A friend and I are building a 32 pick-up, we found a cool looking Studebaker v8 but have not been able to figure out what it is. The casting numbers on the front left of the engine are D12 9. I have looked at most of the web sites that deal with Studebaker number, but still haven't found that particular number. If you can help or just point in the right direction it sure would be a big help, thanks.
The numbers that tell what size and year the engine was made is STAMPED into the drivers side rail at the front of the valley pan right under the curly copper tube in this picture. Get those numbers and then go here to figure out what you have.
Odd, two of my engine #s aren't in there. I think I have the right numbers. P94405 It's supercharged. I'm told it was from a '57 Golden Hawk, but it has a full flow oil system, so I don't know if it is an actual '57. P55915 From my '57 wagon.
Go to the tech forum on that site and ask them. They will know and help you out. I learned everything that I know by nosing around there after I got my Stude engine. They know their Stude stuff and don't mind it being a hot rod.
I realize this thread has been dormant for a while but there's no sense in doing a new one to answer the same question. I have two questions about two blocks. #1. I was looking at a a friends recently acquired '53 Stude coupe. It had a six originally but someone started putting a V8 in it. Casting #535601 is where it should be but there is nothing on the driver side where the ID number should be. It doesn't look like the pad was even machined for it. Any ideas? Could this have been a factory replacement engine? #2. I have a '64 lark that I got years ago from a guy who was a mechanic at a Studebaker dealership in Southern California. He said he installed the engine that's in the Lark now. He got it from the dealership and had it in other cars before the Lark. He claimed it was pretty hot. It has chrome valve covers and a stock Stude 4bbl intake. The heads don't look special and there is no indication it had a supercharger. The number stamped in it doesn't show up anywhere I've looked for Studebaker engine numbers. I seems to be missing a letter in order to be what I'd like for it to be.. The number is R3063. The only place I've found numbers beginning in R seem to designate 289 or 304 NA and supercharged engines. R3 would be a supercharged 304 but the R3 needs to be followed by a letter and three numbers. Mine is missing the letter unless the 0 is O but then it's missing a number. Any thoughts?
To right of the thermostat housing as you are looking at the motor - this would be the drivers side - there should be a number starting with a V - for the 259 down cubic inch motors - a P for the 289 motors - I believe the supercharged motors of 1957-58 had PS as the starting #'s and when you got into the 1960's motors it was pretty much the same until the first Avanti motors - the were called - Jet Thrust - so a base motor would be JT starting letter and a supercharged motor became JTS - the base 259 still carried the V as well as the P for 289 until the end. The R never was on the motor for a R1 -R2 -R3 or the seldom seen R-4. The R1 was JT and the R2 was JTS and the heads and intake for the big motors - 304 - is the numbers you want to verify. It would be hard to clear off the numbers on a build on a block but you could do it if you wanted to. Guess there were replacement blocks like everyone else. They carried the block casting # over for years.....think they just added a 1 towards the end on blocks. The top # tells you what guts were in it........
Thanks for taking the time to help it is appreciated. In the 3rd post on this page Tommy posted this link to the Studebakers Drivers club "Studebaker V8 Engine Identification" page. http://www.studebakerdriversclub.com/V8EngineID.asp In the chart there is R-1,001 & RS-1,001 identified as Avanti R1 and R2 289s. Near the bottom it indicates that in 1964 there were numbers beginning with R, RC, RS, & RSC followed by a letter and three numbers all were 289s. Farther down in the 1964 list there is R3, & R4 followed by a letter and three numbers. These are 304s. It says that one R4 was built in '64. My number from the spot where the ID numbers are stamped is R3063 missing the letter or R3O63 missing a number. Or it may be something else all together. Some other Studebaker quirk like the first one I mentioned that has nothing it the stamping place.
Nothing on the machined area by the filler tube indicates that the block is a replacement block. The engine build could be anything. One question, the oil filter. Is there an oil filter on the lower right side of the block ? An aluminum casting bolted to the block that holds the filter ? This would indicate a newer block. "most likely" a 289. No filter provision will mean that it's an earlier than 63 (or 64?) and could be either a 259 or a 289. BUT, so many years have passed, there is no guarantee of ANYTHING that any numbers may indicate anymore. A bad head or crank, or...could have been replaced with any number of parts from any number of places. Either rebuild it and learn what's inside when you take it apart, or just clean, paint it and run it. My two cars, I know what's inside both engines. One has been apart and I put it back together with its original parts...except for removing lots of iron from the heads (ported), and a modified Chrysler intake manifold. The distributor is gutted, using a custom crank triggered ignition. All for a 54 2dr. wagon. The other engine is even more modified. Roller cam, custom cam drive, heavily ported heads, an aftermarket GM crossram intake manifold...and so on and so on. Also for a 54, 2dr. wagon. The block numbers don't mean much anymore on either of my Stude engines. Mike
Thanks Mike, That is what I expected on the first engine. Wait breaking news there is a number! While I was typing this the owner of the first engine called with the number it was buried under paint It is a 259 if it has it's rightful crank. We'll see. V2558578 I just checked 3 blocks here one is V574227 and it has the full flow oil filter on the lower passenger side. I removed it from a '64 Lark wagon at a wrecking yard over 20 years ago. Pretty sure it was born there. V= 259 The R3063 came to me in a '64 Lark but the old guy I got it from said he put it in there. I never made it back before he died. He had a shed with several 289 blocks and cranks but I was already loaded. That engine has a plate bolted over the oil filter mount area on the passenger side rear of the block. I don't know how that would work unless it pushes the oil back into the in oil passages. It kind of looks like a fuel pump block but may have a grove on the inside to allow the oil to flow. So this is a late '63 or '64 engine? Why the stamped number beginning with R3 if it's not? I guess I'll have to pull it apart to know. This was tho old man's "fishing car". He lived above Chico.
I found this on the Studebaker Drivers Club site. 64studeavanti President Member #3 04-04-2020, 11:43 AM "If the blocks are Avanti R1/R2 the serial numbers will be Rxxx or RSxxx for R1/R2 respectively. Similarly, JTxxx or JTSxxx for non Avanti "R" engines. For R1, the head casting number should be 1557570. For R2, it should be 1557582." Wouldn't this seem to imply that an R3 would be R3xxx? With xxx being three numbers such a 063?
R1001 is the STARTING serial number for the 289 R1 engines used in ‘63 Avantis. R3063 falls within that series. Your engine started life as a non supercharged, high compression R1 in an Avanti. Plenty of info online about what an R1 289 is versus the standard 289. Aluminum vs fiber cam gear, flat top vs dished pistons, dual vs single point distributor, breather tube on the oil pan with windage trays, higher lift cam with stronger valve springs, etc etc. A genuine R3 engine would have a serial number starting with a B with a 1 to 3 digit number after it. Genuine R3’s are scarce and it would be extremely unlikely to find one “in the wild”. Only 10 were ever put into production Studebakers. R3 crate engines were available from Studebaker but even still, less than a couple hundred were ever assembled.
Thank You, That makes sense out of this. I also found a Hemmings article that describes the "B" numbering. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/south-bend-stealth-1964-studebaker-super-lark-r3 As an R1 it fits better. I'll check the pan. There is no breather tube but that may be blocked like the oil filter. It has 155750 heads and a 4bbl intake. A good running R1 would be fine with me, actually better because if it were a R3 I would either sell it to someone who needed that number or feel obligated to hunt down all the missing parts to make it a real R3. A proper R1 would probably be hotter than an R3 without a supercharger. The old guy I got it from (probably younger than I am now) was my friends uncle. A crazy uncle from the stories I have heard. He was in the Navy in WWII and served us SOS for breakfast when we spent the night when we picked up the car. He was a mechanic at a Studebaker dealership. He got the engine there. For a while he had it in a '55-'56 Ford station wagon that surprised a lot of folks on the street. My friend remembers some of that when he was a kid. It came to me in a '64 two door Lark. So some of the parts on it may be from his stash which was extensive. So I'll have to see what is inside pistons, cam, valves, timing gear, ..... and see if any is useable. It makes more sence that he would have been able to snag a R1 long block or take out than s striped R3. Maybe the dealer or a customer ordered an upgrade R2,3,4 and this was up for grabs. Anyway thanks for those who helped sort this out. Mike VV I totally get the Conestoga bug. My son's license plate was R2D5.
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