Avanti Overdrive

[mfg]

A Borg Warner T-86 O/D transmission, as came fro the factory in 1962 V8 Larks, is a 'bolt in' on a 1964 Studebaker Avanti.....necessatating only a driveshaft and shifter change.....True?

[lschuc]

False. There is not supposedly room for the overdrive manual transmission. The transmission's solenoid on the driver's side would hit the Avanti X-frame. I think some may have installed this transmission, but would need to modify the frame.

This is why only a straight 3-speed was an option on Avantis. Only 67 Avantis in 1963-64 came with 3-speed non-overdrive transmissions -- all R1's. It was not available with an R2 engine.

[mfg]

Hmmmmm!...I have a problem with this one. A 1962 Lark V8 convertible had overdrive as a factory option. As we know, a Studebaker Avanti's frame is basically a Lark (of same the era) convertible frame with the tail shaved a few inches. Now, I've never made this modification, but feel the frame "X" area is exactly the same on both cars. I feel O/D wasn't offered on the Avanti for other than clearance reasons. SO....I'd say that the jury is still out on this question!....Any other opinions?

[lschuc]

Sorry, I should have further qualified my answer above. While the frames are similar, the Lark floor is more flat, with just a low transmission hump. The Avanti has a much deeper transmission hump and this, more than the frame would interfere with the transmission solenoid.

[mfg]

Sorry, I should have further qualified my answer above. While the frames are similar, the Lark floor is more flat, with just a low transmission hump. The Avanti has a much deeper transmission hump and this, more than the frame would interfere with the transmission solenoid.

Sorry, I should have further qualified my answer above. While the frames are similar, the Lark floor is more flat, with just a low transmission hump. The Avanti has a much deeper transmission hump and this, more than the frame would interfere with the transmission solenoid.

You could very well be right about the floor issue. I always felt that O/D wasn't offered on the Studebaker Avanti for two reasons...1) It would be an unpopular option on a performance car, that very few folks wanted a 3 speed trans in to begin with...and...2) The powerful "R" engines would simply overwhelm the overdrive with their extra torque...resulting in expensive warranty claims.

[PackardV8]

Sorry, I should have further qualified my answer above. While the frames are similar, the Lark floor is more flat, with just a low transmission hump. The Avanti has a much deeper transmission hump and this, more than the frame would interfere with the transmission solenoid.

You could very well be right about the floor issue. I always felt that O/D wasn't offered on the Studebaker Avanti for two reasons...1) It would be an unpopular option on a performance car, that very few folks wanted a 3 speed trans in to begin with...and...2) The powerful "R" engines would simply overwhelm the overdrive with their extra torque...resulting in expensive warranty claims.

Obviously the clearance issue for the solenoid could have easily been solved.

As to strength, it's not the inherent weakness of the overdrive which was the problem. An R1 run hard and speed-whupped a few times will eat the basic T86 without overdrive like popcorn. That's why Studebaker used the much stronger T85 with overdrive in their 289" trucks and performance cars. The T85 worked fine behind the much stronger Packard V8 and would have bolted in to the Avanti.

That the engineers knew the T86 was far too weak is further proof it was only offered as an ugly baby to make buyers pay the extra for the T10 the engineers knew was really required.

jack vines

Edited August 8, 2014 by PackardV8