Ozark Petunia's Super Coupe

[52-fan]

I decided to post these pictures even though I had the camera set on close-up and the pictures didn't turn out very well. This is Ozark Petunia's Super Coupe at our meeting in Conway, Arkansas on Sunday. She and her husband drove 2 1/2 hours to be with us and ended up being the only members with a Studebaker in attendance. This is a very enthusiastic lady who many of the forum members helped with advice when she first bought HER car.


BTW She got her overdrive working, but is only getting about 13 miles per gallon! [:0] This is a 56 Power Hawk with a 170 Lark six in it and should do much better.


1952 Champion Starlight, 1962 Daytona.Searcy,Arkansas
"I may be lazy, but I'm not shiftless."

[barnlark]

Nice looking Hawk. Glad she and her husband toughed it out for a pic, even though they probably dirtied up a nice, clean car. "The only Stude in attendance?" What the heck? Must have been a nasty rain that day. I ran up to get gas Saturday on a beautiful blue sky evening and within ten minutes I had to run home in excess of the speed limit with my top down as a storm blew in with high winds and rain. Wipers worked pefectly. Hadn't used them once since I installed them last summer. First time caught..had to happen eventually.

[52-fan]

Brother and I left the house in his 57 Transtar, but it started running funny. Sometimes it wouldn't take the gas and then it would run fine for a little bit. We didn't have time to try to fix it so we took it back to the house. Unfortunately, my Studebakers aren't ready for the road. I'll probably post a technical question about the problem.


1952 Champion Starlight, 1962 Daytona, both w/overdrive.Searcy,Arkansas
"I may be lazy, but I'm not shiftless."

[52-fan]

Brother and I left the house in his 57 Transtar, but it started running funny. Sometimes it wouldn't take the gas and then it would run fine for a little bit. We didn't have time to try to fix it so we took it back to the house. Unfortunately, my Studebakers aren't ready for the road. I'll probably post a technical question about the problem.


1952 Champion Starlight, 1962 Daytona, both w/overdrive.Searcy,Arkansas
"I may be lazy, but I'm not shiftless."

[barnlark]

Too bad, 52. Of course that could be a few things, but I will once again tout the benefits of the Ingvar Vic fuel pumps. Better, as in more, PSI and bolts right in. The previous NOS pump stranded me this spring. I am finding that NOS sometimes means Not Out Standing, or Now Out Standing, instead of driving.

[barnlark]

Too bad, 52. Of course that could be a few things, but I will once again tout the benefits of the Ingvar Vic fuel pumps. Better, as in more, PSI and bolts right in. The previous NOS pump stranded me this spring. I am finding that NOS sometimes means Not Out Standing, or Now Out Standing, instead of driving.

[StudeRich]

What's Ingvar selling, R1 Carter Super Pumps or something? if so, Unfortunately one would not help Petunia because she apparently has a OHV 6 in her formerly 259 V-8 Power Hawk!

It must be running 4.56 or 3.07 gears or something, too low for good mileage or too high for an Overdrive 6 to pull!

I thought that car was a Flight Hawk 185 6 Cyl.!

StudeRich -Studebakers Northwest Ferndale, WA

[OzarkPetunia]

It is a Flight Hawk, and the flathead 6 is a replacement with a worn off tag that we can't read so I'm still not 100% sure if it's a rebuilt 185 or 170. So far everything matches all the appropriate diagrams and pictures in the shop manual.

It does have a 4.56 rear end. Is that the biggest part of my problem with the mileage? Turns out we got 19 mpg on the hwy so it's getting 13/19 mpg.

I'd REALLY like to hit the low 20's...

Carb is rebuilt, new points, condenser, plugs, wires, coil, timing adjusted, valves adjusted, leaking manifold gasket replaced and confirmed not leaking, etc...

Thanks, Howard, for posting the pics ~ we had a blast! Absolutely worth the trip. One of the highlights was the return when Fred HAD to drive because I'd driven there so I got to enjoy his socks getting wet.

Fayetteville, AR

[StudeRich]

Petunia, if you spend the money to change the axle ratio to 3.73 you should get 22 to 25 MPG maybe more if driven easy & slow, but it would take a few years to save that much money on gas!

The Scotsman 185 6 Cyl. shaped like a BRICK, and a little lighter, only got 29 MPG! But it was enough to beat every other '58 out there!

Really that is VERY good, even the 19 you are getting for a car of that weight! [:0]

It would of course, be pretty cheap if someone will install it free (Fred?) [8]

StudeRich
Studebakers Northwest
Ferndale, WA

[52-fan]

Rose, Old Spot has 4:56 gears and I never found them to be a problem with the overdrive. The advantage with the low gears is that you can have some fair acceleration around town with that small engine. Of course, I never kept a very close eye on my mileage back in those days as I still got better mileage than anything else I owned.
BTW I find it suspicious that Fred apparently got 6 miles per gallon better than you and probably pulled up hill more going back toward Fayetteville. Remember, just because you can drive 80 doesn't mean you should drive 80!


1952 Champion Starlight, 1962 Daytona, both w/overdrive.Searcy,Arkansas
"I may be lazy, but I'm not shiftless."

[barnlark]

[quote]Originally posted by StudeRich

What's Ingvar selling, R1 Carter Super Pumps or something? if so, Unfortunately one would not help Petunia because she apparently has a OHV 6 in her formerly 259 V-8 Power Hawk!


No, it's not a R1 Super Pump, but I'm pretty sure he and his son have engineered one for a 6 cyl engine as well.

[bams50]

Gear ratio is a factor, but are you sure the overdrive is actually working?

Robert (Bob) Andrews Owner- Studebakeracres- on the IoMT (Island of Misfit Toys!)
Parish, central NY 13131

"Some people live for the rules, I live for exceptions"- 311

"It was the last chance for Studebaker to turn things around. The company was down to its last bullet, and this new small car was it. They called it the Lark"

[OzarkPetunia]

Overdrive is definitely working ~ we got 17 mpg on the highway before OD and 60 mph was about the fastest I could stand to go without ear protection.

Now it's easy to (eventually) hit 80 mph and she just purrs right along.

And the 19 mpg was what I got on the way TO the meeting... we didn't calculate the mpg from Fred's return trip so we don't know if he managed better or not. But it only took us 10 minutes longer than my original 2.5 hrs with him driving so he wasn't going much slower than was.

My city mpg hasn't changed now that the OD is working ~ it's always been 13. I'm pretty sad about that because it costs me about $45 more a month to get to work.

Fred's already got experience swapping rear axles 'cause he has a Jeep, so that's certainly an option. I was just really hoping that there was some tuning that we could do instead of changing out perfectly good parts. Especially because I already know that it's never as easy as just replacing what you set out to replace... every project snowballs into something completely unexpected.

Any other ideas out there?

Thanks!!!

Fayetteville, AR

[52-fan]

When you posted the first time it sounded like you had calculated the return mileage and it was better. Actually, 19 mpg doesn't sound that bad for the hills you have to drive in. Maybe you should post a question about mileage and find out how some of the other members do with similar cars. I'd doubt that my 52 ever got more than about 21 to 22 mpg at a steady 70 mph on interstate highways, but I didn't usually check in those days.


1952 Champion Starlight, 1962 Daytona, both w/overdrive.Searcy,Arkansas
"I may be lazy, but I'm not shiftless."