1962 Daytona J8 (62S-16390)

[62champ]

Have had some pretty agreeable weather as of late, so decided to pull out the front shocks and put in some replacements.

Sure enough, the shocks are original to October, 1961 - and with the new shocks on, the car does not wallow down the road now . . .

[62champ]

Got some bling from SI this week for when the radio comes out to get fixed. $28 - NOS - original box with original tissue type paper inside.

[62champ]

Radio is out, blank is in, and the car never disappoints with how nice and clean things are.

[StudeRich]

Nice and clean there like everywhere !
On some of the more original '61 to '66 Larks and Lark types I have had, there were no bands or clamps on the Defrost Ducts but a 2 inch piece of Fuel Hose was stuffed between them to keep them on.

[62champ]

Pulled out the rear bench to install some seat belts I have had for some time. Someone at the factory dropped a side trim clip and left it on the floor. Also found the omnipresent bobby pen . . .

[62champ]

Finally got two of the correct tires mounted on the original paint rims and mounted on the front - look good to me.

[62champ]

And finally got all four mounted, balanced, and on the car. Came from the factory with whitewalls, so this is how I think it probably looked then.

[IndStudenut]

Super clean nice looking car.....

[r1lark]

Patrick, the tires look great! What size and what manufacturer, and what width whitewall?

I've been struggling with whether to use the wide whites like you have on my '62 GT, or go with a 1" whitewall. (Unfortunately, I don't like the look of wide whites on a white GT Hawk. If it was the color of your Daytona, they would be fine.)

[62champ]

They are Firestone Champion from Coker - 2 1/8 whitewall - 6.40X15. Studebaker liked the idea of whitewalls on a white '62 GT.

[62champ]

Radio is back in and making noise - good to hear the speaker seems to be in good shape.

[62champ]

The old trunk lid gasket is in pretty bad shape. The outer coating is brittle and cracks at the slightest bit of pressure.



The inside did not have any really spring back - just kind of a gooey mess.



The area under the hinges looks like they did not get any paint - guess it was sprayed after it was installed? New rubber looks much better than the old.

[62champ]

While I was won over with the cars interior when I first looked at it, I also knew there were going to be some physical features that would need to be addressed.

I realized early on that it had its share of oil/tranmission leaks. During one of its first "high speed" trips, I pulled into a Tractor Supply to get something. Seeing the car across the parking lot and the shinny concrete under it, I realized that high RPMs really dumped the fluids - it looks like the Exxon Valdez had docked in the parking spot just before we got there. Not sure if it was the extended periods of not being run, or that the gaskets were all original from the factory, but it was leaking everywhere.

I addressed the valve and lifter covers in previous work, but I knew it was going to be beyond my abilities to get some of the harder things: front timing cover, oil pan, rear main, transmission front/rear/pan gaskets. It also needed new front springs and all the inner rubber A-arm bushings.

Thankfully, I knew a local Studebaker mechanic from 30+ years that could help - Mark Frank from Lampasas, Texas. Mark started off as a Ford dealer mechanic and then started his business in the early 1990s working on everything, but many of those were Studebakers. So, in the middle of February, I got the car loaded and dropped it off at Marks place about 10 miles north of town.



Mark has a full service facility to do whatever is needed. He can even balance cranks, bore blocks, and resurface heads. The stuff I needed was pretty simple for his skills.



The front timing cover leaked pretty badly - you could see it dripping a drop every 30 seconds or so onto the front cross member when it was sitting and idling. It got a new timing gear as well - Mark said they get brittle over time and since the cover was off, . . .



I had already put front shocks on, but it was pretty clear the front inner bushings had rotted over the years and the front springs were weak enough for the car to bottom out on the most modest of bumps. So all new NOS inner rubber bushings, NOS front springs, and some general cleaning was done on the front end.



All and all, Mark did his usual excellent job and the car felt nice and tight on the ride home today. He commented, that of all the Studebakers he has dealt with over the years, this Daytona is about the easiest he has ever steered - those bias ply tires help.

This is the cars new stance - I like it.

[StudeRich]

Great job, it should drive like a New one now !
The '61 to '66 Lark and Lark Type Sixes with the Recirculating Ball Saginaw Steering Gear are the best, easiest steering
If you can see the entire Sidewalls on all 4, you know it is not sagging. .

[62champ]

With all the new suspension bits, wanted to make sure I did the first tire rotation to get any kind of uneven wear out of the picture.



Had a small drive to swap out with my cousin's 2R5. Photos location is a low water crossing over the San Gabriel River (old highway 29) located east of Georgetown, Texas.

[62champ]

With this car having 1000 miles put on it for the first time in probably 50 years, some things are starting to "loosen up."

The fiber hood liner had a small hole in it just above the fan when I bought the car, but hard to see in this photo.



As time went on, that hole became bigger and it was clear the glue holding the insulation on was starting to come loose.

Drove the car this morning and noted the hole was now bigger than the top of the air cleaner and you could tell it was not attached to a large part of the hood in the middle. Instead of waiting for it to fall off in big pieces, I decided to help it along and remove all the majority of what was left.

You can see from the large area in the middle where the glue was completely gone.



It would probably make a great mouse/rat house, so what was left quickly made it into the trash.



Will eventually scrape the parts left over off at some point - not sure if I want to go to the trouble of replacing it or not.