R3 Air Cleaner?

[Studemichael]

Is this an Avanti R3 air cleaner that would mount behind the grille?

[AG-R3]

  This is an original R3 air cleaner    ( edited)   There is no PCV hose attach point..

Edited November 4 by AG-R3

[mfg]

2 hours ago, AG-R3 said:

  This is an original R3 air cleaner    ( edited)   There is no PCV hose attach point..

Back in the day the stainless steel grille would need to be removed to service the air filters?

[Studemichael]

3 hours ago, AG-R3 said:

  This is an original R3 air cleaner    ( edited)   There is no PCV hose attach point..

Thank you!

[Studemichael]

3 hours ago, AG-R3 said:

  This is an original R3 air cleaner    ( edited)   There is no PCV hose attach point..

Yes, that is correct 

[Geoff]

2 hours ago, mfg said:

Back in the day the stainless steel grille would need to be removed to service the air filters?

Yes if your car had one, 25 did not have a grille. I think I replaced air filters twice in the span I drove it. In other instances I'd just remove the filters and blow them out with a blow nozzle on an air hose. I had auto shop my junior & senior HS years, so I [and whomever helped me] got credit for working on the car, that made it super convenient.

Auto shop side note: My shop classmates loved the 5 breather caps, they make oil changes go quick. We always added 5 qts. of oil simultaneously.

[Nelson]

That appears to be a 63/64 GT Hawk R2 air cleaner. It is the same as R3 Avanti. The difference is the size of the air hose. Naturally it is larger on the R3. The crankcase ventilation hose would be correct in New York and California even on R3.

[Nelson]

AG-R3, is that photo you posted the Prestolite R3 that Booth owns?

[Dwight FitzSimons]

I believe that photo is from the Greg Cone car, R-5054.  Two pix from that set:

--Dwight

 

[Nelson]

I bet you are right on that. I didn’t remember which trans he had but always assumed it was a four speed. His car was one of the first body off frame restorations I remember. Looks like it needs some attention again,

[Dwight FitzSimons]

I believe it still looks like this:

--Dwight

 

[mfg]

That R3 air cleaner location… I realize there  probably wasn’t other practical options.. but what a terrible place to locate that filter!!

[DWR46]

Not trying to disagree with anybody, but air filter removal is easy. Just unscrew the front grille and the filter is right in front of you. I realize it is not 30 seconds like many cars, but basically no problem at all.

[mfg]

2 hours ago, DWR46 said:

Not trying to disagree with anybody, but air filter removal is easy. Just unscrew the front grille and the filter is right in front of you. I realize it is not 30 seconds like many cars, but basically no problem at all.

I hear you… on some  ‘modern’ cars the front bumper cover has to be removed to change a headlight bulb!……

However, there’s more to it than just an access problem…. If ( back in the day) an R3 Avanti was actually used for everyday transportation, imagine what a mess that filter assy would be after zipping along slush covered streets… or even after driving through a torrential rain!….

Not to mention that the last thing a Studebaker Avanti needs is a sizable object, like that air cleaner housing, blocking air flow to the radiator…..

A proper air cleaner assy on the R3 Avantis, had production continued, would have required a complete rework of the passenger side front fender inner skirt panel.….

Of course, in the latter months of 1963 a better air cleaner location on R3 (and even R2) Avantis was about the last thing Studebaker Corporation was thinking about!…. Ed

[DWR46]

MFG: Absolutely great point regarding the location of the air cleaner vs. rain and snow. Also agree Studebaker had many more important things to worry about at that time.

[Nelson]

The air cleaner was not the easiest to access but it’s location was probably the best available spot. I doubt much rain could really get to it and the snorkel is turned up to only draw air from the top of that cavity. Cars with fresh air induction seem to take it from what always appears to be a bad location via a hose and then send it to the air cleaner. The only advantage to that over the factory R3 location is the easier maintenance of the air filter. 

[Geoff]

I drove 1025 daily from 6/95 - 10/97. Its snorkel was oriented downward (roughly 180° from the photos above). I remember that because it was very easy to spray starting fluid into the snorkel. I complained once to a friend about 25's starting procedure and he said, "Hold up, try this. Where's your intake?" You could see the pleated paper element from low in front of the bumper. A couple of nozzle squeezes from the Pyroil can and she promptly started.

I had zero problems through wet El Niño years in the SF area. On freeways I followed cars throwing great rooster tails of water, and my only complaint was, the windshield wipers were woefully inadequate.

There's a trick to have that snorkel face downward. You roll the unit 180° and then mount the plate to the other facing [outside vs. inside] of the radiator frame [not right side vs. left], or some such manipulation.

Edited November 12 by Geoff
added third ¶

[mfg]

I’ll defer to the folks who have actually driven R3 Avantis through different weather and temperature conditions!!

[Nelson]

5 hours ago, mfg said:

I’ll defer to the folks who have actually driven R3 Avantis through different weather and temperature conditions!!

Now that’s funny😄. Probably won’t get many more comments. However, I’ve had one for over fifty years and in the early days I did drive mine every day through most any weather. I did stay off salted roads but was out in some pretty heavy rain storms.  That was all done in Cincinnati, Ohio and some cross country trips.

[mfg]

2 hours ago, Nelson said:

Now that’s funny😄. Probably won’t get many more comments. However, I’ve had one for over fifty years and in the early days I did drive mine every day through most any weather. I did stay off salted roads but was out in some pretty heavy rain storms.  That was all done in Cincinnati, Ohio and some cross country trips.

Nelson…. I was wondering if the R3, in everyday use, was basically as ‘easy to live with’ as an R2 powered Avanti would have been?…. Good cold start?….. Reasonably smooth idle?….drivability in heavy traffic?

The 425/409 or the 426 Hemi were not known for having the best road manners… Was the Avanti R3 more ‘civilized’?…Ed

[mfg]

18 hours ago, Geoff said:

I drove 1025 daily from 6/95 - 10/97. Its snorkel was oriented downward (roughly 180° from the photos above). I remember that because it was very easy to spray starting fluid into the snorkel. I complained once to a friend about 25's starting procedure and he said, "Hold up, try this. Where's your intake?" You could see the pleated paper element from low in front of the bumper. A couple of nozzle squeezes from the Pyroil can and she promptly started.

I had zero problems through wet El Niño years in the SF area. On freeways I followed cars throwing great rooster tails of water, and my only complaint was, the windshield wipers were woefully inadequate.

There's a trick to have that snorkel face downward. You roll the unit 180° and then mount the plate to the other facing [outside vs. inside] of the radiator frame [not right side vs. left], or some such manipulation.

Geoff… you probably needed to prime 63R1025 after it had been sitting for several days?

[Dwight FitzSimons]

15 hours ago, mfg said:

I’ll defer to the folks who have actually driven R3 Avantis through different weather and temperature conditions!!

I drove mine through all weather conditions near Pittsburgh, PA all during my Air Force service from 1966 to 1970.  It had a 276 deg. cam and was as docile as the R2 I pulled out of that Avanti.

--Dwight

[mfg]

52 minutes ago, Dwight FitzSimons said:

I drove mine through all weather conditions near Pittsburgh, PA all during my Air Force service from 1966 to 1970.  It had a 276 deg. cam and was as docile as the R2 I pulled out of that Avanti.

--Dwight

Very interesting Dwight!….And thank you for your service to this country!

[Geoff]

12 hours ago, mfg said:

Geoff… you probably needed to prime 63R1025 after it had been sitting for several days?

I didn't rely on starting fluid very much. Believe it or not when my friend showed me the magic of ether, it was not really a cold start. She'd only been sitting 2 1/2 hours at most.

It was a royal PITA come Monday morning if I didn't take'er out Saturday and/or Sunday. No choke. Turn the key until fuel pressure registered. Abandon cranking. Pump the gas pedal at least a dozen times. Crank again while holding WOT. She didn't always stay running, so repeat from "abandon cranking" as necessary.

If I got the engine to hold up through reversing out of the garage, I'd be departing the housing development early in the morning, doing neutral revs trying to get some heat into the effing thing. Luckily I wasn't driving it in snow, that would've been a no-go since Paxton had the Dana packed/shimmed tighter. As it was, rainy days were sometimes heart-stopping.

12/12/95, I was on my way home and the power was out at some traffic signals. I got to the front of my line at a major intersection and it got to be my turn. I plopped the shift lever into 1 and eased into the throttle. That started out okay but the rear tires ran over the watered down crosswalk stripe and the rear wanted to take the lead. I got things squared away and back in line but then came the second crosswalk stripe. I just kinda danced the car across the whole intersection, like the teenage A-hole I'm sure I was perceived to have been. Although completely unintended, that was just the day, the car, and the conditions.