Need guidance

[jlmccuan]

OK, I got the '63 R2 Avanti home. Odometer reads 07966.6 miles. How much additional mileage is too much? Right now we're in cleanup/detail mode, but I know she's begging me to drive her. I could use some guidance here. Do I keep the miles off and just trailer her around to shows, drive on a budget X number of miles per year, take her to work every day, or put her in a climate controlled room with filtered air and no flash photography? What would you do? Even here in the house I can hear her whispering my name, "Jim, let's just take a little spin, I promise not to tell anyone."

Jim

_________1966 Avanti II RQA 0088______________Rabid Snail Racing

[8E45E]

quote:Originally posted by jlmccuan

OK, I got the '63 R2 Avanti home. Odometer reads 07966.6 miles. How much additional mileage is too much? Right now we're in cleanup/detail mode, but I know she's begging me to drive her. I could use some guidance here. Do I keep the miles off and just trailer her around to shows, drive on a budget X number of miles per year, take her to work every day, or put her in a climate controlled room with filtered air and no flash photography? What would you do? Even here in the house I can hear her whispering my name, "Jim, let's just take a little spin, I promise not to tell anyone."

Drive it to a maximum of 1000 miles a year; no more. In ten year's time when it's 55 years old, it will still be a low-mileage car with only 17,966.6 miles on it.

Craig

[JDP]

I agree, a 1000 or less. Even 500 miles a year would get you to local shows and you could trailer it to more distant ones. You have one of the lowest mileage Avanti's on the planet, drive it a lot, and it's just another nice Avanti.
Driving it daily in place of a beater Honda for example would be a crime in my opinion. A little spin now and then is fine, even desirable, but to and from work, no way. If you need yet another Avanti to drive, sell yours and buy two nice 80,000 mile cars.

JDP/Maryland
"I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."
Thomas Jefferson

[jlmccuan]

Thanks for the input, guys. I was thinking along the same lines. I have gotten an enclosed trailer for storage and transport to events. Just a trip to the nearest town would be 30 miles round trip. Driving her daily wasn't ever really an option for me, but I included it in the list for a sense of scale.

So, at 1000 miles a year, what should be the maintenance schedule for oil and filter changes. An oil change every 2 years or 2000 miles doesn't seem quite right, but then every 3 months or 250 miles doens't sound quite right either.

Jim

_________1966 Avanti II RQA 0088______________Rabid Snail Racing

[showbizkid]

I've been told that oil changes every 6 months are about right to keep the oil from developing acids that could etch your bearings.


[img=left]http://members.cox.net/clarknovak/lark.gif[/img=left]

Clark in San Diego
'63 F2/Lark Standard

http://studeblogger.blogspot.com

https://www.studebakersandiego.com

[blackhawk61]

Hey ..........I thought this was the "Studebaker DRIVERS Club "
....Drive it !

1961 Hawk 4BC,4-SPEED,TT

Ken Byrd
Lewisville,NC

[BobPalma]

Is the car still riding on its original tires, Jim? That may determine its usefulness, and, especially, desirability of keeping the miles down.

Experience is probably the best teacher, so here's mine: In early January 1976, I bought my 1973 Mustang convertible. It was (and still is) on all five original, production-line tires, and I still have the production-line battery (quite dead, of course, but I saved it). The car turned 17,000 miles as I drove it home. Today, it has 17,869 on it, so you can figure the average miles per year in the 32 years I've owned it.

I take it for an annual run of maybe 20 miles, although I drove it upwards of a hundred a year the first couple years I owned it. 'Can't go too fast because of the tires, but always long enough to thoroughly heat up the original dual exhaust system (Q-code 351 hi-po Cleveland engine).

Advice to be tendered is this:

Keep lots of Sta-Bil in the gas.

Keep the tires aired up well over 30 psi.

Accomplish annually what I've set up as a partial coolant change every year: Remove all that will drain out of the radiator and then replace it with fresh 50/50 ethylene-glycol mix and a bottle of anti-rust cooling system conditioner. Then, of course, run it at least a half-hour to thoroughly mix it with what is already in there. By doing this every year, (not every two years, but every year) you pretty much get a rotating coolant replacement without having to open the block drains and make a mess. "It's worked for me."

I change the oil and filter maybe every three years and, of course, use the "drainings" in a used car, because the oil looks about as clean as the day it went in there, with fewer than 60 miles "on" it!

I keep the car covered in my fairly dry Morton Building, with bars of Irish Spring and several Bounce dryer sheets all around the interior. I've never had any rodent infestation.

Over the years, I've really had only two problems. Despite using gas treatment, Sta-Bil, and Fuel System Dryer often, the inside of the gas tank rusted up and flaked off enough to plug up the filter "sock" on the tank end of the pickup tube. Easily replaced without dropping the tank, fortunately, and the tank didn't rust through.

It got harder and harder to start every year, requiring more priming than usual until one year, it wouldn't run on anything execept the prime gas poured down the carb. That's when I had to replace the OEM fuel pump. But I kept the dead OEM unit, of course. KEY POINT: Never throw out an OEM part removed from a documented low-mileage car!

Hope this helps, Jim. Quite frankly, almost everyone (especially me) likes original, low-mileage cars...BUT you must derive pleasure from just simply owning them, resisting the opportunity to run up the miles because they are so tight, unlike even the best restoration could acheive. Otherwise, they are a pain in the neck! BP

[jlmccuan]

I have the original tires and wheels that the car came with which are in incredibly good condition, plus a new set of wheels and tires mounted on the car. I still have my '66, so I can get my Avanti driving and customizing fix with that.

Just got a message of bad news re the supercharger. Evidently, a part that is no longer available has some damage, so I'm sort of bummed out. Hopefully, there is some good news and a fix when I get to talk to the rebuilder. We're playing phone tag right now.

Jim

_________1966 Avanti II RQA 0088______________Rabid Snail Racing

[BobPalma]

I can't imagine any part for an SN-60 being "unavailable." Maybe Auto Zone doesn't stock it, but you'll be able to find it new or good used within SDC and associated contacts. BP

[jlmccuan]

Information is trickling in. Seems that the center race has a big gouge out of it and the output shaft has about 1/16" groove in it.

Jim

_________1966 Avanti II RQA 0088______________Rabid Snail Racing

[Roscomacaw]

One thing I haven't seen said here is this - You REALLY ought to photograph each and every INCH of this car. Over, under around and thru! Here's a darned good opportunity to document a resonably un-tampered example for generations to refer to as documentation.
You have a digital camera, so film and developing andmaybe having to go back to a certain area to get a better clarity shot shouldn't be an issue.

EVERY ONE of these "survivor" cars (trucks) that comes to light these days should be so documented. This is one of those fast-fading examples.

Miscreant Studebaker nut in California's central valley.

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President two door

[bob40]

Remember that Greg took a zillion pics of it when he bought it.Cant hurt to have 2 sets of a bajillion pics

[grobb284]

Jim,

Phil at Fairborn Studebaker stocks most parts for the SN60, and can obtain the rest. I don't know of any internal part that's not available. The races, balls, and output shaft are the most common parts to fail, yours apparently is no different. Call him 937-878-1576 eastern business hours

He has helped me with parts for rebuilding VS57



rebuilding SN60 type



and rebuilding SN93



By the way, he is also very good at rebuilding superchargers, and I'm sure he would make yours a very good unit.

Knowing you only a little, you should get one of my supercharger stands for the spare you'll probably build up.[8D]


1963 Studebaker Avanti: C4 Corvette narrowed front/rear suspension, C5 13" calipers/rotors adapted to C4, Viper differential with Intrax 3.54 ratio (the snake has been charmed!), coil overs, stainless tubular frame, stainless chambered side exhaust.
Here are two links for some pictures and information.
Slide Show
Magazine Article

[studegary]

I can only think of two 1963-1964 Avantis with less mileage than yours. Both are kept the way that I believe that yours should be kept. Maintain it to the extreme. Drive it a small amount (100-200 miles) each year on replacement tires just to keep everything working. Display it for the rest of the World to see and enjoy. I have known of low mileage Studebakers that were just driven and in a couple of years they were just average used cars. It isn't like you can just keep going out and finding replacement low mileage Studebakers like you could 30-40 years ago.

Gary L.
Wappinger, NY

SDC member since 1968
Studebaker enthusiast much longer

[jlmccuan]

Actually, I've had the spare for over a year now. LOL You know me better than you think, I guess.

So far, I've not turned a bolt on the car. Just giving it a thorough detailing. The PO had already removed the SC. I will begin taking pics this week before starting the fluid changes. Are there any pics and angles anyone would like in particular? I'd be more than happy to fill requests.

Today, I cleaned up the original 1963 tires and wheels. Firestone 500's. I can't believe their condition. No cracking, still have the nubs on them. The whitewalls were a bit yellowed, but they cleaned up really nice. I haven't smelled the air in them to see if it's from South Bend, LOL.

I did take the visor off the dash pad. I sprayed a little ArmorAll to lubricate the clip, held my breath, and slowly slid it off. There is no cracking or discoloration of the dash pad, but you can see the imprint of the clips. The imprints do appear to be smoothing out, so maybe it will be OK.

I will probably take the curb feelers off as well.

The carb hat appears to have some flaking of the chrome, so I am looking for one to replace it rather than refinishing the original. Of course, I will label and keep the original with any other parts that need replacing.

I am seriously considering the suggested 1000 mile per year budget. At that rate, when the car is 50 years old, it will still have less than 15K on it. 1000 miles per year will allow diagnosis of any problems beginning to develop in the drivetrain and every mile will be a special event.

Thanks for all your input. I'll make an open invitation for anyone coming through the neighborhood to come by for a visit. We are within an hour's drive from Interstates 70, 57, 24, and 64.

If we didn't already have a big event planned, we would come to Lancaster, but you're all welcome to swing by. We'll have a ton of good food.

Jim

_________1966 Avanti II RQA 0088______________Rabid Snail Racing