Projects "Saving" a Studebaker

I've got it mostly cleaned up & now that it's inside I can get started on actually reviving it. I've always advised folks to "First make it stop... then make it go". So for once I'm going to take my own advice and get the brakes working first.

 

My immediate thought was find a pair of front fenders and use the front wheelwells on the back (an old Falcon trick)...that will give you room for rubber and change the staid "slab side" look while keeping the styling of the original car....I also noticed I like the fender that doesn't have that thin chrome strip better...I don't think it needs it

 

The front/rear wheel opening idea would look really cool on a "Gasser style" build with a send on mondo meats on the back!

 

Great advice! I almost heeded it with my Champ. I fired it up and got it running, and then worked on the brakes. I will give myself some credit for not actually driving it up and down the street without brakes though.....LOL

Here's the fist drive (after I replaced the master cylinder);

 

Cool project!

 

I didn't have much extra time today, but I checked the fluid in the master cylinder... it was 3/4 full & clear! The inside of the reservoir is silver & clean... Hmmm... I pumped the pedal a few times and got about 1/4 pedal! What the hell??Didn't see that coming.
Tomorrow, with fresh fluid, I'll power bleed & flush the system to see what's next. If I can get brakes I can put off doing a brake job until later. If not I'll do a complete brake job before going any further.
I also stumbled onto a tubular trans crossmember that I forgot I had so I'll check to see if I can make that work.
Also I was inspecting the wiring and it actually looks pretty good. I'm going to put a battery in it and see what works.

 

This 39 Studebaker Commander is for sale in Albany NY on craigslist as a gasser project , no title 1800.00 if anyone is interested,,,,,

 

Agreed... I am leaning toward the "Street Sleeper" theme. I'll decide on the stance once I get some weight on it. As in engine, trans, etc. I'm sticking with the Dana for now, but the 8.8 info will be tucked away for future reference if needed, thanks.
As for the "paint", (we'll call it that) I'm leaving it alone for now, but plan on sealing the bare metal.
I got the title and more parts yesterday, including a good front cross-member. The original one was cut up by the previous owner to accommodate an automatic/O.D. trans. I like manual transmissions, so I'm using an M-20. The cross-member also supports the front fenders, so that's getting replaced.

 

The Studebaker front suspension though old is pretty good. It was almost the same from '52 through the Avanti. We bagged my sons. Some have a sway bar up front. If I ever build my '59 it would be a road racer style with a supercharged Stude V8.

 

My original idea involved a straight tube axle etc. I checked out the existing stock set up and found that it's pretty tight. The bell crank set up is strange compared to other designs but has a lot of leverage built into it. This makes the steering remarkably easy. I'm most likely going to service it and move on. Now that all the "Holiday Hub-Bub" is over I'll be able to get on with checking the brakes and dealing with cross members.
A supercharger is being strongly considered at this point.

 

I've had my wife's Lark on here several times, with the major sob story, so I won't go into all the gory details again... Suffice to say, Jack's Lark is a much nicer start than was Nancy's critter. I swapped out the 6/auto for a '62 Gran Turismo 289 Kettering and 4-speed. It's great fun, being as light as it is. As to the "talking", remember when I walked away from this puppy, only to look back and see what it was "saying".... Now it's Nancy that does the talk'n, like "Don't mess with my Lark!!!"

 

Ha ha... I remember reading that story. I swear I heard mine pleading to me to get it back to life.

 

The wheel well openings were something that Studebaker played around with trying to give the car a more "sporty" appearance later on. My 63 Daytona had the revised openings for the rear wheels, 289 V8, 4 speed T-10, Dana44 twin traction, Disc brakes (Dunlop Factory disc) bucket seats, etc.. If it had been a 63 Ford or Chevy with the same options it would have been worth 5 times what the Studebaker was worth finished. After spending way too much on the car I ended up selling it to a good friend in the Studebaker club and have not owned another Studebaker since. I love them but don't have the funds and time to do one right. I too tried to rescue a 1960 2 door post car but it turned out to be too far gone for my talent as the floors were trashed by a previous attempt to repair them with anything that was laying in the dirt rusting away at the farm.

 

Best thing you can do the brakes is use a Turner Disc Brake kit, they work well even without a power booster!

 

Much appreciated... Never heard of them, but I'll keep the info for when the time comes.

 

I have read the early Ford disc brake setups bolts up. I don't remember the year I have it somewhere. Probably hard to find parts now. My son's stock brakes work well.

 

The very early - 65->66 Mustang-type, aka: Shelby, K-code, et-al, were, iirc Dunlop. Same as 61->? Jag (Metric), Studebaker 63-66, & ~74 +/- Toyota Corolla/Corona MarkII(metric). (Calipers n rotors. Caliper bracket is probably different, I never laid them out all together to see.) So if you want, use Stude front discs. Darn near easy bolt-on(spindles from 51->66 = same, except for the slight factory mod for the db, need very slight grinding of spindle. Can still get parts w/o issue. Not dirt-cheap, but not horrible. The pads are fairly small though, probably correctly referred to as "spot brakes". But they do work very well. An issue they have(original Dunlop-design), is when the pad wears down too far, it cuts into the rotor, eventually giving you a 2-piece rotor. Which you don't want. Use the std-sized rear brakes or better, not the mini-rear-brakes they used w/the discs. Turner brake kit is ~ a MII(?) sized, but also works well(?).
Marcus...

 

This is all good stuff to research when an up-date is requires w/ brakes. For now I'll get what's there working enough to move the car about without ramming it through a wall during the "get it running" phase.

 

My 63 had the Dunlop disc factory power brakes. Had the booster rebuilt and the master cylinder stainless steel sleeved and rebuilt, rebuilding the calipers was a challenge. The caliper piston seal was on the piston, not on the caliper body like newer disc brakes are so the piston sealed on the (rode on) the inside of the cast iron caliper. Tried to get the caliper halves stainless steel sleeved as well and was told no guarantee the sleeves would stay in place due to the shallow depth and not much material to grip to. So cleaned the cast iron up the best I could and used caliper kits for the rear of an XKE Jag. Non vented very skinny rotors and tiny disc pads, honestly I would have preferred the drum brakes because they required less pedal effort (self energizing) and I wasn't going to be pushing the car hard enough I was worried about fade. The Turner kit would be the way I would go if I did it over again today. JMHO. Mark

 

IMG_20221217_183858 by Rynothealbino posted Dec 23, 2022 at 10:31 AM

Something I am working on for these cars to fit a 12" rotor and two piston caliper. Still working out a few details, but hope to be testing this spring. Fits below every 15" wheel I have checked so far. Parts are easily available at any parts store. The thought was to maximize clamping area and rotor diameter since there is no good way to fit a power booster on these cars. PM me if you are interested in more details.

 

I had a spare time afternoon yesterday. The un-heated garage is very cramped for space, but I squeezed myself in and finally got a bit further with the brakes. Well.. not really, but I consider information to be a form of progress.
I'm trying to get the brakes to function so I attempted to do a "flush & bleed". The (under-floor) master cylinder is quite clean inside & I actually got about a 1/4 pedal after pumping 3 or four strokes. So I put fresh fluid into the power bleeder and cracked the right rear bleeder... nothing. Hmmm... so let's try the other rear bleeder. Nothing... Same with the two in front. So I know that. Progress? well... that's a matter of perspective I suppose.
The next thing is to start cracking brake line fittings starting @ the m.c. and working outward to see if I can find the source of the blockage. At any rate, after that exercise, I've got the three new flex hoses so I'll swap those out today to see if that eliminates the problem.

 

You are right about knowledge being progress progress. Time spent is progress as well as long as the time yields a bit of knowledge. Knowing what isn't working is progress and knowing what doesn't fix the problem is progress. What is not progress is what I do by not being out there.

 

My Stude pickup had all three flex hoses plugged solid. The steel lines seem fine so far. Just out of curiosity I ran a welding rod through one of the flex lines followed by Brakleen and the air hose. It appeared to be fully plugged with black stuff, end to end, like the rubber created more material inside.

 

Well, I replaced the three brake hoses and got a dribble out of the right rear and a slow flow out of the left rear... The fronts flushed out o.k.. I'm going to keep at it in between working with other stuff. The clogged hoses were obviously the main thing preventing the brakes from working. This is tedious, but it's a good thing I didn't get it running first.
The front crossmember is next.

 

Have you looked to see if there is an area along the steel lines that was smashed closed or kinked?

 

Yes sir. I went all along all the lines and they look surprisingly good.

 

Does your car have the "hill holder"? The ball inside them can get a bit sticky. I got lucky, mine seems to be working (or at least fluid moves through it). I haven't tested it on a hill yet.

 

Good call! But alas, no it does not. My Transtar had a defective Hill Holder when I first rescued it. Had me baffled for a spell. When I discovered it, I eliminated it. It's one of those contraptions designed to make those who are not capable... well, capable. It's kinda like a reverse line lock. Another example of technology; "When it works, it's great... when it doesn't, it sucks".
I'm convinced that the issue is due to the rubber brake hoses' breaking down internally over time and contaminating the system with residue from the hose's core. Interesting enough, on a side note, all of the bleeders were quite clean and opened easily... as if they'd been replaced. So what I had optimistically hoped would be a quick "flush & bleed" is apparently going to be a more involved process. Hey, that's Hot Roddin'!

 

Hey Bob, I found another image of the white one... color me inspired! (I'd like the black wheels all around though...)

 

HELP !! Someone PLS save me !!! The is a Lark Daytona 2-dr/HT on Facebook Marketplace in Arlington, WA. Very doable project..... Very good price. Factory 210HP 289..... Take a look. If it does not disappear I may be forced to pick it up.........