Technical Stude Pickup Warehouse Find

Waiting patiently to hear this run

 

Good people to deal with https://harmonclassicbrakes.com/

 

Patience is a very good virtue...Go Bob Go!!!

 

Wow Bob that is one of the strangest places I've ever seen a battery...glad you're going to relocate it...

 

I repaired a battery holder similar to this one a few years back on a neighbor’s ‘41 Plymouth custom. He said that he had to remove the front wheel and tire to get at his. It was really ugly, made from bugger welded angle iron, but he had made a sheet metal shield to protect the battery so it wasn’t so vulnerable. I guess if you do that, it’s not too bad as long as you have an accessible cut-off switch somewhere.

 

I helps to be friendly with folks, especially at the local auto parts store. I’ve been trying to patronize our local independent store, San Pedro Auto Parts. I’m usually kind of quiet and all business. But the counter guy is somewhat new to the hot rod game and he made the fatal mistake of asking what I was working on. After boring him with pictures and details about my project, he told me that he had a complete set of rebuilt ’56 Plymouth front brakes left over from a disc brake changeover that he was going to give to the scrap metal guy, he would rather see them get used. Amen to that. I don’t know if any of the parts will work on my ‘57-‘58 front end but I’ll get them first and ask questions later. (I’m learning)
Unlike the nearby chain stores, they had some bulk straight 1 1/2” ID radiator hose for the two front hoses and the 1/8P to 3/8 inverted flare fitting and a line that I need to provide vacuum for the power brakes. Good guys, glad I went to them.

 

Hint, hint…..

 

Looks like you blew the soot outta it!

 

So I finally hooked up the battery cables and hit the key. Nothing. No clicking solenoid, nothing. Damn. So I started trying to find the solenoid energizing wire. It turns out that they actually included a wire to use for a remote starter switch. No doubt because access to the starter is terrible. There’s a 14 ga. purple wire coiled up and taped. So I hooked up a power wire and the remote switch and it cranked over just fine. I filled the center carb through the vent tube with a squeeze bottle, gave it a shot of starter fluid and it fired right up. I tweaked the timing a little and tried again. It started but quickly died. A couple carb adjustments and it stayed running. Very little valve noise but it shakes like it has one or two dead holes. I’m going to check my plug wires tomorrow, I might’ve screwed up. I put some water in it and ran it a few more times to build some heat in it. It smokes out of every orifice but it has been sitting for 40 years. I may put the rear up on Jack stands and run through the gears but there’s only so much I’m willing to do until the brakes are working.

 

Great news to hear the engine runs without any fatal noises.

 

Well, there was a squeak yesterday that gave me a restless night’s sleep. Turns out it was just the fan belt. When I took it off the squeak went away. The leaky freeze plug must have a hole about 1/2” in diameter, the water just gushes out. So I left the hose in the radiator on low while I ran it. It starts up great, and holding it above idle it runs smooth and quiet. The puffing blow by and exhaust smoke are almost gone. It’s still acting like it has a huge vacuum leak though. It stalls when you lower the idle and it’s still shaking like one cylinder isn’t firing.
I ran it again for about 10 minutes with the rear end jacked up so I could cycle it through the gears. It appears to be a Dual Coupling Super Hydra-Matic. I had to look up the gear selector pattern and as I figured it’s sorta weird. PNDLR. However, it feels like it has six detent positions so maybe there’s a Super in there somewhere. The internet info is scarce and always questionable. If anyone knows the real shift pattern, let me know. It did everything that it’s supposed to do, no wheel spin in park, backwards in reverse, and the spin changes speed from low to drive.
After warming it up for 10 minutes I drained the oil and changed the filter. The oil was pretty black again but no goo or chunks came out. Did I mention it has 40 lbs of oil pressure at idle.
Tomorrow I’ll pull out the plugs, inspect them and run a compression check. I already checked the plug wires and they are all pushed on securely, in the right order. Damn, I was hoping that I crossed a couple wires. I may also check the carburetor for boogers. Then give it some more run time.
I’m hoping to get together with the guy from the auto parts store and get those brakes.
I have videos of it running but I don’t know what to do to post them.

 

Bob, post videos to utube then copy the url to here. We are waiting to hear it run....

 

How about putting a battery cutoff switch in before you drive it? So you don't burn it down if something shorts out.

 

I remembered that from other threads so I went to YouTube and started wading through the instructions. First they want you to sign into Google, I don’t have a Google account that I know of but when I tried to open one it said my email address is already in use. ??? Right about there I figured that I desperately need my daughters help. Lol.
I’ll see if my young nextdoor neighbor can help me get it done.

 

Absolutely. I was looking at one at the parts store yesterday. I’m going to have to pull out the starter to replace the freeze plugs anyway so I’ll change out the battery cable to a longer one at the same time. I like putting a cut off switch under the front of the driver’s seat, like my old F100 and my Model A. Easy to reach.

 

So I did a compression check yesterday and the high was 185 on #4, 180 on 1&2 and the low was 155 on #5&7. Number one and number two looked slightly oily but not fouled. Not bad enough to cause the shaking at idle. Then I ran it a while to warm it up, no squirt from the center carb accelerator pump. (?)
It had a normal squirt when I first put gas to it.
Off with the center carb, (I also checked to see that both end carbs were closed). I found nothing obvious, clean inside, nothing plugged up. So I started looking at the pump action, it was rebuilt with a blue synthetic plunger that came in the kit. It seems to stick in the bore and the spring compresses without moving the plunger. But why now, it worked ok the first day? Looking in there nothing obvious jumped out at me but I cut some fine Scotchbrite and made a hone. It didn’t help the action. I understand there are two bore sizes 3/4” and 21/32”. Being away from home and shop I have no way to verify what I have. I suppose it could be that I’m trying to cram a 3/4” plunger into a 21/32 carburetor. So I just put it back together the best I could and ran the thing for a while, changing gears and warming it up.
I’ll take the carb home with me to work on the no squirt problem. I have a bunch of 2GCs at home and lots of spare parts, I’m sure I can solve the problem.
A noise in the rear appeared after I worked the parking brake to facilitate running the transmission through the gears. It sounded like a brake spring loose inside the rear drum. Strange noise. It turned out to be the right side tailpipe. Fixed.
After running about 2 gallons of gas through it, the tailpipe smoke is gone, the blowby has almost gone, there is no lifter noise (unbelievable), 40 lbs of oil pressure and above idle it runs as smooth as can be. I guess I can be satisfied with my progress. I bought a cheap VOM, some wire and some ends but I’m tired of laying over the fenders. I may work on the paint a little tomorrow for a change of pace.
Oh yeah, I got the 1956 brakes but I don’t think anything will interchange. According to Rock Auto listings the ‘56 uses different wheel cylinders than the ‘57-58.

 

Hey Bob, a 3/4 drill or piece of drill rod might help you size it? Maybe reach out to carbking for thoughts?

 

I was looking through what little I do have in the LA garage thinking that I saw a 3/4” bolt in a coffee can, it was a 5/8”. Dang. Tries my patience but also exercises my work-around skills, like cutting the cord off of an old clock to hot wire the ignition.

 

Back home in NorCal and it was raining yesterday so I bellied-up to the workbench and took a look at the Tri-Power center carb from the Stude. It had a weak pump shot and the engine idled very rough. These carbs were in terrible shape when I got them so anything is possible. With that in mind, I went upstairs and got another similar 2GC to compare or maybe use as a replacement.
All three carburetors looked like this to start with.


With the tops off of both carbs and an exploded view from the kit instructions, I checked to see if I screwed something up or left something out. I pulled out the booster venturies and accelerator pump check balls. Nothing unusual, but the two carbs are very different so I’ll need to fix my original carb, whatever is wrong.
The carb kit came with the 21/32” blue synthetic accelerator pump plunger so I used a T-gauge to measure the pump well bore in the carb body. It’s the right plunger. But the cup seemed to snag in the bore and the spring absorbed the rest of the motion. I couldn’t see or feel anything in the bore but I fabbed up a makeshift hone with a piece of rod and some fine emery paper and honed it slightly. Now the plunger and cup move properly up and down in the bore. One thing fixed.
I poured a little paint thinner into the well and pushed in the plunger. Some thinner appeared at the top of the check ball retainer so I reinstalled the booster/cluster and pumped it. Just a feeble, aerated squirt. More thinner and more pumping produced the same results, like there is an internal leak somewhere. I checked the cluster gasket to be sure it wasn’t allowing air from somewhere else to enter. Looks fine.
So I did the same test with the other carb using the same blue plunger and got a solid pump shot with very little plunger movement. Hmm.
Tri-Power carb and booster Venturi/cluster. Rochester didn’t put a lot of effort into the squirters.

 

The question remains, why the feeble pump shot from the Ti-Power center carb? Looking at both the TriPower carb and the standard model I noticed that the pump well in both carbs gets fuel through the slot in the side of the well, but the TriPower carb also has a filter screen and a bottom feed. I guess it allows the pump well to get fuel even if the fuel level in the bowl gets lower than the bottom of the slot. Good idea.

The screen on the left over the bottom feed entrance, and the feed slot common to most Rochester 2Gs.


The boss for the bottom feed is present on most 2GCs but not always machined.


But fuel coming in from the bottom can also go out through the bottom if there’s no check ball.
I guess that in all of the manhandling I did to get the ratty carbs clean, the check ball must have fallen out unnoticed with the rest of the debris. It doesn’t appear on my exploded view so I guess I didn’t realize there was one. Oops. So I put one in and tested the pump again. There’s the solid pump shot I was looking for. Issue #2 fixed.
I put the carb back together double checking all of the adjustments and it’s ready to be reinstalled.
I’m not convinced that the carb was the reason for the terrible shaking at idle but at least now I can rule out the carburetor, adjust the idle the best I can and start looking for a vacuum leak.
Sorry for the long dissertation for such a simple task but it was fun delving deep into the task, learning more about Rochester two barrels, and emerging with a solution. I enjoy how PhilA presents the little (and big) tasks he attacks on his Pontiac so I thought I would follow suit.
I guess that’s it until I get back down to LA to work on it some more.

 

Bob, has to be some crud in the passage from the pump well to the shooter or maybe junk in the shooters themselves. Put the good shooter on and see if it works. I used to rebuild those years ago when I had my 348/409's but it has been a long time and all my parts I sent over to another member.

 

Ha! that old check ball will do it for sure.

 

Oh yeah. I picked up little something to accessorize the Stude, early sixties style.
Cal Custom Knock-offs. They’re not perfect but they will match the look of the rest of the truck perfectly. A big thanks to Black Panther.


As used on Frank Pisano’s sister truck. If only I had a pair of those old Inglewood slicks.

 

If you're still looking for tips on getting a long neglected Pontiac 389 up and running, you might want to watch some of this gentleman's videos. Even if you don't really learn anything new, it's plenty entertaining.

"I Gotta 389 Here!"

 

This looks like fun.I`ll saddle up and go along for the ride.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Oh, I got mine running, no problem. It runs a little better with each startup but I had carburetor problems and it didn’t want to idle down. Just off of idle it runs smooth and quiet, revs cleanly and the smoke from blowby and the exhaust has almost gone away completely.
But I watched his videos (I did skip around a bunch) and you’re right, it was pretty entertaining for sure. I had to laugh, he started it up while hanging from the bucket of a loader. My buddy came by while I was starting up my ‘54 Olds engine on its storage stand and thought it was crazy. I forwarded the link to the hanging Pontiac, lol.
I took some short videos but I’m not up on YouTube. My IT consultant (my daughter) is going to get me up to speed on that.
Thanks for the link.

 

Here's a tutorial for posting videos on the HAMB from the Head HAMBer himself! Or would that be "Hammer Head"?


https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/how-to-embed-videos.924376/

 

I might have figured it out on my own…. Let me know if that link works.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=oVzRhcBWd-s&feature=share

 

It works Bob...

Sounds like a cacklefest...

 

It does, doesn't it? I don't know why.
There's another short video that was actually the first start up, this is after a little run time and a few adjustments. (didn't help much, huh?) I didn't post the link but it shows up in the list on the right when you watch this one.