Need some advise

[pushrod63]

Ok boys and girls. I've decided against making a street rod out of my 50 2R. I will stay with the original 6 and 3 speed with over drive. I need some advise on a few things I had trouble with last summer.
The carb on the truck now, started leaking a bit and would only run right with the choke pulled part way. This carb is from an old Chrysler. What carb should be on my truck?
The over drive unit was never hooked up on the truck when my dad had the tranny put in. Can a person use a toggle switch in place of the system that was on the throttle? I really need the over drive and maybe even a higher geared rear end (the truck was screaming at 42 mph).
My truck has a radiator for a V8 mounted on the outside of the core support causing it to be too far from the fan. It over heats during parade driving. I would trade my radiator for one designed for the 6.
Finally, I am having problems with one of the front brakes grabbing. Are spring kits and other parts still available?

[2R5]

pushrod , your truck sounds cool .....you should put this post over on the Studebaker Truck page , you will get more answers to you questions.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/23885/

....good luck with it

[DEEPNHOCK]

Safety first!
I would go through the brakes completely first thing, irregardless of whatever else you do.

Your truck probably has a Champ six in it.
That truck should never overheat, even in traffic.
Do you have the original thermostat 'inside' the upper radiator hose?

I have seen 'new' 1bbl carbs for sale at swap meets. You might keep your eye out, or put the word out you are looking for one.

Yes, you can rewire/modify an OD for a toggle switch. Several here have experience doing that.

[pushrod63]

It only gets warm at an idle. My fan is way too far from the radiator.

[Roscomacaw]

It isn't as easy as just installing a toggle switch and a wire to the solenoid - at least if you want the kickdown (passing gear) to work as it should. And depending on the vintage of tranny that was installed, there may or may not be a reverse lockout switch incorporated. If the OD is inadvertantly left engaged and you try to back up - bye-bye tranny! I"m not saying a manual switch is a bad thing, but the rest of the OD controls ought to be in place - and that's NOT that big a deal to round up and install.

I may have some useable brake partrs laying about here - if you can discern which ones you might need. Which flat 6 do you have? That would give us a clue as to what carb you need.

So, you'rte saying if cools back down once you start going again?

[pushrod63]

It's the champion 6. Yes, it runs cool down the road. I was told that it has a V8 radiator that is mounted outside the core support. I need a radiator that mounts inside the core support or a fan shroud.

[63 R2 Hawk]

Back "in the Day" I had a '56 Chevy that I put an OD transmission in because that's the only thing I could find in the junkyards that day- I was looking for a 4 speed. One weekend I decided to see if the OD worked so I hooked up a door light button switch (normally closed contacts) from an old Lincoln, strapped it onto the shifter arm and hooked up the OD cable. Turned out, it was kinda fun to drive for me-an idiot teenager. You could pick the OD in and out at will and make a clunky 6 speed . Push the button in and start out in 1st gear, wind it up, back off the accelerator and release the button, it would go into 1st OD. Push the button in and shift to 2nd, etc. The non OD gears become freewheeling and to kick it out of OD, I would just back off and push the button in. Used to scare the *** out of my buddies by pulling it into 1st gear at 70 and popping the clutch out while pushing the button-it would just freewheel in that mode! Loaned the car to a friend once and he parked it on a slight hill and locked up the sprague clutch and he couldn't figure out how to get it unlocked. IIRC, the "kickdown" or passing switch kills the engine momentarily which will allow the trans to drop out of OD.