an equally beautiful car!

Edited October 24, 2012 by warren55