Hot Rods The (mis) Adventures of a Compulsive Tinkerer

I’m not 100% sure yet. Let’s just say that I gained about 2” in that area by shrinking the bellhousing area so you can imagine how cramped and awkward it was before. I might add another U-joint to the column and radically change the angle of the steering column if I can’t get the gas pedal in a reasonable place.

 

Bob, I was looking at the picture of your brake pedal and steering column . It looks like you need to raise the steering to make room for the gas pedal. Do you have some other idea in mind that I'm missing?

 

Holy smoke Loudbang, that was interesting! Those little blowers can support 650 hp on a V8!? It will be interesting to see how it works on the wimpy little Corvair. They used a different configuration M90 but it was still very interesting.

 

You may be right. The gas pedal was in a mighty strange place before as is common in old gassers, but there should be a little more room now. I’ll soon find out.

 

Here's what it looked like before....

When driving, I had my left foot on the M/C and the arm of the brake pedal. The gas pedal will move to the right about 1.5" but it will still have a little angle. I might narrow the gas pedal and ditch the big base or make something different but still period appropriate. No big Moon pedal in here!

 

Flat firewall looks ideal for Hurst Pedals set up...

I got one with Chevy master for clutch and brakes.

 

The current firewall is too thin. I considered removing the firewall, building a firewall hoop and hang pedals from it but I am really trying to restrain myself. I know me. Next the engine comes out ‘cause I would really like to remount it about 2-3” forward, Then the new firewall and pedals. Then new headers and exhaust. Then a cage…..
I’m afraid my time with this car is up. I’m just trying to fix the really bad stuff and sell it to someone who can then drive it safely on the street or add a roll cage and race it.
I brought it back to 1964 from the ‘80s bracket car that it was when I got it and I’ve had some fun with it. But I have three other projects that need my attention and time is running out, unfortunately. I wish I would have found it many years ago.

 

Gotcha, sounds like my 30 Chev. Went to a good home.

 

Bob, I’m afraid that describes a bunch of us, we wish we’d found something or did something a while ago when we were younger. My problem wasn’t so much in finding stuff, I found enough stuff for a lifetime of fun, my problem was I couldn’t get it all, or even a lot of it, I had to pass it on by. Now even if I had a lot of the stuff I wanted, I couldn’t do it the way I would like either. The string is just so long on the spool, and we don’t know where that other end is at….

 

This right here. I’ve had a build thread going here for 11 years, life always gets in the way, but I always find my way back. I really like what you’re doing, and especially the way you think. Looking forward to more updates, but no rush!

 

A friend turned me on to the Studebaker show in Stockton today so I gave the old Stude a bath and went for a little drive. It’s about 75 miles ‘round trip, a little farther than I’ve taken the old truck so far.
It was a beautiful day and it performed like a champ.
It’s a small show at a nice park. Nash and Rambler owners were invited to. They actually outnumbered the Studebakers.
Here’s a few pictures….



What’s wrong with this picture?

 

Nice Stude covers on a SBC.

 

By far the star of the show was a ‘53 Conestoga, with a light top chop, some other subtle improvements like aligning the bottoms of the side windows and door windows, and a mile deep black paint job. Unfortunately, it had a late model Mustang Cobra drivetrain and non-HAMB wheels. I did my best to get acceptable pictures of it without breaking our rules.


The old and leaky crowd was represented by a couple of unrestored Nashes.




I particularly liked the muffler patch featuring vintage baling wire….


Last but not least, my heap representing the mild custom pickup genre. (Note the new primer spots)



There were more picture worthy cars but my phone was dying so I just caught the highlights. It was nice to put some miles on the truck and gain some more confidence in it.

 

Yeah. I’m not a fan of valve cover swapping but he did a pretty good job. I think the air cleaner, battery, full uncut shroud and overflow tank help sell it.
There was some exceptional work on display, that green wagon had a SBC and was all Corvette underneath. With the hood closed, you’d never know. It looked like a high dollar restoration.

 

That truck of yours is sweet. It must have been a rewarding day to take it for a trouble free drive.
I recognize a few cars from the Karol Staple Stude club... great bunch of folks. Looks like a fun day all around!

 

Yes indeed. Great to get out with an old car. An old gentleman hobbled across the parking lot at Home Depot just to tell us how much he loved his old Studebaker pickup years ago. I didn’t tell him that there wasn’t much Studebaker left in mine.

 

Cool stuff, thanks for sharing.
Just one little quip: There's more to that black wagon than meets the eye. There were no Conestoga wagons in '53, and looking at the pics, I'm guessing its a C/K coupe with wagon roof grafted on. Looks too low to be a '54-up wagon body originally.

 

Awesome thread I will be watching this one closely.

 

It's more likely a coupe nose grafted onto a wagon body.
While not a bolt on, it's MUCH easier than adding a wagon top and floor to a coupe !

Mike

 

Oh yeah. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him but he was telling folks about all of the changes that were done to it and one was the front sheet metal swap. Lots of work in that car.
It was interesting to see the evolution of the Avantis. There were early ones, middle and late model versions in attendance. They managed to keep the Avanti look through the years although the 4 dr version was unfortunate. I know nothing about any of them, just the observations of a passerby.

 

@bchctybob In post 71 the electrical connections on the fan shroud look "sorta stock" except there are more connections than originally engineered. Was that a "one off" electrical connector??

 

Neat stuff as always bob!

I enjoyed watching your progress on the roadster and wondered what happened to it.

for those wondering,

link to the Roadster thread HERE

link to the Stude truck thread HERE

did you ever do a thread on the 33/4 truck or the Austin?

 

Well, Bob just let me say "Don't worry about the stops, ride it until it breaks". Enjoy every day as you have, that is what it is about. You have what so many can only dream about. Looking for more. Thank you!

 

Just found this thread. Cool cars and nice work. I'll be following along. I've thought about doing a similar thread for my coupe but I'm a slow worker.
So sorry for your loss.

 

I used a Mallory "Double Life" distributor in my race car many years ago ..... it's important to check the separate points phasing by comparing the ignition timing on both #1 and #4 cylinders. Adjust the individual points to balance the timing. That Mallory coil should also have a ballast resister included in the run circuit.

 

Beats me. Nicely detailed though, huh. He even found a molded upper radiator hose that looks right.

 

The roadster chassis is done with the exception of the muffler system. The hold up is the body work. Also, the distraction from other projects, the Stude pickup was an unexpected distraction.
I never did post much about the little pickup, I figured that I would do a “catch-up” thread when I got it to the home stretch.
Thanks for posting the links, I don’t know how to do that.

 

Thank a lot, my folks were always supportive of my car stuff. My motorcycle stuff, not so much….
Go ahead and do a thread, I don’t think anyone could be much slower than me these days. Having a thread ads a little motivation too. Zig Ziegler used to say, “need motivation? Tell everybody what you plan to do. You’ll do it, so you won’t look like a fool” Works for some of us….

 

Thanks for the info. Mallory had quite a few variations when it came to performance ignitions, it’s good to hear that some folks take the time to figure them out and run them these days.

 

I forgot to post one last picture from the Studebaker show. This has to be the most hot roddy factory dashboard ever….