Stude Light

Multitasking and skipping around the car.... The wood under the driver's seat was rotted around the battery box. I removed the rotted boards. My friend, Mike Walters, is a great woodworker and set me up with some new southern yellow pine that he planed and cut to length. Between some stain, paint and dirt, I got them to a similar color and am working on installing them. The rubber on the bottom of the windshield was petrified. Using a small screwdriver and a pick, I painstakingly removed the rubber from the T-slot - a very slow and messy process. Restoration Supply sells a decent replacement and I installed that. I also got the petrified rubber off the glass between the upper and lower windshields and installed a new piece there. After examining it, I think whomever installed it before had it oriented wrong (as I had it installed above) so I reversed it so the upward pointing lip is on the outside of the glass.

Josh, Fleigh Motor & Tire Company was a Studebaker dealer in Hagerstown, MD and also in Cumberland, MD. They also sold Pierce-Arrows. More than likely, they were the dealer that originally sold the car. Just like today’s dealers that like to put license plate surrounds and stickers on your car, they would have added the document holder to your dashboard. https://studebaker-info.org/Dealers/MDdealers.html Scroll down the above website to Fleigh and there is some documentation there. If you Google Map 670 Oak Hill Ave in Hagerstown, that building on the corner might just be the one your car was sold at. That would be about the size of a typical dealership in the 1920s, enough to park a car inside. Scott

Yes. Like the 1924 Light Six, wooden spoked artillery wheels came standard on the Special Six and steel disc wheels were optional. Wire wheels were also an option. The disc wheels were standard on the Big Six.

Blue was offered. I’ve seen an original Big Six car in blue and it was a rather dark blue. I recall it was mentioned in the sales brochures.

Since the car is assembled, I use a plastic scraper to rid of the heavy crud. Also some sharpened popsicle sticks help for the tighter areas. Then use rags (typically old clothes that I cut up) wetted with naphtha while wearing nitrile gloves. Naphtha will not attack paint or rubber. The only time I use a pressure washer is on parts fully disassembled, other wise all the crud gets push past seals into the bearings and housings. 3000 psi water will also find its way into anything. Scott

Before I owned any really old cars, I had a 1939 Allis Chalmers tractor that I used for mowing my lawn (Woods belly mower). It used a 6 volt system. The starter always turned slow so I "upgraded" to an 8 volt battery and tweaked the generator output to max. The starter turned over faster but the improvement was soon overshadowed by all the negatives. The generator was just barely capable of keeping the 8 volts topped off. What do you use for a battery charger? I ended up burning out a couple of 6 volt headlights too. Finally, I got smart. I went back to 6 volts, cleaned up the starter and bought some 1/0 battery cables with new ends. Never had a problem after that.

The only light the car had in the back was a modern trailer light for a tail light. The original tail light was a simple round red light with the lens held in by a wire spring clip. It had a side facing lens to light the license plate and was held by two fasteners. I could not locate an original but I found something almost identical except it only uses a single center fastener. I also wanted some type of vintage stop light (yes, like the one I gave to my friend Rusty a while back) and found one, presumably from a vintage motorcycle, which I purchased fairly reasonably ($75). I mounted the stop light to the tail light and am happy with the setup. I'll end up adding a removable "Brakelighter" LED light bar for touring. With these parts procured and a vintage turn signal system (patent date 1918), I laid out all the ancillary electrical components to see what I had for connectors and started working on each component. Each headlight has 4 different bakelite connectors, which get rather fragile with time. Some time ago, a friend gave me a coffee tin full of these style connectors, so with some time, and a bit of JB Weld, I was able to put together exactly what I need. The cowl lamps will be updated with a dual filament bulb to allow for their normal function and to add turn signals. You can see those new connectors in the middle of the above photo. I started pulling wires (cloth and armor based on what was there originally) and decided to go with the used looking turn signal box so it matched the condition of the car better. I still has the original cloth wires which are in great shape so I was able to use those and used cloth friction tape to run them down the steering column giving it the look it might have had if added back in the day - nothing fancy and no zip ties. I'll just start with the headlights and work my way back.

Looks like the car was "restored" once in its life so a lot of stuff is not original. Having done a lot of research and nut and bolt restoration on a Light Six I can give you some good advice. I sent you a PM with my contact info. Scott

I decided to remove all the wiring in the car. I have a schematic but also went through each connection on the main switch (which are all numbered) and made notes for each connection. Since I’ll be adding a brake light, turn signals and a spotlight, I will have to make a few modifications. When you look at the pile, there isn’t that many wires. The main switch is the hub for everything and also contains the cutout relay for the generator. You’ll notice in the above photo that I also removed the speedometer. When I was reaching behind the dash I found that the speedo input was seized. So…. The rotating magnet was seized on the bearing and the input drive gear wasn’t looking too good. I could not figure out how to get the bearing shaft out of the rotating magnet. When I restored the one on my 1923 Studebaker it has two thrust ball bearings….this one looks like a bushing design. After some cursing, WD40, brakleen, marvel mystery oil and finally some gun oil, I’m happy to report it is all freed up. I saved some parts from my Stewart speedometer used in the Studebaker and found those. And found a good input gear It is all back together and appears to work fine. As long as I didn’t accidentally bend anything, stretch any springs or move a setting maybe it’ll read correctly. Worst case is I’ll have to pull it back out and adjust it. I had to do this with my Studebaker speedometer since I played with the internals a lot. On that car I worked out the gear speeds, Speedo input speed and correlated that back to vehicle speed, then used the various fixed speeds on my combo lathe/mill and dialed the speedometer in with the 3 adjustments available. This is what that looked like If I’m lucky I won’t have to repeat that work for this one. I’m currently working up the new wiring plan and need to start mounting all the electrical components like the horn, headlights, stop lamps, tail light, turn signal switch and turn signal lights.

Finally got some time to get working on the car again. I pulled the oil level float and Ed is correct as it looks like agglomerated cork (ground and glued). Looking below, the cork on left is similar to what I originally used, although mine was even coarser which just looked like grain structure to me. The center is a micro grind and easy to spot, right side is natural cork, which is what I should have been using. So, thank you @edinmass for spotting that and preventing a possible failure. That's a great thing about this forum....there are people with all types of background, including packaging which might just include being a wine cork aficionado. I could not find a brass float that I could get through the access hole in the oil pan so I ended up with cork again only I used pure virgin cork as was originally used. Reading up on cork, it has some amazing properties so I have no concern about it holding up. About a month ago I dropped the oil pan in the Model 46 at the RE Olds Museum and it had its original cork float which was in great condition still. That car also has the original gauge that converts the up down movement of the float rod to an arc needle movement - forgot to take a picture though. I installed all the water port covers in the heads. The gaskets are pretty simple to make but these are from the gasket set from Olson's. I used The Right Stuff on the gaskets but used Permatex #2 on the bolt threads and this is why. The bolts go into a blind threaded hole in the heads but that area is filled with coolant. When I took this engine apart I had to drill a couple of those out as they were seized due to corrosion. I figured I would seal the threads so coolant doesn't end up in the threaded cavity and cause the same issue for some future owner. First, I coated each side of the gasket with The Right Stuff and stuck it in place - oops, maybe a bit too heavy on this first one. The sealant will fill the pitting on the casting. Next I installed the cover but added a a little sealant where the copper bolt gasket seals to ensure a leak-free joint. Bolted down But I like a cleaner looking job so took a paper towel and wiped up the excess. My wife wonders why we never seem to have enough paper towels in the house 😉 It's like wiping your copper plumbing solder joints....not required but gives a lot nicer looking job when done. All done. You may notice that all those fasteners in the photo below were made on a lathe.

Okay, every now and then I screw up and I think maybe I have provided bad advice. I’ve used Hylomar in the past on smaller gaskets without a problem as it is supposed to be non-hardening and non-setting. I used it on the oil pan gasket on my 1939 LaSalle and let me tell you, it did not come off easily today. Maybe it was the specific gasket material but this is what it looked like after removing it.And this is how I got it off….I had to pound razor knife refills into the gasket from the side like this. So maybe stick with nothing or The Right Stuff. I just got back from a 3 week vacation so I’ll start working on the car again although I started another project on my LaSalle which will take a bit of time.

Maybe a poor choice of words. There were definitely bright yellows, reds, etc. used. I was referring to the crazy bright blues, purples, pinks and other colors I've seen people painting their pre-war cars. So when I hear "Smurf Blue", I tend not to think it was not an original color. Sorry if that came out wrong.

This is from much later but I would assume a similar blue. The colors from the 1920s were not super “bright” more like the colors below

Medium gray is the correct color. There is no color chart so whatever you select in medium gray is as correct as any other one. This is an original photo of a 1922 Special Six engine compartment when new. You can see the shade of the head and look at sheen and color variations of components. These are photos of the same engine after 35,632 test miles and after it was removed from the car and put on a dyno. It is quite dirty but you can make out some details between components Not sure how much it helps.....

The original dashboards are made from a 3/4" thick piece of wood (southern yellow pine perhaps?) with a metal face formed over it. The metal face was then painted to look like wood with a woodgrain pattern. You may ask why they didn't just use a piece of mahogany or walnut? I believe the answer is that the dashboard provides a cross-body structural support that triangulates the body panel below the windshield to provide a much stiffer structure. Having the screws go through the metal face versus just wood is much stronger. I used a company out of Pennsylvania that provides that woodgrain application service. The pattern was based on an original Light Six with a rusty dashboard that still showed the wood grain pattern when you wet down the dash with water. The picture I posted of mine is what the walnut dash would have looked like new. I can take a better photo to try to avoid the glare when I get a chance. The part numbers really serve little purpose unless someone happens to have some NOS parts in a box. There are gauge restoration shops that will do the work. My gauge faces are original but I re-plated the bezels with copper, then nickel to get the original look. I disassembled the gauge bezels and just lightly cleaned the gauge face. I used the plating kits that Caswell Plating sells. Below are a couple of photos of the copper plate and process. Most all the work is in the polishing process. The clock using a spring. It is wound by the little knob which is pulled out to set the time. It is rare to have one that works without having it restored by someone that specializes in that. I would suggest you start your own thread for your car. Scott

That body is looking great.

Just to add some clarification to the fact that chrome is not clear. Chrome, short for chromium, is an elemental metal which is kind of a steel gray. When you nickel-chrome plate something the layer of chromium is extremely thin…maybe measured in millionths of an inch which is why it is considered “clear”. That very thin layer, that you better described as translucent, does change the hue of the nickel substrate since you’ve added a small amount of that steel gray colored chromium metal on top. When something is hard chrome plated there is no nickel substrate and you get thousandths of an inch thickness of chromium which is a rather flat steel gray color and not very decorative. Summary- the actual “color” and finish you get from chrome plating is all about the thickness of the chromium layer.

I thought that was the “end” grain structure as when I sliced it to get a flat side it looked a lot more uniform but you may be right. It’s easy enough to pull out. I could not find a 7/8” diameter brass float so I’ll just order some real cork and cut it to fit. Thanks for the feedback Ed.

Looking for some clean work that would keep me off the ground one evening, I started on the ignition system. The Delco distributor is interesting as it has two sets of points….not to help with dwell or coil saturation but to increase the ampacity by having two paths. Not sure what they were thinking as it’s just a coil with a resistance unit so amperage isn't that high. You do have to be very accurate to get the two points set just right to open simultaneously. Step one was to set the point gap when on the high end of the cam lobe (max opening) to 0.020”. With no indicator on the flywheel or front pulley there is no way to tell when #1 cylinder (right front) is at Top Dead Center (TDC). The primer cup holes are right over the top of the piston so I used a dial indicator to show when the piston just came to the top on the compression stroke. This is right at the point that the dial stops moving before reversing rotation. I paint marked the flywheel (TDC) at this point for future use. Next, I loosened the screw that holds the distributor can in place. It is on a taper that goes into a split segment - you can see it in the first picture. I hooked up my multimeter and set it to chime with continuity. I then placed the cam on the shaft and rotated it so that it just opens the points at TDC. You have to be careful setting this up so as not to have the spring/weight mechanical advance system rotate. You can feel the cam work against the springs rotating in the forward (clockwise) direction but it goes against the stop in the opposite direction. Held against that stop is where you want the points to just open. The Owners Manual says to set all this up with the timing controls on the steering wheel set 2” down from full up. This allows you to retard the spark (full up) if you need to hand start the car. Once set, I cranked the engine around and watched the dial indicator while listening to the multimeter and at the instant the dial indicator needle stopped moving, the points opened. Perfectly timed on the first try….that never happens. I installed the the rotor and looked to see if it was lined up to one of the distributor cap terminals. Yes! The cap is numbered 1-8 and by total happenstance it was lined up with number 1! I was thinking I should go out and play Powerball. Next I started adding the spark plug wires to the distributor cap. I needed an appropriate beer though. The cap terminals are easy enough to connect up. Just strip about 1/4” of insulation off the spark plug wire and insert it in the hole. Using a small screwdriver I bent the wire strands at 90 degrees. Then screw the cap down over the distributor terminal. I finished up all 8 and the coil wire. I'll work on wiring up the car next.

With no reverse curve on the rear fenders, having a cowl vent (with a Special/Big Six control) and body mounted cowl lights, it looks like a late 1921 or early 1922 Light Six. Export cars often had a mix of model and model year parts and came out of Walkerville, Canada rather from the high volume assembly line in South Bend. Here is a photo of what the original dashboard and gauges would look like. 1920-1921 dashboards were done in a Mahogany finish and 1922 - 1924 were finished in a straight grained walnut. Lighting Switch Assembly p/n: 45227 (Remy, distributor w/Eagle Lock) 45477 (Remy, distributor w/ Yale lock) 44898 (distributor prior to vehicle serial number 1,045,438) 45228 (Remy, magneto w/Eagle lock) 44899 (magneto prior to vehicle serial number 1,045,438) Ammeter Gauge p/n: 43999 Dash Light p/n: 39376 Oil Pressure Gauge p/n: 43847 Speedometer Speedometers were supplied directly from Stewart (the manufacturer) so Studebaker did not create their own part number By that way, your steering wheel controls should be rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise (it should be at 3:00, not 6:00). Let me know if you have any questions? Scott

Got my new gaskets so....Take Two With the exhaust crossover ports blocked off, there was no need to add the copper seals that may have added stress on the aluminum intake crossover to pull them down. Everything bolted down without any cracking noises 😀. I first bolted the carb to the intake crossover, then loosely attached the intake/exhaust bolts, then tightened the intake crossover to the intake manifolds, then tightened the intake/exhaust to the block, then added the exhaust Y-pipe. The Y-Pipe is sealed by a special spacer that fits into a bevel in the Y-Pipe and compresses a copper flange gasket on the flat side. When you pull it up to seal, it doesn't go flat. You have to keep yourself from over tightening these to avoid snapping an ear off the castings - so, just snug them up but not too tight. I needed to find some coolant hoses to connect the water pump to the block. They are 1.06" ID with a 90 degree bend. I searched online but couldn't readily find anything so I went to the Gates website and found that they have a really nice and comprehensive listing of their molded hoses. https://www.gates.com/content/dam/gates/home/knowledge-center/resource-library/catalogs/gates-molded-coolant-hose-id-guide_web.pdf I found a hose with the correct ID and that looked like something I could cut a section out of based on the photo. They worked out well. I also needed a new fuel line from the tank to the Stewart fuel pump. Originally, it was 1/4" soft copper so that is what I used. There was a short section with a special soldered tapered end that attaches to the tank so I kept that piece. I found a nice vintage Carter fuel filter and decided to use that. Made a new cork gasket for the bowl. I found a good spot near the tank to mount it then ran a new line forward following the route the original line took and reused the same clamps. You can see in a few photos up the fuel line coming up the firewall and attaching to the fuel pump. Moving on to electrical cables....1/0 or larger is the way to go with these 6 volt systems and you'll have no issues. Please note below that battery connectors come in Positive and Negative hole sizes so they fit the top mount terminals correctly. I soldered the new cables to each of the connectors. I reused the clamp that attaches to the starter lug. I'll share a few of the specialty items I use for electrical. First is the 3M linerless splicing tape. If you've never used this, do yourself a favor and buy a roll (electrical supply or online). I use this on my trailer wiring more than anything else but always find other uses. It stretches and sticks to itself and creates a water tight seal. You may even thank me someday for the advice. I ended up using a little under the cloth tape on the battery cables to build up the OD between the cable and battery clamps. Next is the 3M Temflex cloth friction electrical tape. Looks just like what was used back in the day. It sticks well and stretches a bit. You can find it at Home Depot. Last is the Carbon Conductive Grease. I use this on electrical connections that I want to keep corrosion out of....things like headlights, where they clamp on the crossbar and are supposed to make an electrical ground contact. I also use it on my ground bolt threads or other areas where a bulb socket interfaces with a bore and is supposed to have a ground path. It works well on the starter mounting areas too. Unlike regular grease, which is non-conductive and flammable, this stuff works to create conductivity, is non-flammable and keeps corrosion away. I've only found it online. A word of warning....it is like black ink (or carbon black) so doesn't readily clean out of your finger prints. Rather than running the ground cable to the chassis, I decided to use one of the bolt holes on the starter mounting flange (this flange is not used). Rather than trying to work a good ground path back to the starter (the device that requires the highest current draw - 800 amps) I thought I would give the starter the maximum ground path and work the rest of the ground through the engine and mounts to ground the frame for the 20 amps or so that the lights need.

I decided to seal up and install the valve covers so took off everything I mocked up to make easy access. The valve covers only came with gaskets along the top and sides and I trimmed them to fit properly, I decide to install these with Hylomar so I can get them off easily when comes time to adjust lash. The problem is what to do along the bottom. There is not enough room for a cork gasket which is what is needed due to varying gap thickness. I decided to use The Right Stuff so I applied a bead along the bottom of the valve cover but I really didn't want it to stick to the block as I know I'll need to adjust valves and it'll be a pain to clean off. The area I'm talking about is along the red line below. So, I looked around the shop and found some Johnson's Stick Wax so I heated the surface a little with my heat gun and applied a thin skin of wax to that surface and dropped the covers in place. The idea is the sealant will fill the gap but the little layer of wax will keep it from really adhering well. Next, I installed the starter. The Bendix unit needs to be removed first, then it is held in place (forward of the ring gear but behind the block) while the starter is slide in place in the bore while you line up the output shaft with the Bendix - bit of a pain by yourself. You'll see a single bolt holds the starter in place. The bolt has a pointed end that fits into a conical recess in the starter housing. If you look closely, there is a hole in the center of the bolt. There is a path from that hole in the bolt to the front bushing on the starter. Below is a shot showing the location of the Bendix unit - starter housing on the left and cross frame on the right. And where the bolt goes that you have to install when done that holds the Bendix unit on. It is all pretty tight in that area.

I took a few items to my friend, Aaron Rogahn, to get welded up and the aluminum intake crossover was one of them. Considering the porosity, occlusions, junk and oil found in these early aluminum castings, the weld came out pretty well. While the TIG welder was fired up, I machined up some plugs and had Aaron weld the crossover ports shut. In the early 1920s, gasoline did not readily vaporize so the manufacturers found various solutions to heat the intake ports. Today's fuels readily vaporize so the added heat is not needed and reduces power so I was happy to eliminate this feature. Since the copper crush seals around the intake and exhaust ports had been crushed and reused a few times, I decided to order some new ones. While waiting for those, I decided to mock everything up so I can get the Stewart Fuel Pump set to the correct height and plumbed up. Although the engine is bolted directly to the frame and the relative movement to the body should be small, I wanted to add some flex to those lines so added a loop to the copper 1/4" vacuum and 5/16" fuel delivery lines. Hopefully that will help reduce any propensity to work harden. While I had some room to work, I was also able to set up the control rods and tweaked a few of them to get a better fit and clearances. I'm sure that over the last 100 years they had a few extra bends. There isn't a lot of clearance between the fuel pump, fuel lines and control rods to the exhaust crossover. Now a question.....I have disassembled two of these Northway V8 engines and got a chance to look inside of a third engine (which is probably the latest model). What I found was baffles on the bottom of the cylinder bores. The picture below is looking between crank throws, up along a connecting rod and looking at the bottom of one of the 8 cylinder bores. I must assume these were installed to reduce the amount of oil thrown on the cylinder walls since the "oil control" ring and scraper rings were not all that capable. There is one on each of the 8 cylinders. I have never seen this before and was curious if other engines have baffles like this?

I’m with Matt on the 70/30 with No-Rosion - that is exactly what I run in my 1939 LaSalle as I’ll drive that right up until the first snow. that is a closed pressurized system. In my 1920s touring cars I run straight RO water with No-Rosion as I want the best heat transfer properties and any leaks or overheating that might occur is just water and won’t hurt the paint and cleans right up. Those cars are open systems. I changed the coolant in my 1923 Studebaker and, after 5 years of RO water and No-Rosion, it looked like the day I put it in.

I decided to work on some easy things. I installed the new distributor driveshaft that Rusty Berg made for me (shown earlier in the post) along with the spring that keeps it engaged with the distributor but also allows for belt tensioning since the distributor moves up and down with the generator and adjustable mounting bracket to maintain proper belt tension. I will get into setting the timing once all the controls are in place. One of the few items I never got around to painting was my exhaust manifolds as I had loaned out my pint of paint. I got that back and painted them up. I used Bill Hirsch manifold paint on my Studebaker when I restored it some 7 years ago and it still looks great. I installed the intake and exhaust manifolds on the block and loosely installed the fasteners. It uses flat copper/"asbestos equivalent" crush washers and the bolts draw up both manifolds. When complete it looks something like this I installed the gaskets, then the aluminum intake crossover which has an exhaust port running across it to help vaporize the fuel. I had considered blocking the crossover off but never got around to it. You have to leave the manifold fasteners loose until you fit the crossover on to get everything lined up. This was a lesson I learned after tighten stuff down and trying to get things to line up 😉. I decided I would gradually tighten everything down together. I was drawing up the last fastener on the intake crossover and heard a little "ping". Noooo! I few choice words were uttered. I hate it when that happens! I think when I tried compressing the copper crush ring on the ID of the gasket (left one in photo below) I pulled down on the mounting ear too much as there is less gasket thickness where the bolts go. I will switch to a flat gasket next time (right one in photo). That part will get a little welding repair and we'll see how dirty the aluminum casting is afterwards. Time to move on. With the help of my wife on the jack, I was able to get the transmission installed. That wasn't too bad, although I have a funny feeling I'll be pulling it back off along with the clutch to maybe grind off some leather. I'm hoping I can get the clutch to release enough and it will burnish in and seat a bit farther in the tapered flywheel - we will see. Next is the driveshaft and I can maybe start rewiring the car and install a new fuel line.