Technical Stude Pickup Warehouse Find

All good stuff!

 

Really neat stuff there Bob! Have always heard nasty stories about keeping those FI units running from the older guys around here but frankly have never seen one running. They do seem to be scarce.

 

From what I’ve read so far they had cold start problems, when they issued a kit to fix the cold start problems they created hot start and high rpm problems. At least that’s what I found from one source. The research continues. I’ll install the 3x2 setup for now and start cleaning and inspecting the FI after I get the truck drivable.
I ordered the Quick-glo cleaner to try and I looked at the detail king stuff for the paint but haven’t pulled the trigger yet. I need to see what I have for buffing, I may need to order pads and stuff too.

 

I mentioned that there were three trucks built at the same time, here's one of them featured in PHR November '65.
Frank Pisano's 413 Mopar powered version. Not much info in the article. Hard to tell but it seems to have IFS like the other trucks, it's been shortened like Carman's truck and there's towbar brackets on the front. Same headlight treatment as the other two trucks. Love the old Inglewood slicks on chrome wheels with Cal Custom knock-offs. Gotta love the shiny black paint with a white tonneau cover. I used to see this truck screaming down Lions Drag Strip, at the time I was 15.

 

Did those trucks come stock with that one piece windshield?

 

Not these trucks, Carman did the modification to the opening and back then it was easy to get a windshield.
I'm not a Stude truck expert but I believe that style cab ran from '49-'53 (R2) and '54-'56 (R3) with a few obvious visual changes along the way such as a different grille, a bigger back window and the one-piece windshield beginning in '54.
The magazine calls Frank's pickup a '46 in the article but I think that's a typical magazine typo.

 

The mention of the rare Pontiac fuel injection brought back a memory from my Vo-Tech high school days. 67-69. There was a girl in printing class that drove a 58 Pontiac Bonneville, a hand-me-down from her dad. She asked me if I could get her car in our auto shop as it wasn't running right. Me being me and her looking hot as she did I was on it! I had never paid too much attention to the car as I was more interested looking at her instead of the Pontiac. It turned out it was a fuel injected car! I didn't have a clue about such a rare set up. I pulled the plugs and checked compression, all in specs but plugs were shot. What a relief that was! I put in new plugs and it ran a lot better, I was her hero. A couple months later she comes wheeling in in a 6 cyl Mustang, her dad sold the Bonneville to some guy he worked with for $300 bucks! I didn't get the girl or the car, never was very lucky as a kid!

 

As a young buck I never passed up a chance to fix some gal's car in the hopes that there may be a reward. Some of those ended up being nowhere near worth it.

 

I should have known as well, she drove a Marlin....

 

Yowza!!! That intake, is the budget for the build, if you were to sell it. There was a 57 pontiac sitting under a tree just a few blocks from my brothers. It sat there for years, before my brother's co-worker asked if it was for sale. price was right, & the FI unit was in the trunk. the car didn't look like much, so nobody cared to ask

 

So did he buy it and get the fuel injection working?

 

Correct - the 1954 up trucks became the E series with the one piece windshield. The cab continued on as a 1 ton and larger after 1960 when the little Lark based Champs came on the scene .

 

I actually kinda like the split windshield better…..

 

Well the stars aligned and I was able to get back down to LA to work on the Stude pickup. I installed a set of wheels and tires that I had lying around and they fit like I custom fitted them. Then we rolled it out and the wife and I gave it a basic bath inside and out, removing all the rat turds and stuff. Looks better, still needs some elbow grease on the paint.
Sorry about the weird angle, I guess the rest of the pictures are still on my phone.

 

Upon our arrival it was clear that we needed to do some property maintenance on this trip so I needed to hit it hard if I wanted a achieve my goal- starting it up. So I cleaned the engine and engine compartment. Three times, using everything I could think of as a cleaner, from Dawn to engine degreaser to lacquer thinner, with less than spectacular results. In between applications, I got the ignition switch unstuck and the brake pedal unstuck and rummaged around looking for the pink slip. Frankie had misplaced the paperwork and wanted me to look in the truck. No such luck.
But I did find some interesting local artifacts, the PO Tony’s business card, blue chip stamps and a receipt for 4 1/2 books redeemed for a foot stool, an ancient bag of Mac Donald’s sugar and best of all, two packets of sugar cubes from The Big Donut, an LA icon commonly known by its later name, Randy’s Donuts. I got two jelly donuts and a large hot chocolate every Saturday morning before reporting to work at Herb Hansen’s Chevron just down the street. Breakfast of champions.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve argued that Randy’s wasn’t the original name, now I have proof.

 

I removed the radiator, water pump and started removing the fuel injection. The radiator hoses drew first blood. The fuel injection was an education and I can’t imagine what the poor mechanics thought when one came in for repair in it’s natural environment with all the usual accessories. The thermostat cover attaches to a crossover that is separate from the main part of the intake. The main body of the FI unit attaches to the head with 1/4” thick gaskets. The rear water passages in the head have individual covers with strange bosses on them. The distributor is a two piece affair, the top is a stubby distributor, the bottom is the fuel pump drive with a lubrication line providing engine oil. Pretty cool.
Everything is filthy the usual old engine grease buildup and some mouse turds. There is no indication that the heads were ported and polished (dang). I pulled off the valley cover to inspect and to pour some cam lube over everything before trying to start it.
After some cleaning.

The bottom half of the distributor, a block off plate and some dirt.

Looks like a lifetime of non-detergent oil, ugh…..

 

I drained the oil, sort of…. Nothing came out until I poked at the black goo that had formed against the drain plug. It needed constant prodding to keep the black goo flowing out. I wiped some of the sludge out of the valley and valve spring areas applied some cam lube and put the valley pan back on.
At this point it was getting dark and I really wanted to get the intake manifold on to close it up. In my haste, I jostled the intake manifold around so much that I had a miserable time getting the bolts in. Once they were all in I didn’t like the way the edges of the gasket looked compared side to side. Not gonna chance it. So I ordered more gaskets and put on the new fuel pump and did some yard work.
The next day, I pulled the intake off and made a run to get my new gaskets and some Gaska-cinch. The driver’s side gasket was damaged at the thin divider strip between the #1 and #3 intake ports. This time I glued the gaskets to the head and put two guide studs in easy to reach places. It went on perfectly.

 

The distributor was next. I bought a stock ‘59 Pontiac distributor off of eBay, rebuilt it and brought it down ready to plug n play. Yeah, right. It went in nicely enough but when you try to rotate it for timing adjustment it will only move a few degrees due to interference between the vacuum canister and the distributor cap with the back of the intake manifold. Dang.
I suppose that the intake manifold casting was done when the Pontiac V8 first came out. At that time Pontiac used the small Delco-Remy distributor. Like most of GM they went to the larger size window cap version in 1957 and I’m guessing that the fact that you don’t have much timing adjustment with the big cap distributor wasn’t important enough to justify the cost to change the manifold design.
I have a ready-to-go flat-top Mallory on the bench in my shop - up in NorCal. Doesn’t help me here. My best option is to put the FI distributor in and see if it will work, it’s taller. If so, I can just clean it up and swap in the new points, condenser, etc. and maybe get back on track.
It’s Friday night and we are supposed to leave tomorrow morning and return home to NorCal so my wife can go to work Monday. But, my amazing wife just proposed a plan to fly her home, I’ll stay and work on the truck and house and go to the Winternationals in Pomona next weekend. Hmmm, hard to argue with that.
I have a question: Do you think plugging the outlets and filling the radiator with something like CLR would clean it out some? Any other suggestions?

 

I like the reports...thanks!!

I see that CLR is acidic. It would probably go after the mineral deposits but think foaming so give yourself some prep for that. Then you really need to neutralize the acid so baking soda for that followed with fresh water rinse again and again...

 

Not the most practical suggestion, but if you had to poke through the sludge to drain the oil, it might be a good idea to pull the oil pan off and clean it out along with the oil pump pickup before you try to start it. Looking forward to seeing more progress on this one!

 

Citric acid is readily available and is dry powder form. Old days the heavy duty cooling system cleaner was oxalic acid, also dry powder form. CLR active ingredient is phosphoric acid I am pretty sure. Any acid will help to reduce oxidation in the cooling system passages. Citric acid is pretty easy to find as it is a food supplement. Mix approx 1 lb/gal of water. Best if you can rig a circulation. Good thing is you can dump it on the ground, it is not hazardous material, although it may take on rust hue and stain concrete. So just drain onto the lawn and with the flush water. Lawn will like it. Baking soda is easy to neutralize. Then flush again and you are good to go.

 

The plan to stay longer isn’t going to work so I guess it will be a few weeks ’til I get to work on it again. Bummer. It’s frustrating to have the truck four hundred miles from my primary home and shop. I have enough equipment and tools to do general auto repair and a little fabrication but if I want to pull the oil pan or service the transmission I really should take it home where I have better facilities. But, it would have to stay outside and I feel funny about that since the PO stored it inside for all of its life. I’m trying to get a large enclosed car port built to give me more indoor storage but progress has been slow. Like I said, it’s frustrating. It would be running and driving by now if it was home.
I’ll take the radiator and distributors home with me. I’ll try the citric acid trick and pressure test it. I’ll probably freshen up the FI distributor and try it, bringing the Mallory as a backup.
Thanks for the tips for DIY radiator service. The adventure continues.

 

I have always liked the " under dash" stuff being under the hood on these trucks.
Envy you.

Ben

 

^^^^ Most people who see that wonder if the engine heat and vapors ruin the wiring and gauges. I suppose that’s possible but a lot of old Studebaker trucks lived long and productive lives so it couldn’t have hurt too much. This is my second Stude pu and I will say that that feature is a mixed blessing, you can see everything just fine but it’s still very awkward to work on the dash/wiring because of the limited hood opening, especially since I’m right handed. I wish the hood opened like a Jeep!
I sold my other Stude pu to a close friend who immediately set about re-hingeing the hood to open the other way. What a huge improvement. My ‘55 F100 had that mod. I may just look into that possibility.
I moved some more pictures from my phone. Here’s a couple after the initial bath….

 

Nice looking truck and correct - my factory wiring still looks good and is pliable some 65 + years later on my Studie pick up. Sure made it easy to replace or fix stuff there above the firewall.

 

Thanks. My wife just loves this old truck and that’s a big help when it comes to projects. She’s as anxious as I am to get it cleaned up and back on the road.
I’m looking for a ’55-56 Pontiac small cap distributor, if anyone has a line on one send me a PM.
I’m also looking for a set of Cal Custom 2 bar knock-offs from the sixties. I’m thinking they might be just the thing to cover the center of the chrome wheels.

 

Good taste in taillights.!

Ben

 

Thanks. At first I thought they looked sorta “crammed into“ that space but they have grown on me and I appreciate that they carried the twin, canted style to the rear. They cleaned up ok but the chrome is somewhat pitted. I’m not sure what year Buick they came from.
I like their choice of rear bumper too. Someone mentioned that they thought it was a mid-fifties Plymouth or something like that. I wonder if the donor car front bumper was equally smooth. If so I’d like to chase one down and add it to the front to cover the frame extensions. I used an inverted 55-57 Chevy pickup bumper on my last Stude pickup.

 

A carpet { or rubber sheet} covered 2x8 or 2x10 would give it that push truck look, just like it just came from the drags push starting a FED.....

 

Regarding the tail lights.
All series 1950. Super and Roadmaster 1951 - 1952. I might have a pair.

Ben