Technical Stude Pickup Warehouse Find

Those wheel look great.. somewhere in my boxes between garage moves .. I have a set of the two and three bar knock offs like those . I bought them at the Portland Swap a few years back $10 buck for the whole box... never got around to installing them on my 60 Chevy Sedan Delivery, and sold it

 

I'm wondering if you might have better luck using this style of lug nut. It's made with a collar specifically to hold on a faux OEM wire wheel cover on '80s GM cars that attaches the cover in the same way your knock-offs go on.


https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...e-car-1984-pontiac-parisienne?q=lug+nut&pos=3

This is ***uming that your Stude uses a 7/16-20 wheel stud. There may be some other sizes available for other makes and models. The mounting bracket "floats" on three of the nuts and gets drawn up tightly when the center cap gets screwed on.

 

^^^^ That's an idea....

 

Stepping away from the wheels for a bit, I decided to get the brake lights working. Previously, I removed the Olds pedal ***embly and Treadle Vac and built a new pedal ***embly using a dual Mustang m/c. The brake light switch was part of the old pedal ***embly. I prefer mechanical brake light switches but it’s very tight around the pedal ***embly and it was much easier to incorporate a pressure switch as I made new brake lines. I simply extended the wires and ran them down to the new switch. Although the wiring on the truck is old and will need to be replaced in the future, it worked before and it’s working once again. I still need to tidy up the wire routing a bit.
Boring stuff, no pictures, but it needed to be done so it’s ready to go when the registration is complete.

 

Of course, when testing the lights, one of the bulbs was bad. So I took both taillights apart to clean the sockets and replace the bulb. After cleaning, I decided to do what I usually do with old car taillights, either paint the inside of the housing bright white or add polished aluminum tape to make them a little brighter. It’s tape this time. I made a little pattern…

I used 3M 425 aluminum foil tape. I cut a length and stuck it on my Bondo board (I couldn’t find my gl*** board), smoothed it out and traced the shape onto it with a pencil. Then cut it out with an Xacto knife. Then I polished it with my favorite, Wax Depot liquid metal polish.

I applied the tape after cleaning the surface with paint prep cleaner, and wiped off my fingerprints.

I had cleaned the lenses and the trim rings beforehand so I put them back on. The lights should be a little brighter now.
The rings aren’t in the greatest shape. I’m going to look for a better pair if anyone has some that they want to sell. Not sure if they are reproduced or not. I’m not even sure what year Buick they came on, ‘49, ‘50?

The brake lights are in the lower half of the light ***embly and the bumper partially covers them. I don’t like that. I’m thinking about lowering the bumper slightly or inverting the taillight ***emblies so that the brake lights are on top. I’m not sure that the old stiff wires will allow me to invert them though.

 

I got my paperwork together and made an appointment with the registration lady. Next week I’ll load it on my trailer and get a weight certificate for it. If all goes well, I should be able to take it to the local cruise night 2nd Saturday next month.

 

Those tail lights are '50-'52. I would swap out the top socket for another 1157 one, so both will be brake lights and use bright red leds bulbs.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=1157

The truck is looking great!

 

Thanks. I’ll look into that.

 

Dumb question? Why do you have to weigh it? It’s not a commercial vehicle, so why do they want the weight? Just wondering, I’ve never heard of having the weight to register anything less than 10,000 lbs.

 

In California you have to weigh trucks and even El Caminos and Rancheros. Anything with an open bed is deemed commercial. If you have a campershell on it...the DMV can deem it a "housecar"...no weight then...and regular plates. You just can't technically carry any loads in the back..or you'll get fined if you're popped by the cops..

 

Gimpy knows more about this than I do, but in California, trucks have to have a commercial plate if you ever intend to carry anything in the bed. It can be registered as a “car” but if the police catch you with as much as a lawn chair in the bed they can cite you and the DMV gets the notice. You can put a camper on it and register it as a house car also, IIRC. But again, if you get caught carrying lumber or something it’s a ticket and a nasty gram from the DMV. I have no idea how those regulations came about but that’s what I understand.
I’m glad that you brought that to my attention. My truck does not have commercial plates currently. I will ask the registration lady if we can register it as is, non commercial. (thus no need to weigh) I do intend to have a white tonneau cover made for it to keep my swap meet finds out of sight.
There’s some current scuttle**** that California police are supposed to “ignore” minor confrontations such as expired registration, missing front plates, broken taillights, etc. On the other hand, us older folks are considered a low-risk traffic stop so they may

 

Yes, had a OT PU that did not have commercial plates. Was coming back from Az with my belongings showing over the bed sides. CHP pulled me over in Fresno. If I had a shell/structure over it (not tarped) would have been fine.

Edir: this was ‘84ish

 

The tailgate doesn’t work like a tailgate, it’s bolted in. Anyone have any suggestions for some period appropriate hinges I could use, it’s all flat where the hinges would go? I’m picturing FlyinBrian’s station wagon hinges in my mind, maybe ‘50 Ford trunk hinges? Or I could just raise it a hair and make some hidden pivot pins. IDK, just thinkin’….

 

Thanks for the clarification on weighing it. Every state has their way of doing things, just seems odd to have to put commercial plates on a private vehicle. Extra money for the state I guess!

 

Hey, Bob;
Do you have to then carry "Commercial" insurance on a truck w/ commercial plates? Here in MN, that would be damn near a deal-breaker, unless you're actually in business. Or does the "splty" insurance cover this sort of thing?
When I was using the old stuff as dd's, I just used reg auto insur. MN winters - i.e.: MagnesuimChloride mixed w/road salt killed them after a half dozen years... , so now OT gets used-up.
Marcus...

 

No you don't have to carry special commercial insurance. Rates may be higher when they punch in your vehicle type...commercial vs p***enger...but its negligible. Remember...the vast majority of people in CA with open bed trucks or suvs that actually use it for commercial purposes is pretty low. Most just use them for transportation, and an occasional trip to Home Depot....insurance companies understand that.

 

BTW panel trucks also have to be commercial......but Suburbans do not, because of the row of seats behind the driver. As per my local DMV.

 

I’ve never been told by my insurance guy that I need a commercial policy. None of my friends that use their trucks for work have complained about it either. My insurance company is more concerned with how much you drive, how many miles and where.

 

OK, thanks. Leave it to MN...
Pu, etc can have std plates/insur - but if you are actual commercial... ;( .
Marcus...

 

I guess every state has it’s quirky pitfalls when it comes to cars, inspections and registration.

 

All the commercial plate for a PU, etc is so you can haul items in the bed. The license is more expensive than a vehicle of the same year/new sales price.
The intent as I was told long ago for the increased cost to license is because loads put more weight on roads, cause more repair issues, etc.
Heck, look at what Ca charges to license a 2 axle tractor, minimal weight on it, but the load being pulled is the “potential”. Used to be tractor /trailers were both costly, now the tractor carries the cost, the trailers get the “perm” plates renewed every 5 years at 20? a pop.

 

I took a look at how the seats were mounted in this beast. I thought that they were Corvair seats but the mounting is very different from my wife’s Corvair. Basically, the tracks were securely bolted in the back but the front was free to bounce around. I’m guessing it’s because the front of the tracks doesn’t have a convenient mounting flange, just slots for some kind of hooks on the donor cars floor.
I get to vacuum out some more rat turds and stuff.... and scrub the floors. Look Ma, NO ROT! A lot of unused holes though.


I made some new brackets to bolt down the front of the seats. Notice now nice the seat tracks are, not all rusted up, the seats are in great condition but there is some "foam dust" under each one.

I'm going to drive it as is for a while, but the headliner cardboard is falling apart, the door panels are cut from the window cranks, needs insulation and carpet, etc. If I'm going to drive it much, I need the inside to be more hospitable. I think Tony was heading towards a black interior but didn't get it all done, maybe not. It has black tuck n roll door panels, black headliner and had s****s of black carpet. The seats and the dash pad are gold/tan.
I did the interior of my F100 in black and white. Those of you who live in scorching, 100-degree areas will appreciate why the seating areas are white.

The Stude has buckets so I'm thinking along these lines.... Cl***ic, simple tuck n roll.
I was going to do this with my '56 Chevy but never got that far. The Stude seats have chrome trim on the outsides and painted trim in the middle. For the Stude I think I would do white TnR inserts, maybe. (all white or gold and white interior? - lol)

I may be getting ahead of myself....

 

Hey, Bob;
You are going to have a sorta-permanent smile on your face, real soon-like. If you ride, do it *before* the Stude gets used. I think you're also going to need some "smile-remover", so's your face won't hurt... .
White inserts look real good, besides not cooking the backsides. Wht or wht-gold? Hard decision, esp if black is used as accent. Hmmm...
Marcus...

 

Oh yeah, I forgot. I got the knock-offs on.
I made “splints” from stainless sheet. I cut s**** shaped blanks, drilled a 1/2” hole, swedged the end like the washers, formed the leg to match the bracket leg and screwed them to the damaged legs.
I was absolved of responsibility for one of the broken legs, previous mis-use had thinned the outer part of the ring so there was almost no way it wouldn’t break. The other was self-inflicted, my washer with a flat on one side rotated during the torquing process and split the ring from the leg.
My attempts to solder or silver-solder were a big fail. Although, the material melted back together to a degree making it useable. The splint worked fine to make me feel sure that it can’t fall off.
I got all excited and put everything together and forgot to take pictures! I used anti-seize on the threads and some silicone in the spinner to act as a locking feature. I hope it works.
So here’s how it looks now. Sorry about the ****py picture on the rusty old hoist, but I pulled out the seats so it’s kinda stuck on the there for a day or two. I’ll take some glamour shots when I get the seats back in.
I’ve always intended to get some 1” thin whitewall tires for it but I had the bias-ply WWs in stock so I used them for now. The photo would look better shot from 3/4 front view with the canted headlights showing but my collection of precious junk out there made that impossible.

Just in case someone else is considering these things, there is a process for pre-fitting the knock-off brackets to the wheels before installing them. The legs are somewhat malleable if you are careful and patient. They do not self-adjust! I pre-fit the first one, no problem, I didn’t pre-fit the second and it broke. I pre-fit the other two and had no problems. Small tweaks to center the rings over the bosses on the wheel and gentle bending of the rings at the end of the legs to make them sit flat on a surface before installation.
I wonder what the manufacturers instructions said. Maybe they had different part numbers for different wheels but they are somewhat “adjustable”.

 

With the seats out, I scrubbed the floor with Dawn and several stiff scrub brushes. Put it on, scrub, let it sit, scrub again and rinse. Then do it over again.
It’s undercoated inside and out, but not heavily.
While it’s drying I’ll do a better job of cleaning the seats.

 

I spent quite a bit of time cleaning the seats. The covers are practically flawless but I could hear the crunching of the old foam as I scrubbed.
I don’t know what they came out of with four holes in the back end of each track and two fork-like hooks in the front. Not ‘62 Corvair, and my buddy says not ‘64 Chevelle, those were my first guesses.

I covered the extra holes in the floor with aluminum foil tape and then black duct tape. It will get some Dynamat kind of insulation eventually with the new carpet. I couldn’t see MIG welding the holes, struggling with the undercoating and trying to get a grinder up in there to make the underside look good again, so this will do for now. I installed the seats and the new seat belts.

I bought dark blue seat belts to remind me of how the truck could look with a fresh coat of Corvette Daytona blue. The chrome trim cleaned up like new. I’m going to make a decorative kick plate of some kind to hold down the edges of the carpet and cover up the three slots where the Stude bench seat mounted.

Next up, I’ve got to load it on the trailer and take it to nearby Linden to get it weighed.

 

After I washed the van and trailer I hooked up the trailer and fired up the Stude. I took it for a couple of runs around the block to be sure that I will be able to load and unload it at the scales without any embarr***ing transmission problems. I noticed a new noise in the rear suspension. So, I put it back on the hoist but didn’t find anything. I lubed everything liberally.
I really hate the way that the old, blown out Smithy’s sound, like an old Farmall tractor that tossed its muffler. So I grabbed the Smithy’s that are supposed to be for the roadster and stuck them on the old rusty headpipes with turn-down tips for now. I still don’t like the sound at idle but it sounds sweet driving along. Better anyway.
Meet the new muffs, same as the old muffs..


For some reason, it’s running like **** again, I guess those rusty old Tri-Power carburetors are still in need of attention. They were really rusty and corroded, the front carb needs new blades but they are blocked off for now. I’ll pull off the center carb and see what I can find.


I need a ‘59-‘60 4 bbl manifold or three better Tri-Power carbs.

 

go show gary and his wcfb --he wants some help,you can show these ...

 

The hardest part was getting the jets and check balls out and cleaning the p***ages.
It just occurred to me that these 3x2 carbs came from the collection of carbs and Rochester fuel injection units that the original builder of this truck, Carman Pisano, had in his “F.I. clean room” where he probably prepped the ‘57 FI that was on the truck when I got it. He left it all to his son, and my long-time friend, Danny Pisano. Different parts from the same collection….

 

Yesterday went well. I checked the oil in the old Pontiac and it was a quart low (leaks quite a bit). I decided to change the oil and filter since the truck was still on the hoist. The filter was heavy, and I got a lot of strange chunks out of the oil pan. It looks like there was a layer of “stuff” on the bottom of the oil pan as well. Amazing it’s still running. I really should pull the pan but the new engine is in the works so I’m not sure I’m up for the extra work. Who am I kidding, I’ll yank it off of there as soon as I get done fixing my red coupe, I want to keep this engine/trans in there as long as it runs good.
With the oil change done I loaded it on the trailer.


Successful trip to the weigh station, it weighs 3280lbs (3500 even, with me in it - hmm).
Cost a whopping $10.

I guess I’ll work on the carburetors until my registration appointment June 8.
Side note; the transmission is working better and better, it now transitions from Reverse to Drive without having to go to Park first. I need to figure out how to get it to shift into 3rd gear sooner though. I have to accelerate and back off of the throttle slightly to get it to shift at normal residential neighborhood speeds. Shifts fine under acceleration out on faster roads.