unimogjohn

Michael, Bob's has them for $95. Steering Spark & Throttle Gear Set 1916-30 SG-160

Michael, Bob's has them for $95. Here is the link. Steering Spark & Throttle Gear Set 1916-30 SG-160

Bob, have you "burped" it with the little petcock on top of the water pump manifold? John

It is Monday, August 29th. Yes, hurricane Irene was a bust for us up in the mountains. Just too far inland. We got a bit of rain and lots of wind into the 40 mph range. The coastal areas got hit hard, but us, not so much. Here is Greg's non-report for the weekend. thought I better post it before I received too many emails asking that is wrong with Greg. "Not much news on the automotive front. The hurricane passed through yesterday and if it wasn't for one of those temporary signs along the roadside that said "BRING IT ON IRENE", I woundn't have even recognized it as a tropical storm. Not that I'm complaining. Some wind gusts and rain. Didn't work on the car Saturday, other priorities, and today was a beautiful Sunday for a drive through the mountains and Shenandoah Valley. Tonight I did find time to visit the car. I was trying to loosen and lift the engine out. You may recall I had given up due to darkness, dim flashlight, etc. Well tonight I took another look. Same darkness and dim flashight, so I again gave it up. There is one corner of the engine/transmission that isn't letting go. I don't think I overlooked a retention bolt. I need good daylight to see what is going on (or not coming off). Tomorrow. Enclosed find no picture of no progress."

If you get the chance to do this, do it. We just had our two 20s cars used for the Clint Eastwood directed film, "J Edgar". The shoot lasted two days here in VA. We had a great time and were treated like members of the crew. We got paid for the use of the cars and I was even put in as a "driver" extra for one day. Well worth the time and effort.

Sid, if the previous owner rebuilt the water pump with modern seals you can use a 50/50 mix of anti-freeze. However, most water pumps have their original graphite packing, which is prone to leaking. Hence, all your anti-freeze may leak out. Generally most of us just drain the water out of the radiator, block and water pump after the driving season is past.

Bob, you should be at 4 degrees at 650 rpm. Before checking make sure you disconnect and plug the vacuum line.

With today's volatile gas, I use full advance at start-up and running at speed. Starts quickly and every time. I would only retard if using the hand crank to start (heaven forbid).

Bob, have you replaced the thermostat? Mine ran hot until I replaced it. Now it is rock steady at 180 most of the time. If it gets over 95 or so it will go a bit north of 190 at a stop light, but then will immediately drop. Yours may not be opening all the way. My old won was stuck half way open.

Holy cow. First an earthquake, now a hurricane. Suppose to hit us on Sunday. VA just declared a state of emergency and all the coastal areas are being evacuated as I write this. The storm is suppose to move inland around Kill Devil Hill in NC and move inland from there. So I guess we better get some provisions to last a few days. For once we will not have to worry about power as we put in a whole house generator in the spring. But here is more information from Greg on the wheels he purchased a couple of weeks ago. I have no idea what he had to pay for them, but probably a lot. Much more that I would want to spend. Heck I am balking paying $60 for a hubcap. "The first set I found in 1969 or so. I had been advertising for a set while in Viet Nam. Didn't have a car to put them on, but I knew I would someday (should the current duty station work out). I ran across some, but a typical response was " you don't want them. They are ugly, hard to keep, hard to balance, won't hold air, they corrode, get brittle, might catch fire, and no I won't sell any of my three sets". I was also dealing with the Stu-V guys Chris Banke and Dave Livesay. I mentioned my desire to find the wheels and I was pleased to learn that they could supply me with four wheels , but less the spinners and lugnuts. And oh by the way, they were said to have been part of the Studebaker Bonneville Team effort. Of course, they were. Any and all Halibrands had certainly been under Andy Granatelli's bed. I didn't care how much sky came with them, I bought. Funny thing is, they arrived with Allstate Bonneville tires (still in my storage). I called Halibrand and they supplied a set of spinners. That is why they have the Torrance address. I had put the first set on my restored R5054 black Avanti. Then it stood idle for a long time. Meanwhile I got the urge to pull the maroon R2724 out of storage. Getting it up and running, so I pulled the wheels off the black one to use on the madeover maroon car. In my opinion once you've had a set of Halibrands on one of these cars, nothing else will do. Might as well have a set of Keystones. Time to look for another set. Set no. 2..... Instead of advertising , I just started asking around and made sure they knew I was serious. More than one contact said that "no, don't know of any but I'm looking for a set too". A call to Dave Thibeault, the old friend of Studebakerers, resulted in a return call and an email contact. In England. Greg Diffen, who I didn't know, might have a set to sell. I gave him a try. Yes, he had some and might let them go. They had a history that he shared with me. Here we go, more buying sky. A Mr. Bert Needham, Australian Studebaker dealer, was known for his performance work with South Bend cars. One of his race cars kept breaking steel wheels, so he ordered a set of Halibrands. The first set, maybe the only set to make it to Australia. These wheels were fitted to a road race R4 Lark. It did well especially at the Bathurst course. Diffen was able to buy these wheels. Diffen then made a move to England I think ten years ago. The Halibrands remained in storage until I bought them. The low mileage and years of careful storage must account for their pristine condition. They came complete with lug nuts and spinners. Somewhere along the way, the spinners have been modified with inserts (horn buttons I'm told), so there's no way of knowing the address cast into them. Now I can return the Bonneville wheels to the black one since it has a few salt car upgrades and this new set will find their way to R2724. And with this latest acquisition of five wheels, there's finally a spare wheel between the two cars. I've been sweating for a long time about that. And that's one more I can pick up and hug."

Greg called and said he received the answer to his question. He is going to disconnect the transmission flex plate at the flywheel and remove the engine. This will leave the converter still attached to the transmission.

It is Thursday, August 25th. Made it back from from vacation in Seattle so it is farm work for me for a couple of days. But Greg is still taking things apart on the black Avanti. Here is his report. "Still taking things off the engine. Tonight the right cylinder head came off, miscellaneous hardware, the starter and the bellhousing cover. Sounds easy. A few more bolts and I think it is ready to lift out of the car. It's been such a long time, I can't remember if the torque converter can stay attached to the crankshaft, or whether I have to pull the bolts from the flex plate and leave it in the transmission. Anybody know? Dirty job, I need to cean up." Sorry for the crappy photo. I need to get some lighting in there.

It is Wednesday, August 24th. At the San Francisco AP waiting for our connecting flight to home. Missed the big earthquake yesterday. Received a call from our farm sitter and she thought that the house was going to blow up, much shaking and banging. She grabbed the dog and ran out of the house. She reports, no damage. And here is Greg's report from yesterday. "I've been trying to loosen rusty hardware on the black Avanti. Sure, I've been soaking with penetrant, but some nuts and bolts are really rusted and stuck. Couldn't find my 9/16 flex socket to reach some of the exhaust manifold bolts, so I snuck off to Sears to buy another (can't have too many). While standing in line at the cashier counter, that's when the building started to shake and it sounded like a thunderstorm in there. The few of us in the building then gathered by the front doors. I hadn't paid for the socket. I turned to one of the salespersons, and asked it I should pay for it later. She said she'd hold it for me. I said I needed it NOW! Earthquake or not, we rung it up and I hit the road. My first quake ever. I've been picking parts off the car. Getting ready to pull the engine out, so things like exhaust hardware is giving me trouble. Tonight I was able to get the left downpipe loose from the manifold. A couple of the manifold retention bolts refused to budge, so I had to leave attached to the cylinder head and pulled the whole assembly. The right side is next. That's the way it's been going here."

It is Sunday, very late. Looks like Greg is going to do a full refresh on his black Avanti. Here is his report and some pics. "Today was an easy day of picking parts off the engine. Ignition wire brackets, coil bracket assembly, distributor, carburetor and linkage, the rest of the enclosure, the inlet manifold, power steering pump bracket, coolant manifold, radiator, transistor ignition assemby, etc. Much more of this and the engine will be ready to come out. Combine this with taking the Fesermobile back, cruising in the maroon car, a walk in the park, and some Barb's famous spaghetti made for a very good day."

It is Saturday, August 21st. We are still on vacation and having a great time, but Greg continues to work. Here is his latest report and pics. I must say that his black Avanti looks as bad as my green Avanti did. "Today is a beautiful day, using it to good advantage. Black Avanti. With the hood off, I began removing engine parts for storage. When doing the last one, I just pulled parts off and tossed them down. I'm still looking for things. This time I will revert to old methods, tag and bag. As of now, the supercharger, power steering pump, coolant tank, radiator shroud, carb enclosure cover, blower bracket, brake booster and miscellaneous small items are off the car and on the shelf. In order to put them on the shelf, we pulled out the old Dodge touring and went shopping for shelving. Good a reason as any to go for a spin with the top down. Since I don't save my photos, I'll be sending these before shots so that someone will have them when I need to see details."

It is Thursday, August 18th. Nice here in the Seattle area. Having a great time. But I did ask Greg for the story behind the Black Avanti. Here is what he said. Another very interesting story. "John, You asked for background on the black '64 R5054. Everything is a long story. While enjoying the Viet Nam experience, I'd spent a lot of time advertising for Avanti parts. R-3, Halibrand wheels, etc. When home on leave, it was time to shop for a car. That search led Phil Ritter and I to South Bend and Newman and Altman's dealership. I wanted an R2 fourspeed, but they were fresh out. With some local snooping, I turned up a black R-2 automatic. It took almost every cent we both had, but we drove it home. There was only about enough time for me to arrange storage for it, I was off to another assignment until I returned in 1971. Then I thoroughly enjoyed working on and driving it. For some reason forgotten, I decided to take it off the road and give it a frame up restoration. Even though it was only about ten years old, I tore it down, everything got the treatment. Sandblasted frame, epoxy primer hand sanded before coated with Imron, I was going for show finish. The car had been white originally, but the black was striking. That called for stripping of all old finish and levelling and block sanding. A new product called Featherfill was on the market. Sounded like just the ticket since it was a sprayable polyester resin . This was applied and block sanded. Then a show finish of priming and block sanding, then the same with black lacquer. Instead of buying NOS chrome parts, I had the original equipment sent out for show chrome. Some of the upholstery was redone with NOS vinyl. An effort was made to keep fasteners correct, etc. Mechanically, I removed the R-2 and built up an R-3 from parts of a blown up R-4 that I'd found. A few other Bonneville flavored tricks were done too. Dry sump blower with cooler, instrumentation, etc. I'd come up with a set of Halibrands that had seen duty with Studebaker's Bonneville Team cars. They went on it. I began showing the car and it did well. As life proceeded, it was eventually pressed into daily transportation, until I retired it for it's own good. Now it is time for a re-restoration. Not to show quality, but very nice. As you can see from the initial photos, it needs work. Early on the Featherfill started coming off and taking the paint with it. Some places the size of the palm of your hand would pop off. The show chrome ....it started rusting while standing in my bedroom closet before it was ever put on the car. Hopefully the engine is ok, I know the transmission has issues. I hope this job goes easier than the last one. Hope you are having a good vacation. GREG.

Greg is busy, here is another black Avanti report. "Encouraging! With what was such a nice interior now mildewed, I couldn't wait to try some cleaner. All I could find around here was some Clorox spray type, so with a sponge and a bucket of water, I tried the first test subject. Driver's seat. Gave it a couple applications and found vinyl under the grime. So the evening was spent scrubbing, but since the car has yet to find space indoors, I only worked until dark. So far (as it gets dark) I am very pleased with what I see. I'll go over everything again once the upholstery is removed from the car. Everything (carpets excluded) seems to be in very good shape. And as an archaelogical dig, I'm finding lots of artifacts to review. One thing is a mystery though. I found a cigarette snuffed out in the rear seat ashtray. No smoking ever on my watch..... but with the car on the back row of a very dark garage and two young sons looking for something to do......... either of you got anything to tell your Dad now that you're taller than I am? =

Been flying all day so we are now in Seattle for a week, but will report on Greg's progress. Here is an update on the wheels from Australia. They look good. I have no idea what they will go on. "These arrived today. Greg D. did an outstanding job of packaging. So many styrofoam peanuts that the whole aircraft wouldn't have sunk if it went down. I would call the wheels pristine. Used lug nuts and new, the pictured spinners have been stylized with Studebaker logos, horn buttons I'm told. When I was thirteen I stored a set of (Model A Ford) wheels under my bed. Fifty years later, still doing it. =

It is Tuesday, August 16th. Greg's Avanti is out of storage. Here is his report. What a diamond in the rough, very rough. Well, it sure is disappointing to see what the ravages of time can do. John Feser met me at my door this morning with the keys to his truck and trailer. Nice gesture. Things were busy here at work, but when personal business arose that took me near the garage, I decided to take an early lunch and kill two birds with one stone. As I approached the neighborhood, it occurred to me that in my haste to leave, I'd forgotten to bring the spare battery to power the trailer winch, my only way to get a dead car on the trailer. A plan to stop by White Post Rest. to borrow one was soon followed by the realization that today was Monday, their day off. Now what, too far to go back , I called David Coco for ideas. As luck would have it, he was nearby on Cord business. With his trailer. We decided to meet at WPR to drop his trailer and then follow me to use his Suburban battery for the winch. Armed with his friend Marty Roth, we pushed the black Avanti out of seclusion and into sunlight for the first time in many years. Dvd decided to expedite the loading process by towing the Studebaker onto the trailer with the tow strap. Arriving here in Warrenton, I've since taken the filthy dirty Avanti to the carwash. It had lain neglected in dark storage for all this time, a building subject to being damp at times. Looking for some humor in this , I did find that I had stored a NOS hood insulator on the top of the car. It was made of yellow fiberglass insulation and sprayed with a tar like undercoating. It stuck. I had to tear it up to remove it. But it all didn't come off. The only amusement to be found was what looked like a black car with a yellow crew cut. I made an absolute mess of the car wash. Now it is safely unloaded and waiting for room inside the hangar where it will begin to come apart. We spent a lot of time together, it was a faithful companion. I've talked to a lot of guys who wish they had that Mustang or GTO from days gone by, but you know.....I still have this one and the flaking paint, rust, mildew, and rotten carpet to go with it. I am surprised to see that the tags ran out in Aug '79. I bought the car in '69, put it in storage while overseas, drove it daily for a year and tore it down for a two year restoration that was finshed in '74. That means the car had a service life of only about six years for me. I need to catch up.

You might want to contact Fred Rawling. I know that he will have some used ones, and you might get lucky and find out he has some NOS. His email is fred.rawling@live.com

It is Monday, August 15th. Took the Suburban and trailer to Greg this morning. He said that he is anxiously awaiting the wheels from Australia. He sent me this pic of the wheels in action. And here is where they were racing. A fitting end to the Australian histry of these wheels that took Studebaker to Victory in it's class at Bathurst with Bert Needham in 1967, Australia's greatest road race.

It is Friday, August 12th. Greg is back working on the maroon Avanti. Here is his report. "I've been getting complaints about the hot air that enters the passenger compartment. The foam rubber seals on the vent doors was shot, so with today's mail came the new rubbers. Out with the old and in with the new. I'm sure that when the doors are reinstalled, the car will be cool in the summer and warm in the winter. That was easy. Spent more time on the rollbar cover. Glued in the remaining reinforcements and now I'm hemming the vinyl on one side. Glad I'm not paying myself by the hour. News Flash! Just got word from the intrepid aviator Andrew King. He's down for the night in Ohio, ferrying the world's oldest Cessna to it's new owner. We may fit into his plans. The aircraft destination is in Pennsylvania, but seems he will finish his trip on foot. We're to pick him up at the Culpeper, Va airport for the last leg of his adventure."

Greg promised pictures, and he delivered. "these are the pictures that didn't make it through last night. Greg D's Lark and daughter. Setting somewhere between Warwick and Coventry, Great Britain. With all the computer wizardry at my command, I've held the camera to the monitor. That's the best you'll get."

Ken, I will pass that info on to Greg. It is Thursday, August 11th. Pulled the open car trailer out of the pasture and got it ready for Greg. He is going to pull his black Avanti out of storage and take it to the hanger. He also sent me this update, but I was unable to pull up the pictures. So they will have to wait. But here is his report. "Lots of good things happened today.. including the enclosed note from Greg D. in England. Jim Davis stopped by for lunch. I drove and gave him his choice of rides. He said old Dodge since it was a nice day. Went for Mexican. Afterward we remembered to pick up Chicken sandwiches for the boss. Of course being top down in the Dodge, to keep Jim from crying we had to go through the drive-thru. (Pardon the lack of paragraphs, don't know how with this pasting of a letter). Weldon Britton was by. Haven't seen him for a while. Always a pleasure. And after work I made the trip to the storage garage to prepare the black '64 (R5054) for transport. That went well and it is ready. And now this latest acquisition. No, not another car. Read the letter. Hi Greg, I have just finished packing the wheels up and they will fly out tomorrow. Spinners and nuts are in box 3. 2 wheels per box excpet box 3 which has the all important bits. They go on about a 2 or 3 day service so should be in your office Monday. Attached are some pictures of their last day in my 24 or so years of ownership. I bought them in my early 20's in the late 80's. My 3.5 year old daughter, Eilish, helped chamois of the Lark this morning. I mounted the wheels in the UK for the first time today on my Lark and took them for a 100mph ride up the A46 towards Coventry in the Lark. It is the first time I have usd them in over 10 years. A fitting end to the Australian histry of these wheels that took Studebaker to Victory in it's class at Bathurst with Bert Needham in 1967, Australia's greatest road race. When I moved them from Melbourne in 2005 when I went home to get all my things, I misplaced the wheel nuts till about a year ago, when I found them where i had left them tucked away in the corner of the toy office..... I wish you every success with the wheels. It is a sad day for me here as they have been with me almost all the time I have owned an Avanti. I have moved on more to slower vehicles. Regards Greg D.

It is Wednesday, August 10th. Greg is working on his project. Here is his report. "Nothing earthshaking tonight. Avanti: The wet foam rubber rollbar cover has dried out. I'm beginning the reassembly with the installation of the reinforcement straps. I tried using Gorilla Glue. Scott really likes it for woodwork, and you'll notice how it foams and expands when it cures. It should work well with the formed rubber. There are a couple lengths of steel yet to glue in place. After this bunch has cured. The Holy Toledo water pump: I received it in a Kleenex box. So I'm guessing at it. The pump outlet has a threaded connection where it mates with the cylinders. The photo shows the only clue I have concerning the inlet. There is only one machining mark left, I'm hoping it too is this threaded hookup. That's what it is now. Other photos show how the aluminum pump has disintegrated. I talked to Mike Nash tonight. He used to maintain this car when it was in another collection. He says that although a wonderful thing to look at, the engine being a combination of iron cylinders, copper water jackets, aluminum pump all immersed in water, the electrolysis is constantly trying to consume the thing. He once used a voltmeter, one probe to ground and one in the coolant and it was reading a volt and a half. He says the car is one big storage battery. The current owner is forgoing the aluminum alloy pump, is opting for a more durable bronze casting."