Steering: Anyone have an opinion on a SlickStreetStuff front suspension for my '53?

[drrotor]

Considering options for my '53 Starliner to make it appear stock, but drive, handle, and brake better. I hope to make this a very nice driver for my pretty wife. Will be using a '62 289, '53 intake set-up, and hopefully a 1st gear start flightomatic. Anybody have a good one? I heard I need a '59 and newer 6 cyl. trans. Is that correct? Thanks...

[Mike Van Veghten]

Save yourself some money...just rebuild the stock front end, add disc brakes ("Turner" and "Hot Rods and Brakes" are two) and an anti-sway bar on both ends.

The Slick Street Stuff...actually worsens an already, not good geometery. If you just like crusing from here to there and like the look it provides, can't argue with that.
BUT...if you are looking for a handling performance gain, you won't find it there. The upper control arm's frame mount location is too high from the factory for good handling. The Slick Street upper mount location is even higher. It actually needs to go lower into the mount area on the frame. There's been a lot of discussion about this problem on this and other boards.

Mike

[RadioRoy]

My experience is that rebuilding the stock front suspension, adding a rear sway bar, and installing radial tires makes a 53 and newer Studebaker a very competent, well driving/handling machine with no surprises/quirks.

The next time I do one, I will add disk brakes.

These cars are designed very well to begin with and generally need much less modification/"improvements" than you would think from reading forum posts. When you start modifying things, you have to understand all the effects of your modifications.

You don't have to change the whole transmission, just get a valve body with a first gear start. Transmission experts can explain this more clearly.

[over50]

I agree that rebuilding the stock suspension with some upgrades will give a great handling car. If you don't want to lower it a lot, the as designed suspension geometry is very good. The sway bars, radial tires and disc brakes up front with power boosted dual master cylinder are the basic improvements needed. Also, if it is reasonably doable, I would add power rack and pinion steering to this list.

[rockne10]

I replaced the stock '53 brakes with later finned drums and that made a substantial improvement but front discs would be best.
I also installed the rear sway bar and found that that alone made the front steer a little squirrely. I replaced the stock front bar with a later heavy duty and that now feels balanced. Radial tires and you're pretty much set to go. I believe these models already had the lowest center of gravity of any U.S. built at the time.

[pbrown]

This discussion prompted me to to update a thread I started about 8 months ago when I first got my 59 Silver Hawk.

I was sure that a car that old HAD to have inferior engineering, and that I would need to update the whole suspension before I would feel safe.

I received some excellent advice on this. They told me to lube everything and just leave it pretty much "as is".

And I did...and they were right!

I did want to move to the late 20th century on the safety criteria, so my exception to heeding that advice is brakes - I installed Turner discs and dual master. (Although the finned drums and single master seemed to stop it just fine!)

In any event, the car runs down the road nice and straight, and I have no problem with it at highway speeds (even at an occasional foray to 80mph)

I'm thrilled that the forum talked me out of making wholesale changes - when properly adjusted and lubed, it is very acceptable!!

Your mileage may vary, but that's my $.02...

Phillip

...Although I'm still thinking about power steering. The increased footprint of radial tires make it a bear to turn at very low speeds! (i.e. parking)

[Don Jeffers]

I put front and rear anti-roll bars (sway bars) off of a "58 PackardBaker ('58 Studebaker) on my black '53 hardtop. The bars and brackets were a bolt-in, front and rear.

I also installed the front and rear finned drum brakes off the same PackardBaker. I painted the finned cast iron drums aluminum. They looked great and the paint held up fine.

The disc brake kits others advise are a good way to go and at this point in time a lot easier to find than '58 Stude brakes.

I also installed Koni shocks made for an Avanti.

While I was at it I rebuilt the front end and replaced the '53 front coil springs with stock "74 Alfa Romeo sedan coils. The wire diameter was just a little larger than the '53 Stude coils. The stance was just a little nose low and very much to my liking.

The Alfa coils can probably be found on the Alfa Romeo Bulletin Board for cheap. They are a little different as they don't have beveled ends, but they went in and worked just fine.

A set of Michelin radials and the car handled great.

I also added the supercharger off the '58 PackardBaker, but that had no discernable effect on the handling. All together a very nice handling '53 Stude hardtop.

I was toodling along one beautiful summer night about 2:00 a.m. in the slow lane approaching the Galveston causeway, headed for the mainland; not a car in sight but the tractor-trailer starting to pass me on the left.

I just put the pedal down to the floor and smoothly accelerated ahead in 3rd overdrive. The car ran straight and true up to its top end. As I crested the rise in the middle of the causeway the car lifted up a bit.

I shifted into neutral and let the car coast down. Past the other end of the causeway and going about 60 again in the slow lane, the tractor-trailer passed me and gave me a nice salute with his horn.

I've been thinking of moving the parts over to my '54 as seen in my Avatar, but I just can't seem to get around to modifying my very nice, equipped as original, '54.

Happy Studebaker memories!

[bezhawk]

If it were me,I would have saved the "Packardbaker" especially a supercharged one, which could only be a Packard Hawk!!!! And the current value would be several times more than a 53 Studebaker!

[Don Jeffers]

If it were me,I would have saved the "Packardbaker" especially a supercharged one, which could only be a Packard Hawk!!!! And the current value would be several times more than a 53 Studebaker!

Well, sorry you weren't there!

The PackardBaker was definitely a 4 door and not a Hawk. The car was well wrecked and the parts I got off of it were all salvage parts.

Perhaps you aren't familiar with the gussied up '57 and '58 Stude 4 door sedans and wagons that were badged into Packards with top-of-the-line Stude options and various tack-on items.

And even if the car had been a Packard Hawk, I'm sure I would have opted for putting the nice Packard Hawk interior and dash into the clean '53 hardtop.

The nose, tail fins and faux deck lid spare tire of Packard Hawks were, to me, several stumbles down in style from the original clean '53 Stude hardtop Burke design. Form follows function; Packard Hawks don't run at Bonneville.

As a fellow once said to me, "There are ways to make money, and there are ways to have fun." Studebakers are for me a way to have fun. I've had a lot of fun making my '53 a good handling road car. If there is any money to be made off my Studes, it will likely be after I'm long gone.

[junior]

As a fellow once said to me, "There are ways to make money, and there are ways to have fun." Studebakers are for me a way to have fun. I've had a lot of fun making my '53 a good handling road car. If there is any money to be made off my Studes, it will likely be after I'm long gone.

Amen to that! junior

[studegary]

I think the comment about the 1958 being a Packard Hawk is because the only 1958 Packard model that came with a supercharger was the Hawk. Now, in 1957, the sedan and wagon came with a supercharger. Perhaps you were off on the model year or the car had been modified.