Projects 53 COOP (Studebaker) gets a major makeover

How is the sanding coming along ?

 

Boy, sometimes I get behind on updates...

It is coming along on the sanding. I decided to work the top above the drip rails first and then get the drip rails and around the perimeters of the windshield and rear window. At least that was the plan:



But then sometimes circumstances change and I veer off the path. 53 COOP is a Regal Commander Coupe and thus has extra trim that I want to include in the chop. I had sent the trim around the door, rear quarter windows, and below the windshield,to the plater. They are chromed pot metal that needed replating. Some needed shortening (easy) and some needed lengthening (not so easy). So I asked the plater to electro-chemically remove the chrome )leaving the copper and send six of the pieces back to me for modification. Thus the veering of the path:

Pieces not needing modification, just replating:



Pieces needing modification, after removal of chrome:



Guess what arrive by UPS. The six pieces needing mods!

So the two pieces along the top of the door needed to be lengthened about 2-inches. Fortunately, the two pieces around the rear quarter windows have the same profile and needed to be SHORTENED about 2-inches! I checked with the plater and was told that I could solder to the copper plating

So I cut a piece of scrap copper pipe from plumbing projects and flattened it out and bent it to fit inside the profile pieces with lead solder and the Bernz-O-Matic:





Then I sent the two cutoff pieces, which didn't have much copper on them, to be copper plated. I just got them back, so I will be soldering them in place and sending the whole shebang back to the plater.

But then I decided to remove the doors and clean up the place a little....

One of my fellow Rusty Nuts (of Jalopyrama fame) had given me an unused set of Specialty Power Windows. So I decided to work on adapting them to 53 COOP. But that will be on my next post....

I guess I really should get back to sanding.

NAW! NOT YET!

 

OK! OK! OK! I know I need to keep going on the sanding, but.....

I pulled the doors off (again) and started with installing the power windows. It's pretty obvious that the Studebaker window shape is really different from the Model T....nothing is square! So I figured I needed to make the track of the power lift operate parallel to the path of the window and lift at about the same center of lift as the Studebaker designers had it. First, I drew the parallel lines for the back track (fixed), the front track (adjustable), and the proposed centerline of the power window operator track:



I made a plywood pattern for the glass and had new glass cut (actually, the other door glass was just cut down to my Sharpie marks). Then I determimned where the bottom of the slider frame was at the top of the trave and at the bottom with the windo opened to the sill line. Then I cut the track at the correct lenght and determined where best to mount the brackets that came with the kit. Fortunately, the reinforcing grooves in the sheet metal worked out to be well positioned such that I could do away with the brackets in the kit and just bolt thru the trough of the grooves! Here's the unit mounted in the door. Note that I had to open up the hole a little bit and welded in some reinforcing to haave all the clearance for removal and operation that it needed.



Ya can't see it, but I used the Studebaker framing for the glass, but modified it by cutting off the horizontal roller track and welded on a couple of 1/4" bolts to attach to the roller assembly provided with the kit.

So, now I have the chopped glass working well. I had to add some positive travel stops at the top end of the track and everything is copasetic!

Ahh, but I'm not done with the electrification! To be a Kool Kustom, I gotta shave the door handles. I picked up a complete door kit thru Amazon for about $70 that included EVERYTHING: 50 lb solenoids, cables, electric switches and relays, hidden power button, and key fobs and electronic switching. One thing I wanted was to put a single straight cable (no pulleys..KISS!) So here's the path, again using the reinforcing grooves and keeping it all out of the way of the window operation:



At the hinge end I had to modify the bracket for the solenoid to clear some parts inside, but everything lined up just fine.



Then I added a tab to the door latch lever:



But, then I discovered that I had to add an intermediate slide to the interior door handle pull linkage to make it work smoothly when using the solenoid. I made a slot and captured a portion of a 1/4" clevis pin, and it now works slicker than snot!



Other than finishing some welding on the doors, and fixing some rusty spots, I have to finish modifying the vent window frame and send it off to the plater.



When I get the other door done, I will send them for sandblasting and FINALLY GET BACK TO THE SANDING!!

 

Looking good Irish!

 

Cool!

 

So recently I received the trim spears back from Custom Chrome Plating in Grafton, OH. I had the other plater, who has my bumpers, forward them to CCC because he said he couldn't do them because they were stainless that I had silver soldered to extend them.



Then I called CCC and asked to talk to Jon Wright, the owner. The lady said he wouldn't be in 'till about 11, so I asked her to foward a complaint to him....after a pause, I told her, "These are so damn perfect, I will have to start my project over again!" She said I almost gave her a heart attack!

 

By the way, folks, if you haven't done it, try to arrange for a tour of the 3 Dog Garage in Boyertown, PA. Five of us went there recently and I got to see Norm Grabowski's Kookie Kar, my all time favorite hot rod:



They are only open on certain Saturdays and ask only that you make a donation. Contact thru the website:

https://www.3dog.org/

 

Jon Wright is the best. I have some Avanti parts that I need done. Jon offered to meet me 1/2 to Huntingdon, PA to pick the stuff up. In this 2023 world, that is beyond making the customer happy!

 

Time for another update....

I've somewhat neglected the chop portion of the build. While working on the doors, I've been figuring out how to best get power to the windows and solenoids as well as building a manual pull mechansim hidden under the fender for emergency access to open a door. I'll get pictures of that later. I don't have the doors right now, because the upholsterer has them to make door panels for me.

Speaking of the upholstery, After my sholder surgery, I took the front and back seats, one door panel. kick panel, and rear quarter panel, plus 5 of the 9 hides over so Bobby Sapp, of Milford Delaware, so he could do the seats ahead of time. I had bought the hides from Jalopyrama Mike Szuba about 6 or 7 years ago (he bought him from a shop that went out of business). $65 per hide was a really good price, don't ya think?

So the seats are done and temporarily installed to make sure I have head clearances, etc.:





The neat thing about the stock Studebaker seats is the front bottom cushion lifts out of the frame to access the heater core under the passenger side. Since I am installing firewall mounted A/C, I won't need it and that provided an opportunity to locate the battery under the seat. I am using side terminals to keep the height down and the Chrysler starter is on the same side, so I built a two-piece box to fit the opening:









I'm waiting for clamp knobs to replace the bolts on the top cover, but it all fits nicely under the seat and will be convenient for access.

More updates coming. I promise

 

Very slick!

 

Hey Irish, where did you get your battery box or did you make it?

 

Back to interior progress.......

I now am working on mounting 3-point seat belts. I got a pair from Juliano's with the color taupe, which closely matches the interior leather. Note that I recently also bought 3 sets of 2-point lap belts also from Juliano's, but I will hold them in reserve. Chances are I would never use them, so, if I see the need, I will install them later. That provides a center set for the front seat and two for the rear.

Two issues crop up for a C/K Stude: 1) On the coupe, the door post is narrow and the garnish moulding is fairly wide, so the top mount needed to be mounted way up into the edge of the headliner. 2) The rear seat cushion reaches almost up to the front edge of the door post, so there is no good room for the retractor. I fixed the top pivot by welding a nut behind a 1" x 1" x 1/8" angle and cut away part of the interior sheet metal reinforcement and welded the angle in place. This works also to stiffen the 2" filler needed because of the extension of the top (still need to do that interior portion:



The retractor required a bit of cutting of the rear quarter interior sheet metal, as I have reversed the retractor, made a sliding curved lip at the top and bolted it inside the fender, flush with the sheeet metal. I will be adding a polished stainless curved lip at the top to protect the belt when I install the leather coverd rear quarter panel.





Now I just have to modify the silly black piece at the bottom to allow me to bolt the base of the outside belt to the floor (Juliano's instructions don't really explain the purpose of the silly black thing or how to mount it).

But it's not all about the interior or the chop....

I was looking for an aftermarket in-tank fuel pump when I stumbled on a sale item at Professional-Products.com:



I bought two kits at $26 each and now I see that they are sold out. What a bargain!

Inside the trunk, the mounting of the spare tire was nicely provided with a conical raised portion that sits below the spare:



I cut it out and had nice access to the tank, where I cut a 4" hole in the top:



Look at how clean the inside of the tank is. back when I got the car, the gas had been sitting for 21 years! I cut the tank in half near the seam, sand blasted the inside, gas welded it back together, and had a radiator shop solder it where needed and coat the inside with sloshing compound.

Unfortunately, the Stude gas tank is about 5-1/4" deep, and this kit is adjustale between 7" to 11". But I am a retired engineer who is used to fitting 10 lbs. in a 5 lb. sack, so.......

The kit came with stainless male/male 1/4" pipe elbows that screw into the top plate and a 1/4" NPT male to 5/16" tubing barbed fitting that screwed into the bottom of the top plate. This takes up a lot of height, so I turned a special barbed tube that I silver soldered into the bottom of the elbow.




This allowed the system to be reduced to a minimum of 5-5/8" high. Close but no cigars. Long story short, I eliminated the tray at the bottom, so the filter sits flat on the bottom and put it all together:



So I added a flange around the cone for the trunk floor and now I will be working on running the fuel and return lines. Since the Stude has a vented cap, I plan to just plug the vent port on the pump.



Bye for now......

 

I made it. The lower portion is #16GA and the top is #18GA. I have a friend with a shear and bending brake heavy enough to do the #16GA. I mostly MIG welded the corners, but on the top I gas welded. Then I sand blasted and POR-15. I had to modify it to clear the tranny mount crossmember and keep it away from the exhaust pipe on the front corners. I used (and modified) the battery hold-down plastic pieces (Auto Zone) and used carriage boltd up thru the bottom so there will be nothing to catch on. Then, since it is pretty close at the side post bolts, I used 3/8" NC x 1/2" long bolts and I also put a couple of layers of Gorilla tape near the + post for inulation. Then I drilled holes in the bottom corners for just-in-case drainage.

 

Updates ???

 

I am so sorry that I have not posted for such a long time. It isn't that I have not made progress on the build, but sometimes life gets in the way.

For starters, let me say that I have kind of hidden the fact that 53 COOP is a four-legged stool with only 3 legs. So I not been able to move the car off its position on the lift, which also makes it harder to work on the doors. So part of my progress has been to get shoes on all 4 legs, and I will cover that as part of this post.

Secondly, as I found on a trip to Erie, PA to pick up rechromed pieces parts, I was seeing double in both eyes. At night on my return, I followed a semi with 3 taillights on each side....unfortunately, I was seeing 18 taillights!

Last September, when I got back, I met with my opthalmologist and was told that the double vision is an alternate type of cataract and it was scheduled for me to have the procedure(s).

Because I am a naturally curious old engineer, when she was explaining about the options regarding the lens choices, I got into the details of who manufactures the lenses. She said her personal and professional choice of manufacturer was a company called Mercedes.

I exclaimed: "Then I''ll trade in my old CATARAC for a new MERCEDES LENS." Sorry about that!

So in the last two months I'm driving aound with new lenses and only seeing the number of taillights that are within my range of vision.

Then last week, even after getting all my shots and boosters, my wife and I both came down with Covid!!! A friend had just returned from a cruise around Great Britain, during which he got the Covid, was isolated on the ship while the rest went on a tour of a Scottish distillery (and he is a lover of Scotch), and returned to Maryland with his wife who then tested positive! I was checking with him on the symptoms he had experienced, and we were a perfect match......

I guess we shoulda stayed away from one anouther a few more days.......

OK, NOW BACK TO 53 COOP:

1. Yep, I now am in possession of all of the rechromed pieces:





The front bumper's under the blanket below the car.

Unfortunately, I didn't understand the issues in hiding the bumper bolts, so I tapered the heads of 1/2" bolts in a lathe, tapered the holes with a countersink tool, and welded the bolts in place and ground the surfaces smooth. The problem is that the chrome will crack when the bolts are tightened in place. The plater sent them out to have plates with studs welded on the hidden side of the bumpers. They came out absolutely beautiful....but you don't wanna know how much all the chroming cost.

Now I gotta remodel the brackets to suit!

2. I had the windshiled cut by Brian, Chicago Glass Guy, and have run into a stumbling block:

He has the windshield all cut, boxed, and ready to send to me. However, he has had 3 recent shipping incidents (breakage on 2 and lost package on the third) and is understandably reluctant to send mine. I am in the process of trying to get permission for him to fly from Midway to BWI with a second seat purchased for him to bring his buddy, Wynn Shield, on a one-way ticket. Then he will install the glass and leave Wynn in his new home. I'll keep you informed of progress on permission to do this......

3. The fourth leg of the stool:

Truth be told, after getting the passenger side of the front suspension done, I got hopped up to do the chop. So then it came time to finally get the other side done, even though the chop was not complete.....

One flaw in the adapting of the Camaro spindles and ball joints to the Studebaker upper and lower control arms, waas the distance between the ball joints was about 2-1/2" less than the distance between upper and lower trunnions on the stock arms. The lower ball joints were in the stock trunnion position, but the upper arm geometry was such that upon a bounce, the camber went severely positive, NOT A GOOD THING!



So here was my solution. I machined an extension piece with a tapered bore and thread (locked the stud on the ball joint in with red Loctite and a set screw from the side) and a stud end that mimicked the ball joint stud for installation on the top of the spindle (With a special shouder to spread the load over a large diameter at the flange):





Now the geometry is correct. I have the camber set at 0 deg. on both sides and caster set at around 2 deg. (in spec and within specified 3/4 deg. of one anouther):





So now, I am still isolating for the Covid and limited as to activity for the right eye catarac. C'mon LIFE, get outa my way and let me play with cars

Later, Gator.......

 

Thanks for the update, Jim.
Get well soon, we want to see more progress.

 

So while I am limited in activities, I have worked on an idea for the grilles up front:

As I related in an earlier post, I lucked out on acquiring a repro set of '53-'54 grille surrounds:



I acknowledge that Raymond Loewy and Bob Bourke did a nice design for the floating grill bar



However, I needed to make my custom MY custom! So I have been playing in CAD on a special "tube" grille:

First, I photographed the grille surround straight on and inserted it into my CAD program:



Then I plotted a polyline shape around the perimeter and scaled it all to realtime measurements:



Then I played with spacing 1/4" round bars, with rounded ends, into what looked right, including inserting special LED lights I am going to make:




I like it and I'm the one I need to please, so there! Now I gotta order some 1/4" stainless rod and start building....

Oh, yeah!........after I get going on the completion of the chop!!!!!!!!!!

From Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "I'm getting betta..."

See ya........

 

Thanks and hope you feel better !

 

Making the bumper brackets work with the welded plates/studs on the hidden-bolt bumpers has been a pain in the a** end of 53 COOP!

I originally had the bumper brackets well positioned so that the bumper fit where I wanted it to....tucked forward about 3/8" and about 3/8" below the cut down Packard taillights. But somehow, when those plates with the studs got welded in place at the plater, all hell broke loose on the geometry side. I thought I had it fixed by welding the brackets to my bench and modifying them in place....but, NO! That didn't work! The hole on the frame are 5" apart, but the forward hole ended about 3/4" to 1" too high!

So this weekend, I sliced the top of the bracket and flipped the cut-off piece to the bottom, welded the pieces in place, opened the forward hole to the proper diameter, an KAZAM!, the damn thing fit!

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the process, but here are pics of the finished product:





So I am relieved that it has been solved and now I can do the front bumper.

See ya' up front......

 

That S.O.B. looks perfect! Well worth the effort.

 

I'm waiting up front. Are you coming?

 

Soon. Just got the doors, trunk, hood, and grill surround parts back from the sandblaster. Back on 53 COOP with an update soon.

 

OK, OK, OK....I'm back and accomplishing things on 53 COOP!
The doors are back on and aligned, insides painted with POR-15, as are the hood, truck lid, below-the-bumper pan, and grill surround framework.



The hood had typical '53 Stude hood problems. For those unfamiliar with these hoods, the hinge mounting is very weak. It mounts to the back corner sheet metal, which has only a "C" flange along the sides. If over-stressed when raising the hood, those corners buckle. Unfortunately, my hood had been over-stressed and sloppily repaired sometime in its history:





So I installed the aftermarket reinforcing braces and did away with the brazed in scrap pieces. I also replaces some of the "C" flange sheet metal. Of course, I assumed that the curvature of the brace was correct. it has a good design, that recommends plug welding the "C" flange to the brace.





It all looked good until I put the hood in place. The brace curvature was not correct, so I made a template of the curvature of the fender alongside the hood, sliced some notches in the sides, push the hood down to match the fender line, and weld it back in place.

Then comes the front end:

The bumper brackets needed a lot of rework as was the case for the rear bumpers.

It's back in place and fits nicely:





Now with the front end assembled, I faced another challenge, i.e., the fit of the hood around the grille surrounds. Somehow, the gaps were terrible and the nose just did not align properly:





As I said, the styling of the '53 hood may be beautiful, but the structural design is very lacking. There is no reinforcing along the sides or any internal bracing from front to back, only the curvature and the "C" flanges along the sides. There is a curved tube at the front, to which the hood latch mounts, and that is spot welded to the side corners and the nose at the center. I have not liked the factory gap along the front, and mine has always been extra wide.

So the Sharpie line across front on the preceding picture, shows my plan to fix it....cur and reweld!

First, I Clecoed the the hood in place and cut and opened the smile across the whole front (except leaving it hanging on by a thread at the "C" flanges:



Believe me, that was a lot easier than sectioning 40 COOP's hood back in 2011!



So now it's back to welding it back together and aligning the hood latch.

Be back soon.....

 

Ohh, this I'd like to watch in person. This is turning out well.
There were/are another variation of the hood-corner-reinforcement-brackets, that weld to the underside, instead of how yours go, & the triangle is larger & abit heavier than sheetmetal. Yours look much nicer.
You are correct about the reinforcement(s)/etc, but the cars were never designed to last more than a couple of years, sadly. So, we work w/what we have to get what we want.
Marcus...

 

Well, I've been a busy boy....make that a busy OLD MAN (Wednesday I become an OCTOGENARIAN)!

Putting the hood back together has been a challenge, mostly because of welding....

A few years back, I bought an Eastwood TIG 200 from a guy down the street. He wanted to upgrade, so he sold it to me for a delicious $200! But I haven't really used it much, and especially not for sheet metal. I did the whole chop with MIG, 'cause I was entirely untrained on TIG.

But I've been watching YouTube videos and that spurred me on. However, I've confirmed the fact that it takes a lot of practice. DON"T START RIGHT OUT ON THE HOOD A**HOLE!

After a really bad start, I fell back to my gas welding to finish it up. I like gas with hammer-and-dolly re-stretching.



Then the Magic Mud to cover up my lack of perfect metal working, including a fiber resin first to make sure the welds were sealed from moisture penetration from the backside:




Then I modified the stock hood latch such that I pull a cable below the dash.

So this weekend I have been fitting the repro grille surrounds that I scored in November '22. Unfortunately, they are not a perfect fit, so I covered them with masking tape, "tacked" them in place with Gorilla Tape, and filled the gaps with 3M epoxy panel bond, followed by the Magic Mud. I'm just about done, so I taped the surrounds in place and took the pic. I till have a fair amount of filling and sanding around the headlights and below-the-bumper scoop, but this has been a major hurdle almost completed.

I gotta say, I LOVE THE '53 - '54 STUDE FRONT STYLING!

Be back in touch soon.........

 

That's lookin' really good!

 

Happy Birthday and thanks for the progress report.

 

Happy Birthday young man !

 

Thanks for the birthday wishes, guys!

You know, this aging thing is REAL! Now for a story about aging that happened in the last few days with a climax today.....

That last view of the front of 53 COOP has the grille surrounds held in place with blue masking tape. In order to make them more secure and easy to install, especially given the addition of fillers behind them to fit the repro parts, I used my buddy's lathe to make 24 - 7/8" long 8-32 NF nuts out of 3/8" hex brass. I will be making long studs to Loctite in the threaded holes on the back so the surrounds. So, while I am making other grille parts, I put all the nuts in one logical spot in my garage.

Starting yesterday, I started looking for the logical spot in my garage. But I seem to have lost my brass nuts.

Early this afternoon, after searching some more in the morning, I'm walking around the house repeatedly saying, "I've lost my nuts! I've lost my nuts! I've lost my brass nuts!

Back out in the garage, my wife comes out to help me find my nuts.

Within a couple of minutes, she points to a small bucket within two feet of where I had been working at the front of the car...."Are these your nuts?"

Damn! MY WIFE FOUND MY NUTS! The brass ones, that is.



So if you don't want to lose your nuts, keep them in a place where you can grab 'em, OLD MAN!

More to report later, if I can find that special tool I made. I know it's somewhere out in the shop........

 

You've got yourself a good woman... she knows how to find your nuts, even at your age!
(absolutely no dis-respect intended!!)