Engine Compartment

I have been tinkering with the components of the engine compartment. I want to use the Stude shroud and throttle linkage as well as a flex fan. In Vegas, max cooling is absolutely necessary.
I do exhaust, so attempting to use manifolds in this instance is of no interest to me. The block huggers are so clean and easy to access, no decision to make.


I am using the original steering components. The center bell crank is tight under the shroud in the original position.
To lower the shroud and engine would require cutting a major portion of the shroud away.

Look at this long and hard prior to the cut. This large shroud needs all of its integrity to maintain its shape.

The short water pump is the only option when using the shroud and it appears that a 17" fan is going to be the answer to the blade.

The Split

Only those of us old enough (old as dirt), have experienced the terror of slamming on the brakes of dad's 1954 Starlight on the San Bernadino Freeway and having the pedal go clear to the floor several times, You pull the emergency through the firewall, move to the right and lightly kiss the concrete wall and then take the Atlantic off ramp (15 mph) at 45 mph and bury the car in the curb after you blew the stop sign. Absolute gospel!! Ever heard of freewheeling in O.D........

Even though we are going to set this up with drum brakes, I will have a split system for safety. 

The Turner Brake kit is well thought out and is precision enough to be tough to install. It all fits perfectly in the 63 year old Stude!!

I needed four adapter brake fittings and the fools at the parts stores cannot function even if you dare tell them that they are for  a 53' Commander?????

For the 8.8 Ford (7/16-27) you will need 2 ea. Dorman 072550BP to attach the 3/16" brake lines (3/8-24). The original Ford lines are 3/16 and use special 7/16-27 nuts so if you still have them, you can used the fittings and reflare your new lines. 

Do not use Edelman fittings in either of these applications (JUNK).

The adapter fittings for the Master Cylinder are ONLY  AGS BLF-20C.
They fit!!!

Brakin' Boss

I wish!! No breaks in site on this job!!

The Ford rear axle arrived with missing and damaged components. I needed all new everything except the backing plates. I have never understood why junkyard dogs cannot remove components instead of cutting them off.

As I was looking at the empty 8.8 Ford backing plates, I realized that emergency brake cables are first. Trotting back and looking at the old Stude 44.............
wouldn't it be nice if the brake cable from the 44 could be used with all of the rest of the Stude hardware in the 8.8 and on the Coupe.

NO PROBLEMO !!!!! If you shorten the inner cable coil to 4 1/2" , ream the backing plate holes a wee bit, and then shorten the intermediate cable coil spring 2", it works. I mean it works as it did in 1953!!!

I won one, I won one!!! I'm going to take myself out to lunch.

Dashing

We have spent some time arranging and mocking up the later fiberglass dash. It fits perfectly in the 53', even being 10 years younger. 

This is the mocked up unit as needed for the steering column measurement. 

The Hawk dash is definitely more attractive and versatile than the 53' unit. 

Undercar..........

I had a nice 2 piece driveshaft (no wear) and decided to try to use it. With the Ford 8.8 rear axle, length is the issue. The original shaft uses the 1310 series u-joint, and Spicer makes a 1310 flange yoke for the 8.8 pinion flange. Use

2-2-1379 for a direct bolt-on yoke. 

While replacing the original carrier bearing, I moved it about .090" to the rear and shimmed the rubber mount back about 3/16" and achieved full insertion of the splined shaft.

The front section uses a GM slip yoke, 1310 joint and is shortened as required. 

I want to repeat the necessity for insert spacing the frame when cross bolting. 

I fabricated these two spacers from 7/16 i.d. X 9/16 o.d tube and 1/2" washers. 

I drilled the nut side of the frame 7/16" and the washer/bolt side 916".

Tightened, the 14 gauge Stude frame will not collapse.  

700R4 Crossmember

I purchased an early chevy truck crossmember kit  for the stude. I wanted a unit with a 2" drop simply for exhaust pipe clearance. I don't like dealing with powder coated components when fabricating but the price was right, and I can grind off the PC.

A lot to consider in this step, measure, measure and measure again. Then cut!


Te first step was to locate the output shaft in the center of the original x-member. The original center passage is centered between the frame rails regardless of Studebaker's right and left offsets.

Measure AND optically locate the trans.

Notice that I am holding the rear of the engine/trans with a heavy ratchet strap. We know that the Stude frame is flexible, are we distorting it with the strap?? Yes we are! I placed a stand under the trans and removed the load from the strap and the frame expanded 3/8" (wow). The original stude transmission cross member would have prevented this, but it will not fit without modification (later step).

Measure, measure, make no assumptions with my Studebaker. 

I cleaned and modified the mounts in the kit (nice radius that matches the frame rail) and re-drilled for me. Mocked up with two bolts through the frame flange and one through the frame with a supporting tube. The front bolt actually replaced one rivet in the body mount support plate. This mount is offset to the rear matching the new xmember.

I may be loosing it but I always try to template before cutting (thanks, Dad). This is a top view template of the xmember. It proved its value as it pointed out cut angles and 1/4" offset in the mount location that I did not see.

Measure, measure, trim template, and then throw the sacred chicken bones on the floor and CUT IT!!

One extra trim for angle, and tacked in place. 

This xmember setup is nice since it sits in a tapered portion of the frame and simply slides out to the rear for future service.

We be done!

I have 1/2" of spacers between the trans mount and the crossmember at this time. The trans can move up and down as the drive shaft and carburetor orientations require as we move along.



The rear axle assembly is absolutely centered on the leaf springs. The pinion is of course offset to the passenger side. Studetest # 17 is the fact that the wheels are not equidistant from the fenders or the frame??? No answer to this one. Today I am going to shift the axle assembly 1/2" to the driver side.

I have no other answer to this. The original axle is also centered so I guess the offset was factory??

I will check the wheels first to be sure they are identical, and then move the mounts. The spring mounts are not welded to the housing yet pending drive line angle requirements.

The Good, The Bad, and The Wonderful

After 55 years of fooling with these junks, I just spent the best $40 on a tool in a long, longlong time!




No more manhandling a 652 lb. engine and trans assembly with chain locations and strong arm tactics. If you don't have one of the levelers, get one....they are the wonderful!




The good were the spacers. I will not have to lower the shroud as they specified nor did I have to cut the mounting pads to clear the engine mounts.
On initial installation loading, I have 7/8" !!!!!! clearance between the 8" harmonic balancer and the steering bellcrank with only 3/4" of machined polyethylene spacer. It will probably be slightly less when tightened and settled. 

Click to enlarge any photo.


The leveler tilts and levels the load as necessary, I never touched the firewall.





At the point above, I learned that the blank fuel pump mount casting hit the original mount pad......here come the sawsall!! 

About five minutes later, 1/2' of the pad was on the floor with my sacred chicken bones. I will box in and weld the gap when its up in the air. No stopping now!




The motor is level and straight and the 700R pan seems to be level with the bottom of the frame when the output shaft is aligned nicely with the center crossmember. I'm just mocked up at this point and a transmission support xmember will be next. There seems to be plenty of room for lines and linkage as well as ample floor clearance.
I must admit that the specified mount location was correct and I was wrong. I ended up using the front hole set instead of the rear as I expected. Moving the mounting hole forward did allow for the 1 3/4" lower section of the early ford mount under the mounting pad.

Things are looking good but what if I didn't have a spacer prepped ahead of time, about a 4 hour delay.