Projects 1941 Studebaker Champion Sedan Gasser Resurrection

COLOR PHOTOS - NO EXTRA CHARGE!

I ran out of paint, but got a nice start after a thorough wire wheeling session. The paint is Rustoleum paint and primer in one, ultra matte finish. The decision was made to get rid of the X frame design as the rear suspension ladder bars occupy so much space, there’s really no room for an X. A combination of boxing and angle bracing was used to strengthen the main rails. Most crossmembers are welded to the outside frame rail, and then either fully or partially boxed on the inside. I then ran 1/8” X 1.25” wide angled straps along both rails. Cheap, easy, internally paintable, and no warpage.

 

Frame is looking good, @Chucky. Taking advantage of the "warmer" weather I assume. Always nice to get the bare metal sealed up before the winter weather arrives.

 

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas! Santa brought me RJay’s hanging pedals and some exhaust collectors from Speedway. With a more complete mock-up on my radar, I couldn’t help but think about the 327 I need to reassemble and if I should use the double hump heads I have??? Getting slightly side tracked, I completely disassembled them and checked them for flatness and they check good. They do need a few more helicoils and other stuff, but I tucked them away and have been working on the rear axle. Need to stay focused. Happy new year!

 

I’ve just gotta ask, how do you put those neat little red arrows and text in your photos? Using the “Edit” on my phone or tablet all I get is fat, opaque, barely controllable lines and no text. I only have an old iPhone, iPad and an old Dell laptop.
Sure looks good so far…..

 

Paint on a desktop will do it, but it's a bit of a pain.
I'd imagine other graphics programs also have Text and Arrow functions.

 

@bchctybob
On Apple devices, if you draw an arrow, a circle, an oval, etc.. in one motion with your finger (and don’t lift your finger from the screen) it will convert your messy mess to a nice clean whatever. The “add text” feature is a bit more complicated to describe but you can probably google that and watch a video. These “edits” are available right in the photo app. It’s how I added the cheater glasses to my avatar. I’m getting older…

 

Thanks, I’ll mess with it some more.

 

I could have gone straight to another mock-up, but figured I’d get the rear axle rebuild completed first. The carrier bearings were very difficult to remove, but I eventually got them off with some heat and my 2 jaw puller. Everything inside looked good, until I cracked the posi spring while messing with it. The cupped washers on the spider gears were not broken, like I’ve seen in the past. All the bearings, seals, and posi clutches are now new. I also indulged in longer wheel studs and a chrome cover.

 

Excellent choice not using a pipe wrench to hold the pinion flange.

 

This thing is starting to look good.

 

I can't believe I missed this. Way cool man.....go man go!

 

Nice project Chucky and great progress.
I worked on one of those 8.8 that I liked to never get the pinion out of. It was a good thing it needed new gears.

 

Yep, they have a bad habit of swelling the locking pins.

 

The Stude is now rolling on new bearings, lube, and seals at all four corners! I decided to put the rear of the car back together because the more weight, the better. Next weekend, I plan to install a long block core engine and then continue with the front sheet metal.

 

Nice job on that frame.

 

Very cool, thanks for the pm.

 

A few color photos tossed in, because the b&w photos sometimes hide too much. You can see where they previously enlarged the rear fender opening rather crudely. Upon close inspection, I found burnt rubber smeared on the fender lip.

 

I decided to sell the McLeod bellhousing and use my Lakewood. Harbor freight to the rescue with one of their “load levelers”, which made engine installation way easier. I mounted my flywheel and clutch assembly to this core engine which should allow me to dial in the hydraulic clutch components. Hydraulics are desirable for brakes, so that pretty much ended the debate for me.

 

The shackles will probably get moved back a bit, but I’m liking the firmness of the springs. I’m finally back to where I couldn’t progress any further because there were so many loose ends. I now have a few options as to what to tackle next. Seats, clutch / brake pedals, front sheet metal…time will tell.

 

Another reason for the color photos is, I wanted to show the steering wheel. The black foam grip has always been the wheel to run. But, I’m trying to expand my horizons and try something new. This larger brown hard plastic wheel seems to fit the car’s character. It’s so ugly, it’s beautiful.

 

Nice progress. Clutch and brake pedals would be easy ("easy"?) now with all that room to work, but then there's the firewall, and the...well, you know how that goes.

I see you also stepped up your photography backdrop game, too.

Are you moving the front leaf spring shackle mounts rearward to gain better shackle angle?

Steering wheel looks like a good match for the dash trim, and brown is much classier than plain ol' black anyway.

 

The RJay’s hanging pedals I have are the reverse mount, if I hadn’t mentioned that already. With the masters mounted, the assembly is rather large, but rough measurements tell me it will fit behind the dash. Having no firewall at this point should make adding some structure a bit easier. Yes, moving the shackle mount rearward will give me a better angle. They are only bolted on at this point. The dash has the “drag car required” radio delete plate, not that there were any plans for a cassette deck. And yes…the wife said “where are you going with that towel”? (A little joke with member “in the pink”)

 

I used a Kugel pedal assembly in my 37 Chevy, it worked perfectly. I tried a stock type pedal set up but the brake pedal hit the back of the head. I really hate master cylinders hanging off the firewall on early cars . The hydraulic clutch was a plus as well.

 

I thought I’d let you guys know that instead of mounting seats and pedals and making “vroom vroom” sounds, I reluctantly decided to address the lumpy, hole ridden floor. And, I might as well tackle the random rust issues, the trunk floor and eventually the firewall too. Ugh…the horror, the horror…The factory floor has a large raised area for the seat, but of course I am mounting my seats further back. It also had a fan and heater core under the seat (big round hole) that makes bucket seat mounting even more difficult. Either patch a bunch of little holes and modify the shit out of the seat mounting brackets or cut it all out and put in a relatively flat floor. After starring at it for too long, I busted out the grinder. Heading to the ‘hood later this week for some 18 gauge.

 

Nip, tuck. Will be worth it in the end. I can’t wait to see the final product on this one

 

Great build! 327 & 4 speed, what gears are you running in the 8.8?

 

The 8.8 has the 4.10 gears.

 

You've got screw in studs & guide plates, it ought to crank up really well in the light car.

 

1941 Studebaker Champion 4 door Sedan for sale.

 

They sure had clean, attractive styling.