Studebaker Performance Manual

[JDC]

Is there such thing? I have a few on BBC, SBC, Chevy Inline's, Cad 500's, Pontiac's, and the like. Has anyone ever done one? If not, maybe enough of us could get together, put one together, put it on a PDF and put it here for free download. I would be willing to edit, spell check, assemble, all that stuff. Anyone in?

[allstateguy]

At the risk of a total flaming, there have been a few "performance" books for Stude V8s and 6s. They were self published by Dick Dotson (I think that's the correct spelling). I don't know about his relation to other Stude people, and where it went wrong. Plus the info is getting pretty dated and would best be used as reference material. I have a couple of them and found them to be, at least, interesting reading that I haven't found elsewhere. Caveat emptor.

Some 52 Commander parts for sale
Looking for (and FOUND!) an early Lark

[JDC]

Dated is fine, that could be a starting point. We have a lot of knowledge on this site and it should be recorded for the future. if not all these Stude motors will be scraped for Brand X stuff if there is nothing to go off of. Thats all I mean. I have no axe to grind or money to make. I am an Archivist/Librarian by trade and see valuable historical things pass every day due to lack of written knowledge. Just a thought.

[allstateguy]

Based on the lurking I've done on this site, eBay and Google, in my judgement, the current performance guru when it comes to Studebaker V8s would have to be Nimesh Solanki (again, I apologize if the spelling is off). If you can convince him to put all his engine building tips in written form, I will be first in line to buy one.

Plus! The Racing Studebakers website has lots of good info which could be gathered to assist in building a comprehensive performance book.

Some 52 Commander parts for sale
Looking for (and FOUND!) an early Lark

[Mike Van Veghten]

The basic engine building information is pretty much the same for most any engine!
If a street engine..follow the OEM manual.
If a generally street hot rod...follow the OEM manual with better parts.
If general racing (of much any kind), the bearing clearances are pretty much the same as any race engine. Cam choice will depend on what Fairborn Studebakers has in stock! Heads how much do you want to spend, manifolds...again, not many easy choices (got welder?).

There just isn't the choices out there for Studebakers that there are for the big three. So the many decisions there are for a Chevy, Chrysler or Ford...are very few compared to them for a Stude engine.
A call to Fairborn will give you the list of available parts, and a few minutes with Phil will help about as much general info as is required.

If you are one of the few that is willing to have custom parts made...pistons, rods, cams, manifolds, etc.. Then you most likely have many of the answers you seak.
Or like me, you "learn" what it take on your own and then do it! I've gotten Stude heads to flow pretty well...but then it takes a way to feed those heads!

Also, as noted above, the people on the Stude Racing site can answer many questions.
Just remember...as many people as there are...will have a different opinion on the details.

There are "many" more than one person out there with good knowledge to help out. If you want to narrow it one...Ted Harbit has probably done more with Studebakers than most anyone over the years. Though...there are a small few that are really trying to catch up! Find them on the racing site.

Mike

[Allan Songer]

Building a truly hi-po Stude V8 is EXPENSIVE. The heads have to be reworked and like Mike said, the learning curve is pretty steep when it comes to porting them and there aren't many guys around who will do up a set for you and IF you can find someone figure at LEAST 2K for a nice mild set of hi-po street heads. The bottom end is cake--careful machining and assembly is all you need, including polishing and shot peening rods, resizing them with new bolts, etc.

Intake and exhaust? We're stuck with the stock (or aluminum LS) AFB intake that you can gasket-match to your new heads and the "R3" cast iron "headers" that you can do the same with. But even with all these restrictions, you should be able to build a nice honest-to-God 250 horsepower at the rear wheels normally aspirated engine for about $6K or so. And it will live forever unless you ask it to do stuff beyond it's reach.

Keep compression at about 9:1 by using flat-tops with enlarged chambers or cupped pistons with stock size chambers. If you keep the compression here, you can later add a PAXTON--all the parts to do it are readily available ($$$).

[studelover]

You ask a great question, I asked that same question 8 months ago. The fact that gas has gone (out of this world) made the decision I made more realistic. I had a great machinist and he knows how to make horse power. He reworked the heads and like the gentleman said before me got the compression to around 9.1 with the semi dished piston.I have according to the math about a 250 hp motor with a rear gear of 331. It has great take off and nice top end and it sounds unbelievable. I have only tested it once as the brakes need more work. The thing that makes any motor go fast applies to a stude as well. The only thing is Edelbrock and other vendors don't make alot of aftermarket parts for Studebakers if they only knew how much these guy's love these cars they would make parts in a heart beat. There is a movememnt around my street rod buddies to find hawk bodies, speedster bodies and the like, they look at them like Willys or hudson bodies. My hawk has become a hit with them and it makes me feel great. The thing is they want to put the sb 350 in them. Oh well you can't have everything

Studebakers forever!

[sals54]

I've used Dick Datsons books in the past and still refer (not reefer), to them occasionally. I had great success with the mods I used. They were inexpensive and easily done by common folk like me. Made very nice and cheap performance gains.

sals54

[Thomas63R2]

I would buy such a book - which would probably put total sales at two dozen. It would have to be a labor of love, because as far as I can tell there are only 6 people currently racing with genuine Stude power. I have a nearly complete Dick Datsons *books* and "Total Performance" magazine collection. The writing is rambling and a lot of odd typeset and handwritten pages. Awful reading.

Thomas

Long time hot rodder
Packrat junk collector
'63 Avanti R2 4 speed

[sals54]

Thomas,
There is some gleaning required to get through the material. If one uses some common sense about what is read and used, then it's still a good deal for the information garnered. Some of it is a bit off the wall. But, Dick was also putting together info sent in from many different backgrounds and abilities. As he said many times, he was just the editor, not always the author. I for one, am glad to see someone such as Dick Datson put so many hours of his own into such an undertaking. It has served the Stude world for decades. Remember that much of the info he collected is from the 60s - 80s tapering off in the 90s. Ted Harbit and Tom Covington were never hesitant to post their advances in performance in Dick's publication. There was a time that Turning Wheels did not have the temperament to print such trivial nonsense as racing and performance info. I'm glad he was there to carry the banner when other Stude folks would not.

sals54

[Thomas63R2]

The basics of building a performance engine are well known. The main deal with Studes is lack of parts and several design limits like the small bore size, weak flowing heads, crappy intake, and non existant cam selection. All of which is why boost is a Stude performance lover's friend.

I do believe there is merit to the material that DD put together - its just that the typeset and hand written pages read like a ransom note. The flow of the writing requires archeology skills to really understand how to best link all the excavated material together.

Its too bad that my retirement is still a few years away, otherwise I would take on the task of being a modern editor to all the DD performance Stude material that I have accumulated.

Thomas

Thomas

Long time hot rodder
Packrat junk collector
'63 Avanti R2 4 speed