unimogjohn

It is Friday, October 15th. Company is leaving today, and so our travelling and tours have come to an end. Now I can get back to work in getting ready for winter. After last years snow storm and week long power outage we decided to buy a whole house 20KW generator. So it will be shipped next week. I am building a pad on the side of the house to place it. Will keep you posted on that little project. Greg continues to work on his projects in earnest. Here is his report from last night. " Found time to readjust the Studebaker valves. And being the curious type, removed the oil filter even though it only has about fifteen minutes in service. I cut the filter open to inspect the paper element for debris. It looked ok. Next I think I'll drop the oil and replace it with fresh. Suffering through that wiped cam has me scared to death. And on the Matheson engine front..... I've begun stripping the crankcase with paint remover. This to remove paint from the outside and any accumulated grime on the inside. First application tonight, will hit it one more time before I begin surface finishing the exterior."

It is Thursday, October 14th. Here is Greg's report: "With many directions in which I need to proceed, during lunch I removed the brackets and things in the way for retorquing the Stude cylinder heads. After work the torque wrench was put to use. Then I clocked in on the Matheson engine job. Pics of stripping the paint from the cast aluminum oil pan. The pan weighs in at 23 pounds."

It is Wednesday PM, October 13th. Just arrived home from Asheville, NC. Spent the entire day yesterday at the Biltmore estate. What a grand home. In the meantime Greg has been busy. Here is his report. "Old friend Bob Metz, automotive authority who began with MoPars and since has devoted himself to owning and teaching racing tactics in the Lotus marque, has finally achieved his lifelong dream of working on a Studebaker. During his visit this afternoon we installed some hoses, clamps, and coolant. Then after the exhaust downpipes were secured, we put some time on the engine. Brought it up to temperature for a while at good RPM. Maybe tomorrow after it has cooled I will retorque head bolts, chase some water leaks and then reinstall the blower, etc. Sure nice to hear it again."

It is Tuesday, October 12th. We are in Asheville, NC. Still on an extended vacation with friends. Saw a great little car collection yesterday. Took lots of pics and will post a few in a day or so. Hershey was great, bought a few things, but nothing for the Avanti. Weather was perfect, and the place was packed with people. Lots of cars available for sale. Saw Greg a couple of days ago and dropped off a battery. He is putting it to good use. Here is his report. "Well it's been a while. Trip to the Baldwin Ranch, back in time for Hershey. Back from Hershey, now it's time to resume work. The Studie has been almost ready to start. But wouldn't. Couldn't get fire to the spark plugs. Had spark from the coil but the plug wires wouldn't . No matter what I tried. Very frustrating because the distributor worked well when at the dyno shop. I'd just pulled it out of the block and laid it aside. (That's when I tried the Schieffer magneto.) Worked with troubleshooting for a day or two. Tonight I mounted the distributor in the lathe as a test stand and finally found the source of the trouble. Evidently a failing new condenser. Swapped it with the old one I had replaced and good spark was had by all. I just stuck the unit back in the car, hot wired the ignition and it lit right off. This car has more gremilins than we've got stinkbugs. It ran long enough for me to see 50 lbs of oil pressure on my gauge, and I pulled the life support plug. Tomorrow evening I'll add coolant and put some time on it at suitable RPM. Hershey was great. Glad to see a lot of my friends from the contact list. Sorry I couldn't spend more time with them, and sorry I missed some altogether.

Tom, I think I have the little cover with the bolt going through it. Send me your address, and if I can find it, I will send it to you. unimogjohn@aol.com

Steve, I will try to answer some of your questions. re 7. The long lubes are for lubrication leaking past the bearing seals, the excess oil drips from them from time to time. Check your rear axle lube on the pumpkin, should see a filler plug. Might be a good time to change it also. Look on the bottom for the drain plug. Fill with normal gear oil. re 5. You should see a plug on the top of the case, that is where you put in a little engine oil. re 4. In the center of each rock assembly you should have a oil cup or oil hole. They should be filled with engine oil. The little holes are on the individual rockers are for the oil to get out and on to the valve lifters. re 2. 12 volts to the ignition and starter are a no, no. You will quickly burn up the points, etc. re 1. the bottom screw valve (if your carb is the same as my 23) has a notch. Close the valve and then open to this notch. If no notch, then just open it a 1/4 turn. The top one should be even with the little arm/keeper as the factory setting. The big spring is under that cap screw, just screw that out if you want to examine that spring. Since it stopping running I would suspect a blockage in the carb or vacuum tank. See if it will run by refilling the vacuum tank by hand. Or you might have fried the points or the resistor with the 12 volts, I just do not know. I would check the round resistor wire to see if you can see a break. pictures would be helpful.

It is Tuesday, October 5th. We have folks coming in today for our annual migration to Hershey, PA on Thursday. I will give a couple of reports from there. Hope to find some spares for the Avanti. I am still waiting on the shims for the hood. But Greg is back and continues to press ahead. He is leaving for Hershey tomorrow/Wednesday. Here is his Monday report. "During lunch I picked up two new cables for the battery and one for the starter. Talked to the guy at the auto parts store about the 3EE battery. He could have had one for me by quitting time, but he didn't see the wisdom in buying one to let it sit while on the warranty clock. So this evening I borrowed the battery from the lawn mower to check out the cable installation. I also made a quick and dirty remote start switch. With everything connected I was able to crank it over. I also found a gauge to monitor the oil pressure without looking at the instrument panel. Next will be the ignition installation. Tomorrow I'll be watching the weather to determine what my Hershey swap meet schedule will be. Might be heading out as soon as Wednesday."

It is Sunday PM, October 3rd. Well hi everyone. As you know, Greg has been gone, and I have busy driving our Avanti. We have taken her out for run almost every day. Every day she get quicker and quicker. She is a joy to drive. I have bought some shims for the hood, but they have not arrived yet. I hope to have the hood adjusted soon. Greg and I are both heading to Hershey, PA for the annual AACA show. So this just might be our last post for another week or so. But here is Greg's report and pics. "Have returned from the trip to Idaho and the open range. Great trip. By the way, it takes 12 tons to cold set a 3/8" steel rivet. As I begin to catch up on old business, I did find some time today to pet the Avanti. My hit list of things to do to get the engine running is a few items shorter. Decided on break-in oil. I had some left over Quaker State 30 HD API-SL in the trunk. So I split up a container of ZDDPlus among them by adding to each quart and shook them up. The oil filter was filled and installed then the rest went in the crankcase. I also made a tool to prime the system. I will spin it with a cordless drill. Think I'll also use a gauge under the hood so I can monitor it while I hand throttle it during its first half hour or so of running. And I'll use a dwell/tach for measuring the rpm. This oil won't be in there long. Then I'll have to decide what to use for daily service. I also used a borrowed mower battery to energize the rear mounted Stewart Warner fuel pump. Ran some fuel into a bucket to see what was in it. Glad to see it wasn't very dirty. Chose to use a clear inline fuel filter and new hoses. Fuel system checked tight and is ready. Now I must decide on what to do for a 3EE battery. Lots of chatter about which brand to use, and I'm wondering whether to wait until spring to get one. Otherwise, I might look into new battery cables tomorrow. But the time to devote to 'Ol Seabiscuit will now have to be shared with other projects. Too many projects, too little time."

What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thur/Fri/Sat look fantastic. The Wed rain will just knock down the dust. Besides, everything is on blacktop now. Not like the old days of slipping and slogging through the mud. Now that was fun. See you all there.

Here is someone else that works on the starter/generator units. I have no knowledge of his work, but he is on the forums from time to time. startergenrebuilder is his id. Just joined the group. Jason Advanced Electrical Rebuilders Grand Ledge, MI jason@aerrebuild.com 1-866-228-0218

Jim, I believe Precision Power is doing the starter/generator. Home Arthur Gould Ft. Salonga, NY (Long Island) 631-754-5010 is a very good rebuilder of pumps.

In the teens and 20s cars, most of us are running straight 30 weight, non-detergent oil in the engine; 600 weight steam oil in the transmission (your local Ford Model T/A vendor should have this weight); and regular 90 weight gear oil in the rear axle. In the steering box most oil will run out, so many are using just wheel bearing grease pumped in with your grease gun. Use the 30 weight motor oil in your fan hub too. Hope this helps.

Here is some more information from Wikipedia. Colonel Robert Samuel McLaughlin, CC, ED, CD (September 8, 1871 - January 6, 1972) was an influential Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He started the McLaughlin Motor Car Co. in 1907, one of the first major automobile manufacturers in Canada, which evolved into General Motors of Canada. Born near Bowmanville in the hamlet of Enniskillen, Ontario, the son of Robert McLaughlin, he started working in 1887 for his father's company, McLaughlin Carriage Works, at one time the largest manufacturer of horse-drawn buggies and sleighs in the British Empire. With engines from William C. Durant of Buick he produced the McLaughlin-Buick Model F, establishing The McLaughlin Motor Car Company, incorporated on November 20, 1907. In 1908, its first full year of operation, it produced 154 cars. In 1910 he became a director of General Motors and sold his company in 1918 becoming president of General Motors of Canada, which continued to sell cars under the McLaughlin-Buick brand until 1942. He retired in 1945, but remained chairman of the board until his death. He remained on the Board of General Motors until the early 1960s, and was coincidentally replaced by Royal Bank of Canada President Earle McLaughlin, his first cousin once removed. His brother, chemist J.J. McLaughlin, founded the Canada Dry company. After J.J.'s death in 1912, Sam also became President of this company briefly until it was sold about 1917. McLaughlin was appointed Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of the 34th Ontario Regiment in 1921 and held this position until 1931, at which time he was appointed Honorary Colonel of same unit, later designated as The Ontario Regiment (RCAC), a reserve armoured regiment based in Oshawa. Affectionately known as "Colonel Sam," McLaughlin served as Honorary Colonel until 1967, earning the distinction as the longest continuously serving Honorary Colonel in the history of the Canadian Forces. In 1967 Sam McLaughlin was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada. Here is a pic of the 1908 model F.

Yes, Olson's is the place.

I watched it done once, but I never did it myself. The "master" had a old wheel balancer, they type that had the level bubble in it, and set the wheel rim on it, made small marks where he was going to lay the paint line, and just lightly spun the wheel. Then he layed down his special brush and put down the line as the wheel spun. As I remember he only needed one pass and the lines were small. Came out perfect, I was amazed.

27 Coupe, first a question. When was the car last run? Sounds like it has been in long term storage. Well, the first thing I would do is smell the fuel, careful, not too much, but if it has a strong order then what gas is there is probably most certainly bad. In any case, if there is any doubt, I would drain the fuel that is in the tank. You can do this by pumping it out or sometimes there is a plug in the bottom of the tank. I would then put in 5 gallons of fresh gas with a small amount of Marvel Mystery oil. Then attempt to start and run the engine. After that run in, I would then just use gas with Stabil or similar product. You can run the car with just regular gas if you are going to use it up by driving the car frequently. I would also check the fuel filter for any sediment. I also think that you have a vacuum fuel tank in the engine compartment. I would also drain that and put in fresh gas. Most folks run just plain water in the cooling system, and drain the water in the winter. If yours does not leak you can use a 50/50 mix of antifreeze. For oil, if you do not know if the engine has been rebuilt, I would use non-detergent 30 weight oil. If it has been rebuilt, then you can go with a detergent oil. I doubt that your car has a filter, so I would then change it every season, before putting the car away for the winter. Probably holds about 6 to 7 quarts. All the above is based on my Buicks, but should be very similar to your car. Let us know how it goes. Good luck in getting it started, running and driving again.

Bob, glad that you have started posting. It will be a great read. The car looks great. You will have it on the road real soon. Re the headliner. Jon Meyer has a fiberglass reproduction that folks are using. The old card paper liner is no longer available. I still have mine, but the previous owner peeled off a couple of layers of the paper, but you can still see the pattern in the paper. Give us an update on what you are doing with the suspension. That is something on my future "to do" list. Looking forward to many more posts. And where are you located?

Bob, now I understand. Isn't the search and investigation fun? You will get there. Look forward to your posts. I am sure that Greg and I will be following you every day.

Bob, congratulation on your find. You will have to post some pics for us to see. My suggestion is to get yourself a parts book for the Avanti, and then you can discover what you are missing. Most, if not all parts, are still available from several vendors. And there are a few folks dealing with used parts also. I have not had any problems finding parts, or rebuilding services. The parts book is available in hardcopy or CD. Here is the CD version on Ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=220520011437 The forum over on Turning Wheels has been of great help too. You might want to join that group also. Studebaker Drivers Club Forum It would be great for you to start a new thread/topic on this site of your work. We would all like to see it. And if you would post what you are looking for, we can offer suggestions on where to get the parts. Good luck on your restoration. The Avanti is a great car, you will really enjoy her when she is running.

Mike, they are on Ebay in the US all the time. Here is one seller that seems to have a lot of them. Might want to send them a note to see what they might have for you. NOS ENGINE VALVE S BUICK 1928: eBay Motors (item 370433262937 end time Oct-16-10 07:59:27 PDT)

All, Dave and I have struck a deal so the parts are going by bus to WA from VA. Glad that he can use them on his car. Here are a couple of pics of what he is doing. I am sure that he will not mind if I post them.

It is Tuesday, September 22nd. Took the Avanti to Greg's on Sunday. He was hosting the Frederick, MD AACA club at the Wright Experience. Greg gave a Wright Brothers history lesson and a tour of the facilities. Three Wright replicas were in the hanger, what a sight to see. Then we all headed off to the Flying Circus for a car show. The Avanti ran great. I have ordered shims for the hood of the Avanti, they should be in this week. We will see if we can get the hood even with the body. There is a good drop on both sides, maybe a 1/4 of an inch. Yesterday, we spent replacing HVAC duct work under the house. Two more days to go or maybe a bit more. Why? Some critter decided to live in them for a while, pee and poop all over the place. We were blaming the cats for the smell. We found the entrance point and have sealed that up so hopefully we will not have any more problems once we are done. Greg is in Idaho. So no report from him. Going to be a slow couple of weeks.

Rus, I have been told that Arthur Gould Ft. Salonga, NY (Long Island) 631-754-5010 is a very good rebuilder of pumps. He has advertised in the AACA magazine. I was planning to call him in the winter about mine. Let us know what you find out. . I have not heard of anyone going with modern bearings in their engine.

Rus, this is a "I think", as in I have never done it. But I believe the other pin is located under the big nut on the right of the engine at the timing cover. Yes, the split pins are usually in there really hard, and probably rusted solid. I would use some Kroil or whatever you have to help with their removal. I used the end of a old drill bit of the approximate size to drive mine out. Oh, I also remember someone said that you have to remove the little cover from the starter generator to get that piece of the shaft to slip out. Anyway, I know that this is not much help, it will be interesting to find out how to do it as I am planning to have mine sent off this winter to have sealed bearing put in. I am really tried to it leaking all the time.

It is Saturday, September 18th. Well, with the help of Alice and a couple of friends, we were able to get the hood back on the body and almost aligned correctly. But it is low in the front by at least a quarter of an inch or so. Now I know why those shims and washers were under the hood brackets. I do not want to use washers so I am going to order a body shim kit, which will allow me to insert the shims without removing the bolts. Here is a pic of the hood back on the car. And we went to a farm party this afternoon about two miles from our little farm. We were sitting down to eat and a small, older car pulled into the pasture. Boy was I surprised. It was a 1928 Bugatti, Type 44. Darn, and I left my camera at home. Here is a pic of what it looked like from the www. This car was all a light gray including the fenders, and it had black wire wheels, a red leather interior, and wooden dash. The owner lives about three miles from us. Who knew. He told me that he bought the car sight unseen from a dealer in Europe. When it arrived it was crated in a big box. It was complete, but was in terrible shape. It started and then froze up. He said that it was forty-six years before he heard that engine again. A very nice car. It has been redone, but not to a number 1 condition in my opinion, but it is certainly a high 2.