63 Cruiser

[candbstudebakers]

Brain, back panel under the left tail light.

[8E45E]

That is a beautiful Cruiser. Rich, that's not the broadcloth (which in '63 had a completely different, "tuck and roll" style design) but it's either the original or NOS or perfect reproduction of the original standard Cruiser cloth and vinyl upholstery.

That is correct, its the standard Cloth & Vinyl interior. The Broadcloth seat option had no vinyl used on it anywhere. http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...ght=broadcloth

Craig

[brian6373]

Hi Bob, if the Cruiser didn't have that extra chrome trim piece going across the back panel, I'd defiantly put it there. I'm afraid it visually would get lost lost on that trim. Studrich, is that your Lark 2 door Custom on ebay? Nice canidate for a restortion. My brother tells the story about a guy he went to high school with that his father went to the Chevy dealer and priced out a '63 Impala convertable with all the options, and a 6 cyl. engine. As a graduation present he gave his son the money to buy it. The son went to the dealer and ordered the stripped down base model with the duel quad 409 and a 4 speed. This sounds like about the same kinda car Studebaker style! I'd love to see more pictures if this one's yours. I recieved my new duel exhaust system yesterday, and I can't wait to really get going on this car. The weather here is not co-operating. Right now it's 41 degrees and overcast with 94 per cent humidity w/ chance of showers. Theres something about cold damp that just seams to get in your bones and chills you through.
So far I have replaced the carb, dist. (Delco window type w/Pertronix conversion), spark plugs and wires. I also installed a NOS Carter fuel pump after rebuilding it with modern rubber for the c**p fuel we get nowdays. I did a compression test cold and have two cyl. w/ 150 psi. five cyl. between 125 and 135. Number three has 65. I looks like the heads have been off, someone put two thin head gaskets on each head when they installed them. The engine runs pretty good, but, you can hear that one cyl. at the exhaust when idling. I signed up for the Sacramento Autoramma back in August before the accident and I'm planning on showing the car in Febuary with other Studebakers in our club. This meens I'm limited on what I can do before then. The car has to be drivable, and "shine-up" well. After that though, LOOK OUT!
Brian

[jackb]

if you need to have it on your car....keep it where it is on the old quarter...I agree, the back is too busy...

[8E45E]

Although I do like the looks of that TT. What are the thoughts on where it would look best?

You'll need second one, but mount them on the rear mudflaps. After all, that's as close it can get to the part of the car its advertising....

Craig

[brian6373]

Hi all! I thought I'd give an up-date on my Cruiser after eight months. I started serious work on the car about three months ago. I pulled the rear bumper and the fuel tank so I could replace the rear spring bushing in the frame and remove a funky trailer hitch. Looking up while lying on my back I noticed a lot of rust in the rear corners. Upon closer investigation, I realized both rear body-to-frame mounts were gone! Completely rusted out! I looked on the inside after removing what was left of the trunk mat and discovered someone had covered up the rusted out parts with liberal amounts of JB weld. I cut out the rear corners of the trunk and welded in replacement corners off my donor car. While working on this I removed the damaged left rear fender and found that the bottom of the pillar just in front of the wheel well was full of dried mud rusted out. I fabricated and welded in the replacement lower pillar pieces. While doing this I noticed that the two rear body-to frame mounts were badly bent, with the rear one partly torn off. Heat, beat, weld, grind, repeat. After finishing all that, I took off the right rear fender and found the same thing on that pillar and body mounts. Heat, beat, weld, grind, repeat. During all of this I noticed that the center body-to-cross member under the package tray had bulged up and had a long crack in the sheet metal. That one body mount was carrying all the weight of the rear of the body. Beat, weld, grind. With all the rust issues I was discovering, I ended up sanding and scraping and treating the frame and underside. The underside now has rubber undercoating and the frame has had all the dried mud cleaned out on the inside and outside. I painted the frame with black semi-gloss epoxy.I finished all that up about a week ago, and started on replacing the rear spring frame bushings, again. I replaced both spring packs and added a rear stabilizer kit form S.I. and new H.D. shocks. I made new nickel copper brake lines and added a new brake hose. Today I started on replacing the axel shafts with the flanged axel kit from Stude West. It doesn't look like I'll be driving the Cruiser this DYSD this year! I'll try to post some pics here soon. Thanks for the support.
Brian

[raprice]

First and foremost, thank goodness that you and Linda survived the crash. It's great to see that you both are looking forward with your "new" Studebaker. The photos look really nice. When you're done with the mechanical rehab, you'll have a terrific car you'll love to drive. All the best!

Rog

[brian6373]

Thanks Rog. I'm moving from back to front on the mechanical restoration. Well Friday the 13th struck me again! This morning I took in the rear brake drum/hubs to the machine shop to have the hubs pressed out and the drums turned. One drum was about an eighth inch past turning and the other was cracked in several places. Anybody have some good 10" finned drums for sale?
Brian

[(S)]

To turn those drums, they need a VW rear brake drum holding fixture. (same size as a Stude tapered axle.) No need to 'press' out the hubs to turn a stude drum . It will damage them because they have a swedge. Cut the swedge and they fall apart. Try to press them and they can crack , bend warp the drum......or elongate the holes making them useless. Finding a shop the swedge them correctly is also difficult now days.... Always ask the shop if they have a Jeep or VW fixture to hold the drum and center it properly.

Nice car by the way. I'd have 11 inch (for) disc brake finned drums in stock, no 10 inchers in stock right now.

[showbizkid]

I got rear drums for my car from Bob Peterson (candbstudebakers here on the Forum). Give him a shout!

[brian6373]

(s) I am installing the flanged axel conversion, that's why I was going to have them pressed off. So the only thing holding the hub to the drum are the wheel studs? I'm thinking that I might just buy new drums and be done with it. I've dealt with Bob Peterson many times, there's not a nicer guy around. He's only about an hour and a half from me in Hayward, with the bonus of stopping by Vals Burger for lunch. Best burgers around!