Whats the Good, Bad and Ugly on Studebaker 259's?

Cheap Ass Studebaker Owner

What does CASO mean?

 

HaHaHa... CASO - yep, they deserve an acronym!

It's happened to Vipers too. Guys used to shell out $40k for a supercharged engine build. Now poor people can afford them. - you should hear the"ex"-Viper tuners sing the blues. Cars is a Tough Racket.
Hilarious.

 

Well, in part, the "cheap" was fostered by the mentality of being able to obtain NOS stude parts from Hurwich Iron, Standard Salvage, and in later years Newman-Altman. Heck, if you caught him at the right time, some days you could walk in show Dennis a pile of cash and walk out with a pickup load in the 2001-09 SASCO days. Good stuff too, Hawk NOS right front fender, NOS champion crate engines, etc.

That salvage mentality that Standard Salvage and such fostered in the formulate years of the SDC really has hindered things now. Especially when it comes to getting any performance or nice reproductions started up, people will ask, "it will cost what? Oh." [then they slink away].

At the pure stock drags, this weekend, there will be a Stude running that a friend of mine put together.

The owner specifically requested a set of Clevite 77 rod bearings in .010, so I got them from RPM wholesale. Mind you this was a total build on his part, cost wouldn't of crossed my mind as an issue. I never considered myself a vendor, as well I was just happy helping locals out so I could make the yearly minimum each year to maintain ordering capabilities. Anyways, I get the Clevite bearing set, and tell him the wholesale price I paid, and proceed to watch his brain go into overload mode that a set of Clevite rod bearings cost $165 wholesale for a Studebaker! I still have that set of bearings.

The Mexico made F-M's wholesale at $54.90 a set from RPM. Most stude vendors seem to retail them in the $100+ range.

"White Box" bearings wholesale at $40. The largest stude vendor sells them retail for $70/set.

To the average CASO, a bearing is a bearing, why pay more? And the vicious cycle continues.

I'll take a look tomorrow Jeff, and see what I have on hand in the way of Clevites.

 

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I think many of the Studebaker vendors sell them. John Meyers has tons of used parts. John Erb too. What is sad is that Stude used the Delco Window Distributor for 1 or 2 years around 1960. That is a great distributor. The R-engines used the Prestolite dual point which has a bad centrifugal weight design.

 

I have used delco non-window distibutors. Many of them. Want one cheap? LOL. As to new, at one time one vendor was modifying or having Mallory's made, but now that Mallory is not the same I doubt those are available.

 

I have used delco non-window distibutors. Many of them. Want one cheap? LOL. As to new, at one time one vendor was modifying or having Mallory's made, but now that Mallory is not the same I doubt those are available.

 

Someone was modifying a Pontiac (I think) GM HEI w/vacuum advance. That is a great distributor and too bad no one is making them. You can buy a complete one (Pontiac) from China for something like $50 shipped - that is how popular they are. I was tempted to mod one myself...

 

funny....I cranked my R1 Lark to move it today.....about 66,000 on it..... sounded so sweet....little smoke though....been sitting mostly since the late 80's when the 1st owner died...

 

My story is sadder: ex-notorious Studebaker street racer with R3 engined R2 Package Super Lark who doesn't drive his car any more... (so sad, so pathetic)

 

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Delco non window use the same cap I'm pretty sure as late mid 50s chev v8. At least they are easy to get through any auto parts store. Yes, Petronix has a kit. I perfer points myself, as I got burnt on the first gen pertronix (pun intended)

 

The Delco distributor came late - think 62-64 maybe....the earlier Prestolite was what the early hemis and mopars were running so not really hard to find parts/points....there were some early dual point set ups with a tach drive set up....most go with the pertronix and keep a spare set up just in case.

 

The Pertronix Ignitor III (and possibly the II - I don't remember) scares me in that it is this small module form factor that actually switches high current. What do they do with the heat from a form factor that never ran at that power density? I could see a high impedance module that drove an external box with all the power semiconductors and appropriate cooling.

Of course if you want a high performance ignition, you have to go electronic - or get a magneto which all the old time drag racers used.

 

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Notwithstanding Stude 6's (like getting then from whatever cheapest contract each year), I'll try to give a breakdown of stude V8 distributors:

1951-54 232ci V8's. Strange two piece distributor drive. Some autolitle mostly Delco.

1955-64 are all interchangeable in-between engines.

1955-58 Delco non window style. These are the along the most stable if running points.

1959-60 some Autolites/ Prestolites. Some 60's and 61's (but not all) had delco "window" distributors. For some reason it sticks in my brain that Larks got the delco window ones and hawks out the non window delco style in this timeframe as hawks could have a factory optional tach - which used a funky under the cap sender ala 1956-58 style.

1962-64 All Prestolites. Factory Avanti-powered cars (R1&R2) used a dual point prestolite that has really unstable advance.

 

Just a late heads up in regards to some of the things previously mentioned in these threads.

The 'less shitty' F-M made in Mexico Stude V8 bearing sets are starting to become thin on the ground and even the smaller vendors that previously supplied them are starting to supply the "white box" Chinese bearings - as that is what is only available in commercial supply. quantities. I suspect the F-M mexico ones have been discontinued.

 

There was a thread on another old car site about the merits of full flow vs bypass oil filters. One guy chimed in who said he has rebuilt more than a hundred Studebaker V8s and has never found any difference in engine life or wear of full flow vs bypass. He said some people pay a premium for a full flow motor, he would save his money and build a bypass.

I can also add, all cars had bypass filters until hydraulic lifters came in. Then they went to full flow because one speck of dirt can foul a hydraulic filter. Studebaker used solid lifters and stuck with bypass because it was just a good or better. A bypass filter removes the finest dust, a full flow filter must be coarser or it could not flow enough oil.

 

Rustyironman: I am overhauling a 1963 Avanti engine and I need .010 rod and main bearings. I can only find those sets in "plan white boxes". I need sets of Clevite 77 or F-M (Mexican). Do you have these sets available for sale?
If so I am very interested in purchasing them. I understand you are not a vendor but you might know where I can find them...................Thanks............Bruce [email protected]

 

Rustyironman: I am overhauling a 1963 Avanti engine and I need .010 rod and main bearings. I can only find those sets in "plan white boxes". I need sets of Clevite 77 or F-M (Mexican). Do you have these sets available for sale?
If so I am very interested in purchasing them. I understand you are not a vendor but you might know where I can find them...................Thanks............Bruce [email protected]

 

Not right off hand..
Wish I did.
Jeff

 

Sent you an email Bruce.