unimogjohn

Mark, have you called Kantor or Egge yet? Kanter Auto Products - Classic Antique Auto Restoration Parts EGGE, Inc.

Leif, if you move everything out of position, how in the heck do you get the distributer back in time? Seems to me if you either pull out the timing gear or remove the starter generator then you risk the issue of getting it back to its original position.

Still Saturday, PM. Looked through the parts catalog from Studebaker International; and they have the fuel sending unit, gaskets, and rubber hose that goes between the tank and the filler. So for about $100 I will have the necessary soft parts to reinstall the tank. Also received the most expensive plastic parking light lenses that I have ever seen. Look great and will mount them tomorrow. Will post pics as usual, but here is a preview. Greg also called me and wants me to take his Avanti radiator to the repair shop on Tuesday to be reworked. So will have a report on that next week.

Ben, on my 1923 there are two split pins that must be removed on the shaft. The first pin is easily seen on the collar behind the water pump, the other is under or part way under the big nut on the shaft as it comes out of the timing cover. I used a drill of the appropriate size to remove the pins. It has been a few years, but I think that was all I had to do. Then you can take out the bolts of the pump and remove it with a little tugging. Hope that this helps. You do not have to remove the timing cover or anything on the front of the engine.

It is Saturday, April 3rd. Well, the gas tank is not going to remove itself, so I better get to it. It is 9 AM. Drained all the fuel from the line off the carb, just a trickle came out, at this pace I will be here all day. Blew air into the line, a gusher; there was a clog and this was the cause of my running out of fuel. Got about ten gallons out of it. Then removed the fuel line from under the tank, and the fitting. That was on tight. Still fuel in the tank. Just love fuel dripping/flowing down your arm. Glad that I am outside with no ignition sources. Fuel all over. See the pic of the fitting, this was probably were the clog was. No sock, so it is just an open fuel line from the tank. Removed the wiring, bent some brackets, removed the small return and overflow hoses. And then just pulled out the tank to the side, between the wiring bundles. Of course, more fuel inside the car now too. So clean it up before I pull the tank. IT IS OUT! The rubber hose between the tank and the filler has cracked, and is about to fail. Another reason to redo the tank. Just for fun decided to check the fuel gauge. OMG, it is about rusted out. No wonder it did not work. The tank looks terrible inside. This will be interesting. You will not believe the pictures. This is what happens when you leave a car sitting for 30 years. The gas guage did work I first put gas in it, but the wire that holds the cork float bent as it is just about rusted out. Well, here are pics. I smell like a refinery. Took four hours from start to finish. I am sure that it will go back in quicker. I am glad I pulled the tank. I did not want to do it, but looking back I should have known. The tank will go to the shop on Monday or Tuesday.

Still Friday, got done with the farm chores, still daylight; so decided to begin the gas tank removal. Took a look at the maintenance manual and it said to remove the back seats, disconnect the lines, and remove the tank. Simple, right!!!!!!! Wrong. Lots of steps the book left out, but obvious. Well, I removed the bottom seat, easy. Removed the two bolts holding on the back seat, but had to have help removing the bolts as had to get under the car to stop the nuts from turning. Then I removed the pad under the rear seat. OK, still easy. Oh, something unexpected, a fiberglass panel held by about 30 screws. Sprayed them all with Kroil and all came out except two. Had to use the Dremel tool to grind the heads off. Ouch, those sparks are hot. After about 15 minutes got the panel off. Not so easy, but not hard. Done for the day....... I think that the panels have been off before, probably to paint them black. The gas tank has not been touched. Here are some pics for your enjoyment.

I spent almost six months on my back with steel wire brushes, wheel brushes in drills and dremel tools, scrapers, and then various cleaners to get all the muck off my 1928. Never saw so much dried grease and mud. Then I painted everything by hand, replaced all the leather, and made sure everything was all greased up. Boy, there are a lot of fittings. But it all ended and I was able to move forward, and finally off my back. Now twenty years later, it still looks great, but I still remember...........

BJ, Sweet! They both look great, but especially yours. Post more pics if you have them. Would like to see them. Got a lead on a radiator/gas tank repair shop close by (only 45 minutes away). Called them and made sure that they did repairs and seal, and they do. So probably on Tuesday I will take it over to them (if I get it out by then). Now the fun begins ......... Now where is that tank?

It is Friday, April 2nd. Another nice day to work a bit on the Avanti, but I also have lots of farm chores that have to be done. Decided to just see if the car would start. Fired right up and lots of fuel flowing through the pastic, see thru, filter. Checked the gas tank with a yard stick, but it only goes so far and hits a baffle; but there is gas on stick, about 8 inches so I do have about 3/4 of a tank. I just got a new LED flashlight and so peered down into the tank. I can see a line of rust in the tank. Here is a pic, and the dark line you see in the filler is the start of the rust and goes down as far as I can see. So bottom line is that I have been avoiding pulling the tank, but I am out of options. I think that the line or pickup sock (if it has one) is partially plugged. Also one other thing, the return line from the fuel pump (which is disconnected) started spitting fuel even with the tank 3/4 full so I capped it. It is really just a vent line with it open. Many run without the return line so that should not be a problem. Somehow, fuel is being forced into that line, but it should not be as I think it fits high up in the tank. Here is a pic of the capped line near the carb. So I may have an issue with the line in the tank. I had the fuel tank of my 23 McLaughlin Buick redone by Gas Tank Renu last year. They did a great job, but $700 was steep and I had to go 160 miles round trip three times. I will see if I can find a place locally to do it. Or I may just have to bite the bullet. If I get the chance this afternoon to drain the tank I will. My plan now is to pulling tank and have it someplace by early next week. Will keep you all posted.

Hi, here are pics of the pipes of my 23-45, front and back. The diameter of my pipe is 2 inches. Hope that this helps.

Ernie and Paul, thanks for the update. I will dig out the two missing pieces and see what is what. I know that pads are available from Studebaker International, a short one for $23 used on the 1963s, and a longer one used on 1964s for $28. Not much money in the grand scheme of things. Well, have some troubling news to report. Alice and I went on our little ride, got about three miles from home and the engine started to surge back and forth like it was not getting fuel. Got about a half a mile closer and she died for good. Could I be out of gas? So we hoofed it home, two and a half miles, picked up 7 gallons of gas, tools, fuel filter and a tow strap. Got back and put in the gas. She started right up, so I head home, got to our driveway and she sputtered again and died. I know she has gas. So changed the fuel filter just in case, no go. Just a couple of little squirts into the fuel filter. So now it is sitting in the driveway. I poured gas in the carb, and with Alice behind the wheel we got her up on the flat and in front of the Avanti garage. Could it be the fuel pump that I just rebuilt? I almost called Dave T. and ordered another pump, but thought better of it. I will pull the pump tomorrow and see what is up. There is no fuel in the oil, checked that, so maybe one of the little flappers failed. Anyway, I will pull the radiator shroud and the pump, and see what is up. I do have extra parts for the pump (I had two kits). If it is not obvious I will call Dave and order a new one. Oh, the speedo is just fine, it agrees with the GPS on mph. So one thing is OK. I do have to get on to fixing the gas guage, that is now next on my list after fixing the pump. I know that fuel will flow out of the line when I disconnect it from the pump. If nothing or very little comes out then I know that I have a tank issue with maybe a pickup broken or having a hole in it. Will let everyone know tomorrow. I am going to make a drink, a stiff one.

It is Thursday, April 1st. Well, some bad news, I have decided to sell the Avanti.........................................................Not, April Fools Day! Wow, it is hot in the full sun, almost 80 degrees; but I am not complaining. Spent the morning rototilling, getting the garden area ready for planting. I have made several passes over it, so most of weeds are gone. Alice wants to plant lettuce today. Gong to be over 80 degrees over the next few days. Back to the Avanti. Decided I would clean up the underside of the hood were the sound deadner was pulled off. I think I have the two pieces that are missing, but they are a bit ratty. I actually, may just pull it all off. It does not do much other than get dirty. Could not get all the glue off, but it looks better. Then decided to get out my trusty dremel tool with a little felt polishing wheel. So hit the little rear wing wheels and then polished the bumper by hand. They came out pretty good. Greg also sent me a couple of pics that he took yesterday at his place. Going to take her out in a couple of hours. The speedo seems to be reading lower on mph that it feels. So will check the speed with my GPS, it is really accurate on all my other cars.

Joe, would be happy to take any pictures of our 1928, model 29 Town Brougham for you if you do not get any 1925 replies. The interior is still all original. No jump seat as it is a four door. I have basic pictures at Picasa Web Albums - John and Alice - 1928-29 Buick...

Stude8, more Stoddard Dayton goodies from Greg. "Here's one for Stude8. Oct 1, 1910 Young Larue Vredenburgh went through the fence on the (and his) last lap at the Springfield State Fairgrounds track. He was driving his Stoddard-Dayton Speedcar. I'm sure it must have changed a lot, but someday I'd like to do a lap there in mine and maybe drop off a bouquet for him at the spot. Is John (Stude8) familiar with the track?" Greg said that he used this pic and another from the front to document what when on his car and where.

Wayne, OK will do. At least I will get rid of the rust. It was on my painting list. Since tomorrow is a new month my social security check will arrive soon. So in anticipation I ordered the inner and outer parking light lenses from Studebaker International. Ouch, those little pieces of plastic are sure expensive. Oh well, it had to be done. Looks ugly now with the home made plastic lenses. Tomorrow should be another nice day. Going to grab the chrome cleaner and start on the bumpers. The little wings under the rear bumper are the worse for tarnish so we will see how good they come back.

It is Wednesday, March 31st. What a beautiful day. Contacted the son of the former owner this morning and was able to get his email address. So I sent a few pictures and a link to this site. So will see if he contacts me. If not, I will drop it. After farm chores I got out the little arc welder that I got off of Ebay a couple of months ago. Decided I would use it to tack on the chrome exhaust tips. So measured everything up, made sure that things were even on both sides, and struck an arc. Wow, this little 110 volt unit sure works good. So the tips are on and look good. The look very 1960ish. I then got out some of the high temp red paint, sprayed it into a can, and then used a brush to put it on the intake. I know it should be black, but it was painted red so red it is. If I do ever take the engine out I will repaint it black. Now is just looks a little better than it did. Done for the day. Here are some pics of today's fun. Oh, I also took her out for a 10 mile run. No problems or issues, so we are ready for a long run, maybe this weekend.

Stude8, forwarded your message to Greg. Here is his response: Oh man, great shot! A Stoddard on the pole ahead of a gaggle of Mercers. This one was built/owned by Don Lyons of Dowagiac, Mich. It sold at auction about a year ago. Don't know where it went. Is this from my old friend John? Give him best regards and thank him for realizing there's more to life than Studebakers (but not much). GREG.

It is Tuesday, March 30th. Other car chores this morning. Took our 2003 VW W8 Passat Wagon into the dealer for a recall of the fuel injectors. An hour in the shop and I was on the way home. Decided to go to Greg's place and give him the extra new rubber brake lines that I got a few months ago. I did not need them, and Greg said that he needed a set. So in return he made me a new bracket for the hood prop. Now I can use both bolts versus the one. It is interesting to note that the Chev Corvette as well as other cars used this same mechanism, so the one I have was probably a replacement at some point. I will paint it this afternoon and put it on tomorrow. I took the Avanti to Greg's place. About a 40 mile round trip. The car ran great at speed. Greg drove it a few miles also, and said that it drives like an Avanti. So that is good. It does have an engine stumble, not bad, but will have to check it out at some point. Greg says that it feels electrical. And there is a slight vibration at about 45, but it clears up at 50. Greg believes that it might be tires and says to rotate them to see if that helps. All in all it was a great run. The temp held at 190 degrees. Greg is also coming along on the R3 engine. He has the dual superchargers mounted to the bare block, fuel injection connected to the intake that goes over the engine, and the racing distributor. Looks really impressive. Greg is waiting for a cam and heads to arrive. He will probably install the crank sometime this week or next. Here is a pic of the bracket Greg made in about ten minutes.

I have a 1928, model 29 Town Brougham. It still has it original paint. You can clearly see the black and harbor blue. However, I have no idea if the 1929s are different. Here are the pics. Hope that they help.

Adam, before you buy anything online just drop by your local autoparts shop, and ask them about parts for your truck. For fun you can also look at RockAuto Auto Parts to see what they have. They are usually very competitive in price and carry many of the parts you may need. But, they do not have a generator listed. Also LMC may have some parts also. LMC Truck Parts - Page 1

Adam, I would get the manual first, and also see if you can find a parts manual also. You should be able to get the generator locally at your favorite auto parts store. Call around and see what you find. An older place rather than a chain store usually knows where to get the older stuff. If it was me, I would concentrate on getting here all cleaned up before I decided to do anything. This is so I can figure out in total what needs to be done, and to get familiar with the car/truck. I use JB weld and puddy type bars for small holes, like the size of a pencil, anything other than that I weld in a plug. I also paint all my floor board and anything else that will rust with Eastwood rust encapsulator paint. This stops all further rust and provides a hard coating to the metal. Not cheap, about 17 to 23 dollars a pint. Others use POR15 paint.

Mark, do you still have the mechanicals inside the tank? If your cable is shot you can use very thin piano wire and cut it to length. If the casing is shot you can use bicycle casing that is used for brakes and shifting. I got my wire from a gentleman on the Yahoo group site for 1927 Buicks. You might want to join that group. Just go you Yahoo Groups and sign up. Do a search on 1927 Buicks and you will find us. Would love to have you.

It is Monday, March 29th. It was a very good day. Went to the DMV and spent 30 minutes filling out forms, and in a hour later I was out the door with the title in hand. Even got approval to use the 1963 VA license plates. They usually reject them if they are not restored. So I am a very happy camper. Now we can legally hit the road. While I was looking for the original screws to hold on the license plate I spied a small plate at the bottom of a tin can, which held nuts and bolts, etc. I pulled it out, wiped off the oil and grease, and behold it was the tag that is missing from under the little badge on the console that says something like "this Avanti Belongs to:". The tag says Richard Linwood Chasse M.D. This was likely the first owner of the car. So I did some searching on the web and found his obit (he died in 2004 at the age of 88) and a listing of his children's names. I have a couple of phone numbers and an email address for his kids and will contact them to say the car still exists. He and Margaret had six children, and all now are in their sixties, but they should have been old enough to remember the Avanti. It would be great to get a picture of the Avanti and the family. I also took a look at the parts manual for the hood support connection, and it does not have any other part shown or listed. So decided just to put on a large washer at will "pin" the back end of the bracket. Well, tomorrow, if it is not raining I plan on taking the Avanti to Greg's home/business to show him that my Avanti is running and looking good. Greg's Avanti is taking a back seat to him building a buck for the fenders for his 1910 Stoddard Dayton Speedster that he is bring back from a rusty hulk. Greg is a master of many talents. Here are some pics of the mounted license plate, the hood bracket, and the name tag for the console. I will see if I still have a pic of the Stoddard Dayton and will include that too.

It is Sunday, March 28th. Cold here again today, but the rain has held off except for a small squirt last night. But the real stuff is coming, and we are suppose to get a couple of inches. Spent the morning attempting to align the hood better than yesterday. In a word, I would probably be fired if I worked in a body shop. Yes, I made it better, marginally. You just cannot do it with one person. But I did make enough minor adjustments so that the hood now closes without hitting anything, latches, and most important, unlatches. Yahoo! I am going to call this a success and leave it to the body folks when the car is prepped for painting. Took the car for a quick spin. It sure looks different peering over that long hood versus looking at the running engine. Here are some pics of the work today. There are a lot of nicks and scratches on the body where the hood hinges are. The hinge must have been broken for many years, and as a result the body suffered some major dings. Also, I have one issue with the hood. The little support mechanism is attached with two bolts to the hood, however, the bolt holes are too far apart to attach both bolts. There must have been some bracket that I am missing. Will have to look at another Avanti to see what I am missing. I did look through my cans of misc stuff that were in the trunk of the car, but did not see anything obvious that would fit.

It is Sunday, March 28th. Boy, cold again this morning, about 26 degrees. More rain coming this PM. Yesterday we had the "hood" (neighborhood folks) over after a big dinner at the fire house. So I took the opportunity to have some additional hands to hang the hood back on the Avanti. It took a few tries at the adjustment to get it close to being able to close without binding on the sides or the front. I still have the hood lip up on the passenger/left side and down on the drivers/right side. And I also need to see if I can get it to move down just a bit to close the gap in the front. But, after so many years of being off, it is good to just get it back on. I have not latched it as they need adjustment also. I would hate to latch it only to have it get stuck in the closed position. So will take my time to make sure everything is alignment. I can now honestly say that the car is back to 100% with most of its systems operational. OK, there are still a few things to go, but they are all on the list to be repaired. I plan on making adjustment to the hood today if the weather cooperates. I have the pieces of hood installation that fell off at some point so will use some spray adhesive to glue those back in place. I did take the car for another long run yesterday, ran great. I am now at a point where I feel comfortable that it will not let me down. Tomorrow we are heading to the dreaded VA DMV to see if we can get her titled and registered to officially get her on the road. VA is still one of the few states that still has a title requirement for all cars. Most states do not both with cars over ten years old. Here are pics of the hood.