Projects 1960 Studebaker Lark Gasser

No just the opposite, I think you have passenger car spindles and need truck. That's where the hole might be in my theory! I don't know which you have.

 

95% sure these came off of a pickup

 

I still would stick my head under a truck locally and just double check.The passenger spindles lower king pin boss "bulges" between the backing plate mounts, whereas the truck spindle is flatter in this area. Otherwise - you know what has to happen...

 

Hightone, That looks great! That may not be enough spring when you set that supercharged 289 on them. Have John show you the Stude block he took 125 lbs off of. Remember there may still be some of your engine engine parts here and we ( you , the Dragon boy ,and me ) have a big pile of Stude V8s in Texas. Road trip? More than we'll ever blow. I have Stude and Kaiser McCulloch mounts if you need to use them for patterns. Go for it. By the way those Dick Dodson books have some great stuff but a lot is theory as Erb will tell you. He may use another descriptive term. Tom

 

This kicks ass! And, please keep it all Stude, no belly button hemi or chevys please.

 

So they could use Mustang ll rotors, now ya know.

 

Why, mine work great. You got them installed the correct way? Shim, axle, bearing, shim.

Sweet build BTW, can't wait to see more.

 

I'm a Mopar or no car kind of guy, but I love Studes. I love the idea of a Stude mill in it, especially if it was blown. Barring that, and keeping with the theme of something different, a Caddy mill would be very cool. lots of cubes, lots of torque. (not as much as a 440 Mopar though)

 

How about really off the wall ... a 6-71 blower on a Packard 374 ??!!??

 

No, Total Performance came up with that deal long before MustangII stuff was even around. Early seventies, and those rotors wouldn't fit econoline spindles. If I remember correctly Total used Econoline steering boxes and master cylinders in their early t bucket kits, and I'll bet they did that to use the front drums from the Econoline with out using the double ugly spindles from the same.

 

Yeah, the springs are a little soft, may need another leaf or two, he showed me alot of things but we didn't get to the block, maybe next time. He's got some pretty nice repop Advanti mounts I'm hoping I can get my hands on, so hopefully I dont have to build that stuff, but I will if I gotta.

 

I'm already commited. All Stude...minus trans and rear axle, but those are a given.

 

Since you are trying to get it as light as possible, HAMBer Frank Morawski has molds for lots of Studebaker parts including a Lark front end.

 

That's CL there was a guy around here that had a Model A sedan with a Studebaker 304.5 and a 4 speed (don't know origin) The thing I remember most is it had a Edmunds 2x2 intake with Rochester 2 barrels and it ran well. I even seen him in Indianapolis when I went there for Good Guys and he had driven there. I will be keeping an eye on this thread. I know where there is a 2 door Lark that has been sitting at least as long as I lived here (16 years).

 

In your orginal post you stated the speedways are a holdover of Total Performance, the speedways fit the Mustang ll rotors ( I have them on mine) So either the Total Performance fit the Mustang ll rotors or the Speedways aren't the same as cast by Total Performance. Since this is your story I'll let you decide how it ends.

 

Better not be fu*kin with me!! That'd be rad!!
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HHHMMMM, I did assume that the Speedway spindles were holdover stock from total performance. You know what they say when you assume right? I just picked up my latest catalog from Speedway, and you are right, the spindles they sell are marketed as '49-'54Chevy car modified forged spindles. I pulled an earlier catalog,(2005) and there they were, as well. I am sorry. In my defense, Total Performance did cast their own spindles starting some time around '73 or '74, and they did continue selling them until Speedways buyout. Going way back with Speedway, they did at one time modify Chevy spindles to work with MustangII brakes on an exchange basis. ( I take this info from a 1996 Speedway catalog that I have, I never throw paper away) Some how I missed that they were now forging they're own version of these modified spindles. So, my apologies on that one. That does not change my answer as far as Chevy car and Chevy truck spindles as pertaining to the car at hand. I still believe that he has car spindles and needs truck spindles. The kingpin inclination angle is different between the two. And, if memory serves correct, most manufacturers of straight axles used truck spindles unless otherwise stated. Just the opinions of about thirty years of this stuff...

 

is frank on here???? what is his name on the hamb, makes nice stude stuff for sure....

 

Just like many of us Old Farts, he uses the name his folks gave him, Frank Morawski.

 

Hey, now I am starting to sound like a complete idiot, but I figured out how to zoom in on your picture of your front suspension. You are right, you have truck spindles. You do need passenger car spindles and your problem will be solved. I thought about it this morning at a swap meet as I picked up a pair of pickup spindles and looked at them. I then set them down and walked five feet to the next space and picked up a passenger car spindle and compared. The increased king pin inclination of the truck unit is what is kicking in to much camber. I wish I knew how to use our scanner so I could show you the article I dug up about this. Car stuff I've done for about thirty five years, computer stuff, about a year...

 

I just reread what you had posted. Your spindles on on the wrong way, they are upside down, maybe even on the wrong side (but it won't matter much from side to side). If ya want I can take pics of mine, the space between the spindle and the axle should be even not at a taper, they only taper when on upside down and mixed up from left to right. Also when you go to install the caliper brackets they are side specific as well, one way and they will hit the axle if they do swap from side to side for the proper clearance. I just did this install less than two months ago using the same stuff.

Hope this helps.

 

duh, never mind on the brake caliper brackets your running spindle mount rims, dang I'm getting old time to check my eyes......

 

Hitone, This really gets my juices goin'. I am building a '63 Lark gasser and by the looks of it I am at about the same stage of build as you. My Lark came with a 259 2bbl. So I'm not using it. I'm using a small block Chevy. Before anybody wants to blow me shit about a SBC, please know its all economics. I would love to do a stude engine, they have so much going for 'em. But that is the way it is.
I hope you are able to get your front end problems straightened out. I am using '49-'54 spindles that are orig. with MII disc brake,the axle was built by my bud at R+D Fab here in Goshen. The rest of the parts came from speedway (springs, shakles, mounts,etc.)
One more thing, I'm using a Muncie 4spd and a ford 9"
I'll keep a watch on this thread to see how you doin, I'm looking foward to more!
Normal Norman

 

That's what I thought to, then I got pissed, took the axle out thinking spring mounts were upside down. Started cutting and grinding BEFORE I even checked and realized that no matter which way they were installed, this was the best that they would fit.

I need to find a set of car ones and give that a shot before going any futher. Thanksto everyone for the info though

 

Send me that junk motor

 

Passenger car spindles are in the mail. I'm going out on a limb and gonna trust your "about thirty years of opinion on this stuff"

 

I think you should do just fine with the passenger car spindles. I just got myself a bit turned around there for a bit. You know how things become clear as day when you hold a part in your hands? That was about 6:00 AM yesterday for me! Sorry for the confusion...

 

Haha, understood.

 

Dude, you should just scrap the spindles and axle (i'll take them off your hands). Go to pick and pull and get a rear axle out of a front-wheel-drive mini van and slap it in...the springs will support the weight of the stude mill and you don't have to turn a drag car anyway...right?

 

Not trying to beat a dead horse but what you have WILL WORK, its not the axle that is upside down. You stated you got pissed and took the axle out to cut the mounts off, the mounts are fine. Breath in and out and look at this with fresh eyes. I did the same thing at first on my axle kit so I know what your going through.

The axle has camber built in through the king pin bosses, they should lean in at the top (your do so the axle is installed correctly) the spindles also have the camber angle built in, you have the top on the bottom, the king pins need to be taken out and the spindles flipped over, that will allow the camber to come back into spec, it will also make the gap between the spindle and axle straight instead of a taper. If you look at this picture closely you can see that you have a huge gap at the top between the spindle and axle, flipping the spindle top to bottom will make that gap straight and tip the top of the tire in giving you the correct camber.