danoz Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 Well i just bought my first Studebaker it's a 27 Standard Six EU 4dr Sedan. Brand new to the Studebakers, i've only done model A's and Morgans from this era. I just started researching them in last two weeks and i gotta say i took a shine to them right off the bat, they are alot bigger than the A's and a little neater in my opinion. I lucked out and the first one i looked at was a good one, a unfinished restoration that the owner put alot of time and money into over the last 4 decades it just stalled out in the 80's when it came time to finish body, interior and assembly, very well cared for kept inside, heated garage. The engine has already been rebuilt done in 1982 by a local ol'timer mechanic long since passed, bored out, rebabbitted, aluminum pistons made, started right up and she sounded sweet. chassis completely rebuilt from bearings to brakes, blasted and painted also and still looks dam good, enuff where i think it just needs cleaning. tranny done new clutch, exhaust, new tires, the owner told me "its been on jack stands since i bought the tires but once in awhile i would need to take it down and swap bays give me an excuse to drive it". Lots of parts already re-chromed, brand new safety glass, new aprons were made, many parts were sent out to body shop and restored and painted black, gauges and cluster sent out restored calibrated and refaced. I had a BIG smile on my face as we went through all the parts and history on the car, he was a really good guy and treated me fair, and you could tell how much he loved the car. The body is in pretty dam good shape all the lower wood has already been done he had a local cabinet maker duplicate all the pattern wood, upper wood is in outstanding shape. Sheet metal wise he had a body guy in the 80' patch the cowl and rear quarters i was able to see the repair from the inside and its passable from what i can tell he made lap joints for the welds i would have butt welded it but i think i'll let it stay as long as it looks good when i strip the application of mud off. The Front doors he patched a 6" piece across the bottoms and tried to rebuild the lower inner door this repair was out of this guys skill set and i will do over and reskin from just below lower door bead theirs a massive stretch and buckle on both doors at lower hinge area anyways probably from doors swinging open or frozen hinges at some point. rears doors are very nice no rust through, the whole body was blasted and zinc chromate primed back in the day also. Front fenders and rears are outstanding they have an initial strip of paint and zero rot i was pleasantly surprised, the running boards are missing i don't think he has anything for pattern or reference so i'll have to do some research on that. The Hood is 75 to 50% both sides look nice and straight no rust through one half of the top will need replace if i can find one or i'll have to make a new one, would be a fun project but time consuming, the other half i think is good will need a better look, center hinge is toast. Radiator looks very good, shell is nice not damaged the nickel is old and patina-ed but not horrible. will need complete interior but i have patterns, also came with new vinyl top and cotton padding. So overall i have a real nice head start certainly better than starting with a complete roach, a lot of time and money already spent. Biggest challenge will be its all apart and another new Marque to learn, and from what i can tell not having the luxury of doing a model T or A where you can open a catalogue or website and get almost any part bumper to bumper! i was going to drag the car and parts home today but it doesn't look like it will ever stop raining in Massachusetts till august! Brightside it gave the owner over a week to gather all the parts they were literally in three different garages and in his house, all well protected and stored but definitely a concern for me. So follow along while i try to bring this old girl back to her former glory, i attached some pics of when i bought the car in Connecticut as it sits, not the best photo shoot i was to dammed excited to take good ones! and as you can see by pics of the firewall the dam thing makes coffee too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 Welcome to the group Danoz. Looks like a great project. Very solid. Good luck with it. We like pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danoz Posted May 14, 2017 Author Share Posted May 14, 2017 16 minutes ago, Laughing Coyote said: Welcome to the group Danoz. Looks like a great project. Very solid. Good luck with it. We like pictures. Thanks! more coming picking up on tuesday supposed to be a big yellow ball in the sky by then, i vaguely remember it think its called the sun. i see by your location you never have to worry about that....jealous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F&J Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 Nice to have another build thread here. I'm in CT, yes on weather issues. Strange this year, but at 65 I have not seen a normal year in decades. Weather modifications, tampering, I believe. Those are not jet exhaust condensation lines in our skies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theterrym Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 I love the color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danoz Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 some progress on the stude, got the rear fenders done not to bad for 90 years old mainly just some rot where the running board bracket was spot welded to fender. interesting how they made them instead of just welding the corners where the fenders makes a 90 degree bend they had 90 degree bends and folded the corners and spot welded, much quicker on the line i imagine a few spot welds and done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danoz Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 fabbed up a patch panel put a 90 in it gave it some shape and put the little factory folds in it, straightened and blasted the running board bracket some weld through prime, butt welded the patch and spot welded the bracket back in place, folded the outer fender tabs and spotwelded ground smooth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danoz Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 a few cracks around the wire roll welded up and ground smooth , both rears pretty much the same give or take 1/4" or so, a little hammer dolly straightening and they're ready for blasting and epoxy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Tate Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Nice work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danoz Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 this was the first year for disc wheels for studebaker, car came with all 4 wheel covers and lock rings two where installed on car, one was painted with brush rustoleum the other bare sandblasted metal. the other two were baremetal blasted and never installed just one more question when and why figuring out the basket case he either never got around to installing or he picked up two more covers over the years collecting parts. i reblasted the two loose ones heavy pitting on outer cover real nice on inside metal seemed to have a strange greenish tint to it and the pitting was odd looking nothing like i've seen before , maybe a special mix in the steel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danoz Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 after blasting 3 coats of epoxy primer let dry a day or so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danoz Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 skim coat heavy pitting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danoz Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 block out skim coat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danoz Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 3 coats of epoxy primer, hour or so each between coats, done ready for final block, going to get the other two of the car this week along with the lock rings 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacerman Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 They are looking good but I was in my local PPG paint and body supplies store a few years ago while in the midst of patching the rear quarters on a Rambler. I told the guy at the counter that I was trying to block sand epoxy primer on the repair (PPG DPLF 50 to be exact) and the guy at the counter and two other customers in the store said almost in unison: You are not supposed to block sand epoxy primer. So what sandpaper are you using? Wet sanding? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danoz Posted March 19, 2018 Author Share Posted March 19, 2018 yeah that's ridiculous not your statement but theirs unless they know something i don't , i'm not a ppg guy we tried it at the shop about 15 years ago gave it an honest try about 6 months i think changed our whole system over to it, biggest thing i didnt like was the base and clears at the time. anyways back on topic , we use dupont chroma-premeir for our basecoat and single stage colors , but all undercoats primers, cleaners etc., and clearcoat we use SPI out of georgia, we made that move about 6-7 years ago and absolutely love the clears and primers and cleaning prep products. this epoxy like some other has a 6-7 day window for application of any fillers, primers, base etc. directly over primer without sanding, we usually always sand it first, without sanding if desired. it has 6-month water retention properties, in other words out side 24-7 in the rain it would take that long for water to penetrate primer and effect bare metal. sands tough dry on fine grits, sands nice wet. i sanded that final epoxy with 320 3-M wet i could base over that or hit it with high build urethane primer. on that i will go directly to base color, epoxy is the most stable undercoat many guys including myself will use it all the way to finish its virtually zero shrinkage over time unlike urethanes and other primers. only drawback on the epoxy in my shop is we are in the northeast and the surface temp of metal when using their epoxy has to stay min 65 degrees for minimum 24 hrs. ... can be tough some times when its 20 degrees for days in a row, i just plan accordingly or use urethane when temps are bad. SPI has a good website check it out most products geared towards restoration, some for production. I made the move when i tried their clear absolutely outstanding, especially buffability, then i needed a good match for 60's red oxide primer color tried the epoxy line been hooked since. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacerman Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 Thanks, I will check out the SPI products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danoz Posted March 20, 2018 Author Share Posted March 20, 2018 28 minutes ago, pacerman said: Thanks, I will check out the SPI products. no problem, only thing i can think of is they might of been talking about it being difficult to sand? some can, also used standox epoxy for years that sands real nice but 2+ plus times the cost of SPI and no red oxide color, also maybe they were talkin bout self-etch primer ...who knows good luck with yours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luv2Wrench Posted March 28, 2018 Share Posted March 28, 2018 Another vote for SPI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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