I got a call from a fellow the other day who has a six cylinder 59 Lark 2 door hardtop. He was looking for a stock manifold for his car and found our chapter on the internet. He has had the car for several years and enjoyed driving it until he had some problems. He moved to this area a few years ago and, I think, had to tow the car.
Anyway, he searched around and found someone who would rebuild his engine and got it back after a long time only after threatening to take the pieces and go elsewhere. He was having fuel problems and after trying to rebuild his carb and messing it up, he sent it to Jon Myer to be repaired. That is when he found out that his Lark had a WE carb from an earlier engine. He found a correct RS carb somewhere and sent it to Myer for a rebuild. After he got the carb back, he discovered it would not fit on the manifold he had and the search began for a correct manifold. He searched the internet and found manifolds, but the shipping was high and he still wasn't sure what he needed.
Finally.....he searched for Studebaker clubs and found the list. He called here and we arranged to meet. I had a selection of manifolds for him to look at when he got here. We also found that he had been using the oil bath air cleaner that came with the WE carb. I remembered seeing a Lark type 1 barrel air cleaner on a shelf and retrieved that. It was missing the clamp so we got the part number for him to search.(one of you may get a call
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It turns out that this fellow was a member of the SDC in the 90s and dropped out. Joe and I convinced him that he needed to join SDC and our chapter to get the benefits of our networking. He has a repair manual, but we also showed him the parts book with its illustrations and explained why it is so useful when working on something. I was just going to give him the manifold and charge him a little for the air filter housing, but he wasn't sure if he could change out the studs and clean up the manifold correctly. I am going to put the manifold in my electrolytic tank and then change out the studs. I don't usually do work for other people, but this guy needs a hand.
It is amazing to me that in this age of computers and all its information that there are still people who are going it alone and searching junk yards and such for relatively common parts.
Anyway, he searched around and found someone who would rebuild his engine and got it back after a long time only after threatening to take the pieces and go elsewhere. He was having fuel problems and after trying to rebuild his carb and messing it up, he sent it to Jon Myer to be repaired. That is when he found out that his Lark had a WE carb from an earlier engine. He found a correct RS carb somewhere and sent it to Myer for a rebuild. After he got the carb back, he discovered it would not fit on the manifold he had and the search began for a correct manifold. He searched the internet and found manifolds, but the shipping was high and he still wasn't sure what he needed.
Finally.....he searched for Studebaker clubs and found the list. He called here and we arranged to meet. I had a selection of manifolds for him to look at when he got here. We also found that he had been using the oil bath air cleaner that came with the WE carb. I remembered seeing a Lark type 1 barrel air cleaner on a shelf and retrieved that. It was missing the clamp so we got the part number for him to search.(one of you may get a call
)It turns out that this fellow was a member of the SDC in the 90s and dropped out. Joe and I convinced him that he needed to join SDC and our chapter to get the benefits of our networking. He has a repair manual, but we also showed him the parts book with its illustrations and explained why it is so useful when working on something. I was just going to give him the manifold and charge him a little for the air filter housing, but he wasn't sure if he could change out the studs and clean up the manifold correctly. I am going to put the manifold in my electrolytic tank and then change out the studs. I don't usually do work for other people, but this guy needs a hand.
It is amazing to me that in this age of computers and all its information that there are still people who are going it alone and searching junk yards and such for relatively common parts.
Unfortunately, another bad choice.
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