1952 Studebaker Commander Starlight Coupe

[neil morse]

Great job!

[Eric W]

6/20 - I did bring it to the cruise night on 6/13, where it got all the way there, stalled out, and was pushed to a spot towards the far end of the parking lot. After getting something to eat & looking at the other cars, I did get it started again & got it home. After some thought, I checked the oil - quite low after dripping away in that guy's yard for 7 months. Added oil & brought it to the cruise night last night. Still slow to start after it's hot, but there & back no problems. I ordered the clips for the hood scripts & pulled the bumper guards front & rear. I have another rear bumper that I picked up at a Studebaker-specific estate sale. Brought the bumper & guards to the chrome shop today. The back bumper & guards as-is are a real letdown with the new paint.

[John S.]

Eric, the Studebaker looks great. .Had a similar problem with my Studebaker. I had the carb, and fuel pump rebuilt.also had the gas tank cleaned and sealed. She runs fine now. John

[r1lark]

6 hours ago, Eric W said:

The back bumper & guards as-is are a real letdown with the new paint.

 

That's the way it always is.........almost a never-ending ordeal!

 

By the way Eric, I'm jealous - such a beautiful Studebaker. I always had a soft spot for '52s although I never had one.

[Eric W]

Good point, John. I'll see if I can determine the exact carb & get a rebuild kit from The Carburetor Shop. I got kits from them for both of the '51 Buicks with good results. Remade the power lead for the license plate light this morning. I had cut that wire to pull the trunk - there's no inline bullet connector, at least not that I found. While doing this, I noticed the right tail light was out. Right brake light is good, so maybe a burned bulb. Turned out it just needed to be cycled in the socket some and it came back to life. The Thursday cruise "night" typically starts as soon as I can get there after work (before sundown), but going home I need complete working lights.

[dei]

Hi,

I've popped in now and then to watch your progress and like what you have done with your car. Driving it is as much of the joy as the journey getting there in my opinion so have fun!

 

I was at our weekly cruise-in on Monday and thought you might like to see this Stude. 

 

The owner has redone it to all stock keeping the flat head 6 and has the swamp cooler which is so unique.

 

He told the story of finding the cooler at a swap meet and with some of the original paint redid it.

First time he put it on the car and went for a ride all the bugs and crap flew inside his nice new interior so had to pull over and take it off... LOL

He said it is cleaned out and has some effect now. 

 

Keep on movin' on.

[Eric W]

Ok, 5 weeks on the chrome. I think they had it done last week sometime, but I was out of town. They've still got one part that they weren't happy with, so I haven't installed any of the 4 bumper guards that I had done for the front. The rear parts came out great, though. Those bumper over-rides were all crunched up, and they push the dents back out & smooth it over. They did have to cut out the mounting brackets & weld them back in. They told me they would do this before they started. They said the last part would complete its rework tomorrow, if I can find time to get it (I have to leave work early to make their operating hours). They did show me the part in nickel; all that's left is the chrome & polish. Royal Plating in Tucson.

[John S.]

EricW, the car looks great. Real nice work. John

[r1lark]

Bumper and guards look really nice Eric. Your hard work is really paying off on this car!

[Eric W]

Thanks - I was able to pick up the last part from the chrome shop yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to put them on. Even though the front guards weren't what I'd call terrible before, it does make a big difference to see perfect new finish on there. That back bumper was an estate sale find for about $30. Of course, the chrome work is a lot more than that. But it was very straight, with just one small area where the bottom edge was dented a little. That's how I saw the part - they may have seen many more areas that needed a little tweaking. But overall, much more straight than the bumper I removed, which had obviously had some sort of impact.

[Eric W]

Ok, got the front guards on & took it down the street for some better photos.

[95Cardinal]

It's looking GREAT!

[Eric W]

Drove for a while today - got to the better photo spot, but need to pass by there again when the sun is lower...

[Lahti35]

Looking good!

 

[r1lark]

Looks like Eric has his Commander up for sale on Craigslist:  https://tucson.craigslist.org/cto/d/cortaro-1952-studebaker-commander/7043689739.html

 

Good luck on the sale Eric! You have really done a lot of nice work to this car.

[mike6024]

Oh, no

[Eric W]

Some interest, but nobody showing up with money. Starter died in February. Pulled that & sent it for rebuild, then realized I wouldn't have it for the once every OTHER year Studebaker-only show in Tucson. So called the local Studebaker parts-pile guy, and he had the starter I needed. Got that on & going with 6 days to the show. Made the show today. Parked across from another 1952 Commander Starlight Coupe that drove down from Phoenix (see first photo). Same guy who sold me the hood emblem. Need to sell at some point because I've got an idea for another project, but no more garage space...

[Eric W]

And then there was this worldwide pandemic, and the economy crashed, so I think this car is trying to stay with me...

 

Got the starter back from the rebuilder. Decided to swap it in to see if it works better than the one that's on there. Got it mostly into place and decided it might not be right for the car. I didn't take a good picture before I sent it off, so I'm not sure the same one came back. The end that goes into the bellhousing looks a lot bigger than the one that I got from the parts guy. He said the automatic transmissions had a different end to engage the flywheel, so I backed it back out and put the smaller one back. In looking at the Studebaker shop manual, it looks like the one I have on the car is for the 6-cylinder, and the one I had rebuilt looks correct for the 8-cylinder, which this car has. Regardless, trying to start the car after all this, hitting the start button just caused a click from the solenoid, and nothing further. Opening the door, the dash light was shorted. I'd seen this before (recently) - jiggle the bundle of old crap wires by the solenoid and the short might clear. It didn't after a couple of tries. This rats nest of multiple generations of wiring add-ons finally brought the car down.

 

Thought about trying to pick through the rats nest, and between the crumbly insulation and bits of bare wire showing through, I figured its time to break out that wire harness kit that I'd found in the parts car. Here's some photos. 3rd photo - almost none of those wires in the middle are stock - mostly added to patch and bypass things over time. Got the original wiring out from the engine compartment and from behind the dash. Got new wires in for the headlights and front marker / turn signals. Got the new harness through the firewall, then realized I need to thread it through the firewall cover plate, so it will come back out tomorrow. This will be good when its over because the gauge cluster didn't light up and the headlights were rigged to an add-on headlight switch below the dash, among other things. Weird thing about this vintage of Studebaker wiring - there's no fuse panel & no fuses. I'm not sure where the smoke is supposed to come out.

Edited March 22, 2020 by Eric W
text edit (see edit history)

[r1lark]

Big job for sure Eric, but the peace of mind having a good wiring system will be well worth it. 

 

Is your original headlight switch bad? I may have a NOS one if you are looking for one. 

 

[Eric W]

Thanks - I got a headlight switch out of the parts car. Today finished cleaning up & repainting the firewall cover plate. Got the harness pulled back out and strung through the cover plate, then harness back in place and firewall opening closed up. Made the connections under the hood for front lights, solenoid, ignition coil, temperature gauge, and generator. Will need to get under the car to pull the remaining old wiring for the transmission overdrive, the high/low beam switch, brake light switch, and the harness to the rear lights. It's looking like the harness I have was for the automatic transmission, given that there's no overdrive wiring, and the start switch lead ends up behind the dashboard, so I might need to make a few wires. Got the instruments back in - connections for AMP, Temp, oil pressure, fuel gauge, and the gauge pod illumination. Got the dash courtesy light leads rebuilt, that light socket cleaned up and reinstalled (it's just above the speedometer, and lights up when either door is opened).

 

Swapped out light sockets for the instrument illumination - the stock lights use a smaller bulb on a very deep socket to get the light source up inside the gauge, so the light is reflected back down onto the face of the gauges. Pretty easy to cut the lead, drop the supplied socket off, thread the lead through the original socket, and solder the lead back together. Moving on to the speedometer - it's got the high beam indicator light, turn signal repeaters, the gauge illumination, and the speedometer cable. This harness has both right and left turn signals with the same color of wire, so I may be swapping things around when there's power. There's also a circuit breaker on a separate bracket between the 4-gauge pod and the speedometer - seems like that's the "fuse" for several things.

 

Connected up the ignition key and headlight switch. Can't figure out which terminal on the headlight switch is for the gauge illumination, but I can work that out when there's power.

 

This is going a lot quicker than the '51 Buick, but that car was missing all of the original wires under the hood, and I remade those wires from raw stock and the wiring diagram rather than having a harness kit. Since the Buick ran the rear lights from the right side of the dashboard, across the right-side floor, around the front seat, along the driveshaft hump, then under the backseat and into the trunk, there was a lot less going down the firewall than in the Studebaker. Studebaker runs the rear lights down the firewall in the engine compartment and back along the frame from there. This harness kit has been pretty good - a couple of terminals to cut off and switch for different ones, but overall seems to be fitting pretty well.

[Eric W]

Some photos - cover plate after overnight in Evap-o-Rust, scotchbrited & painted. The section of harness fed through the cover plate. Cover plate in place. Branch looping under - just the way this harness was made. Plenty of length there.

 

Front light wiring & closer up. Still need to put the horn relay back. Routing at the terminal block wasn't exactly what I wanted, but I was working with the lengths & terminals provided.

 

Gauges going back in. With the gauges out, took the opportunity to go over the panel with Simichrome to shine it up some.

[Eric W]

Got back to it today. Tried adding the battery to see what lights would work. Turns out - none. This harness has so much resistance, it's sucking up all the power within itself. About 3v loss on the big wire between the voltage regulator and the solenoid. This goes through the ammeter, but I checked no detectable loss through the ammeter itself. On the smaller wires out to the front marker lights, voltage is almost nothing. Ordered a new harness from Studebaker Int'l, and started backing this one out. Hopefully their harness has a couple more pounds of copper than this one. Got the dash disassembled / disconnected.

[Jeff Perkins / Mn]

After fighting with the wiring on my ‘48 Packard for a year I “bit the bullitt” and bought a new wiring harness from Rhode Island Wiring.....expensive but it solved all electric issues and I never had an electical issue after that. Good move.....

[Eric W]

Yes, this mystery harness I was working with didn't seem to be all that great quality - wires looked heavy enough, but when I saw what I was pulling out, I wasn't so sure. When I connected the battery and started some measurements, that pretty well confirmed this harness isn't adequate. Given Studebaker International is a major supplier, I'm counting on them to know what they're doing. I'll add some more photos of today's progress. I got the nasty train wreck of old wires out from the bottom end of the engine compartment.

 

First photo - what came out - bottom harness went to the overdrive solenoid. Middle is to the starter switch (at bottom of clutch pedal throw) and to the hi/lo beam headlights. Upper is to the rear lights / brake light switch.

Next photo - before. Last photo - old wires out from lower firewall & around the steering column.

Edited March 28, 2020 by Eric W
added photos (see edit history)

[Eric W]

Got back to removing the old wiring. Wanted to pull the section between the frame and the brake master cylinder. First photo is to remind me what the brake master looks like all fasteners in place. Pull the 2 big bolts that hold the master to the frame, so the cylinder can shift around a little to pull the wires down and back. Second photo - the portion of harness released. Don't really need to go farther back than this until the replacement harness is delivered - I can see the rest of the harness on the frame all the way back with not really anything in the way of pulling it out.

[Eric W]

Still waiting for the replacement harness. Backed out this mystery replacement one today - given the weather forecast, I think we're about done with cool mornings until October. Would have been nice for the harness to be here now so I could get this done before it's blazing hot, but at least got the car a little more ready for the new harness.

[Eric W]

Turns out getting ready was just in time. The replacement harness came in yesterday's mail. So last night, I swapped over a couple of the light sockets that this new harness has a note must be re-used. This harness is made per the original wire color coding, so the diagram in the factory shop manual is used to guide the installation. Couple things I had to transfer from that other harness kit - turn signal wiring and the dome light leads. Per the factory manual, turn signals were an option, but the place I ordered from doesn't seem to sell a turn signal kit. I thought about just zip tying the turn signal leads, but I have the no-adhesive vinyl wire wrap product from when I made up the '51 Buick harness, so I wrapped the turn signal leads in so there's not strapped-on wires. I didn't worry about wrapping the portion of the harness that's behind the instruments - can't see that anyway, but I did zip tie those wires on to the main loom so there's not loose wires. Got the forward harness connected under the hood and back through the firewall.

Photo 1 - harness kit as received

Photo 2 - disassembling the other harness kit to collect the turn signal and dome light wires

Photo 3 - new harness kit with turn signal wires zip tied on

Photo 4 - new harness kit with turn signal wires vinyl wrapped and the firewall cover plate in place - everything on the left of the plate is carefully threaded through the plate.

Photos 5, 6, 7 - harness going into the car

 

[Eric W]

Very frustrating afternoon. It would power for a couple of seconds, then all would go dead. What is it? Finally thought it might be the battery letting me down. Got another battery. From there, it was quick to get the front marker lights, high- and low-beam headlights, horn, ignition, and started it briefly - then remembered the oil pressure gauge (with a live oil pipe) wasn't connected. Dribbled some oil onto the floor. Ran the harness to the rear - around the brake master, connected brake light switch, back along the frame to the gas tank lead, over top of the frame, and out just in front of the rear bumper where the rear lights pick up. I'll rebuild the rear light sockets, since those conductors are probably bare and not shorted just by luck at this point.

 

2nd photo - horn leads just taped together - don't have the right terminals, but figured out what connects to what to get sound again.

 

[Eric W]

Frustration continues. Seems like it wasn't the battery. Still doing the works a little, then dead. Traced it to the ignition key switch. Got another one from the local store. Doesn't look so good compared with stock, but it's easy to change out if I find another stock one or figure out how to fix the one I have.

 

Figured out the turn signals. BIG frustration on that one. 8 wires from the turn signal harness. What are they for? They look more recent than the rest of the car, so this harness must have been changed at some point. 2 of the wires were cut shorter like they're not used / not needed. Figured out the brake light line has to go IN to the turn signal switch. Another line in from the flasher itself. The 4 lines out are fronts / rears / rights / lefts. How many ways to get that wrong? Ok, they're color coded - 2 green, 2 orange. 2 with black stripe, 2 without. First, figure out which lines from the new harness under the hood go to right and left corner lights. Rear is easy because that was coded per the wiring diagram. Front - 2 yellow wires. Ok, figured out right & left, but the bundle is too small under the dash for labelling. Hooked up some guess of this orange/green/stripe/nostripe. Looks like brake lights are on the front. Wrote down how it was connected. Switched something - now got a short (no light), right rear turn signal, and no brake lights at all. What the heck happened? Switched something back. Picked through several combinations of switchings and got the right turn signal / right brake light correct, but left is switched front to rear. Still not sure if it's orange / green for right / left, or stripe / no stripe for right left. Wrote it all out again. Switched something. This did NOT move the lights from front to rear. Connected lights one corner at a time. Finally got it. Of course, about 3 of the crimp-on spades pulled off and had to be reinstalled in all this. But outside lights and the dash repeaters are all good.

 

Connected the instrument lights (all both of them) to the tail light terminal on the headlight switch because the instrument light terminal didn't work. Instrument brightness won't be adjustable, but at least it won't be dark. Got the oil line back onto the oil gauge, and got the left combination gauge into the dash. Somewhere in all this the map/entry light above the speedometer burned out, so I'm leaving the speedometer out until I find another bulb. It's a 6v, single filament, but larger than the gauge or turn signal repeater bulbs. Got the manually-switched overdrive wire re-run down the firewall & under the car.

 

Still to do - new wires on the horns / connect horns to horn relay.

New wire in the trunk for the license plate light.

Drop gas tank & reconnect fuel gauge.

Bulb for map light, reinstall map light, reinstall speedometer & the blank gauge (where optional clock would go).

Reinstall heater/defroster switch - this also has the hanger bracket for the turn signal flasher.

If I'm real ambitious, reconnect right door light switch to turn on the map light. I can't figure out how to get the radio back out. I put that radio in, but have no clue how to get it to drop down out of the dash again. I've beat on it and shaken it pretty good in frustration, and it doesn't budge. Yes, there's a wingnut at the bottom/back, and that's off, but there's something else I either never saw or don't remember.

[Eric W]

Got the horns as far as I could. Pulled the radiator shroud to solder new leads to the horns themselves - the part of the horn leads outside of the shroud was crumbled away and exposed conductor. Need another trip to the store for a blade terminal to finish them. Got the license plate light working. Pulled the trunk emblem / license plate holder off - this is the only way to access the bulb! I thought it was burned out, but I just couldn't see it in the daytime. Also took the opportunity to clean the sandy dust out from inside of the license light lens - that was blocking a lot of the light from the bulb as well. Fuel gauge - checked the shop manual, and it said "pry off cover in trunk to access fuel level sender". See photos below - MUCH easier than drop the tank. Will need to order a bulb for that map light, but did pull the socket out of the dash again to confirm that bulb is burned out. Before/after photos of firewall area. Drove it around the neighborhood to confirm all gauges working and to get it out of the garage to sweep the floor.

 

[r1lark]

Progress! Glad this new harness is working out well.

[Eric W]

Thanks - got the terminal for the horn lead installed, found the needed under-dash bulb in the dome light at the back of the roof (didn't replace that wire through the headliner anyway), got the speedometer and blank gauge reinstalled, and installed the heater switch. Had to make up 2 leads for that one. Pulled tools out from all over everywhere & vacuumed. Drove it around - seems to be all good. Also need to try at night to see how the lights look. Photos - tools needed; dash reassembled.

Edited April 26, 2020 by Eric W
ADD PHOTOS (see edit history)

[Eric W]

Tried to start again, and as soon as I hit the starter button, it didn't go. Spent the weekend taking things apart. Figured maybe the starter had died - this was a used one of unknown history. Pulled the starter out. Tried to put in the rebuilt one, but the drive gear doesn't push back enough into the housing. I think the starter rebuilder was trying to do me a favor by replacing that gear, but it's now the wrong one. It clearly does not push back enough to clear the engine's flywheel teeth. That was a hassle to get up in there, as the V8 starter is quite a bit longer than the 6-cylinder one. (The used one that I got is for the 6 cylinder, but I didn't know that at the time.)

 

Extreme frustration. The dash light would light, then I'd touch a switch, and it would go dark. I disassembled the dashboard again - pull the blank-off gauge, pull the speedometer. Start measuring voltages. Looks like a short somewhere, as there was .08 to .12 volts - not enough to light a light or blow the horn, but there's voltage there. Thought maybe the circuit breaker (mounts between the gauges) was blown, but it showed continuity.

 

I tried checking the starters. Jumper cables at the battery down to loose starters on the floor. Nothing. Had to leave it for a while (for the hot part of the day). It rained today, and cooled off about 10 deg., so I went back out.

 

I had the idea that I need to disconnect the Ground Strap from the battery to the engine. If there's something short in the car itself, need that disconnected to check the starters.

 

With the ground strap off, the battery drove both starters just fine. So the starters are both good.

 

What's left of the old wiring that could be shorting? Maybe something for the overdrive, the heater and defroster blowers, and the windshield wipers. Checked the blowers - both blowing ok. Wipers - not working. Can't even get to the wiper because I can't figure out how to get the radio back out from behind the dash, and the wiper switch is above the radio. Overdrive - probably not. I replaced the hot lead from the relay to the overdrive itself - shouldn't be anything else with power on it.

 

Pushed on sections of the blower motor and wiper leads. Dash light is lighting up fine. Headlights - good. Fuel pump good.

 

Put the 6-cylinder starter back in. Nothing. I'd changed the solenoid last week, figuring I'd fried the one from Studebaker Int'l. The local auto parts warehouse that I've found has the most 6v stuff had this solenoid for about 1/3 the cost from the Studebaker place, (1/2 the cost and no shipping). Since I'm uncertain about anything, changed the solenoid from the newest one from FLAPS (favorite local auto parts store) back to the one from the Studebaker place. Done with that, it starts right up.

 

So I think I ultimately need to replace the blower motor and wiper motor wiring, but it's working again now. Need to put the gauge and gauge blank back into the dash - but might leaving them out for now to work on the blower & wiper leads.

[SeventhSon]

Eric, have you replaced the voltage regulator?

[Eric W]

No, and I'd rather not. Studebaker Int'l does sell modern electronic replacements that look like the original, if it comes to that. I did replace the wiper wiring today. That started with re-discovering the other 2 fasteners that secure the radio, and getting the radio out of the way. It has to be out to access the interior side of the wiper motor mounting fasteners, to disconnect the wiper linkage from the wiper motor, and to access the wiper on/off switch.

 

I think that the wiper wiring was the source of the intermittent short, as I found several spots of bare conductor / crumbled insulation. I brought the replacement wire as far back into the wiper motor as I could - inside the cover. I got the new wires installed, and checked the wiper motor loose, just touching the leads to the battery. Works fine, either polarity. Got it installed, turned it on, and dead short. Polarity matters when it's installed. So switched the leads and it works fine. The bottom fastener for the wiper motor has absurdly poor access to the Phillips screw head (2nd photo, the screw next to the new wires). It's the one that mounts to the flange on the firewall. To access, I put a #2 Phillips hex driver in a 1/4" box end wrench to hold the screw head, and accessed the 3/8" nut from below.

 

Since the short wasn't from the ignition switch, I removed that aftermarket switch (3rd photo) and put the original one back in.

 

Now the hose from the defroster blower to the defroster manifold has fallen off, and I can't get it to stay. This also is above the radio, so I'm leaving the dash apart and the radio out until I can get a new hose in there.

[r1lark]

The trials and tribulations of an old car. 

 

Eric, you might try using a tie-wrap around the defroster hose  as a 'clamp'. 

[Eric W]

The hose itself is too dried up - it has no give to go back over the metal tubes. Just need a new piece of hose.

[Eric W]

I didn't write anything following because it's been too frustrating. After fixing the wiper wire, I took the car out, drove around some, and everything was working (even with the speedometer and its 4 light bulbs out). Parked in the driveway, washed the tires. Then started it and pulled it in. Next day, tried to start again, starter cranked for about a second then stopped. Since then, everything electrical in the car has been hard dead. I mean EVERYTHING. First thing I pulled the starter lead off the solenoid in case the starter's shorted or something - nothing from the starter is feeding back into anything.

 

I've pulled the dash back apart, pulled all circuits off of everything. Pulled the gauges out. Disconnected lights, horns. Pulled the headlight switch. Pulled the ignition switch. Best I can get is hard wiring the input from the firewall side past the ammeter to the lead that feeds these four items: ignition key, headlight switch, aux power (drives the brake lights & dome light through a circuit breaker - always hot), and the lead out to the horn. But connect ANY of that (all-new wiring) to anything further, and get nothing. Usually you can add a light bulb or the horn or something one at a time, and it works. But this has been hard dead. Changed the solenoid (again - I now have four in rotation - one from Studebaker Int'l, one from Merle's, one from Tractor Supply, and the old one that was in the car - they're all 6V positive-ground solenoids - tractor parts). I believe this car has decided its time on earth as a car is over.

 

Maybe it's saying - drop in the SBC, some more modern trans, and rewire (again) with a complete new kit that's 12V, negative ground, and doesn't have anything to do with what's in the car now...

[Roger Zimmermann]

Do you still have 6V at the battery? Maybe you had some parasite loss, like a bulb or two or a relay  staying closed and so on. 

[Eric W]

It is. Measures about 6.35 - 6.42 V at the battery, and again at the end of the (new) wires that I connect to it. The connection is like this: Battery to solenoid to new wiring to leads through firewall to ammeter. Solenoid is only holding the battery cable to the wire that goes through the firewall - the other 2 terminals of the solenoid are not connected to anything. Bypassed the ammeter (in case it's contributing), and connected that lead direct to the downstream side of the ammeter. This goes to 4 things: ignition switch, headlight switch, horn, and I'll call it Aux. Aux goes to brake light and dome light, so 2 things you want hot all the time without the key. None of these is connected at this point - ignition, headlights, horn, or Aux.

 

Since I wrote this morning, I did connect the ignition switch lead to the wire out to the ignition coil - getting good 6.4V at ignition coil - this is probably what let me drive home if this short was developing. For whatever reason, the ignition coil does not act like it's shorted out. But everything else in the car does.

 

I did disconnect the voltage regulator. It's sitting there on its own, totally isolated, not contributing or drawing anything. Horns are disconnected. Aux electric fuel pump is disconnected. Heater/defroster fans are disconnected. All lights are disconnected. Fuel gauge, ammeter, temp sensor - all disconnected. Dome light, brake lights - disconnected. Turn signal flasher - pulled out, so turn signals are dead. There's no radio in the car. Cigar lighter - in the dash, but never connected to anything. I could drop the highbeam / lowbeam switch out from under the floor again, but the lights switch is unpowered, so no power going to the high/low switch. Connect ANYTHING to power, and it acts like a short.