Avanti Rescue

[avantey]

Well, I continued the teardown tonite. Took out the other rear (right) and it all looked fine other than uneven wear on the shoes. I have decided to clean things up a bit so I stripped both backing plates out for powder coat, only the shoe adjusters are stuck and soaking now.

Since I did new lines/hoses and rebuilt all the front three years ago and have not really driven it since I think I am going to replace the rear cylinders too (one is leaking anyways). I will also rebuild or replace the master and then I have an entire new brake system front to back that should be good for a while.

Thanks to all for your thoughts and advice-

[SeventhSon]

Sounds like you're going in the right direction, Bill. It'll be interesting to see what the problem turns out to be.

Ernie - thanks for the link on the stainless steel paint. I'm certainly missing my visits to the storage shed to tinker around with the old car during the week, but right now I'm in survival mode at work. I hope to get to the unit on Sunday for a drive and to remove the steering wheel one (?) last time. For now, back to work!

[SeventhSon]

I finally got a visit in to the old Avanti - I cleaned the windows, shined some of the chrome, then fired her up and took her out. I got some premium fuel (I wish there was a Pure gas station nearby for ethanol free gas) and headed out onto the freeway, where the old girl loves to be. She rumbled along, at one point having to blast by an 18 wheeler in order to reach a safe spot to cruise. She shot straight and smooth - she loves to run. I wanted to keep driving for a couple of hundred miles but, being the ever responsible one, I headed back toward the home base. I once again developed problems with the turn signals, which is becoming a real pain in the @#$&%!*!. My jump wire setup worked well for a few runs - then today there was no more turn signals. I switched out the flasher, jiggled the wires, disconnected and re-connected the wires. Nothing helped. So, I headed back to the storage unit - I don't really like driving around without turn signals or horns, etc.

Back at the storage unit I pulled the steering wheel again (getting pretty good at this). I want to re-visit my earlier work and painting on the wheel by filing and sanding the repair spots smooth and scuffing up some spots that have peeled. Then I'll clean the wheel and give it a couple of more coats of paint. I also wanted to address the horn problem again - when I got the horn working about a year ago everything was good, the horn worked when I needed it to. After removal of the wheel for repair and painting and re-installing it, the horn sounds whenever it wants to. Not sure what I did, but I want to fix it (along with the turn signals). I will clean all the contacts on the steering wheel and in the upper column. Speaking of contacts, does anyone know if the metal clip that holds the center cap on plays a part in the whole horn connection circuit? It almost seems like it - the clip is attached with two screws with springs on them. It almost seems like there is connection "bridge" there - not sure why, but I'll have to research it.

Tonight I started the filing and sanding of the steering wheel. I made a good start - hopefully I'll have the wheel painted and ready to re-install next week sometime. As I have indicated earlier, I want to bring the old girl home and get some stuff done on her, like cleaning and an oil change, and coolant flush. Other things that are floating around my head are painting the wheels and starting to paint the door jambs and under the hood. If I'm going to do that I'm going to have to make a final decision on a color. Sometime I'm going to have to crawl under this beast and do some fixing and painting. So much yet to do....

[ErnieR]

I can't get to my shop manual right now but I think you want the plastic pieces with the fatter part against the horn rim sitting in those pockets and then the brass ring tightens down and the plastic pieces fit through the holes in the brass keeping it centered. The idea is that the brass remains just a hair away from the hub and when you press on the horn bar it just touches the hub, grounding the circuit and blowing the horn.

The screws are insulated under the head so make sure those fibre washers are intact.

If you get a click when you hit the horn button but no beep then check the relay and its wiring. It is powered all the time and the grounding at the wheel triggers it to connect and blow.

The springs on the hub clip are there so you can twist and release the cap no horn relation.

Test the contact that rides against the brass ring. It should be a ground, no juice.

I would start testing the signals at the base of the column. That's where you can eliminate the switch or column encased wiring. The flasher is in line so you have power in and out easy enough to test with a light. If you have brake lights then you should be OK at the rear. Each lamp housing needs a ground wire and they get real crusty up front and if one isn't working the other one on that side may not. The flasher is a circuit breaker and needs the right load to heat up disconnect and connect again. Sometime one non-working bulb will shut one side down completely.

I worked on my car for years in my driveway on a VERY busy street in Livingston NJ. I did everything except remove the body from the frame and hundreds of people watched the progress for years as they drove by. Then in 2005 after 10 years of work I took the car to its first official display at the annual 4th of July car show in Livingston.

There were quite a few people recognizing the car as the one they watched coming together for years as I was pulling into the very crowded parking area. So I'm sandwiched between two cars with a line trailing far behind us the ground wire for the horn decided that was the proper moment to ground itself somewhere in the hub and for a torturous amount of time my horn was blaring away as I was being guided into a parking space. I was finally able to get out of the car and yank the wires off the relay but it certainly was an embarrassing grand entrance.

Edited July 1, 2013 by ErnieR (see edit history)

[SeventhSon]

Thanks for the wealth of information, Ernie - it gives me a lot of avenues to look at. I was looking at the plastic pieces and whether they fit down in the horn bar base, but they don't seem to fit well that way. On top of the plastic piece (the wide end) there is a little lip that sticks out a tiny bit that fits in the holes in the brass plate. I'll double check the manual along with everything else before re-installation. I would like to get things sorted out so I don't have an experience like you did with the horn blaring at an inopportune time (driving by a hospital, cop car in front of me, pedestrians crossing the street).

[ErnieR]

I found my parts manual and your configuration is correct. I decided to keep it by the computer instead of in my workshop so I can avoid passing mis-information in the future. The rest of my babbling is still good:) Sorry.

[SeventhSon]

Hehe - no problem Ernie. I appreciate you taking the time to pass along your extensive experience with an Avanti to someone (me) who is fumbling his way through a rescue of one of these great old cars. It can be a challenge sometimes!

[ErnieR]

Chris, I wouldn't call your work fumbling. I have an unfair advantage in that I owned service stations in the early 70's and worked on the cars of the era with a paying consumer to satisfy. I'll admit the Avanti was new to me when I started on it but once you have the basics you can apply them on any older car.

I did have one disadvantage though, I was working on the car for years before I bought a computer and found the wealth of knowledge that was on the Internet. I still have the mark on my forehead from where I slapped myself for waiting so long to get online.

Edited July 2, 2013 by ErnieR (see edit history)

[SeventhSon]

Yep Ernie - I can't remember what we used to do before the internet. I do remember it was a lot more difficult though.

Not doing much on the old Avanti - every time I step outside for more than 5 minutes I am drenched in sweat. Maybe I'm getting older or something, but geez, this is ridiculous! When I am out in the field for my job I spend the entire day soaking wet, like I jumped in the swimming pool or something. Very uncomfortable. But, I must soldier on and see if I can hang onto this job.

It's way too humid to repaint the steering wheel, plus I haven't felt like swimming in my clothes the last few days. So I'm in a holding pattern - maybe I'll recount some of the times gone by with some of the stuff I fooled around with, back in the old days. Speaking of the old days, tonight I was reviewing some old home movies that brother Brian had put to DVD and shared with the rest of us. I got a few screen captures of the first movie, where you can see me (well, you can't really see me, and that is my sister in that one picture) washing my mother's '63 Hawk, my brother Steve mugging for the camera while standing next to Brian's '64 Avanti. Unfortunately, you can only see part of the rear window of the Avanti, but it is unmistakable. In front of the Avanti on the carport is my father's '62 Hawk. Can't really see it though - who was running the camera, anyhow?? Wasn't me, I was washing my mother's car.

Edited July 4, 2013 by SeventhSon (see edit history)

[avantey]

Chris- I second your frustration with the heat and humidity! I am getting things done slowly between the more than one daily rain storms and the persistent high humidity here in western NY. I have all the parts I need, got them in yesterday from Dave T. Tuesday night I got a lapse in storms and sandblasted the backing plates. Within fifteen minutes I swear I saw rust forming as they started to change color from newly bare metal! Last nite after work I tried putting epoxy primer on them and I will go down after this to see if that ever set up. If I can get black on them I may have a drivable Avanti by the end of the weekend. However the forecast here is also 90+ with 70% or more humidity thru the weekend so we will see. Just makes the garage uncomfortable- swimming in your clothes as you say! That plus working Friday and a family event today- just need 30 hour days.....

[SeventhSon]

That's a great idea Bill! 30 hour days - where do we petition for that? Yep, it's right uncomfortable out these days, but I'm getting the old hankering to get something done on the old car, so I expect I'll bring her home next weekend for some upkeep work. That'll give me a week or so to get the steering wheel back together and reinstalled. But, like you, I have family stuff to do - my anniversary today, my mother's 88th birthday on Saturday, plus I have to get the company truck to the shop on Saturday for ball joints and alignment. Busy, busy

[SeventhSon]

Well. I decided to move forward on the steering wheel because, well, because you can't drive the dang car without it! I could use Vice Grips but they would mess up the steering shaft, so it was time to get the paint on the wheel. I finished up my sanding job that I started the other day, utilizing my front stoop and sidewalk since that is the shady area of my place. No way I could work on it in the back, as that is under direct sun all day long - the paint spray would dry before it hit the steering wheel. After sanding things up I gave the wheel a bath to get any dust and skin oils off - I dried things off, wiped it down with paint prep and sprayed it. Done for painting - I'm just going to clean up all the horn pieces, put everything together and put the wheel back on the car. Hopefully for good - I have other things I want to move on to.

Speaking of, I've been thinking about what to get into next. I want something I can sink my teeth into on the top side of the car (can you tell I'm putting off getting underneath the old beast?). Well, the obvious thing to sink my teeth into is the paint job. It's a big job, the prep work should keep me busy for some time, and the initial expense shouldn't be too burdensome. Some sanding blocks, sandpaper, primer, not too expensive. That's right, I think I'm going to hand sand it - I hope I'm not biting off too much, but I think I can control things better with hand sanding. No machines, no water, no stripper. Just me and my old car and some sandpaper and primer. What do you think? Can I do it?

30 years ago I left my job and headed south to Florida to give a friend, James, a hand with an auto body shop he was trying to start up. He had always been into cars and was always meticulous about things, whether it was cleaning an old carb or detailing the inside of whatever the latest classic he had. So, I helped him out for awhile and picked up some knowledge from helping him out and watching his meticulous attention to detail. I don't think I could ever be that detail oriented, mostly because I'm always pressed for time. But I think I can get things into fair shape, then let someone else "shoot" the car. We'll see, but that's next, the painting of the beast. After some housekeeping next week - re-install the steering wheel, get the signal lights working, drain off coolant and replace with some fresh distilled water, and change the oil. Whew!

Tonight I floated a "trial balloon" for bringing the old car home for a month while I sanded and primed the body. The balloon landed with a thud - can't really blame my fairer half, there is a lot of paint dust that gets everywhere when sanding and nobody wants to be breathing it, especially innocent bystanders. So, looks like the storage unit will be the "paint shop" for now. That's what James used in Florida - two connected storage units.

[unimogjohn]

Chris, there is nothing to say you cannot do a section at a time and rattle can it as you go. It will certainly look better than what you have right now. And it will be easy to remove when you get around to a more professional coat. Heck you can leave it in a primer coat too, it will never rust.

[John Byrd]

Chris, be sure and use sanding blocks !!!! The wave'y bodies of the Avanti can use all the help they can get, and when it gets glossy, it'll make ya' smile !

[Landman]

Good job on the wheel Chris. Steering wheels and instruments are very important. That is what you'll be looking at all the time, when you're not looking at the road of course.

[SeventhSon]

Thanks John, John, and Pat, for the encouragement and info. It will be needed as I move forward. Speaking of, the wheels (no pun intended) start to lurch into action again - I hope I can keep the forward motion going.

This evening I removed the masking from the steering wheel and cleaned up the chrome. I polished up the brass horn plate and re-installed that along with the horn bar. Everything is back together and ready for the wheel to go back on. First I will have a look at the turn signal switch to make sure that is not the problem with the turn signals. Hope to have a drive in her by next weekend.

[avantey]

Chris- nice looking wheel! Wanna do mine? It too has some horn ring issues I think. I also know one side of the turn indicator detent piece is broken as it will not stay on by itself on a left turn.

Got under the Avanti tonite and started the reassembly of the brakes but didn't get very far. I had about 3/16" end play in both axle shafts that just did not feel right. Looked at the manual and it says .001-.006" total, I am not even in the same county folks! Started to think about it and found the outer bearing race was about 1/8" proud of the housing giving the bearing lots of play room. Tapping it back in to flush or a little better took out all end play. Now I am going to pull the axles and grease the bearings as long as I am here. Did it about fifteen years ago when I replaced the bearings but that is still only about 5000 or less miles when the service schedule says 25K. But it had weeped some grease with the race out since the axle end, grease seal etc were a little messy. Might as well do it now to replace whatever was lost rather than tear it apart again. Gotta borrow a xlide hammer on the way home tomorrow nite.

Sooner or later we will drive this bugger! In the meantime I have to get the Overland ready for our local HCCA gathering on Sunday. That will be fun as it is this car's coming out party for some of the club members. Real casual display without judging and a short tour afterwards - a fun day with brass stuff!

[SeventhSon]

Thanks Bill - maybe the second time will be the charm for that steering wheel. I hope to have a look at the turn signal switch today so I can get the steering wheel back in place before the weekend. Time for a drive! Sounds like your fun is continuing - I guess it's always something on these old cars. Speaking of, I'm going to do a search for that Overland and see what one looks like - 100+ years old!

[SeventhSon]

Ah, here's a couple of pics - interesting cooling setup for the engine. Bill, is that what your engine looks like?

[avantey]

Yes Chris- that is what the engine looks like on a '12 59T. It is a 30 HP car on a 108"WB. Attached is a picture of my car taken by a previous owner at Greenfield Village in 2007. I know it is mine by the color and the running board toolbox, and I got it in the same shape you see. Wanna buy it? It is a little small and uncomfortable for me in the driver's seat, we may trade out of it yet.

[SeventhSon]

Ha! If I buy that I might as well buy a doghouse along with it, because that's where I would be staying for the foreseeable future!

[SeventhSon]

Early this morning I received an email at work from a site construction company requesting a proposal for our services on an office building site to be developed. As I researched it I realized that it was a mile from the storage unit. Well, I'll have to make a site visit for this proposal! I headed over at lunch time and had a ride around the site - big site, lots of work. I'm not sure if we have a chance of getting it but I'll give it a go and see what happens.

Since I was only a mile from the old Avanti it would be a crime not to drop in and pay a visit. I stopped by the unit and started fooling around with the turn signal switch. I removed the screw that is in the center of the plastic canceler piece. That screw holds the turn signal lever in place also. I removed the lever, then started trying to remove the canceler but it wouldn't come free. I didn't give it too much trouble, as I didn't want to break it and then have to wait a few more days for another one to arrive. So, I reinstalled the turn signal lever and focused on cleaning the switch plate and upper column area. After scraping a bit of loose debris out I had the idea to spray some WD 40 in there. I did that and wiped things down as best I could. I think it may have helped - couldn't hurt with 50 years of crud in there.

I decided to try the turn signals again - I turned the battery cut-off on and tried the signals. Nothing. I got under the dash (well, as much as a beefy old guy can get under an Avanti dash) and fiddled around with the flasher. I got nothing out of the signals at all, which is strange because before, if I jiggled the flasher around I could get the signals to at least give me something. Hmmm...is there a fuse blown? I had a look - one fuse did look done for. I removed it - yep, it was gone. Well, that might have something to do with it - I still need to look at the wiring diagram and see which fuse and what amp it is. By this point the sweat was a flood and it was time to quit - I'll welcome cooler, dryer air whenever it wants to show up. Too uncomfortable working in this humidity, for sure.

[SeventhSon]

At lunch time today I fetched my Avanti Workshop Manual and had a look at what kind of fuses I may need. I took a copy of the page to the local NAPA store and we searched out the fuses. The 15AGC was pretty easy (that was the one I needed) but some of the others had the counter guy stumped. 14 SAE was not in their list - there was a 14 SFE. Then there is SAE 6, 1AG2, 2 1/2 SAE, on and on. I ended up getting three of the 15AGC, one 1AG, and a can of Seafoam (it's on sale!).

I headed to the storage unit and put the replacement fuse in. I hooked up my flasher with the jump wires, turned on the battery and tried the signals. Worked nicely - brought a smile to my face. Well, I thought, let's throw this steering wheel on and see if the horn works. I turned off the battery, installed the wheel, hooked up the horn, turned the battery back on and pressed the horn bar. First, the weak right side horn groaned, then the new left horn blared. And blared. I pushed back and forth on the horn bar until the horn stopped blowing. I decided that maybe the horn bar needed to "seat", or loosen up a bit. I unhooked the left horn and pressed the horn bar this way and that, up and down, back and forth. I could hear the horn relay engaging, so I used that to judge when the horn would be sounding. After a while it seemed that the horn bar settled down so I hooked up the left horn and finished installing the steering wheel. I was starting to get a hankering to take her out!

I fired the old beast up and took her out - just a work of art, she is. The old car has all the stuff - I just stood there and listened to the motor rumble and the supercharger's low whine at idle. Music to my ears. We went for a nice ride - too short of course, only about 15 miles, but I had to get back to work. But it was a happy drive, car running so nice, she loves to run. And the horn did not honk whenever I turned a corner or whenever it felt like it. So, a very productive day - I got the turn signals working, the horn working, and the touched up steering wheel back on the car. A nice day.

[SeventhSon]

I know the attached link is not about cars, but I LOVE this video. Just love it!

Chromeless Player

[SeventhSon]

A British Typhoon fighter coming in for a landing at an air show last week in England. Wish I had been there!

[SeventhSon]

Well. it's been a week since I had a visit to the storage unit. I sure wish I had a 3 car garage - maybe it's time to bring the old car home and park the daily driver outside. Nah, can't bring myself to do that either. Well, it's not too bad having the Avanti a few miles away - what is bad is this relentless heat. All of June was tropical, now we're being hammered by a heat wave. Well, it supposed to break on Saturday, so I hope to bring the car home on Sunday and do a few things to it. I was supposed to bring it home last Sunday but I got a case of laziness and just laid around having coffee. I felt guilty later.

I want to send a thank you to unimogjohn - a couple of weeks ago he sent me a link for some Avanti parts for sale. I checked it out - turns out the seller had a rear bumper. I called him and we made a deal, I sent a check, now I'm waiting on the bumper. I will post pics when it gets here, of course. I need the replacement bumper because of rust through on the left side of mine.

[SeventhSon]

I came home at lunch today, forgoing any visit to the storage unit due to this brutality we call "the weather". I worked in the field yesterday and had planned on working in the field today, but I said the heck with it. Not worth keeling over just to get a little something done, even though the site I would be working at is a hospital. So, if I keeled over they could just cart me into the emergency room and put me on ice.

When I got home at lunchtime I found a case of Pennzoil in the foyer. 'Dang, I didn't order any oil, certainly not Pennzoil', I thought. The heat must have gotten to the UPS driver and he dropped the oil on my doorstep by accident. I checked the address label, there was my name and address. I had a look at the return address - ahhhh, I know what these are, my bumper pieces! Just disguised in an old oil box. I opened it up and there were the rear bumper vertical pieces. Hmmm, just about in the same condition as the ones on my Avanti - I hadn't really expected any different. After all, they're 50 years old, just like the ones on my car. I am more concerned with the bumper itself, which is supposed to be en route to my house.

As I looked over the vertical pieces I began to have thoughts of maybe dipping my toe in the re-chroming scene. I would just do the rear bumper pieces, I swear. Right, after I saw the rear bumper re-chromed I would fee bad for the front bumper if it was all cruddy and not re-chromed and before you know it I would have well over a grand to pay off. And with my "consumer confidence" not what it used to be, I think I'll just consider the rear bumper for now. But first, I have to have a look at it once it gets here.

[SeventhSon]

We went out today for our usual "get out of the house" few hours and when we returned I was happy to see a large box propped against the front door frame. Ah, the bumper! I carried it into the garage and cut into the box. It was about what I expected, especially since the seller (the Solanki brothers) gave me a pretty good description of what to expect. There is a ding in the right side of the bumper about where the backup light would be. More disappointing, there are a couple of dents on the left "wing", which is where mine has rusted through. The wheels began to crank in my mind as I mulled over which way to go with this thing. I think I can straighten the dents out, or better yet, have a professional do it right before they re-chrome it. If I can find the right person (how many times I have said that in my life, especially the last couple of years).

So, I have a replacement bumper, such as it is. I just have to evaluate the best way to move forward - I think I will give the newly acquire unit a good cleaning (stay tuned!) and fool around with straightening the dents out. Keeping in mind - first, do no harm. A little later, after leaving the bumper in the garage, my wife spotted me perusing the Studebaker International catalog, where I was searching for the little rubber strips that mount to the vertical bumper pieces ($39.95 each).

Upon seeing me she said, "Uh oh, Chris got game again".

Hehe - yep, Chris got game, time to start up the fun again - hopefully the weather will cool down a little and make it a bit easier.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Dents in bumpers are easy to take out; the metal may be thick but usually it's rather soft.To simplify the life, I would first let dechrome the bumper, leaving the copper coat and then remove the dents and smooth the spot with a file.

[SeventhSon]

Thanks Roger - I'm not sure how to de-chrome the bumper, but I have a feeling it I will find out soon. Before I proceed I need to take some measurements. Explanation below.

I headed out early this morning to the storage unit. I have been noticing in the new plastic overflow tank some pretty rusty water. I figured it was just a by product of the years of sitting that this car did. When the car first saw the road again you might remember that the car was running hot - real hot. That has subsided and my theory is that the old coolant had evaporated years ago and left a crusty, rusty sludge in the radiator. That was causing it to run hot. As I drove it here and there (and especially after I put anti-freeze in it last fall) I believe that the old coolant was being "re-animated". So, when I started to see the rusty coolant in the overflow tank I decided to drain a couple of gallons of coolant out and replace it with distilled water. I figured I would do this a couple of more times before fall, then flush the system and put an anti-freeze mix in. So, this morning I opened the petcock and started to drain some coolant. However, the coolant was pretty green, not rusty. Hmmm...why is there rusty coolant only in the overflow tank? Maybe the rusty stuff is lighter than the anti-freeze and rises to the top? Dunno - I closed the petcock before more that a quart got out and just cleaned out the overflow tank. If rusty coolant keeps showing up there I'll keep cleaning it out. Then, this fall I'll flush the whole system.

After the coolant fun I added some Seafoam to the tank, grabbed the oil filter that unimogjohn gave me quite some time ago along with a bottle of STP I picked up a while back, headed to the gas station and got some premium. Then I headed for home to change the oil. Once at the home garage I decided to compare the rear bumper that I just got to the one on the car. It almost looks like it's different - my thoughts started to turn to how Studebaker was kind of flying by the seat of their pants with the Avanti. Stories abound about ill fitting windshields near impossible to get into place and rear windows flying out of their mooring at high speed. Could the bumpers each be "one of a kind"? I don't know, that's why I want to take some measurements, specifically the total "beam" across the length of the bumper. I can't wait to see if there is a difference, or if I was just not seeing things correctly (been known to happen!)

Without measuring the bumpers (don't ask me why I didn't do that) I proceeded to drain the oil and remove the oil filter. Before long the drain plug was back in place and the new oil filter was, too, and I was pouring fresh Valvoline Racing Oil in the crankcase. Along with a bottle of STP (hey, I'm sentimental). Next came vacuuming the floors and running some Armor All wipes around the interior. By that point I couldn't stand it anymore - I had to get out on the highway with the old rocket, especially since it had clean oil in it. I fired her up, watching the pressure gauge. After a couple of seconds (an eternity) the needle jumped up to it's usual spot and I eased her back out of the garage. I pulled the parking brake and climbed out to check things out (OK, just to listen to her idle, purring). Two things about fresh oil (in my mind, anyhow), the sound of the engine idling with clean oil and the feel of the engine running at speed with fresh oil. Brings a sense of satisfaction - like you're treating the car right. I headed out on the road and had another nice drive - she loves to run, especially with, well, you know.

[r1lark]

Chris,

FYI, I was always taught only to add STP to a hot running engine, else it would just sit in the bottom of the pan like a lump.

Might just be an ol' mechanics tale............

Keep up the good reports Chris!

[Roger Zimmermann]

Thanks Roger - I'm not sure how to de-chrome the bumper, but I have a feeling it I will find out soon.

The plater can do it for you: it's the reverse process of plating.

[unimogjohn]

Chris, I had a similar dimple on mine. When I sent it to Jerry's Chrome in GA, he fixed the dent. It was included in the quote so I do not know how much it was. As I remember it was $1200 to do every piece of the front and rear bumpers. Shipping was about $60 each way via UPS in a big wooden box that Greg had lent me.

[SeventhSon]

Thanks John, Paul and Roger (sounds like a band;)) - I stopped by the storage unit to measure the rear bumper, mostly for grins. 59 and 3/4", almost an even 5 feet. I measured the recently purchased bumper and it is.... 59 and 3/4 inches. Imagine. Haha - oh well, I never thought I would say it but I think I like my bumper better! I might cut a piece of the left wing off the one I just got and affix it to mine. I wonder if that would work??

Paul - I think I did hear that old mechanic's tale years ago - I seriously doubt that bottle of STP is a "lump" anymore, the old girl was running 190 degrees when I was driving around yesterday after the oil change!

[John Byrd]

Hey Chris, I've got a great idea and conversation starter ! Cut both ends off the "new" bumper, both off your bumper, dress the edges and after you assemble it with the gaps left showing, you can tell folks it is a one-off, 3 piece bumper made by an ex-Chevy factory guy that worked for GM from 55 through 57 making 3 piece bumpers and this one slipped through while he worked for Studebaker! It would be believed, because after all, our 289's "were Ford engines" , and that one still gets repeated. See ? You could start a whole new Studebaker manufacturing legend ! Ha !

[ErnieR]

Thanks John, Paul and Roger (sounds like a band;)) - I stopped by the storage unit to measure the rear bumper, mostly for grins. 59 and 3/4", almost an even 5 feet. I measured the recently purchased bumper and it is.... 59 and 3/4 inches. Imagine. Haha - oh well, I never thought I would say it but I think I like my bumper better! I might cut a piece of the left wing off the one I just got and affix it to mine. I wonder if that would work??

Paul - I think I did hear that old mechanic's tale years ago - I seriously doubt that bottle of STP is a "lump" anymore, the old girl was running 190 degrees when I was driving around yesterday after the oil change!

If you look closely on the inside I believe you will see where the ends were welded from the original manufacture of the bumper. It would take the rechromer less time to weld the good piece on your old bumper than to straighten the new one out, I'm sure.

ErnieR

[SeventhSon]

John Byrd - you always come up with the best ideas! People probably wouldn't believe such a story, though. However, they do believe the Ford motor thing, so you never know

Ernie - I'll ask Jerry Forrester, the chrome guy, about that. If he could attach the left side piece to mine I would much rather do that. Keep the original bumper with the original car. All it takes is money to make it happen!

[Roger Zimmermann]

Ernie - I'll ask Jerry Forrester, the chrome guy, about that. If he could attach the left side piece to mine I would much rather do that. Keep the original bumper with the original car. All it takes is money to make it happen!

I would not do that. You may end with a bumper which is too narrow or too large. Further: with old iron, you may not have the perfect weld they did at the factory and ou may see some pits at the weld. To take a bump out a bumper is a small job: that material is soft.

[ErnieR]

I watch Chip Foose cut and re-weld old bumpers all the time on his tv show. However, my guess is that the chromer would fill and work the rust hole on your bumper rather than cut up two bumpers. It's amazing what those guys can do.

[SeventhSon]

Thanks for the advice Roger. I think I'm going to take it! You're right - never know what's going to happen when you start cutting and pasting! I'm going to call Jerry Forrester and send him the bumper I just got for straightening out and re-chrome. I'll see what he says - he might fix it up pretty nice.