Gary_Ash

Faxon Auto Literature has reprints for you. The 1929-40 Master Body Parts catalog and Chassis Parts catalog are available for $29 and $39. See Search

John: Thanks for the info and great pictures. It looks like the differences are in the length of the block but the width is essentially the same. Glad to hear that you are up and about!

I'm trying to fabricate the parts for the 8-into-1 exhaust header for the Indy car project. Since I'm using the smaller 250 cu in block instead of the 337 cu in straight 8, I assume that my block is a little narrower. This will mean the header pipes have to be a bit longer to wind up outside of the body. Does anyone have a 337 engine handy and can measure the width of the block and the approximate distance from the crankshaft centerline to the surface where the intake and exhaust manifolds seal? The 250 cu in engine is about 7-3/4" wide and just shy of 30" long. The crankshaft centerline to exhaust flange distance is about 5-1/2". The original header used eight 90-degree elbows trimmed to mate into a 30" long megaphone that grew from 1-3/4" to 4" o.d. The big end of the megaphone was angled out at about 10.5 degrees to mate with a huge 4" exhaust pipe along the side of the car. Here is an old photo of the engine and exhaust piping on the white #34 car, currently owned by August Grasis. As far as I can tell, the crankshaft is on the centerline of the car, and the body is about 32-3/4" wide at the firewall.

York, PA at the Fairgrounds, March 1 to 3, 2012. However, there are few vendors with parts for pre-war cars on display. If you can make contact with someone who has what you want, they can bring it to York for you. The most comfortable hotel is the Yorktowne, right in the center of town. Not the cheapest, but they have very nice rooms,a good dining room, and your significant other can explore the sights and antique shops in York on foot while you spend the day at the swap meet. It's only 5 minutes from the Fairgrounds.

You might try Maine Radiator for restoring the one you have. I haven't done business with them, but they were recommended to me by someone else. See Maine Auto Radiator

M5 rear wheel cylinders are made of unobtanium. The usual solution is to send the old ones to White Post or elsewhere to have them resleeved with brass or stainless steel liners. See White Post Restorations

Please consider a few important details: 1. The number of SDC members who regularly read and post on the SDC Forum is a very small percentage of club members, well under 10%. I believe that about 200-300 people do 80-90% of the posts, based on statistics I looked at a while back. 2. The number of ASC members who regularly read and post on this forum is probably even a smaller percentage and ASC is about 10% of the size of SDC. See, for example, the small number of views on the posted messages. 3. The number of ASC members who regularly use computers is small, if only because of the average age of the members. They mostly still write by hand with a pen on paper. A few of us old farts just happened to get into computers when they still had vacuum tubes and ran Fortran. 4. The ASC roster is published and distributed to members. The best way of finding some people to get together with is to pick up the phone and cold-call a few people who live within driving distance of you. It's a friendly group and they would welcome a call and an opportunity to get some cars together beyond club meetings. I'm in southeastern Mass. and you are welcome to come by any time - it's not that far from Long Island, especially if you take the ferry to New London, CT.

The commercial torque wrench wasn't invented until 1936, hence no printed torque values in old manuals. What size are the head bolts (diameter and threads/inch)? It may also depend on the type of gasket you are using.

Here is the frame drawing from the 1937 Shop Manual.

Some things fell into place and I find that I can now go to Hershey on Thursday. As I recall, there is an ASC/SDC tent. How do I find it? Who else is planning on being there on Thursday?

Try Rhode Island Wiring at Rhode Island Wiring Service Inc.. You may need to call them for what you need. They make very good quality stuff.

If you have the Body Parts Catalog for your car, you may be able to find the part numbers for the wood parts. Then call Andy Beckman, archivist at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, and give him the numbers. There are a large number of drawings from that period on file [they have 70 tons of old drawings!], so they may exist. The Museum will charge you a fee for the search and for printing the drawings full size, but it's an equitable amount for what you get. Otherwise, you need to use your old parts for patterns, recognizing that they may have shrunk over time. Then you need some good dry ash. In a resto-rod, you may not have to be overly concerned about authenticity, so some high-grade plywood might also work or even fabricated aluminum parts.

I have decals available to restore the gauge faces for M trucks (and 1941 cars), including odometer numbers. Price is $15, includes postage and instructions. See my web site Home Page for photos. Send me a private message if you want a set.

The part number seems to be 127505 for the BODY, OIL PUMP for GE, GJ, GL, SI, and 53 models. Have you got a picture of the body? The oil pump idler gear is 127502 and the drive gear is 127504. Andy Beckman at the museum can probably find the drawing for the body, though you may need several levels to get a casting and machined part drawing.

The M truck parts catalog has one in the back. Here's a link to a PDF of the pages: http://www.studegarage.com/images/other/M5_standard_parts.pdf

I got the water baffle plates in from the laser cutting company, checked out the fit on my housing from the 1937 President engine. The new plates are flat on the edges, without the stamped rim, but they drop right into place with good alignment. They only need some small tack or spot welds, as on the originals, to hold them in place (20 gauge steel, as original). The center openings with flaps are bent to right position. These came out a little more costly than I had hoped, so I have some available for $35. There aren't many, so if you want one or more, get them now. They fit in the "Manifold, Water Cylinder", p/n 167040, shown as item A10-3 on plate 4, division B in the 1929-40 parts catalog for 8's. These are used on 1929-37 small 8, models FC, FD, 61, 62, 70, 71, 73, 82, B, 1B, C, 1C, 2C, 3C. Email to garyash@studegarage.com The photo below shows an old rusty manifold and plate at the top, a new plate dropped into place in a cleaned-up manifold, the plate I removed from the manifold, and a bare plate at the bottom.

I got an email from Fergus King in New Zealand. He is building a vintage-style race car using a 1929 President straight 8 engine (the big one). The engine he found had been converted for marine use, so it's missing a few key components to put it back in a car. He's looking for the engine serial number, but I don't have it today. Does anyone have the following parts: 1. Generator, p/n 157446, type 955C, used in '29-'30 Presidents, Commanders, Dictators, also '31-'32 Dictators, '30-'34 Commanders, and '34 Presidents. 2. Water pump and coupler, p/n 158757 from '29-'32 President. Also, p/n 158214 from early FE/FH may fit. 3. Distributor, p/n 158618, type 668C from 1929-30 FE/FH President 4. Fan and pulley, plus mounting, p/n 158021 or 159173 from '29-'30 FE/FH 5. Flywheel housing, p/n 175129, from '29-'32 President FH/FH/90/91 6. Cylinder head, high compression (6.5:1), p/n 159167 Thanks for any help.

Here is my 1929 President FH axle with the new kingpins and bushings. The Commander parts should look similar, though perhaps a different size. My pins are 1" dia. The black shaft is my bushing driver (Harbor Freight). I got the kingpins (p/n 150078) from Scott Stastny at Deluxe Auto Werks in West Chicago, IL, 630-293-7750. Bob Kapteyn had suggested that I call Scott, who had originally made the pins for Pierce Arrows, but they also fit Presidents (FE FH 80 90 91). Very nice workmanship! Scott provided the pins, bushings, new lock bolts, and plugs. It's nice to have new pins instead of some rusted ones that sat on parts shelves for the last 80 years. The thrust bearings (Timken T-101) came from Amazon.com for $6 each! I tapped the bushings in with the driver. The pins measure 0.9995" and the i.d of the bushings after installation is about 0.995-0.996", so I'll haul the knuckles, pins, and axle to the truck spring shop and have them ream the bushings to have about .001-.0015" clearance. I'll have to check the up-down clearance between the knuckles and axle end, as there is supposed to be only a few thousandths clearance. I have the original shim washer, as seen near the bottom of the photo, but don't know where I would get any new, thicker ones. There were 5 different shim washers available, ranging from about 0.105" to 0.125" in steps of .005". I guess I could machine some, though that would be a pain! The Commanders, Dictators, and later Presidents had 10 different shim washers available ranging from about 0.010" to 0.070".

Jojo: I just took the kingpins out of the 1929 President front axle. I drilled a 1/4" hole in each cap, stuck a Phillips screwdriver in a little and pried the caps off. The pins have a hole down the middle so you won't hit anything when you drill through. While a brass drift MIGHT move the kingpins, I needed my 12-ton hydraulic press to get the pins out. I used a socket that fit just inside the 1" i.d. bushings to push against the pin. Once the pin was out, I used a socket just under 1-1/8 to then push the bushings out. Pins and bushings were really stuck tight. It would have been an easier job with a helper - one person to hold the axle and the other to pump the press. You may want to just take the whole axle to a good truck spring shop. They service kingpins on large modern trucks. They can push out the old parts, put your new bushings in, and then ream them for the correct fit for your new pins. Then they can put in the pins and caps.

If you want to move up to the most-modern drum brakes for your car, you should be able to use the backing plates, wheel cylinders, shoes, springs, and other small parts from the 1963-64 half-ton trucks (8E series). These should bolt directly onto your spindles with no modifications and use the same 11" drums and hubs from your car. These are the same self-energizing brakes used in the late-model Larks to 1966. While the backing plates may take a little searching, all of the other parts are easily available, including NAPA, and are cheap. In a pinch, you can even use the backing plates from a 1960's V-8 Lark with 11" brakes and re-drill them for the bolt pattern of your spindles. You'll need to use the later hoses and parking brake cable, too. I have these on my 1948 M5 truck and they work very well, easy to adjust. The changes are not visible unless you are lying under the car staring at the backing plates. Check with Jim Turner, but I think that one of his truck kits for disk brakes ('41-'64 half-ton)will also fit your '41 Commander.

I've always wanted to order an "oxygen sensor" or some other highly-touted part that was never existed for a pre-war Studebaker and then sue for false advertising. I don't think they have car covers for all the models they claim, either. If I select "auctions only" that cuts down the item count by 90-95%, though it's possible I could miss something worthwhile.

The tag actually indicates the gear ratio: 41/9 = 4.56. The patent numbers don't help a lot. Pat. 2018188 was issued in October 1935 and covers the use of a way to have the lubricant recirculate in the axle housing. It's probably a Dana/Spicer rear axle. It might have some numbers cast into the center section, perhaps 41 or 44. The numbers would be on the back side, lower right. Here's a photo of a Dana 41 mounted in an early 2R5 truck, say 1949-50, the last use of the Dana 41. Earlier, they were used on M5 trucks with the axle below the rear spring. I think these axles were also used on 1939-46 Champion cars. After 1950, Dana 44 axles were used. The "41" on the tag has nothing to do with the model number, only the number of teeth on the ring gear.

OK, Jojo, you're in for two. Anyone else?

Yes, Scott Stastny at Deluxe Auto Werks says he has the correct king pins. He says he made them for Pierce Arrows but it's the same part. I'll let you know when he sends me a pair and I can check them against my old ones.

How about $25 for a plain steel one, not stainless? It's the set-up charges that drive the costs; steel is cheap. We'll just count on the anti-corrosion stuff in the antifreeze to protect the new ones. In another 75 years, someone else can worry about replacing it again. I still can't figure out why the plate corroded so badly but the outer housing was just fine. Plain steel will have to do for the plate because not many people have the TIG welder, tri-mix gas, and special stainless alloy wire to join stainless to carbon steel without cracking. My '29-'40 parts catalog says these will fit: FC FD 61 62 70 71 73 82 B 1B C 1C 2C 3C with the small straight 8 engine.