Dumb Stude Questions

[Daan]

On the trailer? It’s a square body Chev/GMC pickup.

[StudeRich]

Cool !. Do you know what that is behind it? Looks like it may be a Stude.

[Daan]

RadioRoy this is good advice! The plan is to just get it running and driving. I don’t want to “mod” anything unless there’s a VERY good reason to. I want to take as little as possible apart, because I want to DRIVE this, not blow it into a million pieces and then have to wait 10 years to actually use it...
Please everyone keep all the advice coming this way, I’m all ears and ready to learn!
Oh yeah, it’s in Utah today, so a couple states closer to me!

[RadioRoy]

Dan, congratulations on getting such a cool car. I see you are enthusiastic, but please let me give you my standard newbie advice.

The first thing most new members want to do is redesign the car to make it better. That's OK if one is an experienced hot rod builder, but most newbies who are unfamiliar with Studebakers are not experienced hot rod builders.

For some reason the prevailing "wisdom" is that every other brand of car makes better parts/systems and also every other part/system will fit on a Studebaker. Where did that come from? Maybe because Studebaker has always been an underdog in the eyes of the great unwashed masses.

Basically, Studebakers are well designed and they merely need to be brought back to specifications to be good handling, driving, reliable cars. There are certain tried and proven mods, like disk brakes and sway bars that actually do improve the car, but many one-off, shade tree mods only make the car different, difficult to fix, and difficult to sell.

Here's my best advice, for what it's worth.
-Don't rush into taking it apart
-figure out what you have, what its strong points and weak points are and go from there
-get it stopping and running and then figure out what needs to be done to it while you are enjoying it
-Don't rush into taking it apart. It is at least 100 times more difficult to put it together than it was to take it apart.

Many, many cars get taken apart by someone who is fresh into the hobby, full of enthusiasm, and yielding to popular "wisdom." But the majority of cars that get this treatment never go back together again. They sit around in pieces after the enthusiasm gets replaced by reality. The wife and family get disgusted with the pile of rusty iron sitting around, the car gets sold as a parts car, and another potentially nice old car bites the dust.

I have given this advice many, many times over many years. I know of what I speak. Feel free to ignore it as many have.

[Daan]

Thank you for the decoding! It sounded like a nicely equipped car, but I didn’t realize it was THAT nice!

[StudeRich]

Before 1959, ALL V8's have the stronger Dana 44 Axle, so if it is original, you are good to go. The most likely ratio is 3.92 a rare and discontinued Ratio after 1958. Limited Slip (TT) was not available until 1957.

Wow! That's a Score! A VERY Well Equipped Power Hawk!
That Car has WAY more then the average Options on it.
It's just too bad that ALL the Calif, (Vernon Plant) P.O.'s I have seen, NEVER have the actual Build date filled in.
Shipped May 29, 1956 so who knows maybe built 5/27 or 5/28.

I decoded the Options 8852506 had:

Overdrive
Power Kit
Oil Bath Air Cleaner
Oil Filter
Radio AC-2748
Antenna AC-2689
Climatizer
WW Wall Tires
Wheel Covers AC-2738
Clock AC-2756
Turn Signals
Cigar Lighter
Back-up Lights
Padded dash
Deluxe Steering Wheel and Horn Ring
Extra Foam padded front seat

You are a LUCKY Dude! The only downside I see, is that the Bone White Plastic Deluxe Steering Wheels were made of an early non-UV resistant formula, type plastic that never survived the Heat well at all.

[tsenecal]

Nice to see that it is finally on its way to you. It looks like a good solid car to start with. Have fun, and Good Luck with it.

[Daan]

[Daan]

So I just got a message that my car is getting picked up today. I’m getting super excited to finally have a Stude of my own later this week. I will add a bunch of pics (or start a new thread) when I have it!

[Daan]

I got my Production Order from the Museum! According to this I still have my original engine. (Not that I’m too hung up on that, the car’s 64 years old)
I do see that I have “Hi Pow Kit”, that’s the 4-barrel and dual exhaust, right? Would that have included the 44 rear end, or could I still have a 27?
I still don’t have the car itself, oddly enough with everything going on the shipping guy isn’t in CA quite yet... it’s all good.

[Dwight FitzSimons]

That looks like a normal grease gun that would be useful on a Studebaker. The fitting on the end isn't the type needed for Studebaker's grease fittings, however. Also, most Studebaker people recommend a flexible hose, rather than the steel one you have. The good news is that steel tube should unscrew. Then you can replace it with a flexible (rubber) hose with the correct fitting on the end for Zerk grease fittings. Those should be available, at a reasonable cost, at your local FLAPS (NAPA, AutoZone, etc.).
-Dwight

[Daan]

So my father in law gave me this grease gun to do the wheel bearings on a camper we used to have. His camper had a grease fitting on the wheel hubs, and mine didn’t, so this thing has been hanging in my garage for... a long time. Is this the proper grease gun for doing the suspension on my Hawk, or do I need something else? Or are there not grease fittings and I’m thinking of something else?

[S2Deluxe]

Wow, you don't see THAT often; 10,000 EVEN.

It's no more unique than any other engine number, but it's definitely much more easily remembered!

I was wondering about that, if this was a replacement engine, and whoever put it in stamped it themselves.

It certainly looks like an Original factory stamped engine number to me!

Mark

[Skip Lackie]

If you want to use the Ranger wheels, then you should use the larger Ford lug nuts to fit them. They have the same thread size as the Stude lugs, but take a 13/16" socket instead of 3/4". If you don't want to change the LH studs, Dorman still makes LH lug nuts in the larger Ford size.

[jclary]

Don't you shove the male end into the ground and listen at the female end to hear if there are vibrations from the spark miss?
-Dwight

Sure, Dwight! That's the "ONE TIME ONLY" method! How 'bout you do us all a favor and create a YOUTUBE video. I'll watch.