39 coupe express progress

[t walgamuth]

I have my coupe express at LeVaire Engineering in Anderson and for the last three weeks have gone down there on Friday taking things. Michael has the body off the frame and is repairing rust on the body. The bed was pretty sound but he has welded in some holes and coated the bottom and inside the bed with POR 15. He has also cleaned the frame and coated it similarly. Yesterday I took down a 77 Saab manual rack to use on the 39 and we test fitted it. He will have to weld on some tabs to mount it to but it looks like it will be a very good fit. The rack has about 4 turns lock to lock and the weight of the 39 should be very close to what the front of the saab was. My best memory of saab ownership was the wonderful steering so I am hoping the 39 will steer well too. We discussed the possibility of mounting brackets for modern shocks. He is going to look at that.

There is a lot more rust around the top of the windshield so some fairly extensive work is needed there to clean it up. The drivers side cab mount and rocker have repair work as well.

My plan is to leave the exterior as found perhaps clear coating it. The mechanical and interior will be brought up to snuff with the upgraded engine transmission and brakes. I have ordered 16 x6" rims from coker along with baby moons so the look will be pretty traditional. I plan to do a pretty comprehensive job on the interior including adding ac.

We also found the chassis number. It appears to be L5 79 I, so it is the 79th CE built in 39?

[PackardV8]

Photos or it didn't happen!

Agree, the Saab 99 is one of the all-time best feeling sedans. We need to see how that rack mates up to whatever suspension you're using. Adapting a R&P is one of the easiest to do but most difficult to do correctly re-engineering on a custom car.

jack vines

[t walgamuth]

Well, I have been trying for a couple of months now to get brakes for the 39 planar suspension with no luck. So along with the suspicion that there is other fairly extensive repair work needed on the planar front suspension I decided to go ahead and do a subframe. I ordered a fatman hub to hub package including power rack, sway bar springs shocks, 12" rotors with big calipers and stainless steel tubular a arms. It is supposed to be ready to ship in about a month.

Michael is still working on the body.

[t walgamuth]

I just talked with Michael and he welded in the fatman subframe yesterday. I am hoping to get over there tomorrow to see it sitting on its wheels again with the new running gear under it.

[Kdancy]

Pictures pictures !!!!

[t walgamuth]

Yeah, I gotta figure out how to do it here. I will.

[warrlaw1]

Good stuff. That will be a nice truck. I'm having trouble uploading pics, now, too. I had my computer settings set up as described up top, but I think something may have changed at my end. Time to trouble shoot.

[t walgamuth]

I went over to have a look and talk to Michael about details. He has the front end nearly completely installed with springs, a arms rotors calipers and steering rack installed. The main stuff is painted with black por 15. The stainless a arms are forged and polished. I expected them to be tubular steel welded and felt a little uneasy about that but these look plenty strong! the fatman parts are all first rate and it all went together like a charm. The only thing is the caliper brackets had one slightly inaccurate welding which required a shim between the bolt and caliper on the bottom to correct. (We felt that was a very minor issue). The instructions were clear and precise too.

We then looked at the Mercedes donor car and considered the pedal cluster and accelerator assembly and the shifter. We also looked at the Mercedes radiator and oil cooler, which look as if they might be usable. We're planning to use the Mercedes steering column too. Having the commander there (which is complete) for reference is very handy too.

We are making progress!

[t walgamuth]

Dropped off the Roll Guy sanden adapter kit today and a spare lower pan so Michael can drop the bottom of the pan to increase capacity. WE dropped the engine down between the frame and dummied out the radiator etc.

WE will be able to fit the mb radiator between the studey radiator loop but will not be able to use the oil cooler. An auxiliary cooler in front of the radiator should be pretty routine to supply. Perhaps we can relocate the benz cooler below or beside or above.

The engine now fits down in there as if it grew there with the right angle, etc. We'll still need to dimple the firewall a bit to install the oil filter.

A splice in of 1" on the large part of the pan should offset the 2" notch nearly perfectly since its a 1/3 2/3 relationship of notch to remaining pan.

I'll be investigating the HVAC options now too. Prolly vintage air or similar.

It looks like we can use the MB fuel tank with slight modification too so that's a plus.

[junior]

I must have missed it somewhere, sometime...but a Mercedes donor car? What Mercedes, and what engine?...this sounds like fun...please bring me up to speed. thanks, Junior.

[t walgamuth]

Its a 3.0 liter five cylinder turbodiesel from a 1983 wagon. I has a five speed overdrive behind it. We're going to use the pedal cluster, half the drive shaft, radiator and the fuel tank too. I've been holding back the fact that I decided not to use the Studebaker v8 for fear of the flaming I am sure to get here!

[junior]

Its a 3.0 liter five cylinder turbodiesel from a 1983 wagon. I has a five speed overdrive behind it. We're going to use the pedal cluster, half the drive shaft, radiator and the fuel tank too. I've been holding back the fact that I decided not to use the Studebaker v8 for fear of the flaming I am sure to get here!

Dare to be different... that`s cool with me, and sounds like it will be a fun ride when completed. As far as what others like, well I let that be their concern. I get enough roasting about having another belly-button SBC in my car and I could care less...it was the first ever engine rebuild exposure I had way back in the mid 70`s, and I have absolutely no desire to swap in a Stude v-8 at this point in time... I also like the natural patina paint job idea that seems to be gaining popularity. As noted with others, pics of the build sure would be great. Regards, Junior.

[GThawkwind]

Its a 3.0 liter five cylinder turbodiesel from a 1983 wagon. I has a five speed overdrive behind it. We're going to use the pedal cluster, half the drive shaft, radiator and the fuel tank too. I've been holding back the fact that I decided not to use the Studebaker v8 for fear of the flaming I am sure to get here!

No not much to worry about, I think most will just think it's cool that you went with something other than a SBC then again even if it was another SBC I think most would still like it.

[t walgamuth]

Its a motor and tranny combination that I have a load of experience with. Once the engine is all up to snuff they will go with a minimum of bother for decades. I was excited about the 259 with od but the lack of power steering pump and ac bracket without a lot of digging just caught me short also the v8 down between the frame rails looked like tough service. then too I had the mb engine and tranny and knew they are sound and in good order so it seemed to be almost preordained. The Studebaker mb connection back in the day is just frosting on the cake.

Oh yes, I am expecting to be able to get from 25 up to near 30 mpg too.

[t walgamuth]

I went over today for a fitment into the truck. The mercedes steering column is in place complete with its crush zone. The bracket that bolts to the bottom of the dash bolted into the studebaker using existing holes!

The brake and clutch levers will need to be bent to the right to have the correct relationship to the gas pedal and the gas pedal needs moved toward the radiator 1".

The shifter will have the shift lever lengthened 6" and the shift levers under the floor lengthened 3" to bring the shifter up where it needs to be and retain the shifting pattern size it now has.

The driveshaft will use the front half of the Wagon ds and the rear half will be modified to attach to the ford 9" diff. He has the tranny support bolted in with custom brackets. It looks like it grew there.

We'll have to raise the engine about a half inch to give more clearance to the Sanden compressor.

It is getting close to being drivable....sortof.