Time to adjust the front and rear bands. This is a small inch pound torque wrench that I borrowed from a fellow Studebaker driver. This is odd setup to adjust the rear band It has a small square head.
I adapted a 3/8″ drive socket to the torque wrench to do the job. It was a bit loose, but I only needed to wrench it to 10 inch pounds. I backed off the lock nut and adjuster and then tightened the adjuster to 10 inch pounds. I then backed off the adjuster 1 and a 1/4 turns and tightened up the lock nut.
To do the front band I loosed off the lock nut and adjuster and slipped a piece of 1/4″ steel between the adjuster and the servo piston pin. I then tightened the adjuster to 10 inch pounds, tightened the lock nut and removed the 1/4″ spacer. I was surprised how much holding power there was in 10 in lbs. I had to pry the spacer out.
I hoisted the trans up so that I could remove the pan without tipping it and letting any gunk in the pan flow back into its innards.
Not much of anything in the pan except for a light grey coating and a few metal bits. So I’m not going to worry. Once I cleaned out the pan I had to try the cork gasket I have on hand.
Set to match one side the other is off.
Lined up with the other side – it is off too.
I soaked the gasket in warm tap water for about an hour. It stretched nicely so that all the pan bolts slipped in easily.
I moved the blocking a bit which allowed me to rotate the trans into a position where it will be easy to do the inner band adjustment before re-installing the pan.
Next I need to get my hands on a torque wrench that goes as low as 10 in lbs and a .250″ slug of steel to do the band adjustments.
A bit of a clean up. Didn’t want to mount a cruddy trans behind the new engine. I may paint up the pan as it is plain steel, but the cast iron body and aluminum tail shaft should be just fine as is.
The ’65 and ’66 transmission carb control links are set according to trans pressure at 2000 rpm. According to the service manual for these transmissions (and the number on it matches the service manual) there should be a plug to take pressure measurements where the X is located.l
There is a likely looking plug at the back of the trans. This location would be a problem as the extra cross member for the 283 to mount the trans sits right in front of the plug. It won’t be an issue with the Stude engine. I will be sending an email to the Cooperator panel in Turning Wheels to get their take on it.
The trans when removed was a good working unit so all I intend to do is remove the pan and adjust the front band, replace the front and rear seals, the governor cover seal and adjust the rear band. I will check the pan for metal that might show that the clutches need replacing.
BTW – if you are in a bit of a rush and need front and/or rear seals you should be able to get them at a local bearing/seal shop. The rear seal is a C/R 15000 and the front is a C/R 19242. Studebaker bearings and seals I have found are standard units used in many applications and therefore still available.
Rad frame. Just needs cleaning, sanding and paint.
Power Steering control with fresh coat of Tremclad Rust primer.
Bumper brackets and rad frame primed. As you can see I have a Studebaker thermometer. This was made up by a club member who restores a lot of old gas pumps and other memorabilia.
Got them hanging wherever I can. Hard to see, but there are two grille and front sheet metal supports and the gas pedal linkage. I don’t mind painting smaller parts by hand as long as they are not visible. That said I did paint the top of the rad and the hood latch with POR15 epoxy paint. It can come out not too bad as long as you use a fine art hair brush and lay it on fairly thickly.
Hard to get a good shot of shiny black paint.
Bumper brackets, PS control valve and rad support all done.
First thing I did was to put the engine in the car with only the left rear bracket in place. I then bolted the right rear to the block and fitted the spacer between it and the cross member.
This is the standard spacer used on these models. It is 1/2″ thick. With it in place I lowered the back of the engine to rest on the bat wing. I had earlier put the front motor mounts on the block and hung the mount brackets below them. I now lowered the block onto the front cross member.
The engine snuggled down in the front cross member nicely. However, the engine was tilted to the left side. It seemed that if I removed the rear right mount spacer the engine might come flat. I checked with the experts on the Turning Wheels Cooperator panel and was told that keeping the engine level was best. So I removed the spacer and tried some stuff. In the end I put the spacer on the left rear mount and the engine then sat level. I have been told that Studebaker used the spacer so that the shift linkage would work properly. So I won’t know if this setup is OK until I get the engine and trans in place.
With the engine in place and snugged down in the front cross member it was time to drill new holes. The 283 engine mount brackets had three holes and were situated much higher up on the cross member. When the engine slid into the front cross member it tended to go a little too far down – the rubber engine mounts distorted a bit. So I raised the engine just enough for the rubber mounts to sit up-and-down in a relaxed position. I then marked the frame for drilling the new mounting holes.
One kink was the position of the frame holes in the right mount bracket. The front cross member must have been altered to accommodate the Pontiac engine. There is a depression in the cross member under the bracket and the new mounting holes would have had to be drilled on the edge of the depression. Rather than do that I drilled two new holes in the bracket about 1/2″ to the rear of the old ones.
The only problem I faced then was getting at the upper bolt from the back through the factory hole in the frame. A bit tricky by doable.
The left mount bracket was easier using the original bracket holes. You can see the two holes for the 283 bracket. Over 1″ higher. When setting the brackets in place I positioned them so the engine mount stud fitted at about the mid point in the bracket slot.
The next thing was to put the power steering reach rod in place and check for binding. With the wheels fully to the right the rod came up against the motor mount bracket.
A little notch ground from the bracket solved that problem.
Now if I can just get my torque converter home I can set the new engine in place.
I have rebuilt the bell crank with new bearings. I found an earlier style that took bearings rather than use the new style with bushings. Probably won’t make a lot of difference with power steering and the relatively few miles the car will be driven.
It took a number of shims to get it down to a minimum of end play. Almost too many to get the cotter pin in place.
There is an o-ring and the usual Studebaker cork gasket. I’ve tried o-rings in the bottom of king pins and with them I couldn’t get grease to squeeze out the bottom. So I’m going to opt for the cork ring for this job too.
The 40+ year old cork gasket was way to small to fit. I would have had to stretch the gasket to make it big enough to fit the opening and allow the shims to fit inside. The dry gasket would split for certain. Answer: soak in hot tap water until it expands back to it’s original size.
Even after soaking for 20 minutes I still had to gently open it up just enough to allow the shims to fit inside.
With the thrust washer, castle nut and cotter pin in place the job was done.
Worst part was cleaning off years of crud then washing down with parts cleaner and finally with paint thinner.
I’m using off the shelf Tremclad rust primer – one coat.
And two coats of Tremclad rust semi-gloss paint. Passable and not likely to see much weather so the paint should stay good. I did drill a drain hole in the front lip of the front cross member. Seems water and spilled antifreeze always ends up sitting in the lip.
Time for the batwing to go back in place.
Batwing in place. I temporarily installed the steering bellcrank and tie rods so that when I lower the car I’ll be able to move it backwards in a straight line. My garage is small so I’ll need all the room I can get in front of the car the move the engine hoist around.
Taped off and ready for paint. I bought two rattle cans of 1966 Studebaker Richelieu Blue paint for the job. It is a ‘best match’ that the CarQuest paint man was able to make between his paint chips and a section of the lower front valance that was protected by the bottom edge of the grille.
Primed and starting the first coat of blue. I primed using mostly Rust Check rust primer and some Tremclad rust primer. There were a few areas of surface rust that I couldn’t clean out without sandblasting. I didn’t use rust converter as my garage is normally too cold (50-60 degrees) for it to work properly. Once the rust priming was done I sprayed it with primer sealer – supposed to help with final gloss, but I didn’t see a big difference. It took a whole can of blue to give the bay a light first coat.
I put in extra heat before painting so that I was working in the 70 degree range.
First and second coats of blue done. It took a full second can to do the second coat. It really could have used a third coat, but I didn’t have a third can and the paint shop is an hour away so this is it. For an engine bay it looks very presentable, but not concours.
Next I will be painting all the frame I can get at from the engine bay. I’ll use a brush with Tremclad rust primer and then semi-gloss black. It’s good to be getting back to the project. My torque converter will be ready in a week or so it is hoped.
Sway bar, PB booster bracket and hood hinges all sandblasted and sanded for paint. the sway bar itself is only sanded to get the worst of the rust off. I’ll be using rust primer and paint on them.
All primed and painted with chassis black. Next will be the tie rod parts. After this there are still more to be cleaned, prepped and painted!
Meantime, this is a blurry shot of the battery tray with the fiberglass mat coated in epoxy. This is a first go. When it was completely dry I sanded it all down again
I bought a new FM radio from Studebaker Intl. It should fit the existing radio opening in the dash. It may be awhile before it gets installed and used on a regular basis. So I have hooked it up to a speaker, antenna and power source and am running it every time I’m in the shop. Just hooked up to a mono speaker so it sounds real tinny.
This is my power source for the radio. I picked it up from a TV/radio repair business that was closing. Good for testing vibrators (that won’t happen much!) and supplying 6 and 12 volt current for testing.
Some of the last of the bits and bobs to be sandblasted, primed and painted. Soon to be done so I can get back to the engine compartment cleanup – at least I have Christmas music now to help me along, but I am getting tired of Frosty the Snowman!
