Projects 1960 Studebaker Lark Gasser

I wish! I had to buy an $800.00 adapter Couldn't allow myself to trust the integrity of the Stude trans though.

 

Sounds like another tatoo to me. Eventually these guys will run out of skin in places you are willing to touch and your parts searches will broaden your social circle.
Fill me in on your tranny choice. I thought you had a C4. 220v? We may have to move my mill to your house. The Pops

 

That's a double Amen! I love the idea of sticking with the Studebaker motor.
You will probably shock some guys out there who believe the sbc is the "be all,end all" motor.

 

Yeah I had some fancy ford trans but decided to run a manual. It would have been EXTREMELY difficult for me to adapt. I picked up a Chevy to Stude adapter from Bendtsens and a Muncie M20, new #621 bellhousing from the parts place.


Got the new spindles apart FINALLY but the kingpins were wasted, so I've ordered some from speedway...will have "corrected camber" pics when they arrive. Motor should be done at the machine shop today or tommorow. order parts for the 9" today...I'm gettin excited!!

 

This is my biggest motivation! I can't wait to hear and see what people think. The downside is answering the questions and dealing with the know-it-all's

 

Never underestimate "slapping on" some original spindles! Been a pain in my ass...but I'm almost there. Got my supercharger today too!! Stoked

 

Ya, "slapping on" anything vintage car is always at some point going to bite you in the ass! Good thing on the spindles though. I was checking out a Stude motor at a friends shop the other day, really cool! I have to admit that I have never paid much attention to them before. Kinda makes me regret the fact that I could of had one about six months ago if I had just picked it up! I'm usually crazy about being Johnny-on-the-spot about such deals, but Studes are just so far outside the norm, I just couldn't get too crazy about it... Like I said, regrets... ( just so every body knows, I turned a friend of mine on to this motor - turned out to be a low mileage piece he's going to gasket and ring, and use in his "A")

 

Yup.

If it were me, I'd see how small of an undersize bearing is available; leave some room for the next turn on the crank (you never know what's going to happen...).

I'd be surprised if anything smaller than .030 under was commonly available. I stress 'commonly', because you don't necessarily want to buy weird bearings. Ask the guy whose engine has a .010" under main that's .010 WIDER on the thrust surface.

Where's our "rolling eyes, slapping forehead, and swearing" smiley?

-Bill

 

Finally got somewhere today! After hours and hours of screwing around with the spindles/kingpins, installing new bushings, filing, measuring, grinding axle bosses etc...I got em' installed. they fit perfect and my camber issue is FIXED!

 

Been collecting a few parts. Stil waiting to get my motor back from the machine shop so I can make motor/trans mounts and decide what I want to do with the firewall. Got the steering all mocked up using the original column cut down and stripped of all BS. Also a new pic with correct camber and one of the bitchin' steering wheel I picked up!

If all goes as planned I'll get the motor and hopped up 9" back this week. But we all know what happens when we make plans....

 

Mines underway right now!! Just clipped the front with 2x3 .188 wall. got an F-100 axle and springs, a 413 Chrysler and t-flite, 9" Ford rear. My e-mail is skully28016@yahoo.com. Flip me a note I'll swap pics with ya!! Dave!!

 

stay hooked up man, I like it, nay , I love it !.............. i did a 60 hardtop lark few yrs ago, way kool little cars...

 

A Lark gasser!? Love it, love it, love it!

 

Yep, a Lark gasser

Quick update, mainly for you Jake.

Tore apart the supercharger today to see why it wasn't turning freely. Other than the packing peanuts and shredded newspaper it was shipped to me in I found that the bearings did not fit in the driver as you can see from the picture and the rear housing is damaged, which attribute to there being too much spring pressure and not enough clearance. Hopefully the housing is still useable and all I need are a few minor parts...

 

OK, I see what you're talking about now. I know that housing looks bad, but I don't know if it's really a big deal. That dished piece on the center race is an oil-slinger meant to keep the oil in the supercharger from going to the intake via the housing. Although the oil slinger does have some contact with the damaged part of the housing it's not a load-bearing surface. In fact, there should be a few thousandths play when you shim the impellor upon final assembly. If anything, this blower might drink a little more ATF fluid than usual but I doubt it will cause catastrophic failure.

Also, I read the part about stroking the motor by welding the crank. This used to be done with Ford flatheads. They'd build up the rod journal by metal-spraying and then grind them off-center. The biggest problem is that it's hard to get stuff to stick to cast iron so sometimes the welded part would come loose. However, because the Stude cranks are forged steel and not cast iron, they are ideal candidates for this process.

 

Yeah I figured it wasn't a load-bearing surface, or not designed to be anyways. Should clean up and work ok

As far as I know, between John and the machine shop we've decided not to regrind the crank based off of the deck height. Trying to talk to John and make sense of it all was beyond my comprehension.

 

Anymore updates on this one?

 

I like where this one is headed. Supercharged Stude-powered Stude gasser? Fuck Yeah!

 

Yeah, all I have at the moment are a couple cellphone pics. Just got the block back from the machine shop, they threw in a free Paxton for taking so long, which John's gonna tear apart to build the McCulloch (8-9 psi) Picking up the reground crank today and should be gettin started on the actual engine build real soon. Still trying to decide which route to take with the heads.
Motor is currently assembled for mock-up, I cut the firewall and started building motor mounts...pics coming soon

Everything about it says badass...hope I'm right!

 

Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Man, I wish you had talked to me about the trans stuff. I got a Borg T85 overdrive a while back. T85s are bullet proof and this OD is the R11. Just a 3 speed but it was the pattern for Ford's "rock crusher". A lot of the Stude bell housings have the Ford pattern. With 8-9 pounds of boost minor head work will be fine. At least till someone casts some new R4 heads. I have a bare Stude block if you need something easier to handle for your mock up. I also have some Stude pickup mounts for the rear that might help you.
I'm thinking of using the off center crank grinding thing on a Chevy 4 cyl I'm building. I can get almost 1/8" stroke. At least enough to get a zero deck height. And like the Dragon guy says don't be afraid to weld on a Stude crank. If there is anything here that you need give me a call!

 

that lark is going to make a great gasser...looking good! keep us posted

 

Thanks Tom, I'm using a bare block with the heads bolted on for mock-up so it's not too painfull. I Might wanna try using the rear mounts, but I haven't looked into building trans mounts yet. I'm pretty excited to have everything to run the M20, hopefully it all goes smooth.

As far as the build goes, I lost my job a week ago and am now tattooing fulltime and until I know it's stable I'm holding off on a few things, so updates will be a little less consistent.

 

Sorry about your job. I know that's scary with the house and all. Let me know if I can be of help. I'll take some pictures of the mounts. Tom

 

Finally making some progress!! Dont know if I've already posted any of this but engine and trans mounts are done. Crank center is a little high so I'll likely be making some adjustments. Picked up some parts from Mr. Erb today and began bottom end assembly. CNC custom ground cam is on order so hopefully I'll have a short block real soon. Still waiting for the 9" to get finished up. Get'n motivated again though!
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What's up with the gasser? I heard you were doing some head work.

 

Finally trying to get back on track...for real. Rear axle should be done any day so I can FINALLY get it to actually "roller" status and at ride height. Just finished up all the porting (way less fun than anticipated) but got them over to John for some fine tuning, stainless R3 valves and a valve job to match the new custom grind cam he ordered. He also said he's catching back up on blower rebuilds so hopefully I get that back soon as well.

 

Very cool car , love the motor and supercharger. stude gassers rock

 

Still waiting on head/supercharger work to be finished but I got the axle in. It fit like a glove.