Since I did the valve adjustment the car has sounded like it has an exhaust leak. I thought it was the manifold gasket. But I was only 1/2 right. After driving the car for a while I spotted this:

Since I did the valve adjustment the car has sounded like it has an exhaust leak. I thought it was the manifold gasket. But I was only 1/2 right. After driving the car for a while I spotted this:
My plan back when I did the wiring last year was to put a set of Unity vintage fog lights on the car for front turn signals. But I waited too long and Unity discontinued their vintage line. They make the same lights for 80+ years and I miss out by 6 months.
Continue readingBack when I did the new wiring harness I said that everything was working perfectly. It turns out that was not correct. I did not realize at the time that the new turn signal switch had a light in the handle that is supposed to blink when the signals are on. When I discovered this, I found the light was on dimly when the turn signals are off. The light blinked (dimly) when the turn signals were on. My first thought was a bad ground, so I tested that and it was fine. So today I decided to try and figure out what is going on here.
Continue readingIt has been more than 11 years since the last valve adjustment on the Studebaker and it is high time. Last time the engine was out of the car, this time I am not so lucky.
Continue readingI realize I have not been doing a lot of Studebaker work this year. Working on the new shop has sucked up a lot of time and even more $$$ but it is basically done now.
Continue readingThere has not been a lot of Studebaker work this summer because I have been working on this: We build a new 40’x26′ shop with a BendPak lift. It is going to rock but has sucked up all of my … Continue reading
I have wanted to do this for a couple of months now so when I got a sunny warm day to work with I jumped on it
This is the worst part of the job. The oil does not drain out of the filter housing so I have to pump it out. It is the better part of a quart.
My mom has a box of my Grandfather’s pictures and letters. We started organizing it on Thanksgiving and we found a picture of the Studebaker dated 8/26/1952. The car was parked in 1953 for 30 years but it was still a daily driver at this point.
The car at this point looks pretty much like it did when my father started working on it. The 51 Stude bumpers are already on it. It is probably painted the same dark green but the paint is a LOT shinier. When we started working on the car the rear fender in the picture above was scraped and dented, that obviously happened after August, 1952. I have the trim rings still and two of the hubcaps that were on it then. The trim rings are stainless and in good shape but the hubcaps are pretty beat up.
The rear tires look just like the spare tire in the car (which is VERY old). I suspect that the same tires were on the car in 1984-85 when the picture below was taken and that one of them was used as the spare when new tires were put on.
I will have to keep looking for earlier pictures of the car. There is a family story about my grandfather trying to teach my grandmother to drive and her hitting a policeman. She never did get a driver’s license. I wonder if that triggered the replacement of the bumpers?
After work I went out to troubleshoot my issues from yesterday.
Time to start the car….
She lives! Don’t worry about the stumble. It is pretty cold and I did not let it warm up at all. So the ignition, regulator, and generator are all wired correctly. So everything works! I let the car warm up while I cleaned up a little.