Engine: 62 Champ

[Champ62]

I hastily bought my first Studebaker, a 1962 Champ, and may already be regretting it. After a couple short drives I decided to take a longer drive. Cruising at 50mph, I stalled out following a loud ping sound. I was able to nurse the truck home and found the following as shown in the pictures. A large puddle of oil was below. What did I get myself into??

[doofus]

The dreaded cast iron heart attack has struck. look for another motor, that one could be repaired but at what cost? There are still OHV champ sixes for sale. Looks as though you have thrown a rod right through the block, bad luck. Doofus

[studebakerkid]

Yep that engine is toast. You could do a Stude transplant or a Brand X. The 20R in one of mine works just fine.

[Kurt]

Don't have regrets......

This kind of stuff happens once and awhile. A good running OHV shouldn't be too hard to find. Better yet, find a 259 and put that in.

[Ron Dame]

Especially on a truck a switch to a 259 or 289 is almost as easy as installing another 6 cylinder.

[jackb]

I'm all with Ron on this. You should be able to find a junk V8 Champ truck engine and linkages for your swap. Lucky you're in the center of the country ...

[Jeff T.]

If you were closer, I would give you a spare ohv six to get it out of my garage That said, I'm with the fellows above, find a good 259 from a parts Champ or a Lark and go in that direction.

Jeff T.

[Commander Eddie]

Jeff, you can always ship that engine via Greyhound. I hear they are surprisingly inexpensive for heavy stuff.

[candbstudebakers]

Especially on a truck a switch to a 259 or 289 is almost as easy as installing another 6 cylinder.

More parts required for the swap than just the engine and to much to get into in this post.

[JoeHall]

At 50 MPH, you were pushing the little six too hard.

[JoeHall]

If you were closer, I would give you a spare ohv six to get it out of my garage That said, I'm with the fellows above, find a good 259 from a parts Champ or a Lark and go in that direction.

Jeff T.

Agree wholeheartedly. My older brother swapped a 289 with T85 tranny into his 49 Stude pickup, and its now an excellent, usable truck. With the six, it was little more than a farm implement.

[thunderations]

Just drove our 63 Daytona to Tucson March Madness and back, about 400 miles, at highway speed of 65 to 75 MPH and it performed very well. Not going to get huge acceleration to pass a truck or anything, but very decent to cruise with. That's with an automatic behind it. I expect a stick would be more responsive. OH, and that's with the original, crappy, single barrel carb.

At 50 MPH, you were pushing the little six too hard.

[Ron Dame]

Now while I advocated for a V8 transplant, my 170 with overdrive and a 4:27 rear would cruise at 60-65 with no worries...though I'd have to drop out of overdrive on hills and that 6 made quite a racket. I now run a modified OHV6 with a 185 crank and mild cam, and it runs at 80 with room to spare...but with a track suspension, it was rather scary. I can run at 70 and not need to kick out of overdrive anymore.

Still it is no V8, and a V8 swap would still be cheaper than what I built. And Bob is right, for a '62 and earlier, it's more than just the engine, it's bellhousing, flywheel, clutch and transmission too, and probably driveshaft as major parts. The 63 and 64 used the V8 bellhousing, and the transmission would work too, though it might be short-lived behind an 8