The Mule is back

[kmul221]

Finally got the engine & head #s the heads are 1555479 and from what I can find are factory R3 heads.The block stamped # is " A 2" & is 299ci of which there were 2 or 3 made the "B"series engines at 304ci were the ones put into the production Avanti's.The 4 prototypes were returned to the factory in Feb.64 retro fitted & sold.
There is supposed to be one other survivor in California & the VIN would be R5651-2-3 as the one I found is R5650 and there were 4 cars in total.Does anyone know of any other cars of this group ?
My biggest concern with this one is it has not been ran since the early 90's although in dry storage it could be seized.

[Alan]

Those heads alone are worth $3,000 to 5,000. You are a fool if you don't jump on it.

[studebaker-R2-4-me]

Those heads alone are worth $3,000 to 5,000. You are a fool if you don't jump on it.

Kevin, Don't worry about the engine being siezed. Jump on that Car and get it before the guy changes his mind. It's begging you to own it. This thing is rarer than your Packard Hawk that you sold. Don't let this car slip by you...

Allen

[Steve T]

Kevin--

What Alan and Allen said!! This'd be the most historic Stude in the chapter...

S.

[11SecAvanti]

Should look like this up close. Good luck on the purchase.

[laughinlark]

That is what all Stude's should have had for ports.

Gordon

[JDP]

Big ports make high end HP, not so great for low end torque in your typical 4 door driver.

[laughinlark]

I know, (sigh) just wishing they had produce more of those heads.

Gordon

[JDP]

I know, (sigh) just wishing they had produce more of those heads.

Gordon

We can agree that would have been nice. A few 1000 sets left over for SASCO would have been very cool

[PackardV8]

I know, (sigh) just wishing they had produce more of those heads. Gordon

Yes, they would've if there had been any demand at all. IIRC, it took Paxton quite a while to retail the few sets they had leftover. As JDP said, the R3 heads were pretty much race-only, with no intake heat crossover. They wouldn't have been winter-drivable north of the Mason-Dixon.

No, not irreplaceable for performance Stude builds. For the current collectible value of a set of R3 heads and intake, a good head porter with a flow bench can make a set of standard heads and a custom intake run as fast.

Maybe, there's collectible and there's performance. At SDC shows we've seen more than one R3 airbox profiling as an R3 engine.

jack vines

[kmul221]

If you want R-3 heads made try this business that I came across

http://www.solankiperformance.com/

http://www.solankiperformance.com/id78.html

[PackardV8]

If you want R-3 heads made try this business that I came across

We've been over this many, many times over the years:

Yes, Solanki Performance does know about as much as anyone in the world about modifying standard head castings to flow as well as R3 heads.

No, Check the facts. No one, including Nimesh Solanki, is making R3 heads. Last we saw, what he offers are not R3 heads, but extensively welded and modified standard castings.

Maybe, someone running Solanki's latest offerings can share some photos, prices and performance results.

jack vines

[studebaker-R2-4-me]

We've been over this many, many times over the years:

Maybe, someone running Solanki's latest offerings can share some photos, prices and performance results.

jack vines

The last time I posted pictures of Solanki's offering of a R2 engine he built for me the post got deleted by the moderator. I've got lots of pictures of his "Museum Quality" products. His installation of used bearings, one of the push rods was too short, the oil pump sump had a big hole in it with wires hanging off of it, the 289 crank was rusted badly, i even found one of the crank journals had sand paper marks on it to sand down an area where the connecting rod bolt dented the crank journal. The Supercharger Solanki built for my car, caved in less than 1000 miles, due to orange paint flaking off the interior, the big O ring was completely painted with Orange paint. That cost me $750 for the high output impeller that was supposed to have been installed along with the proper curved back plate, new steel balls were needed because they were scored from all the paint floating around the oil. My Supercharger experience happened on the way down to Micheal Myers home from South Bend a couple of years ago (we took the long way home after he invited us for a visit). Lucky Myers Studebaker had all the parts to get me back on the road and we continued our trip home.

I'll be happy to share any of the pictures with anyone that would like to see Solanki Performace's work first hand. Just email me.

Allen