Gary_Ash

Here's how to use a crows foot wrench on a torque wrench and get the reading: http://www.engineersedge.com/manufacturing_spec/torque_wrench_1.htm

I just got some photos of the splined hubs in production. The basic machine work is done, hogging a 40 lb, 6.5" diameter blank of 4140 steel into an 8 or 9 lb finished shape. The splining will be done next week and the mounting holes drilled. The two-eared spinners have a coarse thread, 8 threads per inch, to lock the wheel centers in place. The markings in the photos are in Chinese, because that's where the work is being done. They show the left hand thread for the right side of the car and vice versa. There are also some small plugs that go in the outer ends for grease seals. I couldn't find a shop in the U.S. that wanted to do the work and had the capability to cut the splines. Soon, I'll be able to put the hubs on the axles and slide the wire wheels on! I still need to buy tires - 6.00/6.50-18 in the front, 7.00-18 in the back. I'm planning on the new Excelsior radials that look like old bias ply tires.

Would the Stromberg black carbs have been painted or with a black conversion coating? Here's a link to a black conversion coating process: http://www.hubbardhall.com/Collateral/ProductBulletins/English-US/2232009.pdf Here are 4 black Stromberg carbs on a 1934 Studebaker 250 cu in straight 8, as was being developed for the 1934 Indy race - the factory didn't go to the races that year due to receivership. I think these are EX-22 carbs (no choke stove). Were these painted or conversion-coated?

I'm looking for a place to buy a pair of leaf spring bump stops like the one in the attached photo. They are on the front springs of a 1931 Studebaker Indy Car. I'm building a replica. The springs are 2" wide, the U bolts are 9/16" diameter spaced with their centers 2-3/4" apart, so the rubber bumper is about 2" wide x 2" long x 3" high, the steel plate about 4" long. Note that the metal plate the rubber is bonded to has the ends curled up a bit. I've Googled about every combination I could think of but I only get modern ones that aren't this shape or size. These must have been standard parts for many 1930s cars. Anyone recognize it? Who supplies these for antique/vintage cars? Steele Rubber doesn't list new ones; I didn't find any on the Dorman sites.

Here is a PDF of a wheel hole gauge to figure out the bolt circle diameter. Print it out at 100% size, no scaling. You can cut out the holes to make it easier to line it up. I'm betting a whole nickel that it's 5-on-5! Let us know what you find. Rex, you must know this already! http://www.studegarage.com/images/other/wheel_hole_gauge.pdf

I didn't see a 2" front pipe on the chassis diagram in the Shop Manual, see picture below. If you can get the car up a little in front, you may be able to get a jack at the outer end of the Control Link to lift a wheel out of the mud. Some pieces of 3/4" plywood can be used to keep the jack from sinking. Once the wheel is free, some more plywood to cover the depression in the mud will help the car to roll. You can also jack at the center of the chassis in front, but you'll have to go up a long way to get the wheels out of the ground. It looks like the center of the chassis is where to hook the cables, not the control links. Will the tires hold air long enough to get it on the trailer? Bring a little 12 volt compressor or a portable air tank and hose. I think the bolt pattern is 5 bolts on a 5" diameter circle, but I'm not sure. Maybe you could bring another set of wheels and tires to swap on to the car. All of the 1/2-ton Studebaker pickups from 1941-64 used 5-on-5 bolt pattern.

Nice item! I don't need the "Johnson Motors" embroidery, so you go for it! I can buy new patches with the Studebaker logo like the one on the overalls. Styles sure haven't changed much in men's overalls.

Spinneyhill, I'm comfortable now that weld cracks, buckling, and tearing will not be a problem for the repairs I made. I normally use a maximum of 1/4 to 1/3 of the yield stress as the maximum allowable level in the steel, and there is enough moment in the chassis cross-section that the car will never be close to that, even so. The back section of the chassis rails support about 1/8 of the unsprung weight or 225 lb/102 kg. How many g do you think can be generated when the car hits a big bump? I'm used to designing pressure vessels 3-12 meters in diameter and 5-30 meters high, as well as complex mechanisms, have been doing this for almost 50 years. I'm from the school that says, "If in doubt, use more steel!" Fortunately, we don't need to have a PE sign off on a design for car chassis, even for 1-offs, at least not in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The most difficult part is going through the Registry of Motor Vehicles inspection by the State Police - they are principally looking for stolen cars and cars built with stolen parts. My claim is I merely replicated a design that was manufactured in 1932, and I will have a serial number plate from a Studebaker car built in 1932 but has been disassembled and scrapped in a way that didn't result in a destruction record on any databases. My car will incorporate parts from the original vehicle, and I have bills of sale for all of the major parts. In recent years, most states in the U.S. have eased rules about kit cars, specials, etc. so that this is now permitted.

I found another photo of a Studebaker team at the Amatol, NJ wood track when they were setting endurance records in November, 1928. For similar clothing, try searching for "boiler suit white" at ebay.co.uk. British workmen still wear these in many occupations. I also found some Red Kap style CC14 white cotton twill coveralls in the U.S. Here's one link: http://www.automotiveworkwear.com/RedKap/CC14/coveralls.html, see them in Bleached White. They have a range of sizes.

We just got back from a trip to England, touring through the Cornwall, Devon, and Cotswolds areas. On our last day, we stopped to visit Motor Wheel Service in Slough, near Heathrow Airport. They have just finished building a set of wire wheels for me, will ship them this week. I would have brought them home on the plane but excess baggage charges are really expensive. We met with Gary Gardner, the sales guy, and Dan, one of the technicians. They build lots of new wire wheels, mostly for older MG's, Bentleys, Jaguars, etc., which have splined hubs and knock-off spinners. Their supply chain is set up well enough that it is cheaper to buy new wheels from them than rebuild the old ones, but they do that, too. They bring in bare rims and wheel centers, punch and dimple the holes, cut the spokes to length and roll the threads, then lace the wheels, true them, and apply powder coat finish. Chromed and stainless wheels are also available, and they supply tires like Blockley racing tires. They also have splined hubs for a lot of cars, though not my project, as well as spinners. It's a very well-run shop, highly recommended if you want excellent quality wire wheels. Their web site is at www.mwsint.com. I can hardly wait for the UPS guy to deliver my wheels!

The kingpin part number is 179328, used on 1933 Model 56, 73 (Commander), and 82 (President), as well as on 1934 B (Commander) and C (President). These are the Commander and President models with small engines. The four bushings were p/n 172902, probably replaceable with standard bronze bushing stock from MSC Direct or McMaster-Carr, cut to length and cross drilled for lubrication access. A shop that services springs and axles for large trucks can push the new bushings in and ream them to size to fit the king pins (you may not need new ones), install the pins, then put in new 1-1/8" plugs and tap them tight with a brass drift. Be sure to discuss this in detail with the shop - I didn't and they used a cold chisel to upset about a dozen places on the axle above each plug to hold them in place. These are like engine block plugs, and they only seal if you set them correctly. Given that the plugs are 1-1/8" diameter, I'll guess that the pins are 3/4" o.d. and the bushings 3/4" i.d. x 1" o.d., but you'll need to measure the old ones. The thrust bearings are p/n 165010, which were used across the Studebaker line for many years, still available at Studebaker International and other vendors for about $13-14 each.

I found the Studebaker International part numbers for the steel staples: 801930, $2.00 for a set of 20. For the drive nails and tacks, I've usually substituted short sheet metal screws and washers. They are going to be covered up anyway, so why not make your life a little easier. The factories were probably using pneumatic nail guns because it was fast and cheap. Restoration Specialties carries both the old-style cardboard tack strip and the modern (better) plastic strip. You can screw the tack strip to the metal where nails were originally used, then use tacks or screws for the windlace. The tacks are supposed to go through the tack strip, hit the metal behind it, and curl over to hold the windlace in place. It takes the right length tacks and a lot of practice to get this to work right, hence my preference (as an amateur) for going directly to sheet metal screws. I found that a cheap Harbor Freight air-powered drill works well for putting the screws in because it stops immediately when I release the trigger, while an electric one keeps on going long after I wished it had stopped.

Those are beefy staples of hardened steel with sharp points. Studebaker International has loose ones left over from production in the 1960s. See www.studebaker-intl.com. Pull off off the old cat whisker by unbending the staple ends, flatten the dimples, and drill the holes with 1/16th drill. Hold up the new whisker strips and use a sharp point to go through the panel to the whiskers to mark a staple location at each end. Then push two staples through with a dolly on the back side and the prongs over. With the cat whisker now held, drill through for the rest of the holes, and insert the staples. If you can't get the staples, 1/16th stainless wire can be used.

Try Googling "Bill Miller Auto Red Bug". He is apparently from Ann Arbor, MI, has a restored electric Auto Red Bug. I found YouTube video that shows the car and a close-up of a tire, but I couldn't read the brand name. We saw some of these little cars on Jekyll Island, GA recently, where they had been used in the 1920s and 1930s. Maybe you can track down Bill Miller and find out where he got his new tires.

OK, you need the Parts Catalog and Shop Manual to get bearing numbers, etc. Perhaps surprisingly, you can get most of the bearings and races from a good NAPA store or your local industrial bearing supply company. It's easy enough when you have the Timken numbers, which are also on the old parts. Wash the bearings in kerosene and take a look on the side. You can knock the races out of the front hubs with a brass drift (1/2" brass rod) on the back side - there is a pair of notches for each one. If your local shop doesn't have them, call Olcar Bearings in NC. Get reprints of the Parts Catalog and Service Notes/Shop Manual from Faxon Auto Literature. By "ball joints", do you mean tie rod ends? These could be difficult, so take care of what you have.

The Studebaker Indy car teams in 1932 were equipped with sweaters with the Studebaker logo and the driver or riding mechanic's initials. Of course, I wanted one, so I had a 100% cotton sweater made in Fall River, MA embroidered in the same style. These sweaters come from the last U.S. sweater knitting mill. In 1932, the sweaters were probably only worn for publicity photos, not for racing.

I spent the last couple of days machining some parts for the front spring hangers, the ones at the front tips of the frame rails. The guy who built my chassis had made a set, but they turned out to be not wide enough for my 2" springs. I had been fortunate a couple of years ago to receive two cast parts that were spares for an original Indy car. I really wanted to use them to include their DNA, as it were, in the car, but they really didn't fit the frame rails and my bolts for the spring eyes are much larger diameter (3/4"). So, I copied the shape of the casting and made four ogive-shaped pieces for the ends of the tubes that hold the spring eyes. I've got to get some short pieces of drawn-over-mandrel 2" o.d. x .188" wall tube to get thick wall tube. I don't want black iron water pipe from Home Depot. I started with 2" long pieces of 2" diameter cold-rolled steel bar to make a pair of the end pieces. I had bought a small Harbor Freight 7"x10" lathe for jobs like this. Well, maybe there is a way to swing a 7" diameter part on the lathe bed, but the chuck that came with the lathe would have a tough time gripping anything over 3" o.d. Maybe you can grip the i.d. of larger parts using the alternate set of lathe jaws. I soon discovered that it doesn't have enough horsepower to make a cut deeper than .010-.020" or it jams and blows the fuse. So, it took me about three days to machine the four end caps at .010" per cut. In the end, the parts came out OK, finish was acceptable, and accuracy was good, like better than +/- 0.005". My advice would be that if you want a lathe, spend more money than the HF unit, and get something that will handle larger steel parts. If you are making miniature brass cannons or other tiny parts in aluminum or brass, the HF lathe is OK for the money, and it's better than not having any lathe. Also, be sure to buy some carbide lathe bits or you'll spend a lot of time re-sharpening the tool steel bits. I found that all of the bits benefitted from being stoned with an aluminum oxide bar to dress the edges - they cut a lot better. I still have to get the DOM tube from Metals Depot or some other on-line place. My local steel shop doesn't carry it. I'll cut the tubes to length, machine out about 180 degrees of the tube, and weld the caps on. Then I have to align the tubes on the "paws" of the spring hangers and weld it all together. If you look in the first photo of my previous post, you'll see the front spring hangers and cross bar (wrapped in protective paper - they were chromed) on an original car under construction in 1932.

Late breaking news: Peter Gillespie, who drove the 1929 President in the Paris-Peking race, appeared on the scene in South Africa this week, made an offer that couldn't be refused, and will be the new owner of the 1928 limousine! We'll have to wait to hear what Peter plans to do with the car. So, if it isn't one of the 1933 race engines, it may have been set up for a magneto anyway, like the 1932 cars. Maybe the "more than they promised" people slipped one of the old 1932 engines into the car before shipping it, or built another one. Here is a picture of Tex Kingon, who owned the car in the 1950s, with his hands in the engine compartment of the race car. If the engine had a distributor, I would expect to see it just to the side between carbs #2 and #3 at the middle of the block. I can't see one, but maybe someone else can. If the engine was modified for the magneto, there might still be evidence at the front of the block, even if many parts from the original 1928 engine, including the distributor, were put on the bare 1932 block. The photo at the top of this thread shows how high the distributor would be. Once we know the actual block serial number, the history of the engine might be determined.

OK, the picture starts to come together. Everything points to this being the original engine block from 1932 Indy car #18, rebodied and renumbered as #9 for the 1933 race. Indy car #9 was shipped by Studebaker to South Africa in 1935, raced there as #9 (and other numbers) through 1959. The body and chassis were scrapped (i.e, gone, destroyed, beyond recapturing), but the engine block was later installed in a 1928 7-passenger limousine in Zimbabwe, would have been an FA or FB car. The car recently re-surfaced in South Africa, has been bought, and is due to be shipped to the UK. This explains the 1928 manifold, as they wouldn't have installed the four carb set-up when switching the block to the sedan with a clapped-out engine. So, how many 1928 7-passenger FA limousines do you think got shipped to South Africa and Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) that survived through the 1950s and got a 1932 engine block? I'm thinking: just one! I'll try to get a better engine serial number. I would expect a number between P-10000 and P-12500, according to my parts catalog. The Indy engines were "supposed" to be stock sedan blocks, but there are rumors of minor changes made just for the race engines. Does the 173801 casting number appear on regular 1931-32 engines? Here's #9 in South Africa in 1935:

I'd like to pin down the date of manufacture and what car an engine came from: Casting date: K.10.26 Casting number 173801 and a serial number that looks more like a car serial number than an engine serial number: 6003623. I was expecting a serial number starting with P It's a large straight 8, 313 or 337 cu in. I'm hoping that the K year was in the range 1931-33. I'll have the owner look for a different serial number. Where is it located on the President 8 blocks? Is the 173801 casting number from a head or a block? Here's a photo of the engine, but I have reason to believe that the block is not original to the car.

I was working on the support frame for the cockpit skin. I think the originals were made from 1"x1"x1/8" angle iron, bent to a 6" radius for the front parts and 8" radius for the one that supports the dash. I couldn't find anyone locally that could bend angle iron "leg in". One specialty shop in Chicago quoted me $600 to make three fairly simple pieces. On the suggestions from one of the local metal shops, I wound up plasma cutting the curves out of 1/8" flat plate, then bending 1"x1/8" flat bar to fit the outside of the shape. A little welding and I have 1x1x1/8 angle iron with exactly the right curvature. I was lucky that the parts didn't warp when I welded the pieces together, but I used some heavy weights to hold them flat on the garage floor while I welded. A nice steel welding table would help, but I don't have one. I may just have to get a 24"x24"x1/4" flat plate and set it on some saw horses so I don't have to crawl on the floor to do this stuff! I did buy a Harbor Freight pyramid roll. I had hoped to roll the full 1x1x1/8 angle with it, but it would take more horsepower than my arms can provide to get the 6" radius bends. It did work fine bending the 1x1/8 flat stock to a smooth radius. Two identical "hoops" get bolted together back-to-back to hold the firewall and support the back of the hood and the front of the cockpit. On the original cars, there seems to be a stainless steel fender welt seated between the hoops to separate the cockpit skin from the hood. I found some stainless welt with a cloth leg at Bob Drake, a supplier of early Ford V8 parts - looks like just the right stuff, easy to bend, shouldn't kink.

A. The engine numbers were stamped into the block, rather permanent. The car serial number tags were screwed or riveted to the body, easier to remove, duplicate, and change. I think it was an early effort at discouraging car theft. B. Some car serial numbers were on tags attached to the frame rails under the car. Did you think DMV people wanted to lie on their backs under a car to check them? It's easier to open the hood and look at the top of the engine block.

And here is the Studebaker 1933 St. Regis for comparison to the Pierce coupe in John's shop. Maybe there are plenty of examples of Pierce and Studebaker cooperation.

I'll throw in the 1934-35 Studebaker President Land Cruiser as the basis for a baby Pierce for the late 1930's. The body had the look of the Silver Arrow. It wouldn't have been much of a task to put the Pierce headlights and grille on the car. In 1935, it came with a 250 cu in straight 8 at 110 hp with 7:1 compression and aluminum cylinder head on a 124 inch wheelbase. It sold for $1445, top of the Studebaker line. But, even so, only 2353 Presidents of all models were sold that year. A pair of carburetors and a little larger cylinder bore might have brought the small block close to the Pierce's 140 hp. The older Studebaker 337 cu in straight 8, discontinued after 1933, was for all intents the twin of the Pierce 366 cu in engine. It wouldn't have been much of a stretch to put the Pierce block pattern back in the Studebaker foundry, from whence it had originally come, and do the machining and assembly in South Bend. Studebaker could even have been convinced, at a price, to stretch the President chassis a few inches to accommodate the longer engine block. All in all, this would not have been an expensive project. But would enough of them have been sold to make the difference to Pierce Arrow? And, could Pierce and Studebaker have gone back to working together?

Sure, they might have made it work until the end of 1941, but not through the war and after it. Even Cadillac, Packard, Hudson, and Lincoln had a tough enough time in the late 1930's. The days of the big, fancy car were pretty much over after 1933-34. The smaller companies couldn't survive with tiny market shares, so they folded. Maybe a company could survive on 100,000 cars per year, but not on a few thousand unless they were in the very high priced category. They would have to buy engines and mechanical parts, as well. Think about the cars like Clenet and Excalibur as attempts to use other vehicles as the base for a low-volume car. Avantis were never produced in large numbers, even when they had their own fiberglass bodies (2-dr coupe and a few convertibles and 4-door sedans). The last Avantis used Firebird and Mustang body shells/chassis, engines, and running gear with fiberglass noses and tails - still not successful, and always at the whim of what GM and Ford did with their product lines. We all dream about the concept of survival of our favorite brands, so keep up the dream. Make some sketches of how you think the cars might have looked. John Cislak in Indian Orchard, MA will even fix you up with a straight 8 or V-12 engine to use, so you can build your dream. Here are some photos of Cislak's shop, and of John, from last September.