1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

looks like fun , I like the color [is black a color ?]

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Thanks guys, working under the carport is a pita especially during bad weather. I work 3 weeks on and
3 weeks off and usually have a big list of things I want to work on when I get home. And this time of the
year on thru spring we will get a LOT of rain. I'm only gonna have fifety or so days to get car ready for the
PT after first of year because of a lot of scheduled training and travel days. I've still got a ton of things left
to do before its ready for the trip to Newton... In the mean time there are several things left to show you
guys to catch you up to date on the build!

thanks again,
Dwayne

[terry russell]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

man that is cool
terry

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Maybe I didn't like much about the old car? Seems silly that I would buy it, lol! Anyway I
didn't like the digital dash at all. The fuel gage was a joke and the oil pressure only had one
working digit and there was no tach! Something had to be done. I wanted analog gages
and plenty of them to keep tabs on the engine. I was going to upgrade to a later Hawk
dash with the engine turned aluminum overlay but the steering column was moved over to
the left to clear the Cadillac engine and the Hawk dash kinda fit around the steering column.
First I made a dash from 1/4" plywood and then built a simple aluminum panel to see how
it would look, but it was a little too much race carish. After staring at it for months I decided
to cut a new panel from sheetmetal and weld it into the stock dash top. Talbert Goldman
put it together and it turned out wonderfully. I then drew an overlay to complete the look
and commissioned Haneline to make it from stainless steel. It took several months of
waiting but I think the pictures speak for themselves!

I have to give a call out to the guys at Speedhut also. When I first saw their gages I loved
them but they didn't have a speedometer yet. I inquired and they said it was gonna happen
so I waited. I must say they appear great! The big gages are 4" which fit better than either
a 3 3/8" or 5" would have. Faces can be totally custom and they have a lifetime warranty.
I have 9 gages in the dash! Speedo, tach, air/fuel ratio, oil press, oil temp, voltmeter, fuel
press, water temp and fuel level. Interestingly the tach has a built in shift light and most of
the gages have programable warning lights built in!

The throttle body looking ac vents are from Vintage Air. Previously the car didn't have a heater
or defrost just a slim line ac unit that didn't cool very well. The new much larger unit is also from
Vintage Air with defrost and heat this go round. Mike Goldman's group took care of the AC
install for me also. With my job I am away traveling a lot and am away from home more than
I am here so I am fortunate to have found a few good people to work on the car for me when
I am away...

Other changes so far with the interior is a roll bar. Its not built to the letter of the law but
fits around the seats well and hopefully is good enough to make some fun passes at Maxton.
I know one thing it really stiffened up the whole car and should be an overall benefit. And
it gives the car a little more attitude. I also got a set of 05 GTO seats that seem very supportive
and comfortable, but heavy. I've still got to do a console and decide what to do in the back
seat area.

Dwayne

[milner351]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Wow
this thing is a functional work of art.

makes everything I've ever done look like a steaming pile of dog crap....

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Dude I'm a gauge-aholic too! That's fantastic looking.

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

I just wish it had/needed a boost gage!

Thanks,
Dwayne

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Perhaps an F2 will be the next addition? ;D

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

I just wish it had/needed a boost gage!

Thanks,
Dwayne

My lame ass has Vac/Boost gauge in my Buick ;D "Why won't it boost?" "Oh yeah, It's naturally aspirated!" :P

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Randal I almost did just that! Originally I wanted twin turbos but for the life of me couldn't find a clean
place to mount them. Had I been more confident with my fabrication skills, the firewall would have been
moved back 6 inches and would have had plenty of room behind the front wheels. I even bought an
F2 procharger off of eBay, but there was no way it was fitting either and at the time I was planning on
having a cowl hood. Now it looks like I will go with a sorta bikini hood and maybe the F2 would have
looked OK in plain site above the hoodline? lol But I resold it and we decided to build a high compression
normally aspirated engine. The cam is large enough that the vacuum needed might not ever move so
gave up on the gage! One day I will have a supercharged ride!

I'm surprised I haven't been asked about the heart and soul of my hot rod? But maybe its time to tell
you guys about a bad Cadillac engine! When I purchased the car it was already Cadillac powered. And
I'm using the power term loosly as it really didn't impress. I searched and found some interesting engine
data and parts on the internet along with finding Potter Automotive in Soddy Daisey, TN. I started buying
parts and funneling as much money as I could to them way back in 2005. Aluminum Bulldog heads had
been available but were sold out and no plans for a repour was immediate. Potter in the mean time was
working on a set of hi port heads and I agreed to get a pair of those when poured. In the meantime I
began looking for a junked 70 Eldorado as they were the only models with the elusive 094 steel crankshaft
that was recommended for my all out build. I found a pair of cars in Hot Springs and bought them both
just to be sure I'd get a good crank. I sold enough parts to just about cover that cost.

I also decided to build a stroker engine. Potter didn't have any reservations of boring the block .100 so we
went with a 4.400 bore. The big Caddy has 2.5" rod bearings so we offset ground the crank to 4.400 stroke
using 7.100" long Scat H beam rods with 2.375" Mopar big ends. That bore and stroke combination yields
535 cubic inches! Custom BRC pistons were used with a special dish to emulate the combustion chamber
and give a proper quench with the new heads. Even with a 24cc dish the compression is still at 11.5:1. My
only deal with that is I wanted to be able to run on pump gas so it better! So far on the dyno she's only had
93 octane pump gas to date...

To help the 2 bolt mains endure the added power a stud girdle was added. The lifter bores were also bushed.
They got a little crazy with the camshaft. The stock cam diameter is the same as a SBC but a lot longer
and the high spring pressures of a big roller can cause some flex so the cam tunnel was bored to accept 52mm
roller needle bearings and giving a much larger base circle for a stronger and hopefully more durable camshaft.
Cam specs are as follows: .719 lift intake/.709 exhaust with 256/262 duration at .050 and a 111.5 lobe
separation.

That's the short block more later...
Dwayne

[DanStokes]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Significant go-power, fer sure! I'm falling deeper in love.

Dan

[mike343sharpstick]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

:o

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

The Potters put a lot of time and money into the new heads. They didn't want to take any concessions
for horsepower so they decided to make a hi-port head that extends and raises the intake runners for
a straight line of site to the valve. After raising the runners the ports were extended to allow the existing
manifolds to still fit, using a 1" china rail on each end. My chosen intake is their Boogie Man supercharger
manifold, more on that later! Much time was spent getting the casting, ports and chambers just right
along with several valve jobs to maximize flow. Combustion chambers came in at 72cc. Copper gaskets
from Titan with built in o-rings were used also. With only 4 head bolts on such a large bore head gaskets
tend to pop easily on these engines with anything less and even with copper if you let it rattle. To get the
wide ports straight offset rockers are also used. The shaft system is from T&D using 1.70 ratio on intake
and 1.65 on exhaust. I believe the valve sizes are 2.275 and 1.8. Here are the last as cast flow numbers
they got after extensive valve job critiquing. Pretty sweet. These heads have hi velocity ports too as my
engine made a ton of power from hammer time to peak...

Lift Intake Exhaust % E-I
0.200 171 109 63.7%
0.300 233 149 63.9%
0.400 296 184 62.2%
0.500 345 221 64.1%
0.600 376 249 66.2%
0.700 389 267 68.7%
0.750 391 267 68.3%
0.800 398 278 69.8%
0.850 402

Just since my engine has been built around April 09, MTS has gotten patterns from Bulldog and offering
several versions of an aluminum head also... Who says you cant get hi-po parts for a Caddy!

Dwayne

[CTX-SLPR]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Did you get one of thier "instert runners" intakes where they build the runners inside the Boogie Man plenum?

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

They have built up some internal runners for others, even a long runner single dominator version
for an EMC engine but that didn't exactly fit my plans....

I've always loved the multi carbs of "back in the day" hot rods. I'm talking 4 two bbls or even 6 or 8
one bbl carbs. So I figured the time had come to make it happen. I previously worked for a forklift
manufacturer where we built some propane 350 Chevy lifts occasionally. The engines came equipped
with an 2" Impco throttle body that we removed and replaced them with electronic governors. After
stockpiling them for a while I had enough for my dream intake. Now after finding the Potter Boogie-Man
I had the perfect platform for 8 one barrels! So I drew it all up in 3d and had an adapter plate made...
And after talking to the Potters I designed a progressive linkage that runs down the center. With many
nights of drawing options I finally came up with an air cleaner arrangement I really liked. At the time I
had full intentions of having it fit under my cowl hood. I cut down and milled 1/16ths off here and there
to make it clear the hood only to have to change it later! I found the velocity stacks online from a place
called Velocity of Sound in Australia. It was all coming together perfectly until we got to the dyno...

see how close the HEII dist was to the hood before I reworked the frame to lower the engine and move it back...