unimogjohn

Adam, here is a manual for not much money. Lots more on ebay. Just do a search on your year, make, model. CHEVROLET TRUCK CAR SHOP MANUAL 1958 GMC : eBay Motors (item 190383212020 end time Mar-30-10 12:36:35 PDT)

Adam, just a couple of things. You probably need a generator not an alternator. Here is an example, GENERATOR GM~CHEVY TRUCK 56',57',58',59',60',61,'62 12V : eBay Motors (item 190383223875 end time Mar-30-10 13:10:30 PDT) Do you still have the bracket in place on the engine that holds the generator to the engine? Take a couple of more pictures of the engine bay and post them so we can help. I would get a repair manual too, you will need it. They are on ebay all the time. Even a universal repair manual would be better than nothing. Take a deep breath, and just do a bit at a time.

Adam, the number is the load weight. I would imagine that the truck weighs between three to four tons, and really depends on how heavy the box is.

It is Thursday, March 25th. Overcast, and cool this morning, but it is suppose to get about 60 degrees. Storm coming in tonight so lots of rain tomorrow and SNOW tomorrow night. What the heck is going on! Decided that the next project was going to be the horn/turn signal issue. x!kaxp, darn, just cannot get the cap on the steering wheel to come loose. Have tried just about everything to get a grip on it and turn it counter clockwise. I do not want to bung it up so have not used a pipe wrench on it yet. Gave up and took her for a ride. A long one. I went about 20 miles on all the back roads around the farm, she ran great. So I got home and decided I had to do something. I found the Studebaker and Avanti emblems in the glove compartment. So I put them on. I did not want to permanently mount them so used a bit of hard foam on the mounting pegs to attach them. I also used some double backed tape, cut to size and under the emblems to stick them on as insurance. I had to drill out the front cover for the Avanti, but I could see where it once was under the paint. They had filled in the holes with body filler when the car was repainted in the 70s. The Avanti emblem looks to be a NOS one so maybe the old one was broken in the crash, and it was decided to just leave it off. Well, both are back on now. Both wing/vent windows were also stuck, so spent an hour or so getting them free again. Used Kroil to break the bottom pegs loose and then removed the pegs on top of the window frame to clean the top pegs. Both work great now. These vents are going to be my AC for the summer. I am really tired at looking at the primer square on the passenger door, so grabbed a can of the dark jade green paint and just painted it over. I was going to do the body filler routine, but thought better of it. It is going in for a repair and repaint in the fall, and somethings are better left to the professionals. The paint really does not match, but I figured it was better than the white primer. So just painted it. Actually, it came out pretty good. At least it is green. I also did some more cleaning and detailing the engine bay. It is starting to look presentable as a driver car. The car started right up this morning, waited just a few seconds, and hit the accelerator to kick down the choke and high idle. She died. Still too cold to keep running. So attempted to restart it. No go. So adjusted the auto choke plate counter clock wise 6 notches and she fired right up. I will see how this setting does versus the old setting. At least I know the issue and can work around it. Also explained it to Alice so she can do it if I am not around. I am sure we will get it sorted. And I have to let it warm up a bit more, before I attempt to move it. Here are the pics for the day. I included an old one of the white rectangle so you can see the before and after.

Roger, you are fooling us. That obviously is a real Avanti. Now show us the model! I am in awe of your work. Truly impressive. What fantastic work. Thanks for sharing the pics. And yes, pls. do post pics of your Toronado.

Adam, making brake lines and the installation of the master cylinder are all that not difficult and not that expensive. You should be able to get a rebuilt master and lines to bend for under $200. You can rent a good bender and flaring tool at your local auto part big box store. Also you will need the four rubber flex lines. I think that your first job would be to pull it to a place where you will be able to assess what you have, have some protection from the sun/rain, and lots of room to move around and under the truck. Make sure you take plenty of pics for reference. You might consider posting what you plan to do, post it, and wait a day for suggestions. I am sure you will get lots of suggestions and help, probably more than you want.

Roger, both hinge points for the plate and hood have large holes for adjustments. Just got this from Greg. He is moving along with the R3 engine. I asked him what he is going to do with it. He said that he did not know, maybe a museum. He told me that he has parts that he bought from the Granatelli (sp?) brothers after Studebaker shut down. This was in the early 70s. He bought most sight unseen as he was in the Army at that time. Here is his report and picture. "Today I made the trip to fetch the Studebaker crankshaft . Very pleased, this crank that pushed a connecting rod through the block magnafluxed ok, wasn't bent and the journals cleaned up at .010/.010. Main bearings will be on order so that I can bed the crank in the block. Coming along."

Here is the latest on Greg's Avanti. He told me that the windshield wiper motor was sluggish and had lost it park feature, so he sent it out to be rebuilt. He also continues to work on the interior vinyl panels with material he got from SI and Phantom Works. Work also continues in the machine shop with his R3 motor. Greg's report and pictures. "Chilly weather is back. I'd spent some time on the Avanti installing the upper upholstery panels, two more to go before I can begin the windshield/rear glass installation. It gets so cold in that hangar that the glue doesn't dry." "Meanwhile.... Engine project: Spent some time today in the storage garage with a flashlight. Standing in a corner behind some shelving were a couple Studebaker crankshafts. One in a wooden crate. I didn't waste any time extricating it, especially when I saw the trace of racing red paint on the flywheel flange, just like on the Granatelli block. Pretty rusty, I hurried it over to the machine shop where it was shot peened and cleaned. Now I find that it is the '444 "long nose" shaft, the journals appear to be standard diameter, and there has been some fine tuning of the balance with some welding rod. Not only to the web, but notice inside the drilling. I don't see any damage caused when the side of the block was knocked out. There is a tooth missing from the gear. Easy fix. Now if it only passes the magnaflux check for cracks. Then polishing/regrinding. I don't have too many days like this."

Here are the pics.

It is Wednesday, March 24th. Hi gang, we made it home from our little trip to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Flagstaff and Lake Havasu. We had a great time. But glad to be back on the farm with all our critters. Had a chance to work on the Avanti today. I installed the metal brackets that I had made. Had to do some final fitting, but everything is nice and snug. Drilled holes in the brackets and mounted the original fitting. Used pop rivets to fasten everything together. It seems to be plenty strong. I then installed the hinges back on the car. I plan on putting back on the hood on Saturday when we have friends coming over. I need two people to hold the hood into position while I put in the mounting bolts and make adjustments. I do plan to glass in the repair, but I want to make sure that everything fits and the hood closes correctly. I would hate to have to bust out the complete repair if the hood does not fit. Much easier just to drill out the pop rivets. Here are pics of the repair. The first is the brackets installed, top and bottom. The hinge point attached to the brackets, and then the hinge installed. Oh, will include a couple of pics of the Grand Canyon.

Adam, good luck. Looks to be a bit of work. I have just one word of advice, "finish what you start". What I mean by that is to do bits at a time, complete the work, and then move on to the next bit. Nothing worse than taking everything apart, and then giving up. You will need successes to keep going, so then by going little by little, every bit will be a success. I think you will be surprised by your progress. Keep us posted.

Bernie, Ben is right. Here is where we were last week; the Grand Canyon. Just depends if you have the time. Actually, I would make time.

Bernie, you are looking at a bit over 2,000 miles from Los Angeles, CA to Louisville, KY. You figure that you will drive 500 miles a day, and you are looking at four hard driving days. So if I were you, I would fly closer to Louisville.

It is Sunday, March 14th. Rain, rain go away ....... Four inches in three days. With the last of the snow melt all the streams everything is flooding. At least the Avanti is nice and dry in the garage. Been working on the back plate for the hinge pocket. Made two galvanized brackets to fit behind the fiberglass. Used a pop rivet to put one in as a fit test. I think it will work OK. In my part boxes I found the rear cover for the console. It is a soft foam type of assembly covered with glued on material. The console itself is fiberglass. Since I will be replacing the interior at some point I did not want to permanently bond the cover to the console. So am using some 3M double back tape. It is holding it on, but the little flaps on the side are distorted and pull away from the tape. So it is a quick fix at best. The little flaps are covered up by the seat anyway. I spent all day Saturday working on the Unimog Army truck. I went to start it, and it did not want to start, like is was not getting fuel. After an hour of fussing and inspecting I wondered why my oil stick was way over the fill mark. Well, I must have a bad diaphram. So put on a spare that I had, and changed the oil. I had a gallon of fuel in the engine! After four or so hours she was back chugging like a good army truck should. Heading off to AZ for a week so this will be my last post for a while. Alice wants to see the Grand Canyon (like 1000 places before you die) so will head there for a day or so, and then down to Lake Havasu to see the kids race their ATV quads in one of the big pro-series. Always fun. So bye for now. Here are a couple of pics of the console semi-repair.

The units are highly reliable. I have never had a problem. I have replaced springs and cleaned them, but they always seem to work great. With that said, here is a place to start. Vacuum Tank Rebuilding Kits - The Classic Preservation Coalition

It is Friday, March 12th. Raining hard all last night, and forecast for the next two days. What a soggy mess now with all the snow melt. But yesterday was nice and spent a few hours on the Avanti. Enlarged the pocket area with my Dremel tool to accept the hinge attachment plate. I test fitted a couple of metal backing plates to hold everything together as it is glassed in. I will use pop rivets to hold the metal to the fiberglass. I think that it will work OK and will be plenty strong. Attached are a few pics. Note the adjustment holes in the main bracket. Also the little hinge attachment plate was bigger than the pocket hole. That again told me that the nose had been replaced. To attach it to the new nose they used a combo of JBWeld and a couple of layers of fiberglass cloth. Both of which failed. Hopefully, my repair will be better. And the new flat electrical connectors arrived so I can begin to correct the front end wiring. Also Greg informed me that the big brown truck returned his Schieffer magneto for his R? engine. "It had been to Tom Cirello's house for R&R. Tom's father took over the Schieffer mag business in '69 I think. Tom worked on them then, he works on them now. Freshened with a new coil and other things, it looks like new. The Granatellis used these for some of their Bonneville runs." Here are a couple of pics.

I see that Kaiser31's carb is the brass bowl. It is missing just a couple of parts, but you should be able to use the parts from your old carb. However, the only part that may be different is the long needle valve, which is missing from the carb.

Ethan, watch Ebay. I see them all the time. Remember, that you can also use the brass bodied Marvel carb also. The brass body carbs were still used during the first part of the 1928 model run. I have also heard that some folks have used JBWeld to seal the cracks. You have to make the more liquid like (less hardner) and gently press it into the cracks and smooth it all out before it hardens/cures. Bob's Automobilia has the bowl tops the last time I looked. Good luck in your search.

And finally, Greg has been able to get back to his Avanti now that the snow has melted and the temperatures moderating. So he is installing the vinyl that has to be installed before he can reinstall the glass. He sent me these pictures. I am glad that I am not doing this. It does not look like fun.

OK, the second topic is the hood hinge pocket repair. I have included a pic of the passenger side hinge so you can see what it is suppose to look like. Here are pics of the damaged side. My plan is to remove all the debris so I get back to a smooth surface, put some metal bracing to the body to support the repair, and then re-glass in the hinge connector support (small rectangle). Here are the pics.

It is Thursday, March 11th. Well, I have three topics to post so will break them up in separate replies. The first is the driver and passenger side wiring. The drivers side is the worse, but the passenger side has been cut also. I know now that the front of the car has a new nose, probably in the early 70s. I figure that is when the car got its repaint. On the drivers side, you can see the original wires with two disconnected and taped. I believe that these are for the horn, which is missing. The original flat connectors are missing, but I have ordered new ones. There is also one wire disconnected under the fender. I do not have a clue yet what that is for. On the passenger side the connectors are still there, but the wires have been cut. The plan there is to just make sure that the splices are redone and heat shrinked. Here are the pics.

It is Wednesday, March 10th. 70 degrees! What a great day. Spent a couple of hours washing the outside of the car (it's first real wash in 30 years), and did some more cleaning of the inside, and put back in the planels that go on either side of the console. I had removed them to get a the radio and the wiring. I also found a small screw and fixed the back wing window. Since it did not have a screw holding the latch and post, it would not lock; now it works! Boy, the interior is still dirty, I am using a boat vinyl cleaner/polisher and scrubbing lightly; dirt continues to just roll off. I still have lot more to clean. I did take a couple of exterior pics of the car all clean and bright. I also got a couple of chrome exhaust tips. They were priced right (closeout from JEGS), very good quality, fit great, so will tack weld them on in a few days. I have to make some adjustment to the pipes to make sure they are about even and level. I may have to change out a couple of exhaust hangers as a couple were marginal. When I got the pipes a few months ago the goal was just to get them on, I really did not worry about level. Normally I do not put on bling, but I know that Avantis had chrome tips. I don't think that these are correct, as I think that they were larger in diameter on the outlet side, but these look just fine for our driver. I have received several emails asking what still has to be done to the Avanti to make it fully operational. Well, here is the list that I am working to officially declare my “refresh” complete: 1.Repair and re-glass the hood hinge bracket. 2.Install and align hood. 3.Repair fuel gauge. 4.Repair turn signals. Currently, they do not blink on their own, and only the rears light up when the turn signal stock is manually tripped L or R. Parking light do work just fine. 5.Repair the horn. It works, but if you move the turn stock to L, the horn honks. Probably related to item 3 above. The horn is currently disconnected. 6.Repair and repaint passenger side door. 7.Align exhaust and install exhaust tips 8.Re-install Studebaker and Avanti logos on the body (Have the originals). 9.Replace wiring for the driver's side headlight/parking light. Replacement wiring now spliced in with wrong color wire and no connectors. Not grounded correctly. 10.Repair and re-paint passenger door. 11.Repair the chrome trim rings over the headlights to seat correctly. 12.Purchase correct front turn signal/parking lenses. 13.Repair clock. And of course over time will re-paint the car body, re-chrome bumpers, and redo the interior.

David, take the rear cover off the starter/generator. Then disconnect the battery. Have someone push on the starter rod, and then you observe what is happening while looking at the linkages to the starter/generator and then inside the generator itself. The linkages, which are held in place by friction via pinch bolts and keys for alignment. These can sometime slip and cause the mechanical arm in the starter not to lift correctly. So it is best to observe everything and make sure everything is tight and in correct adjustment. I have a problem like you describe and it was the linkage that connected the starter rod to the cross rod that goes to the starter/generator. It was slipping and would not push up the third brush high enough for the starter to engage. Sometimes, even when adjusted correctly, you have to really push down very hard on the starter pedal to get things to work. Good luck. Also, if you are satisfied that the linkages are correct, make sure you check that all the electrical connections are correct (at the right post) and tight.

Roger, found your Avanti. What fantastic work. If only mine looked as good. I will add a couple of pictures here to encourage others to look at the pictures on the French site. Amazing!

Roger, Greg sent me a note on why he is using the block sealer. Here is his response. Makes sense to me. Greg says: 1. Casting sand after forty years? I doubt it, but that block has been shot peen blasted twice since January. I live in fear of not removing or sealing every last grain still lurking in nooks, crannies, and oil galleries. 2. The block had a big chunk replaced by welding rod, so I'm trying to seal any pores that would leak oil. 3. If you drop the pan on your car, or any R series owner drops the pan and shines a flashlight inside the crankcase, you'll see red. I don't know for sure if Studebaker used Glyptol brand, but they used something that's all but impossible to remove. Unless you clean it vigorously during overhaul. I'm unfamiliar with other series' Stude engines so I can't include them. I don't think replacement with a light coat will affect the cooling. I think my personal cooling issues might be traced to the tiny little R-3 fan blades, and the fact that the previous owner lost a waterpump which put his fan through the radiator. Lots of tubes were soldered shut so he could keep driving. Think I'll fix both issues with the new Avanti.