No longer wishing

[Kennie B.]

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

[lschuc]

congratulations!! post some photos when you get your Avanti home, and hopefully it will be on the road soon.

[mfg]

Good man!

[Kennie B.]

Actually, I have some pics from a couple of years ago that are still representative of the car in its current state but I am having trouble posting the JPEG files. How do I do this.

In the meantime, the VIN is 63R-2962 and the car is an R1 with Powershift, 3.73:1 ratio, A/C and armstrong power windows. I have seen the car personally in the last 2 weeks so I can attest to the pics being pretty accurate. Naturally, it is dirtier than the pics but not much more, the paint still shows a pretty good shine. Being stored indoors in the desert doesn't seem to help with dust issues though, just UV.

[lschuc]

Actually, I have some pics from a couple of years ago that are still representative of the car in its current state but I am having trouble posting the JPEG files. How do I do this.

In the meantime, the VIN is 63R-2962 and the car is an R1 with Powershift, 3.73:1 ratio, A/C and armstrong power windows. I have seen the car personally in the last 2 weeks so I can attest to the pics being pretty accurate. Naturally, it is dirtier than the pics but not much more, the paint still shows a pretty good shine. Being stored indoors in the desert doesn't seem to help with dust issues though, just UV.

Just click the More Reply options button and you'll get a section under where you type your reply to attach and upload images and them add them to your response.

[Avanti83]

Ken

I use photobucket on this forum. It seems whatever I load into photobucket it appears on the forum. It's possible that it's resized by them as I have put some fairly large megapixel photos on that site or maybe I'm just lucky too.

Bob

[Kennie B.]

Unfortunately, the files are over 500kb. I need to figure out how to reduce the density of the files.

[Kennie B.]

Well, here are links over to the SDC's forum.

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=44906&d=1434589238

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=44904&d=1434589149

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=44905&d=1434589210

Edited June 18, 2015 by Kennie B.

[Avanti83]

From my photobucket account, just uploaded and copied using the image icon above. BTW, keep the mouse ears

Bob

Edited June 18, 2015 by Avanti83

[Kennie B.]

Bob, thanks for the tip, one more way this luddite needs to catch up with the modern world.

I do draw the line at using the metric system over imperial though.

The ears can stay but the fuzzy dice gotta go!

Monday is the day for pick-up.

[Kennie B.]

Well, here's the latest, all good BTW.

Two of my sons and I picked up the car on Monday and the trip went smoothly starting with getting the U-Haul trailer and running up to Hesperia after work. Traffic was the pits but wit the boys and I pushing, we were able to get the car out to the trailer and loaded in short order.

As originally inspected, the cars worst offenses are varnish in the fuel tank (anybody refinishing a wood boat?) and the grubby interior.

At this point I've pulled the carb and sent it off to Dave Thibeault. The distributor will follow shortly.

I've misted the cylinders both through the spark plug holes as well as through the intake with Seafoam and let soak for 24 hours.

This evening I hooked up a new battery (not the 3EE but a group 51R) and everything electrical seems to work fairly well with the possible exception of the clock. The engine does crank freely but I only hit the starter long enough to move the crank. BTW, the old oil had clearly been changed before it was laid up, stale smelling but a lovely, fresh, golden hue.

Once I get the distributor out, I'll focus on cleaning the interior. I have tested Leatherique Conditioner and their Pristene Clean and it works phenomial. I ran out today but more will come in tomorrow.

While I'm working on that, I'll be flushing out the fuel tank. It looked to have about a quarter tank to start. I picked up 4 gallons of E85 and mixed it with a bottle of Star-Tron fuel stabilizer. I dumped that into the tank and tomorrow I'll syphon that out. To get rid of it, I think I'll run it (a little at a time) through my truck, it's a flex fuel engine so if I filter the solids out it shouldn't be problem. Then it's onto replacing all the hoses. I'm thinking of adding a shut off valve along the frame rail while I'm there.

Somewhere in there I need to keep up with the Honey-Do's this weekend as well.

Edited June 26, 2015 by Kennie B.

[Avanti83]

Excellent!! A precaution if it hasn't started in a few years. Pull the spark plugs and spray lube into the cylinders and roll it over. The cylinder walls are probably as dry as the Mohave currently. I recommend spray as a small amount of oil won't get the higher side of the cylinder if you pour it in. Then when you start it be sure it's outside.

Of course, we all know it didn't happen without pictures.

Bob

[Kennie B.]

Well, a lot of little stuff has been accomplished.

Dave Thibeualt has the carb and I should see that in about another 1-2 weeks. I've since sent him the original distributor to convert to pointless. The car still has one in it but it's a single point.

One of the problems the seller had was that she had tried to rebuild the dual point distributor and muffed it up. When she re-installed the single point, she thought she was off a tooth or 2. It's kinda hard to ell when there isn't any point gap but I'm guessing 1 tooth advanced. It's now in the hunt, when the carb comes in, I'll dial it in with a light.

As previously noted, all of the electrics work, even the radio. Even after I used Hondbrite and water to clean the engine compartment up and the lights still work. It's no where near show ready but at least I can identify where the bolt heads are holding the fuel pump on. I don't dare forget to order the rebuild kit for that tomorrow.

As previously noted, I've been spraying Seafoam in mist form down the intake runners and spark plug holes. Not only does the engine turn over but with authority! Today, I left the plugs torqued down and just cranked away, still got over 10 psi of oil pressure.

Also, I had noted I have bought a group 51R battery to use instead of the 3EE. It just fits but the hold down brackets won't work so my youngest son and I fabbed up a frame to hold it all down using the existing 4 bolts. Now though, I realized that the inner fender is cracked up at the radiator frame running horizontally in a straight line all the way acrossand then upwards by another 1 1/2". For now I think I'm going the make a doubler out of aluminum and screw it down to the fiberglass. I am trying the keep the car as much original as possible and where it won't be noticed make upgrades that can be reversed. This spot has me stumped because it is clear a collision repair was done early on in this area and as time has gone on, other issues arise. Time will tell.

I am going to be lazy and give you guys a link to photobucket with a complete but dis-organized dump of pics taken. I am in the process of putting in titles and descriptions but this is taking time from doing some serious work...hah!

http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/spokejr1/library/?view=recent&page=2

Edited July 20, 2015 by Kennie B.

[Kennie B.]

Oh, take my word for it, running even a little bad fuel through a flex fuel Ford Ranger is a bad idea.

Then again, we all know that FORD is an acronym, mine sure is!

[Kennie B.]

So here is a before/after, as you can see the door has been cleaned, the rear panels haven't. Leatherique products come through once again;

http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/spokejr1/image.jpg1_zpsqn6gubpe.jpg

[Kennie B.]

Anyway, on to more interesting news, a long overdue update.

She RUNS! And pretty damned well if I do say so myself.

I cheated and got another carburetor while Dave T. restores the original. Put it in and made the various mods to the plumbing as well as plumbing in the drip bottle to feed the carb. Two pumps on the throttle and about 1 crank revolution and we were off to the races. In short, this car wants to run.

Naturally there were some adjustments to be made once warm the more critical issues were; a. no severe blow by, b. no leaks from engine, trans nor radiator and the brakes did seem to pick up a bit of boost as the vacuum built (quickly). The tach even works but the clock has given up the ghost.

Put her into gear and drove down the driveway fine, reverse took its own time engaging and there was no boost to the power steering. Let's see what's up. Hmm, no trans fluid, topped that right up (2 quarts) and the powersteering is empty. Topped that up too and now gears engage smoothly and promptly as well as boosted steering. Huzzah!

Drove up and down drive way again to be only met by long trail of fluid. Being neither Hansel nor Gretel, this is not a good thing. Look at powersteering pump and watch 2-3 drops per second coming out of pump shaft. Now I know why the fuel pump was covered with a mound of oily mud. So far though, nothing coming out of transmission, not then nor even now after the weekend is over. So, off comes the pump for a rebuild as well as the ram. At least now I can drive without too much of a mess.

So at that point, I decided to put some fresh gas in the tank and run the engine with a fresh fuel line running into the gas can to purge any grunge in the fuel lines. Man, that pump moves some fuel. After about a gallon it was clear that the tubing was clear as well so hooked it up to the carb. Now she's mobile and what's a boy to do? If course we had to go on a road trip! It would only be around the block but I had to know, how good does she run through the gears. Just so you know, I putted. I did get up to 30 and at this point, it was very early on Sunday morning. If something goes wrong, kill it and coast to the curb. She really does run good but it was a good thing I parked her when I did, the fuel filter was filling up and the car starved for gas as I backed up to the garage. Once cleaned out, back to normal.

There is one question. When I blip the throttle, on the over run, there is a clatter. It sounds like the lifters. While rev'ing up, not there. At idle, not there. Only when I release the throttle and once settled to idle, gone again. Any ideas?

[lschuc]

The clatter or rattle that you hear when you blip the throttle only, could be the heat riser valve on the passenger side exhaust pipe, between the pipe and exhaust manifold. It could be missing its spring that opens the valve once warmed up. Without the spring, or a broken or missing spring, the valve and weight could be the cause of the rattle or clatter.

[Kennie B.]

Lew,

I haven't had to deal with one of those for so long I completely forgot about that! When I had been looking over the car at different times, I did make sure it openned freely but never thought of there being a spring, that the weight held it shut at idle and back pressure blew it open.

All those years lurking and absorbing as much knowledge as possible, yet the learning curve is still steep!

Thanks guys for leasons thus learned (many) and those yet to be learned. Frankly had I not been lurking, I'd probably be in the garage dumbfounded but instead jumping in with both enthusiasm and a touch of caution

[Greg Howarth]

I hope everything goes well, good luck. I 'm still getting my '73 up to par and my rule is don't drive any further from your house than you want to walk home.

Edited August 9, 2015 by Greg Howarth

[MARK]

congrats on the car and the work you have done. I have used Dave T. for lots of parts; 73 Avanti 11, 64 R2 and also my 63 Gran Turismo Hawk. He is a fine reference for parts and information. Regarding the clock, I have used CLOCKWORKS twice; for both Avanti's and will use them soon again for the G.T. Hawk.

Heide usually answers the phone and there is no need to push #1 for English. Her number is 800 398 3040. Clockworks is located in Eagle Rive WI. The turnaround is less than 3 weeks. I remember repair to original condition is about $75.00

Mark

Edited August 11, 2015 by MARK

[Kennie B.]

Thanks for the new leads and advise!

Well, the steering pump is rebuilt and mounted. I was un-able to get the cylinder apart to replace the shaft seal. According to the factory manual, they say to use the pressure produced by the pump to literally blow the seal out so we'll see how that works. And yes, I did remember to remove the snap ring that retains the seal in end of the cylinder so I'm going to go all in on this one. First though, I need to get the new hoses in and I'll get that going on Thursday. By Sunday I should have power assisted steering once again.

The one thing that still has me stumped is the rattling sound on over-run. It isn't consistent. It sounds like small marbles crossed with the sound those spring door stops make when twang them. It sometimes also happens when you shift into neutral from either drive or reverse. It seems to be strongest at the rear end of the valley. There seems to be a spring in place on the heat riser and holding it open doesn't seem to eliminate the sound. One thing I have noticed is that the exhaust pipe looks to touch the frame on the right side, perhaps this is actually the problem and the sound is transmitted upward. I'll look into that idea over the weekend and let you know.

Best regards to all, Ken

[garyc]

If you like to tinker it may be easy to fix the clock. I have repaired two with little problem. In both cases the wheel had come off of it's pivot base and the points were bad. I was able to reset the wheel on its base and replaced the point contacts with the head of a pin soldered in place. Taking the bezel off the face was not difficult just be careful with the use of a screw drive to spread the role over.