Projects 1960 Studebaker Lark Gasser

Hightone that thing looks great! I was at John's a week ago and saw your heads still there. He is so swamped with the Lionel Stone stuff. Just hauling it all home is nuts. Is there anything I can do to help? Is your cam done yet? If that is John's design it is Killer! It made 125 HP over the after market cams. I'm going to try to talk him into designing one for 302 GMC/McCulloch build. Going to see Jake next week.

 

Hope to see ya' making progress on yer' Lark Hightone...It's gonna' be an awesome ride!
Summer cruising seasons coming up!
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Cool cool way to keep the larks comin

 

Awesome build, thats a killer gasser.

 

Are you still waiting for heads? Do you need as set of stockers just to get it going? I've got some.

 

Stude gasser w/a Stude mill. Way cool. Thank you for doing something different. When the know-it-alls start asking questions, just smile because they're all jealous.

Was at Lake Havasu show last weekend & they had a few gassers for sale at the swap meet. One was a Stude like yours but the hood was closed so couldn't see the engine. Also had a couple Falcons & 1 Henry J. Best part of the swap meet.

 

Heads, among other things. But I think they just might be done. I haven't had a chance to get ahold of John this week.


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Looking forward to the day yer' out crusin' it around in NorNev!
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It has sure been a while. He is a great guy but he does what he does. If I can help let me know. I really like what you are doing.

 

Life is crazy and inspiration/motivation is hard to come by. But I have been making progress. It’s a bit further along than this now and I hope I can maintain some momentum this time. If I could do it again, I’d probably just slap a small block in it and call it done...hopefully that decision pays off. Anyway, I will attempt to stay on top of it and update anyone that cares!


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Don’t mind the mess.


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Just in case you need a new grill or two. I have a couple left over from my 63 I'm trying to off load cheap.

 

Tony, Good to see some progress. That's more than I'm doing with the roadster. If there is anything that I can help with let me know. I'll trade you a worn out 350 for the 289.
Congratulations on being named the best Tattoo shop in Carson City!

 

That news is still top secret haha! Jake and I talked a bit about getting together on it. Hopefully we come see ya soon for some parts


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Wow...that's some set of headers for a little Stude engine.
How large are those primary tubes ?
Have you done any port work to your heads ? If so, what CFM have you obtained ?
In case you don't know, there are some very nice (a little expensive !) adapters to adapt Chevy intake manifolds to the Stude heads.
And one more, what's the oil filter for ? It's a race car right ? That "partial" flow filter, it would take you years to filter the original pan's worth of oil.

Mike

 

Well, nobody makes stude fenderwell headers that I could find‍♂️. I don’t recall the diameter, but it was whatever size I needed to match the ports and yes they were ported extensively with supervision from John Erb.


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And do you suggest I just don’t run an oil filter at all? Do you have any helpful input or just being critical?


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I believe that is exactly what he is suggesting. The bypass filter really doesn't do anything much. And if it is a race car, the oil gets changed so often that a filter shouldn't be necessary. I didn't use one with my Packard race motor.

 

It will be mostly a street car, but I do appreciate the info!


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You might want to be a little nicer to Mike VV. He actually knows a thing or two about Studes, & usually is more than willing to share. While I'm really happy to see the Stude mill used, the car needs the attitude, not you. ;( .
Marcus...

 

If it takes you to get Jake up here to go through Stude stuff then Great! See you soon I hope and don't forget the pile of engines in Texas.
Sorry, I didn't mean to spill the beans on the shop thing.
The late Stude engines had a full flow filter. Jake has one of those stashed away. I think there is a way to make the others full flow. I'll look into it. It would probably akin to the way they do it on flatheads.
I feel somewhat responsible for you using a Studebaker engine because I did have a bit of influence over Jake back then when we built the '54 Wagon and you were there to hear it all. With what you and John did to those heads I doubt that too many street driven small blocks will make you feel too bad. If they do we can start sticking turbos on it Dick Dodson style. You know the 200 ci 1,000 hp version. Do you know if John has made any progress on his new Studebaker head, or on the R-3 patterns he got from Lionel Stone?

 

Yeah maybe I just took it wrong. (Sorry Mike!)


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I’m not sure if he made any progress or not. I went and saw him last week and he wasn’t feeling too hot. Jake and I are hoping to catch up with him this coming weekend.


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I went through the 5 pages here and am surprised that no one posted a picture of probably the most famous Lark Gasser. Dave Koppels "Flintstone Flyer"

Pat

 

I remember this one, haven’t seen it in a couple years but it’s definitely inspiring!


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Jungle Jim also drove one in the early years , It was Pontiac powered.I believe its the one in post #6

 

Lark altered. I always felt that Studebakers were good cars. But lacked hemis. I fixed this one and a 53,

 

For any type of racing,yes,use;Racing oil filter,too do it right you need full filter oiling,no bypass except total blockage bypass and big magnet on both pan an filter. Most all I've seen are remoto so there is room for the much bigger filter used for good flow. Using no filter is death to motor much sooner. At a min. each weekend after hard run,you take filter off an cut apart,lay out guts of filter an look at what it has stopped;to get idea of how things are! That lets you know some time,before you bust up bigger $ things,so rebuilds can be before full replace.

 

To install a "proper" remote filter that actually filters more than a few drops of oil at a time is a lot of work, though it can be done. A later "full flow" block is the easiest way out of the filter problem, but an early block can be modified.
There are schematics floating around, I think on both the Racing site and the Drivers site. Might have to ask and have someone dig the screen shots up.

Thanks for the vote of confidence nrgwizard.

Mike

 

Hey, Mike n Hightone;
You're welcome, was hoping post didn't come across as crass, since emails n forum posts are very difficult to "read" correctly, & quite often taken wrong - when you're on the receiving end. I've seen what Mike has posted here, & various Stude sites. I do appreciate when folks share hard-won info, helps everyone. Enjoy seeing folks push the Stude-mill envelope - .
Marcus...