Well, this darn thing is taking on a life of its own. Too bad the name, "Frankenstude" is already taken.
I determined that the battery tray would be seriously in the way of the pedals if I left it on the left side, so I switched it to the right. Then I dug out a crusty long-tail T86 with OD that had come on another parts engine I bought. The front bearing retainer was broken. Spent a bunch of time tracking that piece down. Then I figured I'd better pack the throwout bearing. More time. Finally got the transmission installed. Then I went looking for a driveshaft. Came up dry looking in all the usual places. I didn't want to rob one out of a running car, either. Finally I looked in the trunk of the '65 Commander 2-door that's going to get the 4.3 engine. Bingo! It's a skinny 6 cylinder driveshaft, but it'll do. And that car will need a custom shaft, anyway, when the time comes.
So the engine is now coupled up to the rear end. Now I need a clutch pedal, and a means of shifting gears. Simplest solution was to round up the steering column jacket and pedal hanger from the dead '61, and put 'em back in there. I wasted a LOT of time looking for the upper half of the "saddle" that clamps the pedal hanger to the steering column jacket, and finally gave up and bent one up out of steel strip. I DID find the linkage rods for the gearshift and clutch, though, and got them installed, and both clutch and shift do work. I'm now at the point, that if it had a seat and a gas pedal, it could be driven, but the steering column really needs to be braced. And it needs at least enough floor to support the gas pedal (and my feet).
Having got this far, I'm going to dive in and do it at least halfway right. I will brace the steering column, but make sure that the portion of the brace that passes over the bellhousing is hinged at one end, and can be unbolted at the other (wing nuts?), so that it doesn't become an impediment to hoisting the engine and transmission straight up vertically to remove them. Then I can attach an instrument panel of sorts to the swinging portion of the brace, and arrange for all the wiring to pass by the hinge end, leaving a loop for slack. I can mount the starter solenoid, ignition resistor, ignition switch, and ammeter there, and possibly also a toggle switch to operate the overdrive solenoid. I really don't plan on driving this thing in overdrive, but it would be nice to be able to at least test if the OD functions, and hear if the planet gears are noisy or not.
I haven't really given much thought to the seat issue yet, but I have a bench seat out of a Toyota truck that is nice and light. Not much advantage to using a Studebaker seat, as there is no floor pan with bolt holes to fit it, so whatever seat gets used will call for building some kind of support structure. I may want to arrange the seat so that it can be hinged back, again to facilitate swapping engine/transmission combos.
Anyhow, I'm done with it for today.
Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands
I determined that the battery tray would be seriously in the way of the pedals if I left it on the left side, so I switched it to the right. Then I dug out a crusty long-tail T86 with OD that had come on another parts engine I bought. The front bearing retainer was broken. Spent a bunch of time tracking that piece down. Then I figured I'd better pack the throwout bearing. More time. Finally got the transmission installed. Then I went looking for a driveshaft. Came up dry looking in all the usual places. I didn't want to rob one out of a running car, either. Finally I looked in the trunk of the '65 Commander 2-door that's going to get the 4.3 engine. Bingo! It's a skinny 6 cylinder driveshaft, but it'll do. And that car will need a custom shaft, anyway, when the time comes.
So the engine is now coupled up to the rear end. Now I need a clutch pedal, and a means of shifting gears. Simplest solution was to round up the steering column jacket and pedal hanger from the dead '61, and put 'em back in there. I wasted a LOT of time looking for the upper half of the "saddle" that clamps the pedal hanger to the steering column jacket, and finally gave up and bent one up out of steel strip. I DID find the linkage rods for the gearshift and clutch, though, and got them installed, and both clutch and shift do work. I'm now at the point, that if it had a seat and a gas pedal, it could be driven, but the steering column really needs to be braced. And it needs at least enough floor to support the gas pedal (and my feet).
Having got this far, I'm going to dive in and do it at least halfway right. I will brace the steering column, but make sure that the portion of the brace that passes over the bellhousing is hinged at one end, and can be unbolted at the other (wing nuts?), so that it doesn't become an impediment to hoisting the engine and transmission straight up vertically to remove them. Then I can attach an instrument panel of sorts to the swinging portion of the brace, and arrange for all the wiring to pass by the hinge end, leaving a loop for slack. I can mount the starter solenoid, ignition resistor, ignition switch, and ammeter there, and possibly also a toggle switch to operate the overdrive solenoid. I really don't plan on driving this thing in overdrive, but it would be nice to be able to at least test if the OD functions, and hear if the planet gears are noisy or not.
I haven't really given much thought to the seat issue yet, but I have a bench seat out of a Toyota truck that is nice and light. Not much advantage to using a Studebaker seat, as there is no floor pan with bolt holes to fit it, so whatever seat gets used will call for building some kind of support structure. I may want to arrange the seat so that it can be hinged back, again to facilitate swapping engine/transmission combos.
Anyhow, I'm done with it for today.
Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands
[/img]
, 
Comment