Avanti R2, 1963, refresh

[Landman]

They should be OK. Just be happy they weren't in a cardboard box. That's why I crated my grille in wood to send to the platers. That way they have half a chance.

[Roger Zimmermann]

John, you wrote that you cleaned the trim parts with acetone; does this product not harm the vinyl? I'm sure you had a respiratory mask as the vapors of acetone are agressive...

[unimogjohn]

Roger, yes, had a mask and a fan blowing through the car. No on harming the vinyl. Looked good and made it a little more pliable. I have some boat vinyl protactent so am going to put some on today also.

It is Friday, February 17th. Heading off to the shop in a few minutes. But I received a report from Greg. Enjoy your coffee this morning.

"I know, I've been neglecting you.

This week has flown by without a lot of actual progress to show for it. I did have some visitors this week. I was honored by a visit from the Fesers, they in their new Jag XK120 coupe on it's maiden voyage away from Feser Farm. Alice stood by while John took me around our test track. Really a nice piece, John. Proud of you.

Frank Gable arranged a visit to show some of his friends through our factory. And he bought me lunch. Bring guests any time.

I remember some maintenance on ol maroon Avanti. That failed clutch linkage, a recurring problem on these cars, led to a communication from John Shanahan describing some simple hardware modifications that make the system more reliable.

After noting the various ways to skin the cat, I ordered a couple clevis ends and screwed them together with a piece of 3/8 NF allthread to replace the fragile link originally used.

Yesterday being the pleasant day that it was, I decided to take Ol Seabiscuit out for a (test) run. Doing what it does best, it took me over the highways and byways to Rob's for a visit and dinner, then the trip home. I really like that car. After three hours on the road, it was hard to put it away. The clutch worked great.

Day job: I sent out the V8 cam bearing patterns and devoted some time to fitting the babbit main bearing inserts to the four cylinder case. Then at quitting time today I was handed a box just in from the foundry. Maybe tomorrow I'll start the machining process on the cam bearings.

Otherwise: Last night's visit to Rob's did result in a favor in my inbox. Rob's '28 Chrysler depot wagon is really progressing. Tending to details, he found that the gas pedal had worn through. A formed cap of .062 aluminum was done. I brought it back and today I took a close look. Too thin to weld, I used a can opener to remove the cap. I then machined a replacement to roll back into place. A tight fit, I had difficulty during the installation. Since I'd decided to JB Weld it in place long enough to roll the edge over, it was airtight and because of the airlock I had to clamp the works in a vise until it hardened and the edge was peened.

Then back to the lathe to dome the face of it. As it always happens, on the finishing cut, the whole thing started spinning free on its shank. No way I was going to peel the new one off to correct the problem, so I tried silversoldering the shank to the steel washer that held the cap. The trapped JB caught fire inside the cap. I kept after it and as of now....Rob, ready for pickup.

Matheson engine. working up small parts that add up, but don't seem to count.

Black Avanti. I'm ready to grind the end gaps of the piston rings. Nothing else happening.

We'll see what tomorrow brings."

[unimogjohn]

It is still Friday, only PM. Just arrived home from the shop. I am exhausted. Tough on an old man. Anyway, I got all the matting down. It is called the "Right Stuff". It worked really good. The floor is all done. Ready for padding and carpet installation.

I was going to install the carpet myself on Monday, but the trimmer said that he could do it all in about two hours including gluing and fitting. I said, "go ahead". I was going to use him for about an hour anyway so another hour is not going to break the bank.

Here are some pics of the work. The first couple are of the work I did yesterday stripping off the black vinyl paint. The next ones are of the mat installation. And finally a couple with the big pieces of carpet laid in just for a quick beauty shot.

The shop will install the seats and the door panels. They need another day for final inspection of the paint, some minor imperfections to sand down and then detail the car for delivery. So it looks like sometime next week for me to bring her home. Cannot wait.

[unimogjohn]

The shop is closed from noon to 1 PM and everyone heads out for lunch. I took the opportunity to snoop. The business down the street was bring out cars so they could rearrange their shop area. I took the opportunity to take some pics.

Edited February 17, 2012 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[keiser31]

NICE! What? No closeups of the Willys??

[Landman]

This is not the Po' folks Garage. Is that a Maserati Ghibli by the Willys?

[unimogjohn]

They had the Willys running on the street. Sounded really sweet and very mean. Set up for the drags. Here are a couple of other pics I took. I think that the "M" car was a 1987. That was the year on the license plate.

Edited February 18, 2012 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

It is Saturday, February 18th. Been doing lots of farm stuff today as we are suppose to get snow tomorrow, maybe 8 inches or so. So far winter snows have been a bust. We will see.

But I took a break and opened the box from Jerry's Chrome. Wow, the bumpers are beautiful. All the bangs and bumps are gone, and the chrome looks fantastic. Here are a few pics. Can hardly wait until I can start putting stuff back on.

[keiser31]

SWEEEEEET chrome!!!

[unimogjohn]

It is Sunday, February 19th. We spread another ton of lime today. I loaded most of it in the tractor bucket and then Alice opened the 50lbs bags and emptied them into the spreader. 200 lbs each fill. She manages the bags, but its a struggle as they weigh half her wait. One tough girl for sure.

I, while Alice was working hard, took the Jaguar out for a run,about ten miles. She sounds so good. It is like being in a small airplane fighter in WWII. Very tight with lots going on.

And of course, Greg is working. Here is his report.

"Ok, I've got to empty this camera disc, I'll send along these poor pics. The camera is good for closeups or long range in good light. These pics are neither.

Yesterday found us at Rob's and he was at work on the '28 Chrysler depot hack. I keep getting queries about it's progress.

Look at these pics and try to visualize: All bodywork done up through paint and pinstriping. You'll notice that the original combination has been copied. Dark blue body and wheels, crimson panel on the door, light blue pinstriping and aluminum mouldings. Fenders and aprono black.

Engine is now in, he's putting on the refinished hardware and cad plated things. The rebuilt rear axle is out for enamelling.

Clutch and transmission is rebuilt and ready for installation. He's also near the end of the instrument restoration and installation.

In other words, if he stays on it, it'll be finished soon."

And here are a couple of videos taken by Jim about a year ago about the beach wagon.

[unimogjohn]

It is Monday, February 20th. Looks to be a nice day today. Expected snow yesterday PM, and most got it. Not us, not even a flake.

Here is Greg's report from yesterday/Sunday.

"When I don't know which view to send.....send them both. Costs the same.

Another busy weekend. Got in more driving time. A nice drive to Maryland to deliver Rob's gas pedal.

The nice drive home was punctuated with a panic stop in the dark to avoid a collision with a deer. Just what I need is the front end bashed in by a deer. Locked the brakes, got a little sideways, deer wandered off. But on a more pleasant note, another stop along the way to have an evening out with friends. Seabiscuit was built for a group of four.

Today I got in some R-3 time. I machined a bore in a piece of scrap aluminum plate to simulate the cylinder bore. I used this to check and adjust my piston ring end gaps. This done, the rings were loaded on the pistons and I've just finished pushing them in their holes and torqued the rod nuts. Opened a brand new box of Palunuts to finish the job.

Good company, good food, got some work done. As good as it gets."

[unimogjohn]

Still Monday, but PM. Not much going on in the garage today. Nice day, but just too cold for car stuff so just wandered around the pastures doing farm chores. Came inside as my hands are frozen and found a big box on the porch. My oh my, it is from Studebaker International. So the hubcaps, seat belts and vent repair kit have arrived.

The covers are really extra nice, and the seat belts are good too. The little "Studebaker" sticker on the belt latches are a bit cheap looking, but the new belts will look nice inside the Avanti. One good thing is that they have the same mounting attachment as the originals so I do not have to try to remove the old mounts from the car.

Here are a couple of pics. No word from Sterling Hot Rod on car today.

[unimogjohn]

It is Tuesday, February 21st PM. The movie, J Edgar, was released on DVD today so we picked one up. We plan on having a neighborhood showing at some point. Our cars, the 23 and 28, and as you might remember, were in a couple of scenes. I took a couple of pics of the cars on the PC screen so you can pick them out.

The first pic is in the garage of the Lindbergh house, you can see both cars in the background.

The second pic is at the house and you can see the 28 Buick (it has the white wall tires).

There are a lot of antique cars in the picture. It all looks very authentic to the period.

[SeventhSon]

Huh, didn't know that! I'll have to rent the film so I can say, "I know that car!".

[unimogjohn]

It is Wednesday, February 22nd. Suppose to go into the low 60s today. Looks to be a good day to be outside and doing stuff.

I got a new radiator cap for the Jag. I have read that the cause of the radiator loosing coolant is a wrong pressure or bad cap. Only has a 4lb pressure cap. Took the Jag out for a run and checked when cold. Did not loose any coolant. I did notice the coolant was darker than normal, and then remembered that the service records said that they had just put in a "stop leak" product. I will leave it in for now and put in new anti-freeze in the fall. Depending on how hot she gets in the summer I may add an catch tank. They make one for the 120, but they are expensive, like $360. I may add a plastic one for now for $20 and see how it works.

And I received a report from Greg. Here it is.

"Time spent doing little jobs.

Day job: Wright eight cylinder engine is coming along. The cam bearing castings are underway. Mating faces have been milled, the halves have been match drilled and pinned for proper assembly. Temporarily soldered together for machining.

The inside diameter has been drilled undersize and a quick and dirty fixture made to allow turning of the outside diameter to size. Now I'm working on a fixture that will allow me to position each bearing in it so I can accurately bore and ream the inside diameter to final size. Without runout.

Evening play time: On the Matheson engine, working up some of the many small parts to match the parts book drawings.

The black Avanti: Cleaning and prepping parts like the front engine mounting brackets, the oil pan.

and so it goes....."

[unimogjohn]

Still Wednesday. Just got a note from Sterling Hot Rods. The Avanti's interior has been installed and looks great. Tomorrow the car will be detailed and inspected by the owner of the shop. Any imperfections will be reworked and corrected.

We can pick it up on Friday if the weather cooperates. If not, early next weeks looks pretty good weather wise. They will send me pics of the Avanti tomorrow. We are excited to be able to bring her home.

[John Byrd]

Hey, congratulations !!! Even tho' it's not your first "baby" you're waiting on, it never gets any less exciting, does it ? I watched a video of Greg and I think his Dad (??) driving Seabiscuit, expect the next one to have at least a herd of two Avantis in it. Anxious to see the end result in that Virginia sunshine! John

[unimogjohn]

It is Thursday, February 23rd. Temperature is heading to the upper 60s today. Almost spring time temperatures. Another great day to work outside until the rains come later in the day.

And here is Greg's report from late last night.

"This evening being so pleasant, I decided to begin the search for the cause of an annoying shimmy in the front end of the maroon Avanti.

Intermittent, it sometimes happens on a sweeping right hand turn. I can't remember if Steve went through the front end when he overhauled the car back in the seventies, but even if he did, that was forty years ago. Numerous inspections with the car on the jack, and although there is a little movement here or there, nothing looks worn out.

Time to replace some of the underpinnings. Tonight I removed the tie rod assemblies, measured them before assembling the new components. The old ones felt fine.

Now the tie rods are back in place, wheels back on and ready for a test run tomorrow to see if I made any difference."

[unimogjohn]

Still Thursday and early afternoon. Just sitting down in front of the TV for the NASCAR Sprint Cup shootout. Have to get the popcorn into the microwave.

But this morning I fitted a piece of thick carpet to the spare tire tray of the Jaguar. I am getting a tremendous amount of exhaust rumble behind the front driver's seat. It is to the point that on a long trip, it is going to be an issue. My first rule is to do no harm, so decided to see if a carpet in the trunk would do anything. So that is done and will take her out this afternoon. There is also a package shelf above the spare tire. I may put some matting material under that also. Here are a couple of pics.

I also may attempt to insulate the area directly behind the seats. It contains the batteries and also has no insulation of any type. I will have to think a bit to see how I might insulate that area.

I asked for some pics of the Avanti now that it is ready. Plan to pick her up on Monday and bring her home. In my mind's eye she certainly looks great.

[SeventhSon]

Looking good John! That finish is like glass! I'm am totally envious of that interior too - hope mine is all fresh and new like that someday. Enjoy the Shootout - I used to listen to those every year on the radio back when Earnhardt was alive - those were the days...

[Guest Backyardmechanic]

Both cars look sweet John Now you will not want to drive the avanti for fear that it will get mess up or let a kid set in it .

Vern

[unimogjohn]

It is Saturday, February 25th. Windy and cold, a good day to stay inside. But I am restless to start putting the green Avanti back together. So spent the morning in the front room cleaning the rubber bumperetts for the bumpers. Put on three coats of Armor All on the rubber and buffed off the residue. Then mounted them in the bumpers. They look pretty good. Not much, but it is a start.

Also received my carpet protectors yesterday. An Ebay special for $12 including shipping. Actually, they are very good quality. A good deal. Here is a pic with the new seat belts.

[SeventhSon]

Wow - 12 bucks delivered! Sounds like a deal to me! Everything's looking good John, can't wait to see the finished product!

[unimogjohn]

It is February 27th, Monday AM. Up early. Big day. I go in an hour or so to pick up the green Avanti from the shop. Really looking forward to getting her home. I will post pics when I get her home.

Talked to Greg and he recommended that I paint the inside of the bumpers with silver Rustoleum paint to avoid any rusting and peeling of the plating from the backside. Of course I will do it.

And here is Greg's weekend report.

"Not much to update.

I've been test driving the maroon Avanti after replacing the tie rods and so far so good. Hasn't shimmied. Fingers are crossed.

One of the test runs resulted in picking up a drywall screw. Greeted by a low tire Saturday morning. Right or wrong, now there's a Michelin with a plug in it. Still holding air.

Today/Sunday was pleasant enough to give the thing a bath, so I did.

Day job commotion prevented any heavy duty involvement in my projects, this weekend so I cleaned and prepped the black Avanti R-3 oil pan and also began stripping the paint on the water manifold. Both easy tasks."

[unimogjohn]

It is still Monday, early PM. Picked up the Avanti at Sterling Hot Rods. She looks great. I spent a half an hour going over the car and found nothing to complain or be concerned about. A first class job for sure. And the red interior looks fantastic.

The shop staff helped me load the car, and we headed home. Here are a couple of pics of the car on the ground at the shop waiting for my pickup.

[unimogjohn]

Made it home just fine.

I plan on leaving the car on the trailer for a couple of days so I can do some work on the undercarriage. I have a power steering hose leak so I need to find out what hose is the issue. Easy to work on when the car is up a bit more than jack stand height.

Of course I am all hyped up to do something. So started with the installation of the new red seat belts and the carpet protectors. Easy stuff first, and I know that Alice appreciates the movement of parts off the kitchen tops.

I will give you before and after shots of the installation process. I am sure that by the end you will all be bored to death.

Here is the car on the trailer at home. Before and after seat belts and carpet protectors.

Edited February 27, 2012 by unimogjohn (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

Bored yet? Well, this will be the last post for the day.

Washed the wheels really well and cleaned off all the body shop residue. Then I installed the four new hubcaps. For being repo caps from Studebaker International they are of excellent quality and fit. They are not coming off either. About broke my hands getting them on.

I must say, they add a lot to the car.

[Bill Stoneberg]

Looks real good John, though I have to say the car looks sad (if a car can have emotions) without headlights.

[old car fan]

John,looks great,i was not sure about the red interior,But i was wrong again,looks great.

[trimacar]

Are headlights the windows to a car's soul? Looks good, John, you've cornered the market on red interior green cars! I really like the way the Jag looks, and the dark green on the Avanti seems to work too....

What's red and green and goes round and round? Used to be frog in a blender, now it's John in a traffic circle!!!

My apologies in advance, I couldn't resist....best dc

[SeventhSon]

Wow - nice, just nice! You've done a fine job "refreshing" this car John!

[Roger Zimmermann]

Yes, the car is good looking with those nice wheel covers! Be careful not to scratch that nice paint job by instaling the bumpers...

You did the same as me: first install the easy parts; it's good for the soul! And, in my case, the parts slowly leaved our second lavatory!

[unimogjohn]

It is Tuesday, February 28th, PM. Worked pretty much all day on the cars. Rain is coming so moved the Jaguar to the barn. Put a new tarp down, put the Jag on top, and then put on her new cover. Should be safe and sound.

Before I pulled the Avanti off the trailer I did check the power steering hoses. Yup, one was loose. Of course you can barely get a wrench on it. But got it as tight as I could. We will see. I also lubed the front end.

I went to the local auto parts store and got two different sizes of rubber hose for the windshield washer system. The old hoses were brittle and hard. No good. So for $8 I was back in business. Took about 30 minutes to remove and put in the new hoses. And they did not split when I attached them to the bag. Yahoo.

Also put on the Avanti logo on the front and the driver's side mirror.

The engine compartment is now very dusty and dirty. A job for tomorrow as the Avanti is now in the garage.

Here are a few pics.

[unimogjohn]

It is Wednesday morning, February 29th. Having my cup of coffee reading Ben and Roger's exploits. I admire them both.

Raining hard here this morning. Glad I spent the time getting everything under cover. Today I will put on some more "bling" on the green Avanti and do a clean up of the engine bay.

I also bought a coolant recovery bottle from Studebaker International. I put a universal one in a few months, ago and it works great. But this new one has a nice wire basket for mounting. So will do some test fitting.

And I just got an update from Greg on his work.

"Still here, still doing it. Not much noteworthy. Got in a few minutes on the R-3 coolant manifold. It's been chemically depainted, tonight it went through the blast cabinet and then to the paint room for a coat of epoxy primer.

The day job has been devoted to Wright cam bearings. The four cylinder (and six) have poured babbitt in the case, the eight gets bronze castings that are machined and then a slight press fit. That's coming along too.

Photos: *coolant manifold progress

*fixture for casting the molten babbitt in place.

*the eight with bearings being test fitted."

[unimogjohn]

Still Wednesday, PM and the rain has been non-stop and coming down in buckets. Took 30 minutes between down bursts to feed the llamas and ducks. Earlier than normal, but then I don't think that they can tell time. Opps forgot, the ducks know that if it is dark it is time to go into the pen. So maybe they can know time.

I spent the morning cleaning and polishing the tail lights and back-up light housings. They are pretty good. Of course the gaskets are all shot, and one was missing from one of the tail lights, so order some from SI. So installation will have to wait for a couple of days. The lenses for the back up lights are cracked around the screw holes. I did not see replacement lenses, so will just add them to my "wish list". The old ones are functional.

I did install the hood ornament and the Studebaker emblem on the truck. The hood ornament is definitely driver quality. At some point I may replace it, but for now I will leave as is. A replacement is about $100.

[unimogjohn]

It is Thursday, March 1st. PM. Got a call from Greg this morning, he is heading to York for the Studebaker swap meet. I just have too much going on to go. But I did give him my "wish list". We will see what he finds.

Got a call this morning from the neighbor who does odd farm jobs. He is going to help me put the extension on the barn and pour concrete for the lift pad. The extension will be 24 ft wide and 16 ft long. That will give us more space for the llamas and to put some equipment under cover.

Of course he wants to start on Saturday so I am off tomorrow to pick up 6 12ft posts so we can dig the holes to put them in. Got Alice to help and we put the post hole digger on the tractor. She is all set and ready to go. That little post hole digger does a great job, but she is heavy and difficult to move around. Just about over my ability to wrestle it around.

Tomorrow I have to remove siding from the existing barn and trim up a tree to about fifteen feet. Oh joy.

But today I continued to work on the Avanti. I got the cowling vent put back in with its little washer. Had to make a gasket for the washer so I did not damage the paint. And had to paint the air cavity so if you looked straight down you did not see odd paint and fiberglass. Used some gloss black that I then used on the rear end bumper bracket and the license plate holder.

Now I have to run into town tomorrow and get some 3M adhesive for the cowl/hood gasket and install that when we get a nice warm day. Also have to pick up some glue for the carpet that goes on panels covering the front of the console.

I also installed the parking/turn signal lights. I have never liked how they fit. Not any better now. I have seen some with a different trim around the lenses. I will have to ask Greg what he has.

I did find a couple of NOS kick panels for the vent areas. They should be here in a few days and I can installing carpeting on them.

Done for the day. When I stop having fun, then I quit. Here are a couple of pics of today's work.

[unimogjohn]

Still Thursday, late PM. Sometimes I just cannot quit. I went out and checked the newly painted license plate holder. To my surprise it was dry. So decided that I would mount it back on the Avanti.

It was mounted in three rubber sealed bolts, which I had to cut off, when I removed it from the car. So I knew that I need some spacers as to not damage the new paint and fiberglass body so headed off to the hardware store and picked up 6 nylon 1/8 in washers and some SS hardware. I put the washers in between the body and the plate holder, and in back where I attached everything with a washer and a bolt.

Then I polished up the license plate, put it on, and declared victory. Enough for tonight.

[unimogjohn]

It is Friday, March 2nd, PM. With Greg off to York, PA for the Studebaker swap meet I guess that it falls to me to post today.

Early this morning headed off to Home Depot to pick up 6x6 12 foot long posts. These will form our new addition. I will use the tractor's post hole digger to hopefully go down the full distance of the digger or at least two feet. Our little mountain is sand stone from some ancient sea. Some you can drill through, but some you have to blast to get it out. That is why most houses here do not have basements.

Anyway, I got to Home Depot and went right to the posts. There were four attendants in the isle, but when I showed an interest in the posts they disappeared. Go figure. So I pulled out the six I wanted and loaded them onto the cart. I did get help loading them on the trailer.

Here are pic of the posts on the trailer, movement by tractor and then a pic of where the extension is going to be built.

I also picked up some stuff for the Avanti. Electrical shrink tubing for the headlights, 3M spray glue for some loose pieces of vinyl and carpet, paint for the inside of the bumpers, and some glue for the rubber cowl seal.

I then worked on the Avanti headlight buckets and got the new connectors installed. I soldered the ends, used shrink wrap, and then use some almost gone liquid tape. When the liquid tape is dry I will wrap with tape.

Done for the day. Raining hard outside now so I think the start of the barn raising is going to be postponed tomorrow. Storms are suppose to hit tomorrow too with lots of rain. Lots of tornadoes to the states west of us, and lots damage.

[John Byrd]

Evening, John. The car's sure looking nice, interested in the "liquid tape". I have never used it, sounds like a good idea. I learned about how important cleaning off grounding points are after we painted our Avanti, chased imaginary gremlins a while, ha ! Hope all the storms don't drop in on you folks. One more comment, the Kubota looks almost exactly like ours, seems like ours was a a 26 (?) series, front end loader, hole digger, box blade, regular blade, bush hog, finishing mower, and a home-made set of forks that attached to/in the front loader. That little tractor was one of our favorite things we had. (great engine lift/tow truck/hauler,etc, Take care, John