1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

[53 Studillac]

Good news from the homefront! Body guy, Talbert Goldman of Mike Goldman Customs,

http://www.mikegoldmancustoms.com/

put these photos on his facebook page today!

The gaps were wide and it was bent everywhere! I cant wait to get it back home
and get some other things finished... It looks so good sitting on the ground I almost
hate to raise it up! Anyway I'm smiling and excited even if I am at work over the
holidays...

Been talking to JW, engine builder, some too and he's making progress on several fronts.
New pistons are supposed to be here in a couple weeks (we've heard that one before!).
Pan sump is being shortened, extended and making provisions for external oil pump suction.
Intake manifold is having its runners extended, which should add some torque. Crank is
being worked on also. We are going to stick to a stock stroke (4.3") this time with 7.1 KB
rods and 10.5:1 Diamond pistons with 4.39" bore and 520 cubes. Slightly milder solid roller
cam also.

A friend hooked me up with John Williams from Arkansas, that used to work for Comp/FAST.
His company is Outlaw Racing Parts and he is very knowledgable about tuning FAST EFI.
He is confident he can get me running properly. From all accounts he is a really nice
guy and knows his stuff. He tuned the Road Rattler Roadrunner that was at SEMA this
year. He said he had to find gremlins in the wiring etc and had to work into the nights
to make the show...sounds like my kinda guy!

http://www.amcarguide.com/custom/road-rattler-1969-plymouth-road-runner/

Dwayne

[Impalarod]

Very nice...learned something with the hood trick. Car is awesome!

[GH]

Really looking good. You are going to like EFI.

[53 Studillac]

Time for an update! I have been a busy bee on the car lately... I'm headed back to work tomorrow and
really just getting going good, but will be a pile of parts here ready to put back in place when I return. JW
has been busy too and parts are starting to show up for the engine... The Diamond pistons are gorgeous
and should yield 10.5:1 compression ratio with this combination. The oil pan sump has been shortened and lengthened to gain ground clearance and a permanently mounted pickup was installed for the external suction
of the Titan oil pump.

I've spent hours upon hours on the front suspension and I hope all that is figured out. I will follow this post
with one dedicated to those changes.

The transmission is going back together next week. The gears are swapped on the differential, went with 3.89s
which should put the engine at 2000 rpm at 70 mph in od. Should be easy to put the rear end back together.

I had to remove the dash to install a new wiper motor and while it is out I am doing some changes to the wiring
including the install of a cool push to start button from a Nissan GTR.

It was way too difficult to remove the dash with the center drop down I had because of all the wiring so I will
make that better and easier to work on before re-installing.

While the car was at Goldman's they made a plate to seal the air gap I had created when I raised the fuel filler
on the fuel tank in the trunk. So maybe no more road dust in the trunk...

Several little needed things have been addressed also. Time is getting short! I have 31 days left to work on
the car before my scheduled departure date gets here for the Power Tour!

When I get home next time I hope to get the rear axle finished, the front suspension welded together and completed, all 4 tires back on the car and the dash re-installed so I'm waiting on the engine.

Dwayne

[53 Studillac]

Front suspension: I did a lot of serious investigating and time at the computer to get to
where I am heading with this modification. Searching the internet and measuring I made
the following drawing showing the stock MII front suspension pivot points and rack location.
Using this drawing to show the suspension moved up and down 1.5", I get the camber
changes of 1.33 degrees on up travel and 0.241 degrees on down travel for a total camber
change of 1.571 degrees. Sorry the pictures of the layouts are so blurred?

The stub I ordered from Fat Man was 5/8 wider on each side (1.25" total) for using 5/8"
narrowed control arms to achieve the same track width. A 1.25" extension was also installed
onto the rack to correct the pivot location and trying to keep the bump steer in check. To
clear the oil pump and remote filter mount I had already lowered the rack height down to 2.5"
above the lower control arm pivot. Which probably wasn't helpful for bumpsteer? From my
measuring, Fat Man had raised the height of the upper control arms which was a slight
improvement over the factory geometry. The camber change went to 0.909 degrees on up
travel and 0.214 degrees on down travel for a total camber change of 1.123 degrees with the
same 1.5" movement in each direction.

Fitting the tires on the car I could stand for a little more width so with that in mind and after
several iterations, I have lowered the lower control arms 5/8" and the rack down 3/4" more.
To make every-thing line up correctly I had widened out the track just a touch over 1/16"
each side. I think this will give me just enough ground clearance and plenty of rack to oil
pump clearance. Another aggravation was the much deeper tie rod needed to keep the rack
ends parallel with the lower control arms. So I chose to use the Wilwood spindles that have
bolt-on steering arms that happen to be dropped down for this very reason. The Wilwood
spindle is also 1/2" taller and improves on the original geometry. On paper the camber change
improved to 0.353 degrees on up travel and changed to -0.3 degrees on down travel for a total
differential of 0.053 degrees. I think this will come in handy with the air suspension having
less camber change when deflated so it won't have that leaned over tire look of some lowered
cars. I want to give it a try unless someone versed in suspension tells me it won't work.

Hours and hours... I should get a life.

So far I've got all the suspension mounting points cut off and cleaned up and just waiting on
the new brackets to get here. You can see where the upper shockwave mounts had to be
ground extensively to clear and I never liked them anyway...gone! They look weak compared
to the new design. When I tore down the suspension I saw where the spindles had been hitting
the air bags when fully inflated so they had to move anyway. I lowered them a couple inches
and the lower control arm will be plated so the shockwave can stick thru enough to be out of
the way. I also noticed the sway bar was binding the suspension and was the reason the
suspension would not lift up to gain more ground clearance! And check out the eyes on the
shockwaves! The swaybar definately had her in a bind. Lesson learned need another swivel
joint at the swaybar end and some length would help also. I have not worked out a good
solution to mounting it just yet. Will probably wait until engine is back in place to be sure
where I can put it. All these dumb mistakes make me look like and idiot but I won't make
them again! In the end it will be better...

When I get home next time I will hit it hard and make it happen...

Dwayne

[fast Ed]

Good work Dwayne! It will likely go down the road that much nicer once you get the new suspension in with the reworked geometry.


cheers
Ed N.

[53 Studillac]

Not as much finished as I had hoped but enough to post a few pictures. The front suspension is
finally coming together and if you don't count the days of grinding involved it hasn't been too bad
a job. Yesterday, I added the oil pan clearance notch and got the lower control arm pivots located
on the xmbr then called a guy with a gas powered mig welder to come over and weld it all together,
including the upper control arm mounts, upper shockwave mounts, and rack mounting plate. His
welds were nicer than I could have done and surely got better penetration than my 110V box could
have managed. I had already notched the top of the xmbr to lower the engine and now it had to
be notched from the rear to allow some clearance for the elongated new oil pan. The xmbr is boxed
with 1/4" plate so it should be stout enough. The sump on the oil pan was extended to make up for
cutting 5/8" off the bottom to gain some ground clearance. Adding the lower control arm relocation,
I will have 1-1/4" more ground clearance at the pan sump. Today I knocked out the mods to the
lower control arms and replaced the bushings. I then ran the grinder for a couple more hours and
threw on a coat of black paint. I am liking this iteration of the suspension... its more compact and
the shockwave mounts at least look much stronger. Not too bad for a rainy day in February....
Since I purchased the car this is the 4th time I have reworked the front suspension! At least the
rear hasn't changed...yet!

[milner351]

Nice

[53 Studillac]

Got the 3.89s installed today, axles back in and full of gear oil. Dad got the safety wire on the
rotors for me and I finished caliper mounting brackets for the front before the rain ran me inside.
Previously I had purchased a brake kit that uses 11.75" rotors with 4 piston calipers. This was as
big of a rotor with a large caliper I could use with 15" rims. As part of this front suspension upgrade
I changed to Wilwood spindles that are taller to improve the geometry and have bolt-on steering
arms that are lower to help with bumpsteer. Well, the caliper mounts to the spindles differently
than the standard MII stuff. I called and Wilwood doesn't have mounts for the combo I have so I
had to make my own....

Just talked to JW and he has the balanced rotating assembly and block back from machine shop
finally. Assembly to start soon!

Dwayne

[53 Studillac]

I spent the weekend in Mena, Arkansas riding my Kubota on some mountain trails instead of
working on the car. But today I got back into it and started putting the front suspension together.
Rear brakes are back in place. Earlier pictures of the rotors showed how the humidity had rusted
them badly even though they were new. Wilwood started e-coating their rotors and I happen to
know a place close by that does that so I had them acid dipped and e-coated. Once used the
primer will be cleaned off the braking surface but the rest of the rotor including down inside the
fins will remain painted and rust free.

The steering rack was moved down and forward to clear the Titan oil pump. The original MII rack
has cast ears that hang below the rack for mounting. For better ground clearance, adjustable angle
and tighter plumbing, along with some coolness...I have went with a Flaming River universal mount
rack. I went round and round with them trying to get dimensions and information but no one could
or would answer my technical questions, which was kinda disappointing. I took a little gamble with
the lack of dimensions but have made it work. I cut 3/4" off the height of the mounts and had to
add a couple close 90 degree fittings to route the hydraulic lines around the mount with the pinion
pointed where I need it...

And a few miscellaneous pictures of the suspension going together. And a couple showing the
caliper mounting bracket I had to fabricate and the bolt-on steering arms. The bumpsteer kit I
had used previously worked out great with slightly shorter spacers used to align the tie rods. I
couldn't mount the shockwaves because there was a broken sensor wire and I had to send them
back to Ride Tech, again, for repairs. I had just gotten them back from having the bags replaced!
I also upgraded to stainless steel upper control arms for a little bling....

Dwayne

[53 Studillac]

Today was my last car day for a while, heading to work tomorrow. I managed to get the brake line
routed along the front crossmember. I routed it on the front side in the center because I'd probably
flatten it with the oil pan when installing the engine if on back side. All 4 tires are mounted and the
car is loaded in the trailer. In the morning before heading to the airport I will drop the car off for a
touch-up of the firewall so it will be ready when I get the engine back. I should have gotten more
accomplished but at least made the minumum goal of getting 4 tires on the ground so the firewall can
be painted... Engine in April? I bought a set of knock-off center caps for the wheels and I think
they add a little to the look of the Salt Flat wheels. One picture shows the new higher ride height of
the front and another shows the car deflated....

Dwayne

[53 Studillac]

Got pictures of the intake manifold today. We decided to extend the runners inside the plenum.
It had been mentioned earlier and since we had some time, JW got an intake guy to make some
runner extensions and weld them inside the plenum. Perhaps this will give me some more torque?
As if I will need it, lol. Difference? We will see...less compression and slightly less camshaft this go
round. I've also picked up a Potter intake to possibly use on the dyno since we won't be able to
use the EFI in Ohio.

Dwayne

[53 Studillac]

Crank laid in the block... Looks like its been hit with a grinder just a bit!
Pistons and heads very soon.

Dwayne

[TheSilverBuick]

Progress! That intake looks pretty interesting internally.

[53 Studillac]

Got another pic of coated bearing and dowelled cap from JW. The last block has signs of
sever cap walk on the mains. We are hoping the dowells will take care of it this time. If
not we will know for the future that 700 hp with a big Caddy needs a full custom girdle!

Dwayne