Before and after - share em if you got em.

[JimC]

This weekend I started the process of swapping out my carb, and while I had it off, I figured it's as good a time as any to tackle a bunch of small tasks while I'm there. Tidying up some rough wiring from a PO, adjusting valves, that sort of little stuff.

I figured since I was doing all these other touch-ups, I may as well work on looks, too. My car isn't a show car by any means, but from time to time I bump into people who after hearing my rave about how great the Studebaker engine performs, want to see under the hood. It happened just this last Friday in fact. I love showing off the Stude power plant and people think it's cool to see something other than a SBC in a car, but at the same time I almost feel like cringing when I open the hood around strangers! So this week, all of that changes.

Take for example, the valve covers. Here's what they looked like when I started:


I only took a shot of the one, but they were both about the same. Greasy, wrong color yellow, aftermarket valve cover sticker, paint missing in places, etc. Not pretty.

So after a dip in grease-cutting dish soap, here's what I had:



Or maybe not. I used the dish soap to cut through the oil and grease on the surface (worked great, by the way!) so when I applied the paint stripper it would have a slightly easier job to do. There were still a few flecks of the old yellow when I took this photo, but I was armed with sandpaper, and a few moments later, they were ready to prime and paint.

I went out back, put a couple coats of primer on, followed by a few coats of yellow, and here's the final result:
and

Much better.

Sure, it's a small project. A few hours work and a couple cans of spray paint and you're done, but sometimes even the small projects can be rewarding.

I'll post a couple more of the projects to this thread later. In the mean time, if anyone wants to add their little before/afters, I know I'd love to see 'em.

[JoeHall]

Night & day difference ! I have been meaning to do that with a set of valve covers for years, but don't want to lose the authenticity of the factory over-spray

[JimC]

I beg everyone to forgive me for a bit of hubris. I have to say, I'm pretty darn proud of myself.

Here is what my engine bay looked like a few days ago:


More or less, this is about how it's looked since I got the car. The brake cylinder is new, I replaced the battery clamps a while back, but otherwise, what you see is what I got, even the itsy-bitsy air cleaner (which I had swapped back to stock a long time ago, but changed just for this photo).

I want to say that I'm not a mechanic. I'm pretty technically capable in the engineering sense, but in practice, sometimes I get a bit uneasy. Still, my valves needed adjusting, and my carburetor was dying, so this weekend I pounced on the task of doing both the valve adjustment and the carb swap. I tend to have perfectionist and overachiever tendencies, so I decided why not go for broke, and spend the weekend cleaning my engine pay and painting anything I could unbolt, too. That got me about here:


I remember taking this photo and wondering if I got in way over my head. Still, I had to get it done. I painted the valve covers, fan, dipsticks, oil pan, and even the batter hold down bar, just in case I ever run across Bob Palma on the road

Adjusting the valves was straightforward, though some of them were way out of whack. One cylinder had .032 clearance on the intake, and more than a .035 clearance on the exhaust. I got 'em all reset to .026 on the intakes, and .027 on the exhausts, so we should be good to go for a while.

The carb swap was actually easier than I thought it would be. Once everything was prepped, it was really just a matter of lining it all up and bolting it down, plugging in a couple things, and done. I put all the pretty stuff back on, and here's what it all looked like:


Sure, it's no show car, but compared to what it was, I'm very happy with the final result! Here are a couple more shots:


From the side


With the air cleaner. I want something a little nicer, but this will do for now.

Here's a before and after around the dipsticks.


Before


After!

Like I said, I love these cars, but I'm no mechanic. I think the biggest thing I learned during this is that if you take your time and follow the instructions, this stuff can be pretty easy.

[dnevin]

Great job!

[SScopelli]

Self explanatory..

[JimC]

Wowza, that's a HUGE improvement!

[gohdes]

before - just after I bought it in 2010 (60 lark convertible)





during - took advantage of the engine being out for a rebuild in 2012





after - today

[Warren Webb]

Nice job on those valve covers. I also like the battery matching the new painted valve covers! Really stands out. As a time saver I have used oven cleaner in removing both grease & paint in one shot. Saves a lot of time & effort in sanding, especially in those hard to reach places.

[nels]

Jim
Good job. Lots of fun doing initial detailing as the visual improvement is gigantic. I had to laugh at the picture of the valve cover about to be immersed in the kitchen sink. I do the same type of thing but have to wait until the wife is gone or she would have a cow.

[JimC]

Gohdes,

Now THAT's nice! I thought about trying to re-paint the engine bay, but as it turned out, once I got all the gunk off it looked pretty good. I still might rattlecan black the upper portion of the cowl area, as it's got a couple good sized chips, but then again, I might just be happy with it

Warren,

It's funny, because the PO of the car did exactly that. The color paint on the valve covers when I started looked like it was color matched to the battery. When I repainted, I went to as close of a factory correct yellow as I could find, which is actually only a touch less orange than the battery when you see it in real life, so you'd never notice a major difference. I should have thought of oven cleaner. I had that in my home. I went and bought a can of stripper. Oh well!

Nels,

My wife is pretty forgiving, so long as I promise to clean up, and I don't let it sit there all day. I haven't tried that with a transmission in the bathtub yet though, so we'll see when I get there

[Warren Webb]

I only use the kitchen sink when the wife is at work & make sure there is no trace left over for her to find!

[Noxnabaker]

If a non Studebaker-engined is allowed here & if I haven't misunderstood, then this is how it looked once upon a time:



& a while ago, the way it loox now exept that now the fenders & hood is on:

[Stoody56]

Your car appears to be parked in a supermarket! Is this just carelessness or were you shopping?

[Corvanti]

not the best pics of the '40...
not completely before:


and not quite "after", but almost...

[4hawks]

4X4

Here are a few pic of my 1959 4E2D 4X4