Just a little tale, just in case you're bored.
Bought my 64 Lark Daytona 4dr in 2005 while living in San Diego. I was pretty mechanical but knew absolutely zero about Studebakers, even dropped the infamous "who makes Studebaker?" when I went to look at it. I wanted a fixer upper for my first project, didn't care what make or model, I just knew that eventually one would grab my attention. Found it in Auto Trader and met the owner for a test drive. I fell in love with it right away and took it home. There was plenty of work to do cosmetically, as well as, under the hood. It had a bone stock 259 in it with from what I could tell, nearly every original part, including a spare fluids bottle in the engine compartment. It ran fairly rough but with a bit of motivation it would always start. Looked pretty run down too, with an oxidized flat black paint job, smashed drivers front fender, busted up grill, drooping ripped headliner and so on. I was 24 years old, full of energy and pumped to drive this car.
It didn't take long to figure out I couldn't walk into the local Pep boys to get parts, they hadn't a clue what I was talking about nor did their computer. I'm sure we all know its a bit much to ask at most Mega Parts Stores for a guy to open a book. So I turned to the internet and found some great resources. First one was right here at this forum, where I was quickly advised to hunt down a Shop Manual. I got my manual, began daily searches on eabay, and drove a bunch of you nuts with ridiculous questions. I was able to pick up enough to keep my car drivable and kept myself busy doing what I could with what little tools and resources I had. I did a bit of tuning, replaced the smashed fender and grill, but thats about it, until my nieve buddy offered to let me use his garage for a weekend to paint the ol Stude.
A weekend turned into 6 months. Everytime we got something done we ended up saying "well we came this far, might as well do it right and...." Well what was supposed to be a quick flat black paint job turned into: Shaved trim, emblems, antenna, few body lines, removed glass and headliner, built a roll pan for the rear, lowered front bumper, primed inside and out...except for engine compartment, painted metalic silver, installed new headliner and re-installed front and rear glass. Theres alot of you that probably could have knocked all that out in a couple weekends but everything I just mentioned was the first time I'd ever attempted these tasks and it wasn't long into this project that I found myself working alone. I don't at all blame my buddies and I am forever indebted to one for the long term garage use.
When it was all said and done I ended up with a car that looked amazing from 15 ft away, and a ear to ear grin everywhere I went, and christened the whole shabang with a Studebaker tattoo! I drove my Stude nearly every day for about a year, and spent a bit of time after a divorce with this being my only car. I had to park my car in storage at one point while I went overseas for about 7 months. When I returned I couldn't wait to re-unite with my car and prayed it would run...especially with it being my only car. After sitting for months, I hooked up the battery shot some hot sauce in the carb and she fired right up. I proudly drove her for another 6 months or so until my time was up in the service and I was able to move home.
I moved back to northern California and moved into a shop/appartment combo...shop and appartment are loosly used, but I had all the space I needed to get some work done. I bought an old 4runner to get around in and decided to start a rebuild on my engine. When I was still in San Diego and actively on the forum, I got in contact with Biggs and he offered me a spare engine if I came and got it. He gave me a great long block with a 289 crank in it, a spare bell housing and a drivers side door. I am forever gratefull for his generosity and promised him that day that it wouldn't go to waste. So with the spare engine and nearly 2 years of hoarding parts, I went for it.
I'd never built an engine but luckily my uncle has a shop right across the street from the place I was in and he is a veteran mechanic. I picked away a few hours a day after work, under my uncles direction, for about a month or so before I had it all back together. When the build was done this is what I ended up with:
Block/Heads Hot tanked
Bored .080" over
Original 259 crank (donor crank was too far out for available bearings)
Flat top pistons
R2 cam, Springs and Lifters
Aluminum Cam Gear
Converted 4 barrel Intake
Edelbrock 1403 Carb
Delco Distributor w/ Pertronix Ignitor
Electric Fuel Pump and Fan
True dual exhaust to 3 chamber flowmasters
I didn't have the money for a different tranny or rear axle so I was stuck with the original 2 spd auto and rear D27 with 3.07's. The engine ran circles around the old stock setup and I can promise you that a freshly released Jarhead in this car with no one to answer to but himself got interesting, fast. I am not proud of everything I did in this car or the condition I was in at times while driving it, but I was having an amazing time. I can't say that my transition back into the real world was easy, I saw a bit of freedom and ran with it. There were a lot of tough times and so many memorable great times. The ol Stude got me everywhere I needed to go. It was my regular bar hopper, limo for dates, commuter, hotrod, dukes of hazard reinactor, and so much more. I drove that car so hard, pitched it sideways, blasted donuts, top speed runs, and charged country roads every chance I got. 27 yrs old, working for myself, living in Durham California, a wide spot in the road, gave me plenty time and freedom from the law.
Well, amazingly that lasted for about a year or more before working for myself wasn't paying off like I'd hoped and it was time to take a job. I took a job with an aerial firefighting company working on P3 Orions. Work was quite busy and time with my old Stude was limited to a survival drive here and there. I began leaving for the summers and parking my car in my aunts back 40. Other than a few start ups in the beginning stages of parking it in a field, my poor neglected car in which I put so much work and play into sat for a solid three years untouched.
I had moved to the Sacramento area at one point, work took over my life for the most part and my car fell deep into the back burner department. It had been at least 3 and a half years since I drove her regularily, maybe 5 since I'd dropped into the forum before I finally found time and space to get her going again. Three weeks ago I pulled into my aunts to rescue my old pride n joy. There was grass growing in through every crevice and out another, paint job was a total loss, brake lines and who knows what else gnawed through, and signs of old battle wounds from sticking her in a ditch at some point were ripped and rusted. Ridden with hornet and rat nests, I loaded her up on a trailor and off to my shop in Woodland. Other then the need of paint, brake lines and a massive cleaning, it help up extremely well. I popped the hood to see there was no obvious rat, weather or any other type of damage other than some surface rust.
I slapped the battery from my truck in and tried to crank her over. Turned over real nice, fuel smelt to be okay but would not fire. Did some basic trouble shooting and found a munched wire from ignition to coil. Slapped a quick fix on it, gave it a few pumps, and bam! Fired up first crank, bazooka blasted a giant rats nest out the exhaust, and screamed in all its glory. I might have cried if my ear to ear grin did have my eyes squeezed shut.
I'm now 32 years old, quite a bit matured in comparison to 27 years old, still love my Stude more than ever, and am extremely excited to be back it. I feel like that car has got me through highs and lows and had its share of its own. I have given, and taken even more from it, and I finally have a day here and there to put some time back into it. I have big plans for it and do not intend to rush through anything. I hope there are a few people out there that are interested watching this project come back to life, and I plan to post (much shorter) updates and pictures as things progress.
Bought my 64 Lark Daytona 4dr in 2005 while living in San Diego. I was pretty mechanical but knew absolutely zero about Studebakers, even dropped the infamous "who makes Studebaker?" when I went to look at it. I wanted a fixer upper for my first project, didn't care what make or model, I just knew that eventually one would grab my attention. Found it in Auto Trader and met the owner for a test drive. I fell in love with it right away and took it home. There was plenty of work to do cosmetically, as well as, under the hood. It had a bone stock 259 in it with from what I could tell, nearly every original part, including a spare fluids bottle in the engine compartment. It ran fairly rough but with a bit of motivation it would always start. Looked pretty run down too, with an oxidized flat black paint job, smashed drivers front fender, busted up grill, drooping ripped headliner and so on. I was 24 years old, full of energy and pumped to drive this car.
It didn't take long to figure out I couldn't walk into the local Pep boys to get parts, they hadn't a clue what I was talking about nor did their computer. I'm sure we all know its a bit much to ask at most Mega Parts Stores for a guy to open a book. So I turned to the internet and found some great resources. First one was right here at this forum, where I was quickly advised to hunt down a Shop Manual. I got my manual, began daily searches on eabay, and drove a bunch of you nuts with ridiculous questions. I was able to pick up enough to keep my car drivable and kept myself busy doing what I could with what little tools and resources I had. I did a bit of tuning, replaced the smashed fender and grill, but thats about it, until my nieve buddy offered to let me use his garage for a weekend to paint the ol Stude.
A weekend turned into 6 months. Everytime we got something done we ended up saying "well we came this far, might as well do it right and...." Well what was supposed to be a quick flat black paint job turned into: Shaved trim, emblems, antenna, few body lines, removed glass and headliner, built a roll pan for the rear, lowered front bumper, primed inside and out...except for engine compartment, painted metalic silver, installed new headliner and re-installed front and rear glass. Theres alot of you that probably could have knocked all that out in a couple weekends but everything I just mentioned was the first time I'd ever attempted these tasks and it wasn't long into this project that I found myself working alone. I don't at all blame my buddies and I am forever indebted to one for the long term garage use.
When it was all said and done I ended up with a car that looked amazing from 15 ft away, and a ear to ear grin everywhere I went, and christened the whole shabang with a Studebaker tattoo! I drove my Stude nearly every day for about a year, and spent a bit of time after a divorce with this being my only car. I had to park my car in storage at one point while I went overseas for about 7 months. When I returned I couldn't wait to re-unite with my car and prayed it would run...especially with it being my only car. After sitting for months, I hooked up the battery shot some hot sauce in the carb and she fired right up. I proudly drove her for another 6 months or so until my time was up in the service and I was able to move home.
I moved back to northern California and moved into a shop/appartment combo...shop and appartment are loosly used, but I had all the space I needed to get some work done. I bought an old 4runner to get around in and decided to start a rebuild on my engine. When I was still in San Diego and actively on the forum, I got in contact with Biggs and he offered me a spare engine if I came and got it. He gave me a great long block with a 289 crank in it, a spare bell housing and a drivers side door. I am forever gratefull for his generosity and promised him that day that it wouldn't go to waste. So with the spare engine and nearly 2 years of hoarding parts, I went for it.
I'd never built an engine but luckily my uncle has a shop right across the street from the place I was in and he is a veteran mechanic. I picked away a few hours a day after work, under my uncles direction, for about a month or so before I had it all back together. When the build was done this is what I ended up with:
Block/Heads Hot tanked
Bored .080" over
Original 259 crank (donor crank was too far out for available bearings)
Flat top pistons
R2 cam, Springs and Lifters
Aluminum Cam Gear
Converted 4 barrel Intake
Edelbrock 1403 Carb
Delco Distributor w/ Pertronix Ignitor
Electric Fuel Pump and Fan
True dual exhaust to 3 chamber flowmasters
I didn't have the money for a different tranny or rear axle so I was stuck with the original 2 spd auto and rear D27 with 3.07's. The engine ran circles around the old stock setup and I can promise you that a freshly released Jarhead in this car with no one to answer to but himself got interesting, fast. I am not proud of everything I did in this car or the condition I was in at times while driving it, but I was having an amazing time. I can't say that my transition back into the real world was easy, I saw a bit of freedom and ran with it. There were a lot of tough times and so many memorable great times. The ol Stude got me everywhere I needed to go. It was my regular bar hopper, limo for dates, commuter, hotrod, dukes of hazard reinactor, and so much more. I drove that car so hard, pitched it sideways, blasted donuts, top speed runs, and charged country roads every chance I got. 27 yrs old, working for myself, living in Durham California, a wide spot in the road, gave me plenty time and freedom from the law.
Well, amazingly that lasted for about a year or more before working for myself wasn't paying off like I'd hoped and it was time to take a job. I took a job with an aerial firefighting company working on P3 Orions. Work was quite busy and time with my old Stude was limited to a survival drive here and there. I began leaving for the summers and parking my car in my aunts back 40. Other than a few start ups in the beginning stages of parking it in a field, my poor neglected car in which I put so much work and play into sat for a solid three years untouched.
I had moved to the Sacramento area at one point, work took over my life for the most part and my car fell deep into the back burner department. It had been at least 3 and a half years since I drove her regularily, maybe 5 since I'd dropped into the forum before I finally found time and space to get her going again. Three weeks ago I pulled into my aunts to rescue my old pride n joy. There was grass growing in through every crevice and out another, paint job was a total loss, brake lines and who knows what else gnawed through, and signs of old battle wounds from sticking her in a ditch at some point were ripped and rusted. Ridden with hornet and rat nests, I loaded her up on a trailor and off to my shop in Woodland. Other then the need of paint, brake lines and a massive cleaning, it help up extremely well. I popped the hood to see there was no obvious rat, weather or any other type of damage other than some surface rust.
I slapped the battery from my truck in and tried to crank her over. Turned over real nice, fuel smelt to be okay but would not fire. Did some basic trouble shooting and found a munched wire from ignition to coil. Slapped a quick fix on it, gave it a few pumps, and bam! Fired up first crank, bazooka blasted a giant rats nest out the exhaust, and screamed in all its glory. I might have cried if my ear to ear grin did have my eyes squeezed shut.
I'm now 32 years old, quite a bit matured in comparison to 27 years old, still love my Stude more than ever, and am extremely excited to be back it. I feel like that car has got me through highs and lows and had its share of its own. I have given, and taken even more from it, and I finally have a day here and there to put some time back into it. I have big plans for it and do not intend to rush through anything. I hope there are a few people out there that are interested watching this project come back to life, and I plan to post (much shorter) updates and pictures as things progress.
Biggs here - I just changed my username. If you get down my way, stop by for a visit. Anything you need for thagt blaster of yours? Lemmee know! 
Enjoyed reading the whole tale and I didn't have to be bored to do so. Keep us posted. BTW, check your PM box (the notification tab at the top of this page).
Comment