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It's also a carb; it's not like if in the future someone gets their hands on it and decides it needs to be 100% original, it will be irreversibly modified. You're doing the car a far bigger favor by modifying it so that it can be easily and reliably driven, versus kicking yourself in the nuts repeatedly to keep it perfectly stock.
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Aug 30, 2013 18:51
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IOwnCalculus posted:It's also a carb; it's not like if in the future someone gets their hands on it and decides it needs to be 100% original, it will be irreversibly modified. You're doing the car a far bigger favor by modifying it so that it can be easily and reliably driven, versus kicking yourself in the nuts repeatedly to keep it perfectly stock. Exactly. It's what I'd call a bolt on mod. There's usually a little more to it than just pulling off one and bolting on another but not much. There's getting an adapter plate if necessary, possibly swapping studs, making / modifying linkages, fitting an air cleaner and jetting / tuning the carburettor. Anyone that was following along with my VW threads would have seen quite a few different configurations spanning a couple of different motors. Do I regret all the effort I put in to it? Not one bit. I got the Holley from a Pinto / whatever tuned beautifully and the EA81 which is known as being a coarse motor absolutely purring and smooth as butter with so much more low end torque than the stock Hitachi. If I wanted to revert that motor for some insane reason all I need to do is swap manifolds and the air cleaner. I'm also looking to replace the Niva's stock carburettor with the same type as I put in the VW just for serviceability. Stock can go eat a bag of dicks if it improves driveability and reliability, especially with such ease. Just hang on to the parts if you ever intend on selling it and include them with the car. It'll make the buyer happy even though I can guarantee they'll never end up putting them back on.
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Aug 31, 2013 00:28
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The carburetor is here! This bastard is pretty weighty, seems like solid construction and shouldn't be any trouble to install. I intend to install it tomorrow night, assuming I can get to the Autozone tomorrow to grab a choke cable.
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Sep 4, 2013 07:22
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Did a partial install today. The carb came with a new fuel filter, so I installed that. The carb bolted on no problem, and the vacuum line screwed right in, but I found that the original fuel line didn't go in right. However, the new carb came with a banjo fitting that looks just right for a rubber fuel line; I figure I'll pick one up and run it straight from the fuel filter to the carb, eliminating the original metal line. The biggest remaining challenge is to install the manual choke cable. I've got to get it through the firewall somehow; there's one hole where a bunch of wires and the hood release go, with just enough room for the choke cable, or there's also a bit of space around the steering column. I'm also going to need some sort of l-bracket to mount the choke cable under the dash. I don't relish screwing something into my dash but, well, it's out of the way at least. Or, maybe I could pull out the (non-functioning) cigarette lighter and, with a washer or two, install the choke there.
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Sep 5, 2013 06:33
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I hope it's not completely out of line to keep replying to your own thread this way instead of editing the last post. Anyway, today I finally got it started again after so long! I grabbed a chunk of fuel line at Autozone and stuck it on the banjo fitting. I figured if I give it some gas, I should be able to start without a choke ok, so I tried firing it up and after a little bit (presumably to fill the lines and the float bowl and such) it kicked right to life! After nursing it with the gas pedal for a minute or so, it was idling smoothly (if a bit low, I'll adjust that later). I took it around the block once to try things out. It stalled twice pulling from a stop, but never stalled at idle like the old carb did. I figure stalling from the stop is probably from the low idle. If I can rig something up, I may get a drive video uploaded at some point soon.
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Sep 6, 2013 03:48
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Pham Nuwen posted:If I can rig something up, I may get a drive video uploaded at some point soon.
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Sep 6, 2013 06:14
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Pham Nuwen posted:I hope it's not completely out of line to keep replying to your own thread this way instead of editing the last post. It's a project thread. It's a progress update, not a reply so don't sweat it. Don't even think too hard about the low idle until you have the choke set up. A cold engine will idle slower and be a lot weaker than one at operating temperature. If you tune it to run well when it's below operating temperature with no choke it will run as rich as hell and idle at 2000 or so RPM when it warms up. Glad to hear there's an improvement. Carburettors can be absolute nightmares if they are old / worn.
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Sep 6, 2013 08:30
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Pham Nuwen posted:It stalled twice pulling from a stop, How's the acceleration pump driven on the new carb? Sometimes they ship on the lowest setting, or are left unhooked for you to connect however you want. Sounds like the pumpshot is inadequate. Does it bog if you quickly blip the throttle from idle in neutral?
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Sep 6, 2013 08:46
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Raluek posted:How's the acceleration pump driven on the new carb? Sometimes they ship on the lowest setting, or are left unhooked for you to connect however you want. Sounds like the pumpshot is inadequate. Does it bog if you quickly blip the throttle from idle in neutral? I think the stalling was due to the engine still being a bit cold. This morning, I started it up and ran it a bit longer before driving. Then I took it to work. It tried to die at the first stop sign but didn't entirely shut off, then at the next two it kind of "caught" for a second, and after that I didn't really have any trouble. It still got pretty warm on the 3 mile drive to work, so that's going to top my list of things to work on. I'll probably start like this: 1. Replace belt, just because that's easy and I want the fan operating at full speed. 2. Flush radiator and install radiator overflow bottle
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Sep 6, 2013 22:17
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Oh! Yeah if the choke isn't functional and it wasn't warmed up all the way that'll happen. I was assuming it was all the way warmed up.
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Sep 7, 2013 00:18
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Raluek posted:Oh! Yeah if the choke isn't functional and it wasn't warmed up all the way that'll happen. I was assuming it was all the way warmed up. I guess when I tried it yesterday, I had assumed it was more fully warmed up. Oops. Worked pretty well today though!
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Sep 7, 2013 02:54
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As part of my ongoing quest to get everything in good working order, I want to check on the brake system. I figure I should start with the hydraulic system; I don't know much about brakes, but basically if all the lines are in place, not falling apart, and not leaking, I should be ok, right? Looking at the shop manual, there are a lot of things that need to be lubricated every 10,000 miles or so, including the front wheel bearings which need to be repacked every 10,000 miles. Time to get a grease gun I guess 
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Sep 7, 2013 22:01
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Pham Nuwen posted:As part of my ongoing quest to get everything in good working order, I want to check on the brake system. I figure I should start with the hydraulic system; I don't know much about brakes, but basically if all the lines are in place, not falling apart, and not leaking, I should be ok, right? Depends. Are the lines rusted? How about the soft hoses from the hard lines to the drums? How are your wheel cylinders? If you look at the lines and say "I don't know" then its worth replacing.
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Sep 7, 2013 22:10
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Good news everyone! I drove around a little with a camera and didn't crash. Sorry for my goony loving voice: https://vimeo.com/74079712
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Sep 9, 2013 04:14
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Something you might want to do is to sit in the car with it off/in park and stomp the gently caress out of the brake pedal. Shove as much force as you can into that thing, if something pops then you want to find it now rather than when someone cuts you off on the freeway.
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Sep 9, 2013 04:21
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Pham Nuwen posted:Good news everyone! I drove around a little with a camera and didn't crash. Sorry for my goony loving voice: Ol car sounds nice. Other than that window rattle, ol gal sounds like she is in good shape. Engine sounds good too.
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Sep 9, 2013 21:22
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Gentlemen! Behold... an engine! Running! https://vimeo.com/74177430 I think it sounds pretty decent... there's a clacking element I don't particularly care for but it runs just fine.
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Sep 10, 2013 07:07
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I put in a choke cable some time ago. Not too thrilled with how sharply the cable has to bend to get under the air filter, but it does work. Are there good options for putting a smaller/offset air filter on there instead? I think the old dirty one looks kind of appropriate, but again, my goal on this car is to get good functionality rather than some sort of perfect restoration. After putting the new carb in, I put a bunch of vinegar in the radiator and ran it for a few days. Drained the coolant and flushed it over and over with water, then refilled with antifreeze + distilled water. There was a lot of poo poo in there, the coolant/vinegar mix came out pretty brown/red. Now, the temperature seems to stay pretty much right in the middle of the gauge. During the flushing process I also verified that the heater and heater fan do still work! That will soon be important, as will the choke cable. All in all, the car's been driving great since I got the new carb in. One day it seemed to flood the carburetor; I opened the hood to find fuel all over the carb and its mounting plate, steaming away. I let it sit for an hour, gave the carb a few taps with the handle of a screwdriver, got it started and drove home. I haven't had any problems since then, I'm thinking some gunk might have made it past the filter into the carb. Despite that one issue, I've been driving it to work a lot... although I really need to get a fire extinguisher.
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Oct 8, 2013 05:53
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No electric choke option for the carb? They make life with a carb like driving some fancy computer controlled future machine.
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Oct 8, 2013 09:03
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Replaced the thermostat and its associated gasket today. The old gasket was stuck onto the outlet pipe pretty thoroughly, it took some time with a wire brush and a razor blade to get all the remnants off. I've installed a 180 degree thermostat; the manual says 170 degrees, Rockauto only had 160 and 180 so I figured I'd go a little higher, get a faster engine warmup maybe. Tested the thermostat before installing it, so I know it's ok. I haven't seen any temperature problems lately. Flushing the radiator with vinegar seems to have helped a lot. The battery went flat on me the other day, refused to start after I picked up lunch. I got a jump eventually and brought it home. Charging the battery now. I figure my short drives to work are to blame. It's getting cooler, so it has taken more cranks to start, and then I have to idle it before it'll drive or else the engine will shut off when I hit the accelerator. Combine a 2 mile drive to work, 5 minutes of idling before I can start, and a generator (rather than an alternator) under the hood, and that's probably a recipe for problems. I'm also going to get the battery tested to be safe, although it's pretty new.
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Oct 26, 2013 21:48
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This is a point to look into an alternator. I know that most guys switch over to the 1 wire set up and works pretty well
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Oct 26, 2013 22:47
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BrokenKnucklez posted:This is a point to look into an alternator. I know that most guys switch over to the 1 wire set up and works pretty well I should be able to mount pretty much any alternator in there, right? It's been converted to 12V.
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Oct 26, 2013 22:49
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"One wire" usually refers to the Delco SI family. Most commonly the 10SI.
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Oct 30, 2013 08:13
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I thought one-wire alts were looked down upon, it's nice to have that remote sensing wire. Get 14.5V at the fuse block, instead at the back of the alternator. Plus you already have the GEN light, wouldn't be too hard to hook that up too.
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Nov 2, 2013 12:26
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The Lark's being a pain in my rear end right now. I cleaned the ground contacts and when I went to re-connect the ground, small sparks jumped to the battery post. Disconnected the cable between the battery and the solenoid and started checking resistances. Open circuit at the solenoid post. That's pretty much what I expected... See that red fuse in there? It's inline with a smaller wire that goes straight from the battery through the firewall and into the cabin. Since it's not shown on the wiring diagram, I'm assuming it's for powering the stereo under the passenger seat. That wire is 0 ohms to ground.  This was also connected to the solenoid. As far as I can tell, this is where we get power for the ignition switch and the horn and basically every accessory in the car. 0 ohms to ground. That is the part that worries me. I'm now afraid that I may have a short somewhere in the wiring harness, which would not be fun; you can buy replacement, new-made harnesses, but I don't really want to do that. Any suggestions on how I might start debugging this?
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Nov 16, 2013 22:33
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I would first remove the wire that goes to the stereo, that is your best bet for having your short. Or did you test continuity from your "everything not the engine" wire to ground with it disconnected from the battery terminal? If you have some electronics lab equipment I would put a current-limited supply where the battery usually is (limited to like an amp to hopefully not blow anything up) and then use a clamp-on ammeter to trace out what wire is hogging all the current (this will be your short to ground). I suppose you could replace the current limited supply with a wall-wart and an appropriate resistor, but it would be a fairly large resistor (12 ohm 12+ watt, assuming a 12V power supply). All that aside, you might just want to methodically disconnect things until your short goes away, then follow that wire and continue hooking up and disconnecting things in order to follow the short. I'd definitely start with just removing the modern stereo from the equation, POs are known to be very hackish when installing them.
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Nov 16, 2013 22:46
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Raluek posted:I would first remove the wire that goes to the stereo, that is your best bet for having your short. Or did you test continuity from your "everything not the engine" wire to ground with it disconnected from the battery terminal? Well, I feel like a dumbass now. After making my last post, I sat and thought a bit and came to some of the same conclusions as you. First off, it's not very useful to measure the resistance of the "everything not the engine" wire when the doors are open. When I closed them, I got a much better reading. Then I pulled the fuse on that other wire, just to see what would happen. Sure enough, the engine started cranking over. I like having a stereo, but I like having a working car more. I'll try to fix the stereo wiring later. The wiring under the dash needs work in general, too. There are switches under there with no apparent utility, and a light bulb just kind of dangling under the dash, and I would like to wire in the original radio too at some point.
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Nov 16, 2013 23:02
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What do you guys think is going on with this engine noise? This is accompanied by some engine shaking. https://vimeo.com/81960493 Sorry for the poo poo video quality, it sounds worse in person and I didn't want to run it very long. This was with a cold engine, I never saw this kind of behavior during the summer. I changed out the distributor rotor and cap, the plugs, and the plug wires today. The engine does the same thing now as it did before.
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Dec 16, 2013 02:23
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Filled up on gas today. About 10 mpg. These cars are supposed to be able to do 20 mpg, so something is up. Well, it probably doesn't help that I have been spending as much time warming up the engine as I do on my mostly short drives (to work or the parts store). The task for tonight is lubricating the distributor.
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Dec 17, 2013 23:02
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This is a crosspost from the Stupid Questions Thread, but if anyone in the Bay Area with old car experience feels like meeting up at some point, I'd like to go over the car with another pair of eyes and get some opinions. I'm paranoid about the condition of the engine and the transmission, but I'm not sure what's to be expected on a 50 year old vehicle--should the engine sound like that, is that the right noise for the transmission to make, is the idle set right, etc.
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Jan 4, 2014 23:46
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Pham Nuwen posted:This is a crosspost from the Stupid Questions Thread, but if anyone in the Bay Area with old car experience feels like meeting up at some point, I'd like to go over the car with another pair of eyes and get some opinions. I'm paranoid about the condition of the engine and the transmission, but I'm not sure what's to be expected on a 50 year old vehicle--should the engine sound like that, is that the right noise for the transmission to make, is the idle set right, etc. I'll be in San Francisco and Burlingame all next week. Where abouts are you?
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Jan 4, 2014 23:47
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Motronic posted:I'll be in San Francisco and Burlingame all next week. Where abouts are you? East Bay, Livermore specifically. I'm not quite sure I want to drive it all the way across the bay just now, since I've been having some electrical weirdness I can't quite pin down. If you can get out to this side at some point, PM me. I should be free most days after work and over the weekend. Could also take an afternoon off during the week if that works better.
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Jan 5, 2014 00:13
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Pham Nuwen posted:East Bay, Livermore specifically. Unfortunately that probably won't work for me. Since I'm in/around SF for my work I don't bother to get a car - it's more of a hinderance than anything. And I'm pretty sure Uber would charge me about $1500 to get out to where you are 
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Jan 5, 2014 00:17
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Motronic posted:Unfortunately that probably won't work for me. Since I'm in/around SF for my work I don't bother to get a car - it's more of a hinderance than anything. Thanks anyway, I'll just keep trying to find someone nearby. Next stop will be the Studebaker forums, I know there are members in the area... They're just likely to be older and less fun than goons.
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Jan 5, 2014 02:18
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 I pulled the radio out today. You remove both knobs; underneath the knobs are shallow nuts holding the radio to the front of the dash. There's also a single support back behind the radio. Once those 3 were removed, it slipped right out without trouble.  Now I just have to figure out what goes where... I think I see where the 12V and ground connectors will go, and that green wire on the side might be for the antenna, but I haven't found the speaker connection yet.
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Jan 6, 2014 00:38
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Antenna plugs in at the bottom left; the green wire (edit) is your 12V supply. Ground is the chassis...you can put a wire & crimped lug under any of those chassis bolts. The two flag connectors are your speaker. It's a tube radio, so it may take a couple minutes to warm up...if it works. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Jan 6, 2014 |
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Jan 6, 2014 03:18
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PainterofCrap posted:Antenna plugs in at the bottom left; the green wire (edit) is your 12V supply. Ground is the chassis...you can put a wire & crimped lug under any of those chassis bolts. Turns out it was connected to 12V already, but had the speakers and antenna unplugged. Because the PO put in an aftermarket stereo and speakers, there don't seem to be any speaker wires dangling around back there, but I should be able to get some wires to the right place to test it. When I turned it on before, I didn't see any lights on the dial or signs of life, but it's possible that the bulb was just burned out. The PO claimed that the radio worked but was just disconnected, but as we all know POs lie. Also as I was crawling around on the floor, it felt kind of... flexy. I'm hoping that's just the insulation under the carpet but I'm wondering if there might be more rust than I thought. The frame in general seems pretty good but some spots in the rest of the underbody are a little bit spooky; might be time to head to a shop and ask them about patches.
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Jan 6, 2014 05:47
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Pham Nuwen posted:Also as I was crawling around on the floor, it felt kind of... flexy. I'm hoping that's just the insulation under the carpet but I'm wondering if there might be more rust than I thought. The frame in general seems pretty good but some spots in the rest of the underbody are a little bit spooky; might be time to head to a shop and ask them about patches.  Put your nose in the carpet & take a good whiff. You'll smell it if the windshield has been leaking. It might be insulation padding...but check from underneath with an icepick rather than yank up the carpet.As for the top end motor noise: as earlier posted, you may have solid mechanical tappets & they're probably tight. We can walk you through a manual valve tappet adjustment, but you'll need the clearances from your book. You will need a feeler gauge, a box wrench, and a screwdriver. If they're solid rods, it'll idle far smoother (& quieter) after an adjustment - and you should do it before gapping your points and setting mixture on the carb. (edit) another general observation: on modern cars (mid-'70s on - I'm old) gauges tended to have resistors on them, so that they wouldn't fluctuate much. On older cars (and some aftermarket gauges) you'll see what appears to be alarming swings in oil pressure and temperature if you're accustomed to 'newer' cars. For example, I had the motor rebuilt in my '66 Pontiac in 2011 - and with a brand-new oil gauge, it's idling oil pressure at temp is about 15-20-psi, and will run up to 55-psi on a cold start/high RPM. The needles for both temp & oil pressure move around quite a bit while driving. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Jan 6, 2014 |
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Jan 6, 2014 05:57
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PainterofCrap posted:
Ok, I've been meaning to do the valve adjustment for a while, maybe I should do it next weekend. I already have feelers. My service manual should have clearances, in fact I'm pretty sure it has the whole procedure but it'll be aimed at technicians, so any assistance here would be helpful. My gauges definitely fluctuate. When I start cold with the choke on, it runs up to around 80 psi. Over the next few minutes it'll drop down to 20-40. When it's really hot, it idles in gear at around 7 psi which is scary as poo poo but the Studebaker guys say that's ok for these engines. The general consensus is that if it gets 40 psi at 40 mph, you're good--I usually see 30-40 psi at 40 mph so I'm not too worried. The temperature gauge swings pretty well when I'm driving around too. It used to go almost all the way up to the top after driving for 5-10 minutes, but after cleaning the radiator it hangs around the center of the gauge. What did it cost to rebuild your engine, if you don't mind my asking? I've thought about having mine rebuilt professionally... but honestly it would probably be better served spending that money on some new floor pans and rust fixes for some spots on the body.
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Jan 6, 2014 06:34
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Rebuild for a 389 Pontiac, using a 389 kit (not bored out to 400, which would have been a hell of a lot cheaper), mine was about $4000. I was quoted $3300 but the heads needed a LOT of work: the rockers were eating into their posts, so they had to put on adjustable rockers and Heli-Coil them in. It required a .040 bore-out due to one stinkin' cylinder being really worn; and, I had a bad experience with the exhaust manifold flange studs shearing off + my lovely attempts to drill it our went all FUBAR, so that was a little extra idiot tax to get all 4 re-done, plus this & that. This was with me removing the motor, and taking it to them, from intake manifold to pan; picking it up & reinstalling it myself. They replaced everything except the cast iron (block heads, manifolds) and tin (pan, valve covers). I would show up without warning to see what was up. A father & son shop; they had their poo poo together. It should be a lot cheaper for a Studebaker 6; I changed out a Dodge Dart slant 6 in an afternoon. As for waiting: I drove mine for eleven years before I came into a windfall & went ahead. Your motor sounds pretty good; mine had uneven compression and was blowing oil out through the oil fill for years. Just changed the oil frequently & kept going. *** Valve adjustment: The general procedure is to do the intake & exhaust valves on each cylinder while the piston is at top dead center (TDC), which you find by spinning the motor until the distributor rotor is pointing at the tower for the cylinder you're doing, & double-checking by moving the rocker arms up & down (or spinning the rods underneath the tappets) & confirming that they're both (a little) loose. The specs may show gaps for hot or cold. Exhaust valve gap is usually wider than intake (though on an air-cooled VW they're the same). Over each pushrod, on each rocker. you'll see a tappet, slotted on top, with a locknut around it. You select the correct feeler, loosen the locknut (you might want to wear a glove to avoid a blood + tissue donation as they tend to suddenly break loose); insert the feeler (you may have to loosen the tappet if they're really tight), and tighten gently with the screwdriver. You want it just tight enough that there is slight resistance to pulling the gauge out. Make sure that you are not bearing down with the screwdriver - it takes conscious effort NOT to do this. Now the tricky part: tightening the locknut down on the tappet without tightening the tappet. As you tighten the nut & feel it resist, apply a little back-pressure with the screwdriver, increasing as the nut tightens. Then check the gap again. You'll have to correct it a couple of times, it's a 'feel' thing and takes a little getting used to. Once you're satisfied, spin the crank to the next tower & repeat. Hopefully, the Studebaker isn't like the slant 6 - they're supposed to be done hot, while the engine is running & tossing oil hither & yon. Oh, what fun. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 02:36 on Jan 7, 2014 |
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Jan 7, 2014 01:58
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