Technical Stude Pickup Warehouse Find

Yeah, I’ll isolate the two end carbs and see if it makes a difference. I know it can run smoothly, but something intermittently screws up and makes a cylinder or two not fire. I’ve never had this problem before. Someone suggested weak valve springs.

 

That's how I tuned my cad tri power, really helped sort it out. Do the lowering blocks mean scavenger pipes off the table now?

 

Oh no, if I can find something to make nice scavengers, I’ll try ‘em. Looking at the available real estate for full length exhaust with pencil tips, the scavengers are sounding better and better.

 

I went ahead and made these to block off the end carburetors.

I put them on, made a new fuel line that just feeds the center carb and started it up. It took a couple turns on the idle speed screw to get it to stay running. After it warmed up, I adjusted the mixture and speed and it was idling ok, not great, but ok. It seems to randomly drop cylinders idling in neutral but not so much when idling in Drive. But, it’s run well before and then the next day it’s shaking again. So I take every apparent improvement with a grain of salt. I guess we’ll just have to see….
I should probably look into the tuneup stuff again, plugs, wires, points, cap and rotor. Maybe the center carburetor too. Either that, or buy some new valve springs and stem seals and try that approach. I can always use them on the new engine.

 

I'm wondering if the condenser might be heading south? I had one that kind of acted like yours. After it failed completely, I cut it apart and found evidence of internal arcing where the foil wrap was supposed to make contact at the bottom of the housing...it would kind of work until the carbon got too thick and it no longer was able to make contact.

 

Good point. It's new but that doesn't mean it isn't suspect. I'll dig up another and switch it out to see if it improves.

 

I haven’t done much with the Stude lately due to having to catch up on yard work and do some repair/rework on my tow vehicle.
I did remove the windshield garnish molding and clean it. That lead to removing the dash pad and finding that the reason that the trim was held on with only one screw per side is because there were no holes in the dash for the screws. It got dark, dinner was calling and the Stude is still sitting there all dis***embled. I’m hoping to get it back together today.
As I tried to focus my attention on fixing my tow van, my mind kept wandering to the Stude mufflers.
My new exhaust parts came and I must admit that I changed my mind and I’m thinking that I want to put Smithy’s back on it with full 2” tailpipes and probably pencil tips under the bumper. But damn, Smithy’s are $100 each, plus $200 more for tubing for the headpipes and tailpipes.
IDK, quiet and high performance, or cl***ic and s***y?

 

quiet and a sleeper....save some dough and take the wife out to dinner.

 

I might be kidding myself but I’m hoping to give the new engine a little bit more muscle than stock and this ch***is doesn’t lend itself well to headers. I figured that I could clean up the manifolds and run decent size head pipes with lakes plugs for that early ‘60s look but then hide some quiet mufflers up underneath. I got 2 1/2” Walker Sound FX mufflers, I’ve gotten good sound out of them before.
None of it will show.

 

I like gl*** packs (steel or fibergl***), always had them in my cars and took out the rest. I recently bought some used Porters for the '28, they don't go bad unless in a fire .

 

I did get the dash all back together, it looks pretty good. I gave all of the gl*** a serious cleaning inside and out, and gave the old Stude a good, scouring bath. The aged paint is growing on me. I’d like to bring out the blue more but I don’t want to put anything on it that would cause problems if I paint it later. Any suggestions?
I measured the Smithy’s that I took off of my roadster, they are 2 1/4” in and out. I thought they were 2”. I may just use them. I think I have enough 2 1/4” u-bends and straight to do up to the mufflers but I’ll have to order some 2” to go the rest of the way to the back. Also some flanges to make lakes plugs.
The big effort right now is to get it registered. I need to trailer it to the local weigh station to get a Weight Certificate and I’m sending an official Bill of Sale to Frankie for signature. Once those are in hand, I’m half way there.
No word from the machine shop about my other block and crank yet. Still looking for another pair of ‘59-‘60 heads. Casting #531395
I’ll be diverting to my red coupe to do some maintenance and repairs so it’s ready to cruise when needed. The brakes failed (in the garage) so that will be the first item on the To-Do list.

 

Brakes failed on the A bone, what gave out?

 

The ‘57 T-bird Midland power booster that they used with a Mustang fruit jar m/c started leaking out of the side diaphragm. I got in to back the coupe out and the pedal went to the floor. I checked the fluid, empty. It’s $479+ , exchange for a rebuild, $271+ for a rebuild kit.
I’m not much of a power brake guy anyway when it comes to old cars so I made a new line, byp***ed it and bled the system. It stops fine and I like the pedal feel better. The transmission crossmember is in the way of upgrading to a dual circuit m/c, it will require some re-engineering so that will have to wait.
While I was under there I also changed the starter. I freshened up an old stock Chevy starter and took out the noisy modern mini-starter. Cast iron on cast iron, Much better.

 

I took the Midland out of my old Tudor, like you said, works better without it.

your coupe is *****innnn

 

Don't forget to top-up the starter fluid in it before installing!

 

Thanks. It’s a good solid old car, I need to get it out more.
Funny, I’ve had three old cars with power brakes and pulled the booster out of each of them and liked it better.
Claymart: I put the new synthetic starter fluid in this one. I figured that’s what the big red hose that hooks to the top means. Lol. You know, like the orange coaster for decaf coffee and green caps for airless air. Lol.

 

I haven’t done a lot to the Stude lately but I did make a little tool to make the special washers required to put the knock-offs on. I had some washers to use for blanks but not a full set, I’ll have to order some. Here’s what I came up
with.

Here’s a set all bolted up….

And with the knock-off….

There’s a left pair (LH thread) and a right pair, anyone know which goes on which side of the vehicle?

 

Righthand threads go on the left side, and lefthand threads go on the right side. This configuration will always tighten the device as you drive.

 

Thanks. I’ve had several Austin Healeys and Jaguars with real knock-off wire wheels (boy, I wish I had those back) but I just put the wheels on and never gave much thought to which side did what. I just followed the arrows. Lol

 

Always liked those Cal Custom knock offs

 

A guy in my high school had a really nice light metallic blue ‘55 Chevy that was kind of a performance/mild custom with chrome wheels, thin WWs, and these Cal Custom 2 blade knock-offs. I always liked that car and it’s knock-offs. But I’ve never had a car that they really go well on until now. (Maybe my mild custom T-bird, but I didn’t think of it). The truck I have didn’t have them but I thought I’d use them as a nod to the sister truck that did have them.
This was Frank’s shortened, 413 Mopar powered truck. I like the stance, the slicks, the taillights. (I wonder what they are? Plymouth?). I can’t help but wonder where it went?

 

Hey, Bob;
I think I can be of some help here. . While I cannot tell you where that truck *did* go, I absolutely can state where it *did not* go - which is into my possession. ;( .
Nice clean Stude. .
Marcus...

 

50 Dodge tail lights?

 

I like the ‘50 Dodge but they are too curvy, I’m thinking ‘53 Plymouth.
$2800!! I’m glad that I’m not restoring an old Mopar these days.
I like the Buick taillights on mine but they look a bit cramped. I’m going to lower and rotate the bumper just a bit and see if it helps. I need to take a better picture of the rear.

 

I just noticed that the brothers replaced the Studebaker tailgates with custom smooth ones on all three trucks. My previous Stude pickups had custom tailgates too. Seems like no one liked the stock tailgates. I don’t know why, they are a little “busy” but they are distinctive. Mine doesn’t work, it’s bolted in position. I’ll fix that eventually.
The more I look at the photo of Frankie’s above, the more I like it. I’m imagining driving it with it being short, the shiny black paint, Inglewood slicks on chrome wheels, the cool slightly nose-up stance and a thumpin’ Mopar 413. Just perfect for my taste.

 

Design change. Looking for more washers to use as blanks, I found some that have the same OD as the bracket feet. They don't show, but still they look better than the bigger ones. And they seem to form better with just one press whereas the others needed to be turned 180 and pressed a second time. Now I need a dozen of them, plus a couple spares.

 

Things are at a virtual stand-still here, my wife had surgery on her knee so I’m just hanging out with her and making sure she has what she needs. She’s gotten better and I was able to get out to the shop for a bit.
I did a deep clean on the chrome wheels on the Stude in preparation for the installation of the Cal Custom knock-offs. After a good cleaning, I put some Meguire’s carnauba wax on them in an attempt to protect the chrome. I don’t know if that is really effective or not but I’ve done it that way for years. Anyone have any more modern ways of protecting chrome wheels?
As I expected, when I torqued the lug nuts with the knock-off brackets in place, one of them broke. They are just die cast zinc or something. As it got clamped between the wheel and the washer it was pushed over the raised boss on the wheel stretching it until it broke. It’s still functional but….
I’ll fabricate some new ones if it turns out to be a problem. It only happened in one location, so far.
This is the bracket….

And the finished product….





A couple nagging questions remain, how tight should I tighten them and should I put some silicone on the base where the spinner makes contact as a locking adhesive.
I’ll get the rears on tomorrow and take another picture….. I like ‘em.
I’m glad they aren’t like my experiment with ‘62 Corvette hubcaps on my ‘56. All the trouble and expense and I just didn’t like how they looked with the car’s color. But you never know until you try

 

Wheel and spinner looks great! As for wax, dunno.

 

Just thinking out loud….is it possible that the stands were designed to be sandwiched between a pair of lug nuts instead of between the nut and wheel? Put that way so you didn’t have to use as much torque to hold them on.

 

Thanks Walt, I’ve always liked them for some reason, I finally got around to using some.

Bama, I think they are installed as intended. These days, I think only Moriarty really knows for sure how they mount.
The washers I made bottom in the lug nut countersink in the wheel leaving just enough space to clamp the bracket and the washers are only .060” soft stainless. That particular bracket was pretty deformed when I got it, I had to carefully reshape it. I was a little surprised that it broke, they were somewhat easy to re-shape. I think it might have been me not paying close enough attention as I tightened it. I was really extra careful with the first one I installed. If I have to make new ones, I’ll probably drill and tap the blank lug nut bosses on the wheels and not use the lug nuts to mount them.