r1lark

Great background story, thanks for sharing! Will be looking forward to following your progress on this car.

Looking good! When was the last time it was driven regularly?

John, the particle board will work well in the shop. We have a similar setup inside our metal activity building at church and it has worked out well. Definitely paint the boards with a light color - you will be amazed at how much 'darker' the particle board will make the interior when you put it up. Painting it will brighten the shop back up.

I am looking forward to following your progress of bringing this car back to operation. Take a lot of pictures and keep us updated!

Oh, wow - that previous "restoration work" was disgusting!

Martin, just took one of the caps to the local Lowe's Home Improvement, and tried various PVC fittings until I found one that the cap fit into well, and got a plug fitting to screw into the other end to hit against. Cost was a couple of bucks. Have used the same idea for odd grease seals that the store-bought seal installer kit wouldn't work with. I've had to start labeling them tho, to avoid ending up with a drawer full of PVC fittings that I have no idea what they were used for

OK, long overdue progress report. Since I have been on vacation since April 1, I have been able to make some progress. The new brake lines are done and installed, except the lines from the master cylinder to the Hydrovac, and from the Hydrovac output to the forward tee. Used my new Rigid double flaring tool that I got a couple of years ago; boy what an improvement from the previous flaring tool. Perfect double flares every time. Thought I had some pics of the new brake lines installed, but can't find them. The new brake lines were bent using the originals as patterns. Here is the flaring tool: The front wheel hub caps were dented up pretty bad (I guess due to reinstalling them with a hammer......), so I spent way too much time straightening/painting them. Also made a cap installation tool out of some PVC fittings: New rear gas shocks were installed: Pulled the gas tank sender and checked it with an ohm meter, and it worked well after some contact cleaner. The old cork float was replaced with a more modern float that came from the old fuel pump assembly out of my '93 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Really easy modification, and free. A buddy from church that runs a auto repair place brought me a few more of these style floats for future projects. Brake pedal, linkage, bolts, and new master cylinder cleaned and painted, and ready for installation: Ordered the exhaust system from Parks Pipes, here are a few pictures. I've gotten exhaust pipes from them in the past for other Studebakers, and they always fit perfect. There were some places where the original tar-type undercoating had gotten oil on it and was soft, so these areas were scraped off and resprayed with 3M undercoating. No pics of resprayed areas, but wanted to show these pictures of the factory paint under the undercoating: Gas tank cleaning is in progress, will get some pics of that posted. Also working on cleaning/detailing the engine compartment (firewall and inner fenders) so I can get the steering box reinstalled. Checked the wheels for runnout, and found one that needs to be straightened but have not taken to the wheel shop yet. This week I'll get the automatic transmission cleaned up externally, and start disassembling it. With relatively low mileage, I hope all it will need is new seals/O-rings/gaskets. Will try to provide updates a little more frequently from now on.

Barry, what is this slippery tape that you use on your springs? Where can it be sourced?

John, around here (North Carolina), the horseshoes are usually mounted on the door frame above the door. That must be a northern (Virginia ) thing to mount the horseshoe to the door itself

Continuing to be amazed by the engineered simplicity in this car. Barry, where the differential mounts to the body with the four studs, did the car originally have any type of rubber bushings here to minimize vibration transfer? I agree with you that the large rubber blocks look like a work-around to replace whatever was there originally.

Bernie, any word on when the Mona-six engine will arrive?

Great pics and descriptions Barry. This is a really interesting car, as far as its engineering!

Dale, here are two Crosleys that I saw at the AACA show in Charlotte NC today. Thought you might like to see them.

Buckster, there is a yahoo group specifically for '46 thru '48 Chryslers, you may want to check it out: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/46-48Chryslers/info Looks like you may have to sign up to see the posts.

Barry, the 'Our Cars & Restoration Projects' section is the only area I regularly frequent, and it's great to see your threads here. I've gone back to the start of this thread and read the entire thing with much admiration for your beautiful work, as well as your great pics and descriptions. Looking forward to Steyr assembly also. Please don't stop posting here!

Wow, what a huge amount of work! But it looks like they are doing a great job, especially like the body jig.

As promised, here are a few pictures. This weekend saw more progress - brakes assembled and on the car; set the rear axle end play; hooked up emergency brake cables; installed the front hub races, greased the wheel bearings, installed the inner seals, and installed the front brake drums. Didn't get started on bending the new brake lines, that will have to wait for evenings this coming week - but the cunifer brake line tubing and fittings arrived last week from Fedhill (http://store.fedhillusa.com/) so I've got the needed materials. For some reason, I can't get the first picture rotated properly.............:confused:

Well, I can't believe it's been over a year since I last posted on this thread. Unfortunately, there has been pretty much zero work accomplished during this period. Between family, church, and work the old cars were not part of the picture during this time period. But work has eased off some as I wind down towards an eventual part-time consulting/contracting arrangement. (I don't like to use the 'retirement' term because that conjures up visions of sitting on the porch in a rocking chair drinking tea. I don't really like tea...... ) In the last week or so the front a-arms, spindles, and springs have been assembled on the car, as well as the front steering pivot/bellcrank and tie rods. This weekend will be getting the brakes on the car and bending up the new brake lines. Pictures to come this weekend. It's good to be back making some progress. As Martin said, just got to keep plugging away at it.

Thank you Bob! I was starting to lean towards some sort of blank-off plate, but would never have though of the fog light blank-offs. Your Studebaker knowledge is amazing............

Round ornament, approximately 4-1/2 inches in diameter, numbers on back are 7723, three small holes in the edge at the raised areas. Came to me in some Studebaker parts, but I don't recognize it as Studebaker. Pics are below. Any help would be appreciated as to car, model, year, etc. Or, if it even is from a car................

Cute as can be, Richard! Great work.

Wow John, I've been looking for some LED shop lights. i'll check out Costco........thanks for the tip!!

JP, There is always Kanter's: http://www.kanter.com/p22-pon.html I have not purchased anything from them, but a lot of other folks do. Also Egge: http://www.egge.com/site/?d=48&dt=1&SubCategoryId=2&make=PONTIAC&rpp=10 And Vintage Auto Parts: http://www.vapinc.com/pistonsandrelated/main.html You might check with the Pontiac club forum and see who they have had good luck with, they ought to know the reliable and reasonably priced sources. And there is always the Fall Charlotte AutoFair coming up next weekend, you might find a really good deal there (or might find nothing ): http://www.charlotte-autofair.com/ One word of caution - don't let the machine shop bore and finish hone the block until you provide the pistons to them!

Stefan, We love pictures and ongoing stories in this section of the forum -- keep'em coming!! Beautiful car, by the way.

JP75, I too am looking for a good local machine shop. I had a guy in High Point that used to do all my Studebaker machining, but he retired. Gordon's is who I've used for 30 years for radiators, they have always done a good job for me.