I had a friend bring me a 259 out of his 53 coupe to asses the condition of the engine. I put it on the test stand and cranked it up. It ran poorly at first but after freeing up a couple of valves, it ran pretty good.
Really good compression, no smoke , no knocks and no strange noises. I called my friend, some guy that likes Alabama and we decided to replace the valve seals, and reseal the engine. I also suggested an aluminum timing gear and to upgrade the front cover. Well, since I had all of the stuff off of the engine for cleaning, powder coating and painting, I figured that I would pull the heads off to do the valve seals. Might as well do a valve job while we are here. I could tell that the engine has had some recent work. The valve guides were the tightest I have run across on a Stude engine.
I enlisted Joe Roberts to come help with some of the prep work today and we had a good time getting things ready. Engine work would be a lot more fun if you didn't have to clean everything. I took the engine outside to clean the water jackets, which weren't too bad. I've done worse.
We got things pretty well cleaned and ready for assembly.
After we got things cleaned up and put away for the day, we decided to change the transmission in my Lark. I had issues with the overdrive and we found out the the damage was due to lack of fluid that left the transmission by way of the rear. About 30 minutes later, we had the original tranny back in the car so I could still drive it while I repair the OD tranny.
Thanks to Joe for his help and moral support. Not too many cuts and bruises and a good Studebaker day.
Really good compression, no smoke , no knocks and no strange noises. I called my friend, some guy that likes Alabama and we decided to replace the valve seals, and reseal the engine. I also suggested an aluminum timing gear and to upgrade the front cover. Well, since I had all of the stuff off of the engine for cleaning, powder coating and painting, I figured that I would pull the heads off to do the valve seals. Might as well do a valve job while we are here. I could tell that the engine has had some recent work. The valve guides were the tightest I have run across on a Stude engine.
I enlisted Joe Roberts to come help with some of the prep work today and we had a good time getting things ready. Engine work would be a lot more fun if you didn't have to clean everything. I took the engine outside to clean the water jackets, which weren't too bad. I've done worse.
We got things pretty well cleaned and ready for assembly.
After we got things cleaned up and put away for the day, we decided to change the transmission in my Lark. I had issues with the overdrive and we found out the the damage was due to lack of fluid that left the transmission by way of the rear. About 30 minutes later, we had the original tranny back in the car so I could still drive it while I repair the OD tranny.
Thanks to Joe for his help and moral support. Not too many cuts and bruises and a good Studebaker day.
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