{"id":6294,"date":"2026-10-31T08:27:58","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T12:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kgworks.ca\/?p=6294"},"modified":"2026-10-31T08:27:58","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T12:27:58","slug":"studebaker-bits-and-bobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kgworks.ca\/?p=6294","title":{"rendered":"Studebaker bits and bobs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The valve covers on the ’66 Commander are pretty discoloured and scratched. So I decided to paint up a set and put them on the car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’m using new cork composite gaskets which I have coated with aluminum never-seize. This helps to get the covers off without breaking the gaskets if they need to be removed later. The top valve cover I actually had to swap out for a different on – I’ll explain later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once the old cover was off the right side I discovered that a valve spring dampener was broken on #2 intake valve – red arrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Turns out that three dampeners were broken – all on the right side for some reason. These pieces where found lying along the bottom of the head. The dampener on the right is how they should look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I put together a rig to run air pressure into the cylinder so that I can remove the valve spring without removing the head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I borrowed this tool from my buddy Don and it did a real nice job squeezing the spring so i could remove the keepers and then take the spring out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Spring off and the valve held up by the umbrella style valve seal. The seal came out with the spring and unfortunately the air pressure dropped and so the valve, without it’s seal – slipped back into the head. The arrow is pointing to a cable tie I’m using to hold the rocker away from the valve spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fortunately I had rotated the engine so that the piston was near TDC so the valve didn’t fall completely out. I put a rare earth magnet on the end of a threaded rod and was able to pull the valve back up – whew, that was close!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I had to replace three spring dampeners so I got to see how three plugs were firing. They are all clean and very light brown – hard to see in the picture. Looks like the engine is running fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Replacement dampener in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Newly painted valve covers in place and the engine back together and ready for the road. This an R1 engine which were designed without a PCV valve. Instead vacuum is taken from the oil van via the air cleaner – large black hose. To pull fumes from both heads it was necessary to have breather caps in both valve covers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Job done and now for more driving enjoyment before the salt hits the roads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The valve covers on the ’66 Commander are pretty discoloured and scratched. So I decided to paint up a set and put them on the car. I’m using new cork composite gaskets which I have coated with aluminum never-seize. This helps to get the covers off without breaking the gaskets if they need to be … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Studebaker bits and bobs”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kgworks.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kgworks.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kgworks.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kgworks.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kgworks.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6294"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kgworks.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6312,"href":"https:\/\/kgworks.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6294\/revisions\/6312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kgworks.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kgworks.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kgworks.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}