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Explanation needed R3

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  • Explanation needed R3

    If Nelson Bove's R3 Lark Commander is the only Lark that came from the factory with an R3 Then what is this Hot Rod magazine Daytona R3 car?
    Also Nelson Bove's car.
    Ed George takes Nelson Bove's 1964 Bordeaux Red Studebaker Daytona R3 hardtop out for a test drive. Jay got to go with too. The car was featured in Hot Rod M...
    101st Airborne Div. 326 Engineers Ft Campbell Ky.

  • #2
    The HRM Daytona test car no doubt was assembled at Studebaker with an R2 engine, then shipped out to Santa Monica where the Granatelli team installed one of the R3 engines they were building out there. They tuned the car, and then handed it over to the HRM road testers who got to keep it for a couple weeks. (Stude's 150 MPH Lark R3) The R3 engine remained in this vehicle when Studebaker sold it to its first private owner, so in reality this car is as much an original R3 Studebaker as the Commander is. (In my opinion)

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    • #3
      Nelson's 1964 R3 Daytona hardtop was built on the assembly line as an R2. Paxton Products did the engine swap and the car was then road tested by Hot Rod magazine.

      Yes, Nelson's Strato Blue R3 1964 Commander was the only factory-built Lark-type with an R3. The production order indicates that it came down the assembly line with a standard 259 V8 and it was then sent to Studebaker Engineering for conversion to the R3 package before delivery.

      George
      george krem

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      • #4
        I kind of liken the R3 Hot Rod road test car as being similar to a 1965 or 1966 Shelby Mustang. Those cars were delivered to Shelby American with Standard V8 engines and Shelby put his engine in the car and did some handy work and called it a Shelby Mustang. Maybe he got that idea from Studebaker shipping cars to Paxton for the conversion to R3 or R4...haha ...ya never know though.

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        • #5
          If the above two R3s are not too much of a stretch from "factory", maybe the Avanti, Joe Granitelli installed a Caddy 429 in, during the mid-late 1960s could almost make the stretch too.

          I never cared to own an Avanti, but came very close to buying that one in the late 1980s, out in LA. Luckily the owner was honest, and revealed to me nobody had ever been able to keep the motor from running hot. Living in 29Palms at the time, that was a deal breaker.

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          • #6
            Those cars were delivered to Shelby American with Standard V8 engines and Shelby put his engine in the car
            IIRC, In '65-66, the street Mustangs came to Shelby American with the 271hp HiPo engines and the aluminum intake, rocker covers, oil pan and tube headers were bolted on to claim 306hp. The fifty or so full-race cars were built with whatever they needed to be competitive.

            jack vines
            PackardV8

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            • #7
              Originally posted by PackardV8 View Post
              IIRC, In '65-66, the street Mustangs came to Shelby American with the 271hp HiPo engines and the aluminum intake, rocker covers, oil pan and tube headers were bolted on to claim 306hp. The fifty or so full-race cars were built with whatever they needed to be competitive.

              jack vines
              Yeah, I think you are right, Jack. Didn't they get a different cam also? I know the blocks were re stamped with Shelby's numbers. I owned a 350H, a 67 350, a 68 500KR FB, and a 68 500 convertible back in the days when they were cheap so to speak.

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              • #8
                The long blocks of the Shelby street cars were all Ford. No cam change AFAIK.

                jack vines
                PackardV8

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                • #9
                  Somewhere I have a circa 1969 engine swap magazine (very popular in the day) and it showed a picture of an Oldsmobile 425 or 455 being swapped into an Avanti and an R4 being removed.
                  Has anyone still got this article?
                  Bill

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Buzzard View Post
                    Somewhere I have a circa 1969 engine swap magazine (very popular in the day) and it showed a picture of an Oldsmobile 425 or 455 being swapped into an Avanti and an R4 being removed.
                    Has anyone still got this article?
                    Bill
                    It was Petersons Book of Engine Swaps #2 published in 1968
                    Bez Auto Alchemy
                    573-318-8948
                    http://bezautoalchemy.com


                    "Don't believe every internet quote" Abe Lincoln

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                    • #11
                      I've got that engine swap book somewhere. I have never thrown away a car magazine or book. I remember that the Olds exhaust manifold had an ugly notch cut into it to clear the steering. Not a very good solution IMHO, but there wasn't all the aftermarket hardware available then.
                      "In the heart of Arkansas."
                      Searcy, Arkansas
                      1952 Commander 2 door. Really fine 259.
                      1952 2R pickup

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                      • #12
                        That was Bob Pattons Avanti, it was a 455, with 4 speed. The major cut was in the front crossmember to lower the bell crank pivot 1 1/2" inches. Which threw every thing off in the suspension geometry and ate up tires, got lousey mileage and had bump steer. Andys Avanti with the 429 Cad, I talked Joe into nothchig the pan rather than droping the pivot.

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                        • #13
                          Good info Allen,
                          I wonder if anyone ever figured out how to cool down the Avanti with 429 Cad motor. Glad the guy who owned it in the late 1980s was honest about that with me.

                          Ironically, a few years later (1992) at the IM in Nashville, TN, I vended beside a guy with a 62GT; he had put a 429 Cad motor in it and, despite trying all he could think of, could not cool it down either. So his story rang familiar with the 429 Avanti guy.
                          Our two 62GTs sat side by side for most of the meet, and we enjoyed talking at length, including brainstorming ideas to cool his down. Then, years later I began to read the Nashville guy's writings about what a wonderful swap the 429 was, and how many miles he had put on it. Much of what he wrote covered the same time period he told me it was all but un-drive able. Interesting car, and interesting fellow.

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                          • #14
                            Joe; The car sat in the shop and was rarely driven. It was owned by Andy, even though Joe had it put together. I only saw Andy 3 times in 3 years, he would blow in, pat everyone on the back and then he was gone. He gave me his address and phone number back East, since I seemed interested when he was selling the car, but at the time it was too much money for my budget. So I never had any feed back on how it ran.

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                            • #15
                              Way, way OT, but interesting.

                              Joe, the '64-67 Cadillac 429" was V-2.0, the last iteration of the '49-67 Gen I Kettering V8. I wonder if that final displacement enlargement from 390" to 429", while at the same time making it lower and narrower, caused it to run hotter? In any case, it couldn't be an air circulation issue, as the Studillac and Packard V8s were physically larger and as you can attest, they didn't all run hot.

                              jack vines
                              PackardV8

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