Technical Stude Pickup Warehouse Find

That he did. The sister truck was even more remarkable with its Hudson IFS and custom IRS and it was shortened so that the rear fender/wheel was centered in the length of the bed.
I’ll try to turn the engine tomorrow, if it turns it’s full speed ahead.
A little more icing on this deal: he had bought four new Appliance chrome reversed wheels for it that never got installed. I bought all four, new in the boxes, along with a new set of Cal Custom hub caps. I just need to find appropriate 14” tires with 1” white walls.

 

Dang . You must be living right .

 

@bchctybob congrats on the new acquisition...Ingenuity within Ingenuity...with performance and a look at the heart of it...

 

Several years back Johnny up at "Reno Rod Shop" (405) 813-1932, restored one of those factory fuel-injection convertibles, hardest part being sourcing the missing fuel-injection parts. From what I was told, the system was well engineered but you had to follow the proper starting procedure to avoid flooding the engine. Best of luck on your new adventure.

 

Bob...super neat truck. Years ago I had a couple of those Pontiac FI manifolds...but they were bare. Amazing Pontiac encased the thing in that huge tub...I guess they wanted to make it as hard as possible to tinker with it..

 

Yeah, that big tub is strange but then this version of the Rochester FI is pretty ugly compared to the Corvette version. That big ol thing is chrome too but you can hardly tell because it’s so dirty. One thing is for sure, it’ll have ’em talking to themselves at cruise nights.
There was a nice T bucket featured in HRM years ago that had a Pontiac engine with the fuel injection all polished up and showy. I’ve gotta go through my magazines and find it.
I’ll get out there in a little while and try to turn the crank. I also want to look for any ID numbers on the block and heads to see if I can pin down exactly what it is. I bought a few products last night to try to clean up the paint. So I’ll experiment a little with that. It’s funny, it appears to be the very same color that I bought for my roadster, mid 60s Corvette Daytona Blue (aka 63 Buick Diplomat Blue)

 

Great story, great truck and great engine!! I hope you can get it running and get the FI working down the road and on the engine.

 

Well, I didn’t find any definitive casting numbers visible on the block but I found a head casting number and some numbers stamped in the front of the block.
I put a wrench to the crank bolt and the engine turns. I didn’t do a full revolution. I pulled the spark plugs and sprayed some Sta-bil fogging spray in each cylinder. I had it on hand.
I haven’t mentioned that the truck is presently at my “vacation home” in LA, 400 miles from my shop and all my tools and parts. I was surprised to get the call that it was mine so I scrambled to get the money together and get it in my possession. I was just down in LA to do some house maintenance and start up the ‘54 Olds engine I picked up a few months ago.
We’ll bring down the trailer and transfer it up north in a few weeks but for right now I’m doing everything I can with limited tools.


I got side tracked and didn’t quite get the ol’ Rocket fired up but it’s close.

 

The cylinder head casting numbers show 1959 389, 1.88 int. 1.60 ex.

 

cool truck for sure !

 

Hey Bob try the “quick glow” that @Tman suggested. Showed good results on chrome. I bought it through Amazon a few weeks back, but haven’t had the time to try it out. Pics he posted before and after sold me on it.

 

If the truck doesn't make your tongue hard....
It is just way cool over the top!!
I'd sure consider Detail King paint detailing products. You can only purchase online but I've been nothing but super pleased with anything I've gotten from them. The 'go to' products I use the most are Blue Diamond body shop safe polish sealant or STS 3000 advanced polymer sealant. You can apply by hand but I use a Cyclo with foam polishing pads to apply and wipe off with a microfiber towel when dry. I also Milwaukee 'Fuel' angle drive polisher with a foam pad to apply and polish on large surfaces. I believe you would be very pleased and it beats any over the counter products I have used...
My $0.02
Carry on....

 

Yup, those wheels and stuff will shine right up!

Such a cool truck and backstory!

 

I've always liked those CalCustom Black Jack hub caps...OH and that truck is pretty damn cool also especially with the PONTIAC mill....Mitch

 

Wow, and I thought the Studebaker valves sizes (same) were horrible, and that's for a 289, not...a 389 ! That's almost being choked...at idle !

Mike

 

Awesome score Bob! maybe you will motivate me to get back on my 49

 

Knowing the brothers I wouldn’t be surprised to pull it apart and find the heads ported, polished and equipped with the biggest valves available at the time. They almost never left anything alone if there were improvements to be made.

Hey Lumpy! Get on it. Unfortunately, the new Stude is yet another distraction from my roadster. If I could just get the darned frame painted…..

 

I took some more suspension pictures, this time from the top. Note the “can” that the shock mounts to. Anyone recognize it? I’m sure it will need new bushings, at least, once it starts moving under its own power again.

 

Some basic products from Oreilly and a little elbow grease and it started to show some color. The headlight bezels really liked the good old fashioned rubbing compound, wipe on, wipe off and they look new. Unfortunately the paint wasn’t as easy.

 

This thing is the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time!

 

I'm telling you, Detail King products on the paint...they have some "paint restoration" products.
I don't have a pony in the game, just want another believer.
Haven't a clue on the suspension and I understand why this could be a distraction from a belly button.

 

I certainly will look into the Detail King products. I only had a few hours left to tinker with it before loading up and heading back home to NorCal. I just wanted to test a spot for a little extra motivation. It’s still covered in the dust from 40 years in storage (minus some that blew off on the freeway). I wiped off the front fenders so I could lean in a snap some pictures. I am the type who will work harder on something if it’s clean and looking better as I go along.

 

Looks like '57-'59 Mopar front suspension to me.

 

I believe we have a winner..... When in doubt, go to the good book - Motor's Auto Repair Manual 1961.
It looks like '57 to early '59 Dodge/Plymouth front suspension and brakes. The illustration is somewhat generic but the text explains the difference between the '57-'58 and '59-'61. Even has good info on shim thickness vs camber change. Unfortunately, the brakes are of the dual one-sided wheel cylinder design so I have four wheel cylinders to address up front. Hey, at least I know what it is.
Anyone have a tip on a good source for old Mopar front end and brake parts?

 

It sounds like the Mopar "center plane" brakes. If so, they reportedly worked well but they took some extra time and patience to adjust properly. Maybe even some special tools and/or gauges ? ? ?

 

Yep on that front ID - the hubs would be the early ones with the bolts instead of lug nuts. I'm saying the rear bumper is a 1955/56 Plymouth wagon.

Welcome to the Studie truck owner fan club !

 

^^^^ Yep, bolts instead of studs and nuts. I remember messing with them when I was a kid, maybe on my Dad's '56 Plymouth, maybe at the gas stations I worked at. Haven't seen them in years. Like this....

You might be right on the rear bumper. I looked at some images and it sure could be. It was chrome, but its pretty messed up. I had a '54 Chevy truck bumper turned upside down on the front of my old Stude PU. I may do that again on this one.

 

You can NEVER have too many Motor Manuals

 

^^^^ Amen to that. I was at the Turlock Swap a few years back and they were selling them for $10 each so I filled in my collection. I like the notes some guys jotted down in them too.

 

With the suspension mystery solved I did some more research on the engine. As I mentioned before the cylinder head casting numbers looked to be 1959 389. The numbers stamped in the pad on the front of the block show it to be a 1959 315hp, 389. The fuel injection seems to be the early 1957 Pontiac unit. It is all steel. Thick steel flanges with stamped sheet steel tubes and plenum.
I put in an offer on a factory 1960 SD 3x2 intake manifold. I have the carbs for it. The 3x2 setup will look hot roddy when I open the hood, it’ll get me started and should run fine for now.
I’m hoping to freshen up the ‘58 fuel injection and use that in the future. It looks very similar to the early Corvette units. At some point it looks like they even adapted an early Corvette FI to the Pontiac engine. Since it currently has the early Pontiac unit on it, I’m guessing that it was the most successful one. Tony drove this truck daily but one morning it wouldn’t start so he called his nephew, my buddy, Danny. They looked under the hood with what I assume is a similar feeling to the one I get when I look under a late model hood today - WTF?? They closed the hood and Danny gave uncle Tony a ride to work. That was the last time the truck ran. Maybe 1966 or 67. It was pushed into the garage and eventually moved to the warehouse where I eventually picked it up.
Here’s the 1958 injection setup that I hope to restore and use. Note that they went to the aluminum casting. I’ll have to run it exposed since I didn’t get the cover.


Here’s the Corvette unit with adapter plates for the Pontiac engine. If Carman went to all this effort to use the Rochester FI he must have found some advantages to it. I will give it the same diligent effort. I know that they were partially limited by the throttle body size and the early Corvettes were 283 cu. in. compared to the Pontiac’s 389 cu. in. so this experiment was somewhat doomed from the start. But that’s good old T&E engineering at its finest.