1963 Studebaker station wagon

[Gary_Ash]

Back about 2007, I acquired a 1963 Studebaker station wagon that had been delivered new on Martha's Vineyard, MA by the small, island dealer to a family that summered on the island. For 25 years, the family used the car all summer to go to the beach, get the groceries, ferry the kids around, and stored the car in the garage all winter.  Eventually, the car got too old and rusty, was parked in the garage in back of the house for 18 years until the owners died and the car got pushed to the curb with a "Free" sign.  As it happened, my wife and I had just gotten off the ferry driving our 1965 Studebaker Wagonaire, saw the car, and the two guys who had just claimed it.  We stopped and talked, exchanged contact info, and left them to their "prize".  Two years later, one of them called me, said if I wanted the car, I could have it free.  Not wanting to send a Studebaker to scrap, I sent a roll-back truck to the island, hauled the car back to my house, and for the $800 tow bill, I had a free car.

 

I started restoration work on the new-to-me wagon but later got diverted by my 1932 Studebaker Indy car project that took 12 years.  But, here I am with time on my hands again, a pile of parts from the '63 wagon, and a 16 year old grandson who would just love to have any kind of car (he says).  In the previous work, I pulled much of the car apart.  The front fenders were rotted at the headlight brows and rear edges, the rocker panels and floors were rotted 12 inches in, the B pillar on the passenger side wasn't attached at the floor level, and the rear quarters were rusted through about 8 inches up from the bottom.  Technically, the '63 wagon is not a Wagonaire because it doesn't have a sliding roof panel like my '65 car.  The '63 is called a Standard, was basically the bottom-end fleet model with no stainless trim, rubber floor mats, one sunvisor.

 

My blue 1965 Wagonaire and the gold '63 wagon on Martha's Vineyard.

 

The bottoms of the rear quarters were cut off to remove the rusty parts.

 

There wasn't any good floor metal or rocker panels.  New metal was hand-formed and welded in.

 

Gradually, I welded in metal to attach new rocker panels and floor patches.  I hand-formed the bottoms for the rear quarters, welded them on, and began applying body filler.  Dents and holes in the doors were attended to.  New front fenders in fiberglass were obtained and one was fitted.  The OHV 6-cylinder engine was rebuilt and installed.  The front suspension was rebuilt and new spring shackles installed in the rear, new brakes all around.  Then, however, work stopped and the car gathered dust for the last six years as I spent exclusively on the Indy car.  But now, I've started putting a few things back together.  I didn't want to start sanding body filler next to the Indy car, so I finally decided I can re-install the gas tank, rebuild the carburetor, and get the car running enough to move it in and out of the garage for the dirty work.  So, the adventure resumes.  Stay tuned!

 

New floors welded in and painted.

 

Some of the work on the body shell.  The tailgate opening still needs work.

 

Rebuilt engine and clutch installed with NOS overdrive transmission. 

 

How things looked back about 2015 when work on the wagon halted as the Indy car took shape.  The mannequin is Larkina, the shop manager and security guard.

 

 

[neil morse]

Please continue!  Who makes fiberglass fenders for a '63 Lark?

[Gary_Ash]

Studebaker International is currently selling many fiberglass parts, including 1961-63 fenders for Lark types and for Champ trucks, $250 each.  I'd rather have steel, but we take what we can get.  No NOS fenders for these years around.  The 1959-60 Lark fenders are a little different at the bottom edge where they meet the doors/rocker panels.  My fenders came from a batch made very long ago for the late Dan Webber.  Fiberglass fenders, running boards, and stake pockets for M and R series trucks are made by Class Glass Performance, who also makes complete 1953 Studebaker bodies and other pieces.

 

Page from Studebaker International catalog.

 

Fiberglass front fender in place after extensive trimming of rear flange.  Hopefully, fenders now offered by Studebaker International have better dimensional control of the flanges.

 

Fiberglass fender in place over inner fender.  I had drilled out about 25 spot welds from the original steel fender and welded up the holes, will have to use sheet metal screws or pop rivets to attach fiberglass to steel inner fender.

 

[Walt G]

Gary, thanks for sharing this GREAT.

Walt

[Roger Zimmermann]

Interesting job. I'm amazed that the front fenders were welded to the structure...In the fifties, Studebaker had even removable rear quarters!

[Luv2Wrench]

That's a great looking car!!  While sacrilegious to say so here... for a 16 year old, lowering that a tad, tinting the windows and with the right wheel/tire combo, that would be a sweet ride.  When he's 18 he can LS swap it, upgrade brakes and so on an so forth.  OK... I'll stop before I get banned.

 

[Bloo]

If I'm not mistaken, the fenders are not welded to the structure, just welded to the inner fenders and then the whole fender assembly bolts on. As for the rear, I suspect the only reason the quarters are not removable is because it is a wagon.

 

Edited November 18, 2021 by Bloo (see edit history)

[Gary_Ash]

Bloo is correct that the front fenders were welded to the inner fenders, not to the rest of the body.  At the factory, they bolted together the front fenders with inners, the nose piece with headlights, and the radiator, must have used a big fixture to align everything.  For the 1960 Larks, the nose assembly was dropped down onto the chassis with body, then the hood installed and "aligned".  Photos of car assembly from 1965 from the Hamilton, Canada factory show the hood on the body before it was dropped onto the chassis, not sure when the change was made.  My plan is to get the fiberglass fenders primed and painted on the back side, then mount them, followed by the hood.  The hood is currently in primer, should be painted on the back side and edges before installation.  The rear quarters on Studebaker station wagons are part of one large, spot-welded assembly that includes the rear window openings.  Outer skins were available in the past, but no longer, and it's a major cut-and-weld job to mount new skins, as was done back in 1996 on my '65 Wagonaire. 

 

I've been looking through the pile of parts I took off 10-14 years ago.  Fortunately, I bagged and marked most of it, though not all.  This will be a real memory test for an old guy!  For now, I'll work towards mounting all the accessories on the engine block, hooking up the overdrive transmission, and re-mounting the gas tank.  Some years back, the gas tank in my '65 Wagonaire collapsed under vacuum because I had a non-vented cap on it.  Who knew that sedan caps were unvented but wagon caps needed to be vented?  The caps look alike.  Anyway, I swapped the tank from the '63 into the '65 as a quick fix, then proceeded to re-inflate the collapsed tank using water pressure from a garden hose.  It came out pretty good, may still be a little short on capacity but will be OK.  

 

Test fitting the inner fender after welding in new metal to replace rusty bits.  The inners were then primed and painted.

 

Factory photo showing the nose of a 1960 Lark being dropped onto the body.  The front end attaches to the body with a bunch of bolts into the cowl through the flanges at the rear of fenders.

 

Factory photo of hood alignment: two guys had big hammers and steel bar drifts.

 

The body drop in Hamilton in 1965 with the hood already attached to the body.

 

The collapsed gas tank being re-inflated using about 35 psi water pressure from the garden hose.

 

 

[Walt G]

Excellent photo documentation!  It makes the printed word description of what is going on , what was done SO much clearer to understand since all of us do not have a car that is the same to look at. All this coming from an author of many stories and history about cars and local history - But I was also taught art as I have mentioned so visual evidence of what happened blends will with the narrative! Thank you again Gary. Your on going efforts on all accounts are a real education and treasure for us all.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Thanks for the pictures! Without any doubt, a big hammer is the best tool!

[Billy Kingsley]

Great to see a Studebaker wagon getting restored! And a low end model at that. Looking forward very much to see future progress. 

[Gary_Ash]

It's amazing how rusty this car was.  Twenty-five years of active life on Martha's Vineyard took its toll, probably because the car had been driven on the salty beach frequently.  I also swear that Studebaker trained young engineers on how to design parts that would rust rapidly, like spot welding three thicknesses of unpainted sheet metal together with easy access for water and no way to drain.  When I cut the bottoms off the rear quarters, I could then see how high up the rust went.  As I don't have a lift, I spent many hours on my back sawing out rusty bits - which fell into my eyes - and welding in new metal.  As old, rusty metal just burns up when you try to weld to it, a lot of cutting had to be done to find solid steel.  And, of course, MIG welding overhead in tight spaces leads to droplets of molten steel falling down your sleeve - ouch!  I did eventually buy welding gloves with long cuffs.

 

To make new bottoms, I took patterns from my 1965 Wagonaire and traced them onto 22 gauge (0.030" thick) steel sheet. I would have preferred to use 20 gauge (0.035"), but steel gets stiff as it gets thicker and I needed to hand-form the parts.  I laid a piece of steel pipe across a saw horse and used my hands and arms to bend in the radius.  A little snipping and ViseGrip work on the ends created the flanges to weld on the pieces at the back.  I used a Harbor Freight pneumatic flanging tool to slightly offset the upper edge of the patch to get a flat overlapped joint, then used sheet metal screws to hold the patch in place for welding.  Lots of sealer and paint were used on the back side of the patch to try to prevent future rust.  Bondo filled in the gaps on the outside and let me adjust the shape a little.  This is never going to be a show car, just trying to make a decent driver.

 

Bottom  of right rear quarter cut away, inner panel rust exposed.

 

Forming the new quarter bottoms over a pipe by hand.

 

Quarter panel patch screwed in place for welding.  The screws were removed as I welded along the seam.  Another small piece was added at the back.

 

Quarter panel patch welded and filled. 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2021 by Gary_Ash (see edit history)

[Luv2Wrench]

With a partially collapsed gas tank you'll be saving money each time you fill it up.

 

Wonderful job on the wagon, I really like the car.

 

[Andy J]

Gary_Ash,your methods of repair are exactly what I am doing,a vise,hammers,vice-grips,pipes,and an anvil.I'm on my first car to restore and I'm loving it!Cutting out rusted sheet metal,forming,and welding are new to me,but I'm getting the hang of it.I do have a two post lift which has been the best thing I've ever bought,as far as cars are concerned.If you only do one car,it's worth it.I'm looking at 70 my next birthday and I don't squat,crawl,and bend over like I used to.

[Gary_Ash]

I found where I had stored the gas tank, dragged it over to the car.  One look at the old rubber gasket on the fuel sensor flange told me I needed to replace it.  It must have been some rubber that wasn't ready for ethanol, though the float is OK for modern fuel.  When did they start putting ethanol into gas at 10% concentration?  I made a cork gasket, coated all the surfaces with Permatex Aviation-grade sealer (Type 3) and put it back together.  I needed about 8 inches worth of 2-1/4" fuel filler hose, couldn't find any in stock locally, ordered a piece from Studebaker International on their web site, along with all the rubber seals for the doors and the window channels and cat whiskers.  I scooted under the back of the car, levered the tank onto a milk crate to lift it, and got the three bolts in.  The single bolt on the right side incorporates some rubber donuts so that chassis flexing doesn't couple to the tank.  Some new alcohol-rated 5/16 inch hose connected the tank to the steel line.  The front end of the steel line is connected with a short piece of hose to the new fuel pump and filter.

 

When I got the car way back when, The Carter RBS carb was in a dish pan, half disassembled, so I wasn't sure if it was all there.  I had bought another a swap meet a long time ago, forgot I had it, bought another one at the Studebaker meet back in September.  I picked one of the later additions to rebuild.  Some of the screws that had been there for 60 years were tough to get out.  The carb is now disassembled enough to clean it thoroughly.  I squirted the choke shaft with some WD-40 and it loosened up completely.  I'll have to go get a 96-ounce can of carb cleaner with a basket to soak the body and small parts.  I've got a carb rebuild kit with good directions, so putting it back together shouldn't be too bad, especially with two others to stare at.

 

The re-inflated gas tank, repainted, and fuel sensor sealed.

 

The flex hose at the tank.  The skinny axle is a Dana 27.  New shocks in place.

 

Carter RBS carb disassembled.

 

The two spare RBS carbs will go into storage - because that's just what car guys do!  These are very small cfm carbs.  Maybe I could make a 3-carb intake manifold, would be cool!

 

 

  

Edited November 25, 2021 by Gary_Ash (see edit history)

[Gary_Ash]

I've been doing lots of little jobs on the car, finding where I stored various parts, and ordering new bits and pieces.  New battery cables (1 gauge) arrived and got installed.  The gasket for the exhaust pipe came, so I put the pipe in, fabricated a strap hanger, and put that in.  With two flat tires due to aged valve stems, it seemed there was no shortcut, so I jacked the car up on heavy-duty jack-stands, pushed and pulled the body to make sure it was VERY stable, and pulled off all the wheels.  I wanted to remove the 40 year old tires and then paint the rims, but that would involve multiple trips to the tire shop, so I used the high-pressure washer to clean the wheels front and back.  The guys who had the car for a couple of years painted the rims tan, but they are supposed to be off-white, so a couple of cans of correct spray paint got ordered.  I'll paint the rims with the old tires in place, then haul them to the tire shop with the B.F. Goodrich 6.70-15 tires I got from Coker.  It's too bad the tires are so old because they have almost new tread on them, but they are cracked with age.  With the car high off the garage floor, I can install the muffler and tailpipe as well as the drive shaft, which got some fresh paint and new U-joints.

 

In going through my files, I found a Studebaker brochure from 1963 that did call the Standard station wagon a "Wagonaire" model, even though it doesn't have a sliding roof.  I feel much better now, LOL!

 

The Wagonaire on jack stands.  Now I can get under it more easily, though it always makes me nervous to be under a car on jacks or jack stands.

When I go under a corner of the car, I'll put the floor jack under it, as well.  Can't be too safe!

 

The front suspension has been completely rebuilt and new brakes installed.  I still have to fit the fiberglass right fender and get both fenders

painted on the inside.  Raw fiberglass parts don't do well against water without paint.  To install the rubber splash liner, I had to order heavy-duty staples,

pre-drill the holes for them, and bend the prongs over by hand.  It must have been quite a staple machine at the factory to go through sheet metal.

 

The wheels and tires after pressure washing.  Why did they have snow tires on the car when it never got used on Martha's Vineyard after Columbus day?

Were they to help drive on the beach?  The F78-15 tires from 1981 were too wide for the 4.5-inch rims anyway.

 

Driveshaft got painted black.

 

 

[Gary_Ash]

I got two NOS U-joints from Stephen Allen's for the driveshaft.  The rear joint has mixed retainers: internal snap rings on the shaft end and U-bolts on the rear axle flange.  I put the cross in place, pressed the two cups mostly in with a big C-clamp, but had to work hard to get the last cup in far enough to put the C-shaped snap ring in place.  Maybe I squeezed too much because the cross could hardly be wiggled when I was done.  I thought of several schemes to fix this, none of them pretty, eventually decided to take the whole thing to a driveshaft shop.  

 

About 5 years ago, I had a driveshaft made at a small, local shop for my Indy car project.  Andy Harding (Long Plain Service, Acushnet, MA) made the short shaft with slip joint and his college-age daughter did the balancing.  She worked there part-time while studying engineering at U. Mass. Dartmouth, has since graduated and is employed as an engineer at a medical equipment company partly because of her machine shop experience.  That's a "happy news" story.   Anyway, I went back to Andy's shop and handed him the Wagonaire driveshaft, told him how I screwed it up.  He tried wiggling it, agreed it was too stiff, asked if I had tried tapping it with a hammer.  The answer was No! because I've learned that when things don't work, hitting them with a hammer is not usually a good idea.  He took the shaft to a big bench vise and gently tapped on the yoke on each side of the two cups with a ball pein hammer.  Then he wiggled the cross and pronounced it good.   Really?  That's all it needed?  A great demonstration that knowing how to use a tool and where to apply it is a critical skill.  He quickly popped in the other U-joint in at the slip yoke end, pressed in the four caps in the vise, and set the snap rings.  It took all of 15 minutes, mostly us gabbing, and he only asked for $20.  I think Andy's main business comes from rebuilding driveshafts for large trucks, as he has lots of big machines for the work, and I could see some really big driveshafts and U-joints on his shelves.  He explained that investing in a driveshaft balancing machine a few years ago really helped the business.  It's nice to find small shops like this that still exist and can do the work.

 

Now, to put the driveshaft in.

[Gary_Ash]

I was about to crawl under the car with the driveshaft, thought maybe now was a good opportunity to squirt a little new grease into those 60-year old NOS U-joints.  It only took a couple minutes.  The slip yoke got easily pushed into the back end of the NOS overdrive transmission, then I swung the rear U-joint up to the axle.  The Spicer-style caps didn't want to drop into place in the axle flange because some idiot pumped all that grease in there and the caps pushed out.  Grasping the two caps between thumb and forefinger didn't produce any movement as grease needs a lot of squeeze.  Crawl out to grab some tools, tried levering with a big screwdriver - nah!  Crawl back out from under the car, get the big C-clamp, crawl back under and squeeze.  Now it moved, U-joint in place, U-bolts installed and secured.  Job done!  One more task to do requiring slithering under the car: finish the exhaust system installation.  Old men are not supposed to do this.

 

This morning, the sun rose to a day of "severe clear", as pilots say, not a cloud in the sky.  By 10:00 a.m., it was 60 degrees - on December 17 in Massachusetts.  I moved the five wheels outside, shook the rattle cans of special Studebaker "Wimbledon White" spray paint, and coated the outsides of the wheels.  I had previously sprayed the back sides black, as the factory had done.  Since I couldn't get the old tires off, I just left them and sprayed over them.  They got to dry in the sun for 4 hours.  Two of the tires had date codes that indicated 1981, the snow tires had 1982 date codes.  No one should ride too far on 40-year old tires with sidewall cracks, so they will all go to rubber recycling.  There is a yard down by New Bedford harbor near the scallop fleet with a mountain of ground rubber; I don't know where they ship it to.  Maybe Monday or Tuesday, we'll go to the tire shop to put on the new 6.70-15 B.F. Goodrich tires.

 

By 4:00 p.m., as the sun was about to set officially (4:14 at 42N 71 W), but was already getting dark, my wife spotted a little brown bat circling above the back yard.  He must have come out of hibernation nearby to search for a winter snack, hope he found some winter moths.  I don't remember ever seeing a bat in winter before today, but we have lots of bats all summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wheels before re-paint and after paint.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2021 by Gary_Ash (see edit history)

[r1lark]

Too bad those snow tires are so old Gary -- I've always thought an older car in the North (especially a wagon) would be unique with a set of old style snow tires on it. 

[8E45E]

Gary,

 

Keep up the good work; especially the metal forming!  So nice to see another Studebaker being restored that's only significant to a marque specialist.  Unless one who is into Studebakers, many others may not know just how rare Standard trim '63's with the fixed-roof option are, and how many fewer survive.

 

I've also been having fun doing some metal forming work on my '65 Cruiser.

 

 

 

 

[Gary_Ash]

Yes, Craig, the underbellies of those cars rotted away.  I wonder how many of those cars got scrapped because the body rusted while the engine was still running strong.

 

I got the exhaust system installed after a number of starts and stops.  The exhaust pipe from the engine proved to be 3 ft too short to reach the muffler, so I had to wait for Summit Racing to send me a piece of 1-3/4" pipe with an expanded end for a joint.  Got that in, pushed the muffler on, only to discover that the outlet end of the muffler was for a 2" pipe.  Back to Summit Racing's web site for a short adapter, 2" o.d. on one end, 1-3/4" i.d. on the other end plus two clamps.  Lying on my back pushing the muffler up to catch the hangers while trying to thread the nuts onto the clamps was no fun!  It's all in place now, clamps snugged up, doesn't seem to hit anything, but we'll have to wait until it goes down the road to be sure.

 

I keep thinking I need to invest in one of those scissor lifts that can take the car up 3 feet or so, would make working on the bottom side of the car much easier.  Why, oh why, didn't I make the garage walls taller when I had the garage built 20 years ago?  It would have been cheap.  Then I could have had a real lift.

 

Meanwhile, the tire shop stripped off the 40-year old tires and mounted and balanced my five new B.F. Goodrich 6.70-15 tires.  Now I need to fill the brake system with fluid, bleed and adjust the brakes while the car is still on the jack-stands, then put the wheels on.  I have a set of NOS dog-dish hubcaps to put on.

 

  

The Coker-supplied B.F. Goodrich Silvertown bias ply 6.70-15 tires on the newly-painted rims.

[Roger Zimmermann]

If you still had old tires from the same dimension, you would notice that your new 6.70-15 tires have a larger diameter than the old ones!

[Gary_Ash]

Roger:  That's actually good - now I can go faster at the same rpm.  But, with only 112 hp in a car that weighs 3200 lbs empty, it will never be fast.

[r1lark]

3 hours ago, Gary_Ash said:

Why, oh why, didn't I make the garage walls taller when I had the garage built 20 years ago?  It would have been cheap.  Then I could have had a real lift.

I feel your pain (figuratively and literally) Gary. I built my garage in the mid-1980s, and the reasonably priced lifts were not available then. I lack about a foot or a little more of height to be able to use a 4-post lift and be able to stand upright underneath the car. The garage is built on an integral footer slab, with three courses of concrete block then the garage sitting on them. I am seriously considering jacking up the garage and adding two more courses of block. The problem is getting everything off the walls, moving all the heavy during shelving away from the walls, etc, to be able to jack the garage up. Just lots of lifting and moving I guess. 

[JamesR]

On 12/21/2021 at 2:40 PM, Gary_Ash said:

....with only 112 hp in a car that weighs 3200 lbs empty, it will never be fast.

Great restoration! One of the most appealing things to me about old cars is experiencing first hand how people in the past made due with less. Kind of a living history. I recently saw an old movie on youtube from the early 1940's where a guy was bragging about his car that made 100 hp! 😄 If a Studebaker can cruise at all day at 50 or 55 on the highway, I think that's great. We should be happy with that. 😉

[Gary_Ash]

You don't need big horsepower to cruise the highway these days.  My 1948 Studebaker M5 pickup with only 80 hp from its 170 cu in flathead six and overdrive will easily do 60-65 all day long on flat ground and easy hills. It's a little slower on steep grades.  Of course, the stiff suspension will beat me to death in a few hours.  We have seat belts to keep our heads from bumping the roof.  We've set the limit at about 100-125 miles for a trip in the truck.  On the other hand, our 1941 Studebaker Commander Land Cruiser with 94 hp flathead 226 cu in six and overdrive will cruise comfortably at 65 mph all day without tiring us out.  We've driven it to places 1000 miles away.  True, we won't win any drag races, but we can keep up with general traffic.

 

 

Studebaker 1948 M5 pickup with 170 cu in engine.

 

1941 Studebaker Commander Land Cruiser with 226 cu in flathead six, 94 hp.

 

[SeventhSon]

Beautiful M5 and Land Cruiser! I'm really liking this thread Gary. 👍

[Gary_Ash]

I'm checking the brakes that I rebuilt too many years ago.  I pulled the front drums off, inspected my assembly work, added a little more grease to the wheel bearings, and re-mounted the brake drums and hubs.  The brakes have self-adjusters.  With the wheels off, it was easy to grease the front suspension while I was there.  The brake pedal sat about 2 inches down, didn't seem to have any spring-loaded return, so I pulled the master cylinder off the firewall.  Looking into the reservoir, all I could see was a bit of gooey, rusty stuff on the bottom.  The piston was stuck in the bore, wouldn't move, so I tapped it in a bit with a brass drift to break it loose.  It didn't move much, didn't free up.  I could tell the bore was rusted and the piston unlikely to come out.  Maybe if I hooked up a hydraulic pump and pressurized the back end of the piston it would move, but that seemed a lot of effort and the bore is rusted anyway.  I guess rebuilding the M/C was on my old to-do list but never got done.  This is why I'm re-checking everything.  Tomorrow, I'll order an NOS master cylinder that comes with a rebuild kit.  Sixty year old rubber seals aren't much use.  At least the new M/C is pretty cheap.

 

I thought about converting the brake system to a dual master cylinder, but there aren't many good options and re-plumbing of everything is required plus a different pedal-to-MC rod.  I'll be sure to check the fluid level frequently, but I've driven a long time with single circuit M/C's.  

 

I did pull on the hand brake, confirmed that the back brakes went on.  I'll get out the 3-armed puller and pull the rear drums off, as well, then tighten the axle nuts on the tapered axle shafts to the specified "first cotter pin hole past 170 ft-lbs".  That's tight!

 

 

The Wagonaire is a 63S-P2 model.  The S is for six-cylinder.

Edited January 4, 2022 by Gary_Ash (see edit history)

[Gary_Ash]

The NOS M/C arrived with a rebuild kit to replace the rubber parts, etc. since it had been sitting on the shelf for so long.  It turned out that while the shape and mounting were the same, there were some differences.  The tapped hole for the brake light switch was 1/4" NPTF while brake light switches are mostly 1/8" NPTM.  The brake line outlet was 1/4" inverted flare female while my brake lines are 3/16".  So, maybe this isn't a Studebaker M/C, looks a lot like a 1955 Chevy part, though otherwise it fits.  It took a while to find and obtain the 1/4" to 1/8" NPT reducer bushing and the 1/4" to 3/16" inverted flare reducer.  

 

My first attempt at replacing the parts in the M/C wasn't good.  I tried bench bleeding the unit, couldn't get it to pump any fluid out.  I chatted with the seller, Stephen Allen's, got some advice, and re-assembled the M/C.  This time it pumped fluid out.  I installed it in the car and got ready to add fluid.  On a whim, I backed out a front wheel bleeder screw, found it was a bit rusty, set off my alarm bells.  I pulled the brakes apart, removed the wheel cylinder, found some rust inside.  While I had rebuilt the wheel cylinders maybe 10 years ago, I had never added fluid and the line from the M/C had been open to air for 15 years.  DOT3 fluid really absorbs water from the air.  I guess the lesson is to never leave a job half done!  I could hone the wheel cylinders and re-install the same parts but instead I ordered new wheels cylinders.  

 

As I work alone in the garage, I want to add Speed Bleeders so I can bleed the brakes by myself.  Speed Bleeders have a check valve in them so you can open the screw 1/4 turn, pump the brake pedal to bleed the air and old fluid, and not need someone else to open and close the bleed screw.  The bleeder screws in the old wheel cylinders have 1/4-28 threads and I can get Speed Bleeders in that size.  What I don't know is whether the new wheel cylinders will also have the same size bleed screws.  So, I'll wait until the cylinders arrive here, then order the Speed Bleeders.  It all take lots of time.  When I was rebuilding the brakes for my Indy car project, the brand new wheel cylinders I bought from Rock Auto had different size screws for the front and the back, and even the rear left was different from the rear right. Rock Auto has great prices on remaindered stock but there can be a variety of brands.

 

I barely remember being about 4 years old and enlisted by a neighbor to pump the brake pedal in his car while he bled the brakes.  I was too little to push on the pedal with my foot, so he had me lean my body on the pedal. It must have worked OK. It was my first experience working on a car.

 

Me in my Pontiac pedal car, Tilden St. in Seattle, 1947 or so.  My sister in the middle.  Would you recruit a kid like this to 

help bleed your brakes?

 

Speed Bleeders here:  http://www.speedbleeder.com/

Click on the Sizes tab to see the range of bleed screws available.

 

[TexRiv_63]

17 hours ago, Gary_Ash said:

  What I don't know is whether the new wheel cylinders will also have the same size bleed screws.  So, I'll wait until the cylinders arrive here, then order the Speed Bleeders.  

 

 

Speed Bleeders here:  http://www.speedbleeder.com/

Click on the Sizes tab to see the range of bleed screws available.

 

Here are the new wheel cylinders I ordered for my Dodge compared to original. The ridiculous bleeder screw would not clear the front spindle so I rebuilt the old ones instead.

[Gary_Ash]

Studebaker International has the fiberglass fenders, p/n 1342600 (right) and 1342601 (left), fits 1961-63 Larks.  They also have fiberglass front fenders for 1959-60 Larks and 1960-64 Champ trucks.

[JamesR]

On 1/26/2022 at 6:22 PM, Gary_Ash said:

 

 

 

Great picture! Remember when little boys had pedal cars...and little girls wore scarves? 🙂

[Piaras]

A local survivor car Commander Provincial, a couple years ago when the Covid first hit. Owner has had it over 20+ years. 

Pierre

 

[Gary_Ash]

Eventually, the wheel cylinders arrived and the 1/4-28 threaded Speed Bleeders got ordered.  We did a little traveling up to Mt. Washington, NH, so not much got done for a bit.  I put all the new cylinders in with their bleeders and filled the master cylinder with DOT3 fluid.  While the Speed Bleeders can make bleeding a one-man job, I still like to see the bubbles and any other old junk come out, so I enlisted my wife to pump the brake pedal.  It all went well and now there is a firm pedal without too much travel. 

 

While the car was still on the jack stands under the lower A-arms, I tightened up the various cap screws on the ends of the shafts for the A-arms to clamp the rubber bushings in place.  All the front suspensions bits had been rebuilt and painted and new front coil springs installed some years ago.  A few days ago, I was at Tractor Supply Co. and bought one of their LED work lights with 5,000 and 10,000 lumen switch positions (AC powered).  Wow, that's bright, but really helps to see stuff under the car!  I inspected everything I could see under the car, push and prodded to see if anything was loose. Then I put the freshly-painted wheels with the new tires on and put the car back on the garage floor. 

 

The rear axle shafts are tapered, have a hub and a key that go on with a big nut and secured with a cotter pin.  The service manual directions say, "Tighten to 170 ft-lbs, then to the next slot that lines up with the hole in the axle."  My torque wrench only goes to 150 ft-lbs and is about 16 inches long. I had to stand on the end of the handle, jump a little until it gave me a "click" to say we reached 150.  Then I stood on my 24-inch breaker bar with the 1-1/2" socket to move the nuts the required additional amount.  I don't think the wheels will come off.   

 

I think I just need to button up the distributor, put water and antifreeze in the radiator, check the oil, and buy a new battery to start the car up.  Maybe soon...

 

The front suspension pieces.  All Studebakers used these parts from 1951-1966, then Avanti II's continued to use them until 1985.

 

The front wheel and suspension - illuminated by my new work light at 5,000 lumens.  At 10,000 lumens, it's too bright at close range.

 

The rear wheel and axle nut.

 

The car on its new tires and painted wheels.

Edited February 19, 2022 by Gary_Ash (see edit history)

[r1lark]

Good work Gary! Will we have a video to watch of the engine startup? 

 

I was going to ask you where the big weights in the nose were, but then remembered this is not a sliding roof wagon.

[Gary_Ash]

I'm going from stem to stern checking things before starting the engine.  Yes, I'm nervous.  I put in the 12 quarts of antifreeze solution, 5 quarts of oil, then started on the transmission.  It would have been much easier to fill the main transmission case and the overdrive case if I had done it before lowering the car from the jack stands!  Slithering under the car on my back - not easy for an old guy like me - I filled the transmission and overdrive with synchromesh fluid using a pump oiler.  The oiler only allowed about 6 ounces of oil per fill to be pumped in so I was under and out and under a number of times in order to get 3 pints into the cases.  Maybe one can just fill with the amount listed in the shop manual, but I was taught to fill until it runs out the hole.  And then it does, and all over the garage floor.  The rear axle was much the same, though I put on nitrile gloves because I hate stinky 90 weight gear oil on my skin.  But, all the fluids are now in. 

 

A new Group 24 battery was put in place.  Then I realized I didn't have a battery hold-down.  I got a frame and J-bolts at O'Reilly's Auto Parts locally, but the J-bolts were about 2" too short.  No problem!  I cut the bolt in half, got 2" of 1/4 rod to weld in, only to find the Ar-CO2 mixture had bled out of the tank on the MIG welder because some dummy forgot to close the valve the last time he used the welder (that's me).  OK, I can deal with it.  I grabbed the TIG welder, put on the gloves and helmet, struck an arc to find the batteries in the welding helmet were dead and now I was nearly blind.  Oh, yeah, and the argon-helium gas in the TIG welder also had no pressure.  Neither of the welders had been used in more than 6 months.  

 

As it snowed today and traveling to the welding supply place was dicey, I figured just making a new J-bolt from 1/4" rod was a no-brainer.  There was even a nice shiny rod on the garage workbench.  I set it up in the lathe, figured to take about 0.020"-0.030" off the diameter to make threading easier.  That rod would not turn easily, was even worse to put a 1/4-20 thread on it.  As I put it in the Eastman rod bending tool to make the J bend, my brain said, "Why is this rod so stiff and unbendable?".  The it hit me: the rod was stainless steel, tough to cut, tough to thread, and tough to bend.  But, it's done and it won't ever rust.

 

Now everything is nearly set.  I THINK the company that rebuilt the engine packed the oil pump with Vaseline or grease to help prime the pump.  But, that was more than 6 or 7 years ago.  I have a special tool I made back when I started up the M5 truck engine in 2004.  It's a 6"-8" long piece of steel pipe with some valves and compressed air fittings so I can fill it with oil, and push the oil into the oil gallery in the block.  I think I should do that before cranking the engine.  Everything else seems to be ready for hitting the starter switch.  Unlike a Chevy V-8, there is no way to use an electric drill and a shaft to turn the oil pump.  I'll have my wife there with the camera and the fire extinguisher.  The weather is very cold and miserable, so it may be some days before I can do this with the garage doors open.  In case of fire, I want to drive or push the Wagonaire out of the garage quickly.  

 

 

The pre-start engine oiler.  I added a pressure gauge and an outlet valve to it in order to know how much it was charged

before opening the feed valve.

 

Edited February 26, 2022 by Gary_Ash (see edit history)

[r1lark]

Ahh, the trials and tribulations of our old car hobby!   Persevere Gary, you will get there! We are all pulling for you. 

[8E45E]

On 2/25/2022 at 9:00 PM, Gary_Ash said:

A new Group 24 battery was put in place.  Then I realized I didn't have a battery hold-down. 

 

I promise not to tell Bob Palma on you!! 🙂

 

Craig