1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

The runner lengths and plenum volume are unchanged from the off the shelf supercharger manifold
I bought from Potters. There wasn't any magic or fairy dust math involved! I just designed something
that I thought would work and look cool ! I sure hope it performs well enough to drive with ease...

Dwayne

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Well not a lot of progress here considering the elapsed time, but the cold, wet weather and my
work schedule have slowed things down to a halt on the Studillac. I've been enrolled in a training
course at work that will force me to miss most of the Power Tour this year anyway...Best I can
do is see the folks at Mobile on the last day. I'm keeping my rooms booked for the time being
just in case!

The front shockwave mounts are all finished as well as the front sway bar mounts and a tubing
bumper with convenient trailer tie down points thanks to my friend Randy. I managed to get the
top radiator hose installed. I found a 90 deg Pontiac water neck made by Canton Racing that
has the correct bolt pattern but is made for larger 3/8 bolts instead of 5/16 used on the Caddy.
It uses an o-ring for sealing and will swivel any direction needed, which worked perfectly for me.
I was tempted to saw off the neck of the radiator and re-weld it with a small upward angle but
left good enough alone... I tapped the water neck to install a fitting to vent air above the thermostat
since it is higher than the radiator and also drilled a couple 1/8" holes in the stat. I did have to
grind a little clearance on the passenger head but prob not an issue with most heads.

I've been talking to Jack Chisenhall (Vintage Air) about cooling issues he has had with his 53 Stude
and he sent me some pictures of how he made his air dam from flexible urethane that cured his
cooling woes. He cut out the center of the lower valance but my radiator isn't as low as his and I
wanted to try the air dam while leaving the valance mostly intact. He was gracious enough to send
me a piece of the material he used. Jack had experimented and found that 5/16" was thick enough
to hold its shape going down the road but still flexible enough to absorb some bumps. I reinforced
the urethane with some aluminum strips on the back side and I think it turned out pretty nice! This
was my first time to use riv-nuts and I am hooked. Now I gotta get some different sizes! One of the
pictures show me checking out the air dam on Jack's famous Cool 200 Studebaker.

The hood came back from being stripped and e-coated and I measured, marked and cut the hole!
I may have to cut it out slightly to the rear before I form the edges. I attended a Ron Covell
beginner's metal working workshop in January and learned an easy way to form a flange around
the cut-out without welding a strip or round bar like some folks attempt. I am getting a similar tool
water jetted now and will give it a try soon.

And now the bad news. After some debate and after problems with other engines being built with
Potter heads, I decided to remove the heads and have things checked out. My engine made peak
power at 5800ish and fell off quickly. Dyno simulations had it peaking at 6200 and the cam was
supposedly good for 6500. So something was amiss. Experiments on engines since mine was
assembled showed improvement with stiffer pushrods, stiffer springs and even lighter valves in
some cases. There were also issues with the valve guide machining and subsequent valve seat
machining that caused the valves not to seat properly. Jerry didn't think I needed to worry about
it but its a good thing I went ahead and checked things out! My guides and seats were bad...bad
enough on one cylinder to cause the valves to rub. Several other cylinders were getting oil
contamination thru the loose guides and I also found some evidence of spring to rocker arm
contact. Stan Justice is taking care of the heads for me. New guides are being installed and the
seats reworked. We are going to go with slightly more spring pressure in an endurance spring
package using titanium retainers. We will also be upgrading to 7/16 pushrods and titanium intake
valves. The valves alone are 106.7 grams each lighter and the retainers save another 26.96 grams
each. All I can say is I would have been better off to buy a set of bare castings and have them
machined!

Stan wanted me to check the piston deck height to verify the quench distance of the engine while
I had the heads removed. Measuring as best I could I found a lot of variation and noticed significant
piston rock, as much as 0.032 on a couple. I've talked to several including BRC about this and if
detonation did indeed cause the bent crank then the skirts of the pistons could have also been
compressed allowing the piston to rock too much in the bore. I've pretty much resigned to the fact
that I need to pull the engine and get it blueprinted again to be on the safe side.

So I'm sitting here now waiting on good enough weather to start over on my engine build and hope
to find someone I can trust fairly close by to go thru the engine again for me. Maybe in the mean
time I can get the wiring finished so there wont be any delays on firing it up when she goes back
together next time...

Dwayne

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

that sucker is fighting you tooth n nail.... so, snow in florida - bet it's entertaining to watch the folks out driving in it ;)

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

I'm in central MS and I stayed home! The roads here never got bad however...

Dwayne

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

I was down over the engine fiasco for a time but I've been busy lately and am slowly making some
progress. Althought that will end this week as I am having ankle surgery to repair a split tendon (ouch).
I'm out of work for 10-12 weeks after surgery but hopefully I can get some things taken care of during
that time.

I got the heads back from Stan Justice... Fixed everything including one deck that was warped .007!
Titanium intake valves, endurance PSI springs with titanium retainers. They look great and Stan fixed
several things that he didnt think was what it was supposed to be.

I took the engine to a new engine builder a little closer to home and we took it all apart but things are
still being measured. They found the deck heights ranging from -.0025 on front to +.0095 on rear. Upon
tear down we discovered the stroke was different on each set of rod journals, increasing 2-3 thousandths
on each set of journals going to the rear. So that explained the deck variance. Crank was straight but the
big surprise was the main bearings! They were on their way out again! I found it difficult to take good
close ups but the surface of the bearing appeared to be gauling up if that makes any sense... Bearing
clearance was normal at around .003 so not sure what the problem is? This guy seems to think whatever
caused the first trainwreck was not fixed and was causing another catastrophe. And perhaps the heat
generated from the bearings going bad is what indeed warped the crankshaft the first go round? The
rod bearings looked similiar but not quite as bad. There was some copper showing around the bearing
tangs as if the tang notches in the rods arent deep enough? And a ring around the edge of some of the
rod bearings where they had rubbed the radius on the journal. We looked at the pistons and rings closely
and there is no sign of detonation but there is signs of serious main cap walk... Note this is after about
4 dyno pulls.

Still measuring and checking stuff...

I guess the engine stuff takes front stage but I am making some real progress on the car. Air bags are
mounted all the way around. We made some cool spacers for the bottom of the front bags and exhaust
clearance looks good on the rear... Also added a second 2 gallon air tank for more volume.

While under the car I noticed with the exhaust uncapped it would blow close to the fuel and brake lines so
I made a heat shield/deflector. I also went ahead and made a matching shield for the passenger side...

I'm also trying to get back to tackling the wiring. From the firewall forward is complete! I ended up with
8 fuses and 9 relays on the left inner fender! But it covers up and hides nicely with the aluminum panels...
Oh and check out the air horn! I cant wait to make some noise with that too!

At least I'm working on it...

Dwayne

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

very nice.... sorry to hear about the need for surgery.... i hate doctors, they only like sick people.

[Weldangrind]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

very nice.... sorry to hear about the need for surgery.... i hate doctors, they only like sick people.

X2. In the words of comedian Brian Regan, doctors won't admit that something will be painful, but they'll tell you all about pressure (dentists as well). As in, "You're going to feel some pressure now." :D

What's your theory on the dissimilar stroke? Is it that the crank is offset ground progressively less towards the back of the block? Is it that the mains aren't true and square with the block (maybe that explains the main bearing failure)? I can't get my head around this one.

I'm looking forward to your comments about Ron Covell's flange solution.

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Looks like the crank is ground with progressively more stroke towards the back of the block.
We just measured rod journal offset, hope to get actual stroke measurments soon.

I made myself a bending tool for the flange, but need to get the engine back in the car and check
to make sure the hole is big enough to allow the hood to be raised around the scoop before I try
to shape the flange. Will let you know!

Dwayne

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

you may wish to take your hood to a sheet metal shop to bend the straight sides of the opening... the tool he makes will work great for the radius corners; but for the straight..... would be very tough to get a better line then one done with a press brake.

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

I had my surgery yesterday. Took me several hours to get awake! I went ahead and got the doc
to scope the knee at the same time as it was giving me fits also. I never knew I was gonna be worn
out at 40! I'm feeling decent today but I was so nauseated yesterday and last night that my abs
are aching today from the puking.... I'm pretty much gonna be bedridden for the weekend and
Monday will get a cast on the ankle.

I did manage to get all but one of the power steering/hydroboost lines ran on the car before I had
to stop. The front bottle mounted on the inner fender panel is the burp tank for the radiator. I can't
wait to get back to work on the car! Things are coming together...

Dwayne

[milner351]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Give yourself some time to heal.

The car looks great - the engine - not so much.


It really sounds like the crank has been the problem from the begining, the offset grinding wasn't done squarely and that's the cause knocking the bearings, etc out of whack.

Certainly check the centerline of the main bearing journals with a line hone fixture - but I'd be surprised if the main cap walk was caused by anything other than the offset differences causing differences in compression ratio, combustion pressure... snowball effect basically.

strange issues indeed.

Feel better soon and don't try to heal too fast!

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

get well .... I know the 40yo breakage.... 5 knee surgeries in 4 years

however, once the nausea goes, you can get a great deal accomplished on your car ;)

[CTX-SLPR]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Had my knee done at 25, fortunately it was only a scoping and they seem to have taken care of it the first time.
Had a cyste the size of a grape in my knee that locked the joint up.
Get better soon dude!

[Pumpkin]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Dwayne, I recall you work on oil platforms. Tell me it wasn't the Deepwater Horizon. Chime in please.

[53 Studillac]

Re: 1953 Studebaker / Studillac project...

Thanks for thinking about me Pumpkin! Yes I do work on a drilling rig for Transocean but fortunately
I didn't work on the DW Horizon. I did work on its sister rig the DW Nautilus for about 7 months before
I was transferred to the Discoverer Clearleader, where I now work. The great loss of life and the
devastation the survivors saw weighs heavy on my mind as I recover from my surgery. But I plan on
returning to work as soon as possible, but that wont be until probably around the first of July. I'm
hoping all those jobs aren't lost as a result of the spill and the government haulting drilling even more
than previously. If so the lucky ones will go overseas to find work and the rest will come home to jobs
that pay half as much...or unemployment.

Progress on my engine seems slow. The new engine guys fell everything was on the tight side so we
borrowed a torque plate and they honed a couple thou out of the bores and are turning a thou off the
mains on the crank to open up the clearances. Rods are a little tight also but will be fixed when strokes
are equalized, hopefully soon! These engines weren't meant to turn 6500!

While I have been laid up, I've been drawing my wiring schematic and as soon as I can get in a walking
cast I am going to get the main harness built and finish wiring the car. I've really made this car way to
complicated with wires going everywhere. I completely tore the FAST harness apart so I could mount
everything where I wanted it and with complete climate control, air ride suspension, and power everything
it has become a monster! Kinda makes me want something much simpler for next time!

Thanks again,
Dwayne