unimogjohn

It's Thursday, Nov. 5th. Was going to get an early start, but got a call that an Avanti needed a trailer ride to the paint shop. So hooked up the trailer, picked up the car, and delivered her to the shop. She is going to be painted Avanti Maroon, a 1964 color. The engine, transmission, glass and interior are all out, so she looks just a little sad. But at least I did have the opportunity to see how an Avanti is put together. Also borrowed the brake drum puller so will be able to check out the rear brakes in the next couple of days. Well I got home at noon and went right to work on the exhaust. Got the other resonator delete pipe out with a lot of prying, banging and bending. Only got one smashed finger in the process, but she finally came out. I must say that the SS exhaust from Canada is an excellent fit. I just loosely put everything together in their various holding points, adjusted the pipes to make sure that they were positioned correctly, and tightened everything down. They look good. Was going to start the car to see how it sounds, but the battery is dead, again. I have some electrical issue that is draining the battery. Will leave the engine start to tomorrow as it is starting to rain and getting dark. I was surprised to see that a cutting torch was used to make the holes in the frame larger to fit the pipes sometime in the past. Would they have done this at the factory? You can see what I mean in a couple of the pics. Tomorrow going into the engine bay and going to service and lube the idler system for the supercharger. Also going to put on the new rubber belts for the power steering and alternator. Also going to power wash the suspension pieces under the engine to get them free of all the old grease, dirt and oil. After that is done I can start cleaning and detailing the engine bay. It is going to be clean, not all painted up. I like a car to look original. After pricing the individual pieces of brake line I decided to purchase a complete kit for the Avanti in SS as a much better value. Purchased from Inline Tube - Preformed Stainless & OEM Brake Line Sets out of MI. for under $200.

OW, am looking for the front bumper mounts. The part number is BUI 18 R and L. Here is a pic and where the number is located. unimogjohn@aol.com is my email.

It is Wednesday, Nov. 4th. It is great to see others add their knowledge and interest. Keep them coming. Today was a cold day, 25 degrees this morning, so did not get out until about 10 and it was only 33 then. It did warm up to 50 degrees by mid afternoon. Got the new brake line for the Unimog so put that it as we have to get her stopping again as we have to pick up hay for the llamas in a couple of days. We get two big rounds in the truck. Tomorrow, if it does not rain, I will bleed the brakes. The Avanti, I really worked on her from about noon until four. Kind of a short day, but seemed to get a lot of little things done. Front shocks, removed the one remaining and put on the two new shocks. Done. Bled the rear brakes, and found something very interesting, a smashed line. But it bled out, but will replace the line. The other brake bled out OK too. I now have a firm pedal, so I have brakes, and can probably stop. I am going to check front pads tomorrow, and then head down to a friend who is restoring an Avanti R2, a frame off job. He is a master and is doing all the work, except painting himself. He told me that he has three is various barns around the area. Oh, he has the puller for the rear drums. Decided to check the timing. After reading the manual it says that the timing should be 4 degrees at 750 rpm and 24 at 1600 for the supercharged engine. Mine is currently set at 8 degrees at 750 rpm, and does advance to 24 degrees at 1600 rpm. Just got too dark and cold, so decided not to check the points. Will do that another day. Exhaust. Now that the rear end is hanging down the tail pipe went over the axles easily. However, the "resonator delete" section on the car now is shorter than the SS one I just bought, so decided to remove the old ones from the car. Got one off after banging and bending metal. Glad the muffler and pipe were almost new. Did a test fitting of the new SS sections and they look like they will fit fine. Will do the other side over the next day or so. I am done for the day. I did start and run the car several times today. It it great to hear her run. Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions. Here are a couple of pics of the smashed line and of the Unimog and hay.

It is Tuesday, Nov. 3rd. Voted today and then took the opportunity to get 6 gallons of Premium fuel, more brake fluid, and more fuel hose. Stude8, thanks for the pics. They are very helpful. I do like the fuel filter, have ones almost like it on my 20s cars. Now I know how things should looks. Spent the morning blowing out the gas lines with compressed air, and replacing the fuel rubber hose connections between the tank and the line, and also the line to the fuel pump. All my lines are now clean and all rubber hoses are new. Put in the new gas in the tank and started the car. She started immediately and settled down after a minute or so. The gas in the filter is now clean and transparent. I am happy now to have clean gas going to the nice carb. We are going to get our first light freeze tonight so put in anti-freeze and let her run to make sure everything is mixed OK. She is running at idle with 40lb of oil pressure, the vacuum steady in the green, water temp is 180 degrees, and is at about 750 rpm. I may have a misfire in the engine, but cannot really tell, it seems to be off and on. Not to concerned about it now as have not checked timing and dwell yet. Took some before and after pics of the suspension after using my power washer for about 30 minutes. Still lots to clean, but looks better. Also you will see a pic of the wiring for the headlights, turn signals, and parking lights. All cobbled together. Will have to sort all that out. It is all the result of the horn grounding out when you turn the turn signal stock to the left. I can easily put the wiring back to original and make the horn a button under the dash, but will see what is up under the steering wheel before I do that. Did not work on the brakes today, just ran out of daylight and time. Looks like the pads are about 95%. I think that it had a brake job before it went into slumber some twenty years ago. Started and stopped the engine several times today. She always started right up with no hesitation. Smoke is getting less also. Tomorrow I am going to work on the rear brakes and also see if I can put on the exhaust pipes. I repositioned the jacks so the rear end is now hanging down as far as it can go.

Tom, here are a couple of pics, also have the front axle assembly with wheels.

Tom, send me your email address and will tell you specifically what I have. I was going to part out everything, but hate to do it since it is all complete. My email is unimogjohn@aol.com John

It is Monday, Nov. 2nd. Got up early so Shadow and I headed off to the local tire store to get the tires mounted and balanced. We were first in line at 7:30 AM and were back home by 9:30. The tires look great on the rims. Put them in the garage as I figure it is going to be a week or more before they go on the car. I am sure they are going to look super on the car. At bit easier now to get under the car so decided to drain all the fuel from the car. So found the little plug under the driver's door and filled two five gallon cans plus a 2.5 gallon. So probably just a bit over 12 gallons. No real gunk came out, just some discolored fuel, the color of tea, at least it is not the color of coffee. Put on another new fuel filter, number 4, and buttoned up the little plug. Tomorrow I will put in a new five gallon can of fuel and half a can of SeaFoam. At least now I know that the fuel system is clean. I did strain the old fuel and will use it in my Unimog army truck, it will burn just about anything, and this fuel is not that bad. I also took the opportunity to start looking at the front brakes. I was able to get one bleed screw open with just a little Kroil and some careful pressure on the wrench. The second one was a bit tougher and had to use some heat from my little butane torch to get it to break loose. I then decided to see if I could get any fluid through the calipers, both bled easily and now have new fluid in both. One side was bone dry and the other had some fluid, which looked like silicone fluid, as it had a purple tint to it. Tried the brake pedal, and I actually have some hard pedal. Tomorrow will check out the back brakes. My goal is just to have some brake pressure and new fluid in all the lines. Over the next couple of days I am going to remove the calipers, pads, shims, etc and make an assessment of what I have and what I need to make it operational again. Also called Jon Myer about the supercharger. He said that it is in the "dunk tank". Will probably be another couple of weeks before I see it. It really does not matter, I have lots of work to do before I install it. Oh, almost forgot. I was going to replace the fitting in the back of the carb with the one you all identified yesterday. Turns out that Dave T. had put in a new check valve of a little different design. So the old one goes back into the spares bin. Here are a couple of pics to include our barn cat, Gray Ghost, who was watching me from under his favorite bush. Tomorrow, new fuel, install front shocks and check rear brakes to see if I can get fluid out of them.

Tom, I bought the parts from Paul almost a year ago. It turned out that it was a 1922, model 35 (4 cylinder). I have the complete engine/transmission, rear (with torque tube) and front ends with wheels. Also got the front bumper with it. Paul kept the frame, steering gear and body, and was going to hot rod it. Now all sitting in the barn as am now working on a 63 Studebaker Avanti after just finishing the 1923 McLaughlin Buick. If you know of anyone who needs it, just let me know. I doubt I will get to it for a couple of years, and may not use it.

Ernie, we are going for a good and safe driver. Thanks for the info. I will take a look at Dave Turner's site and product. So we will take a look and decide what to do within a week or so. Thanks again for the advice.

It is Sunday, Nov 1st, PM. Ernie, thanks to you and Stude8, the valve is going back in tomorrow. Well, the rain finally let up at noon, about two inches, the pastures are muck. Got the Avanti up on jack stands (five points), and she is nice and stable. Removed the tires and piled them into the Trailblazer along with the new tires. Will head into town in the morning and get them mounted. At least one more thing on the to do list completed. I have included pics of the front brakes. Like I said, nothing does more harm than just sitting for 15 to 20 years or more. Lines are going to be replaced, rust means they are about to let go, the same with the rubber. Will pull the calipers and pads to see what they look like, but planning on replacing them anyway. The suspension pieces do not look much better, rubber bushing are turning to goo or just falling apart. I have lots of cleaning to do and checking before I start replacing stuff. But it looks like most of it is going to have to go. Tomorrow the place is to get the tires done, and then drain the fuel again. Will take the opportunity to change the rubber line coming from the tank, and another one that was patched in. Will post pictures of that little issue tomorrow. Here are some pics from today, and one from the neighbor's "farm hood" party. Don't laugh too hard.

Its Sunday, Nov. 1st. Stude8, thanks for the info, have just ordered the parts manual. I should have done that a couple of weeks ago. Yes, I do believe that the part goes in the back of the carb. I will take a pic of the fuel pump, I do have the line that goes to the supercharger, but not the return nipple to the tank. Rained all last night and still raining. Have received about two inches so unless it lets up a bit I will not get the wheels off the car, but will try. Really want to have a look at the front brakes.

Does anyone have an idea as to what this fitting goes to? It has a ball in the nose. Does it go in the fuel pump for the fuel return line? My fuel pump has a threaded plug in it and the return line is just sitting there. Happy Halloween too. Going out tonight in full costumes to one of the local farms. Alice has made cut off fingers and grave yard cupcakes.

Pics from today, Saturday, Halloween.

It is Saturday, Halloween, October 31. Today is going to be our last good weather day for a couple of days so decided to hit it early and keep going until I dropped. So started at 8 AM and dropped at 3:30 PM. The bumeretts for the front bumper arrived last night, put them on this morning. Looks good, but those little nuts for the center rubber were a bugger to get on, hardly any room. Got the rear brake hose off. The line was packed with garbage, no wonder I was not getting any fluid. I can also see crud in the steel line, so took compressed air and flushed it from the master on back. Still stuff in there so took a wire and got it all out. Put in a new hose. Getting good flow from the right rear brake, still nothing from the left. This has to wait until I get the car off the trailer, just not enough room. The rear shocks looks good too. Will put on the fronts when the car is on jack stands and the wheels are off. Started the car. It started right up, but then died. Would not start again until I primed it and it ran good after that. Going to get more gas can and am going to drain the fuel again. I am sure that I am getting crap into my new carb even with new fuel filters. Got the car off the trailer and the beast moves under her own power. Does not want to stop either. Parked it in front of the garage. Figured I would just slowly crawl to the garage by putting it in gear for a second and then N. Well, she wants to continue a bit even putting it in N. So naturally I ran into my 1928 Buick, twice. Just a bump, no damage to either. Don't you just love no brakes. Tomorrow am going to pull the wheels and starting working on the entire brake system. Borrowing a puller for the rear drums. Can hardly wait to see what I find. I have a feeling that I will be calling Dave T. for lots of brake parts. However, it may be raining all day so may have to wait until Monday or so. All in all it was a great day. The beast moves and is alive again. Now if we can just figure out the stopping issues.,

It is Friday, October 30th. Busy day today, but not on the Avanti front, but did manage to do a couple of things before it started to rain. First thing is I changed the fuel filter. This is number 3 so far. I have three others waiting on the shelf. I did drain out all the old fuel, and have put in about 12 gallons of fresh fuel plus one can of SeaFoam. But in spite of all that the fuel coming out right now is tea colored. So I know I still have some old fuel mixed with the new. I plan on changing the fuel filter as I see the paper media changes color. I am using a Fram G2 filter, which is plastic and see through. At $3 each they are good insurance. Also on the Studebaker Drivers forum someone was nice enough to post a pic of their R2 engine. After looking at it last night I realized that my throttle linkage was mis-connected. So with picture in hand, made mine to look like his. Pics attached of his, and my before and after. Looked at the exhaust and took the pipes under the car. Looks to be a perfect match so I decided to route the tail pipe section. Worked for 15 minutes and gave up. Going to have to raise the body from the wheels to try to get it in there. With the axle hump it is like a Chinese chain puzzle. There must be a way. I will leave it until I get the car on the ground. Was not suppose to rain today, but it is. So I am done.

Done for today. Happy for today's progress. Oh, checked the power steering, it works, wheels turn easily on the trailer. Put the car into reverse, it clunked into gear and lurched against the straps, scared me half to death. Also got the rear shocks installed. Tomorrow, it is the rear brake rubber hydraulic line to see if I can get any fluid to the rear cylinders. If that goes OK will probably push it off the trailer and get it on jack stands so I can remove the wheels and take the new tires in to be mounted. This will also allow me to start work on the braking system. I do have to do more adjustments on the carb and engine, new springs for the throttle for one thing, and more see through fuel filters. All in all a great day. The old girl lives. One final note, the SS exhaust pipes arrived late this afternoon from Don S. in Ontario, Canada. They look great. I will see how they fit tomorrow after I head down to town to get some clamps for the hangers and more fuel filters for the engine. the only problem in heading to town is that it takes about an hour to get to town and back, so figure a couple of hours to pick up a few things. I do have to decide if I am going to replace the resonator delete pipes that are directly behind the mufflers. The ones on the car are new, but are not SS. I will see how everything goes together with and without the SS resonator delete pipes and make my decision. I will post pictures of the pipes tomorrow. Have more than enough on my plate now to keep me busy for several days. Good that the weather is going to be nice with no rain for the next two days. Should be able to get a lot done. The next major milestones are getting the car off the trailer under her own power and working brakes.

I have made two videos of the initial start-up and running. They are on YouTube. I will make another this PM after I have made some adjustments. Just ran her about 15 minutes, and she is idling at 1,000 rpm, temp is 190 degrees (without shroud and lashed to the trailer), 40 lbs of oil pressure, and about 15 amps. Sounds great with a little lope. Enjoy the vidoes, remember the running one is still with the starter engaged.

It is Thursday, October 29th. Well, today is the day. Let us see if it will start. Alice is at the controls, and I am ready to see what is happening in the engine bay (with a fire extinguisher at the ready). It coughs and sputters, and wants to go. Alice says it just quits when she moves the key from the start to run position. So we leave it in the start position and she finally does fire, but with the starter running too. Pulled the new ignition key module and put in the old one. No change, so put in the new one again. Checked the wiring and started tracing after taking a look at the workshop manual. Oh, a broken wire that goes from the resistor to the coil. How did this car ever run? It has been broken for a long time. Replaced the wire and she fired right up. Lots of smoke, but running pretty good even if at a high idle. Well, she is now running. Probably first time in 15 or more years. Here are pics of the broken wire, and what the gauges are telling me. Looks pretty normal. She sounds really awesome! We are sooooooooooo happy.

It is still Wednesday, only now it is 2 PM, and the UPS is heading up towards me. I am presented with a big box, and it is from Dave T. So it has to be the rebuilt R2 carb. Well, what to do? At first I decided to wait until tomorrow to open it as I was still working on the headlights. But after finishing the light, I said, self, just open the box and take a quick look. The carb looks great. Dave T. did a great job. Looks brand new. Now I will just wait until tomorrow. NOT! So decided to install it. One good thing is that the previous owner did not cut out any of the attachments/fittings/hoses that go to the new carb, he just bypassed them since they were not needed by the replacement carb. They were all just sitting there. So started the installation and everything fell into place. Yes, I replaced all the rubber lines with new. Looked at the pictures in the workshop manual and was able to figure out everything. Within an hour it was done. Checked all my work and it looks ready to go. Oh, I thought it was an electric choke, my mistake, just one of many. Filled up the radiator too. So tomorrow is the day. Start up day.

It is Wednesday, October 28th. It rained over 3 inches yesterday and last night. As a result the installation of the shocks that arrived yesterday will wait until tomorrow. So I decided to put in new halogen headlights to replace the standard sealed beams that were in the car. Took the opportunity to try to straighten the chrome rims that go over the glass. Yes, I have the glass out for safekeeping. The buckets looks good, cleaned and polished the headlight rims/retainer ring, and checked out the new lights. Everything came out just fine. Also headed down to town this morning with Shadow, the dog, to see if anyone had the rubber hydraulic lines in stock. Made a score on the third shop, they had some in the town down the road at a sister store. Will pick them up tomorrow. I also ordered the rubber bumperetts for the front of the car, and a few red light bulbs for the dash. Oh, what is coming up the driveway, ITS THE UPS TRUCK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You mean like this one? Seriously, I just did a google image search and came up with a couple. I would expect that there are a dozen or so running around out there. But still a very rare car. You have a diamond. Keep us posted on getting it running. We are all interested in stories with pics. Here are a couple of videos too. 1953 dodge coronet convertible - Google Videos 1953 dodge coronet convertible - Google Videos

October 26, 2009 It's Monday. The rain rushed through on Friday and Saturday, and Sunday was a day at the horse show. So today, with the new brake master cylinder in hand, bench bled it, and then mounted it on the car. Put on my little vacuum pump on the furtherest brake and tried again to pull fluid. No go. So will stop messing with the brakes until I can get her off the trailer and up on jack stands. With the wheels removed I will be better able to assess what is wrong and what needs replacing. I do plan to go completely through the brakes so replacing the master was on the list anyway. Also was able to remove all the rusted pieces of the exhaust, and now am prepared for the new SS pieces when they arrive at the end of this week or early next week. Removed the manual choke system that was installed by the previous owner. The new carb will have an electric choke again. Found that the fuel return line from the fuel pump is disconnected, and they removed the fitting that goes into the fuel pump. Will have to see if I can relocate the fitting and put things back. I do have the end that has the check ball in it, but not the banjo fitting that everything connects to. And finally, removed the two rubber bumperetts as one was missing it rubber, and the second one was all cut up. Never did have the center one. I see that they are still available, so will have to order new ones at some point. The rear bumperetts looks pretty good so will leave them in place. Oh, went to check the transmission fluid and the top of the dip stick came off. They had used JB Weld to hold it together and it gave out. On the good side the fluid looks really good and does not smell burnt. That is about it for today. In a waiting game now for the carb, no call today that it is done and has been shipped. Maybe tomorrow.

Mark, this would fit several cars from the 20s. Just depends on the size of the winterfront and the car's radiator to determine the correct fit. It fits between the chrome/nickel/painted shell and the radiator. They are on Ebay from time to time. I would probably put it on Ebay. They usually go for around $60 -80 or so.

Mark, yes it is a luggage rack, fits on the back of a 1930's car (probably). Any marks or numbers on the rack? Lots of folks made aftermarket racks and the car companies made some also. Your best is to find those numbers and let us know what it says. Then maybe we can help more.

October 23, 2009 It is Friday, Stude8 thanks for the part numbers. I appreciate your help. Ordered the correct shocks from Dave Thibeault in MA. He said that they are in stock and would ship today. He also said that the carb is a late 1964 model and was in reasonable, but worn condition. The stuff that needed to be replated are coming back today, and assembly and test will be this weekend. He said that if everything checked out it would be shipped on Monday. Yahoo! Also decided to go ahead and order the SS exhaust from Don in Canada. My system looks pretty new from the headers on back to the mufflers. There it ends. So getting the resonator delete pipe, over the axle, and then the tail pipe. All my hangers are still there and are in good condition so will reuse them for now. Don says they will ship on Monday and I should have them by the end of next week. We are suppose to get rain today, and lots tomorrow, so the Avanti is all put under cover. I am working on the Unimog today. The front brakes will not release, suspect one of the rubber brake lines that connects the fronts and the backs. Just another mechanical thing. Will report next week when I get the shocks installed. Maybe even an engine start. Until then I will be silent.