The other day we decided to invade the privacy of our pals Dana Hard and Jon Wall at Custom Auto Machine in Weymouth, Massachusetts to see what they were up to. It is always fun to drop by a machine shop in the racing and hot rodding “off season” here in New England because they’re guaranteed to be packed to the gills with cool stuff. In our eyes, nothing was cooler than this Studebaker R4 V8 that Dana just finished for a customer. This is one of the neatest and most rare high performance V8s produced from an American manufacturer (Stude was based in South Bend, Indiana). Tweaked and built by Andy Granatelli and his guys, the Studebaker R4 was the meanest naturally aspirated Studebaker engine of its day and certainly the meanest one to ever carry a factory code or designation.
Of the Studebaker performance engines, the R4 was the most mechanically radical with 12:1 compression, big port heads, and the most aggressive camshaft of the whole “R” engine line. It displaced 304.5ci (up from 289) and used a really cool dual quad setup. Dig the rake of the intake manifold with the rear carb being significantly higher than the front. Also of note are the big chrome “antlers” at the rear of the motor. These “antlers” (we don’t know what we’re supposed to call them, so we just dubbed them antlers) were not for styling. Because these engines were installed in fiberglass bodied cars like Avantis and were a tight fit, the engineers needed to isolate the spark plug wires and prevent arcing. Those antlers are for that purpose. Inside the chrome pieces are rubber channels where the spark plug wires run down to the side of the block. The devices isolate the wires and prevent any chance of the spark jumping where it shouldn’t jump. The R4 was rated at 280hp but guys who know lots more about Studebakers than us say that power is more like 300+.
It sounds weird but the engine came with five breathers from the factory! Note that every one of them has a sticker on it telling the user that they should be adding a dose of STP with every oil change. This is a pure Granatelli touch and Dana told us that the stickers were on R4 engines (and maybe others) when they were shipped to customers. As best we can dig up, only one R4 engine was ever installed in a car at the factory. The rest (and that is only about a dozen engines apparently) were crate engines used in race cars for setting land speed records, endurance records, and other feats of strength. We dig the giant oil fill tube. That thing could be broken off the engine and used a s weapon of way in a pinch! The chrome valve covers are super cool and the only realty deviation from stock on this engine was the addition of a Roto-Faze distributor, which was a popular period speed part from the days when this R4 was new.
While the supercharged R3 engine gets more love and the crazy one-off fuel injected and twin Paxton blown R5 was certainly the nuttiest Studebaker “factory” performance engine, we think that the R4 is the coolest. This is a hot rodder’s mill. Between the heads which were radically worked from their stock condition, the cam, and intake, this was an effort to extract as much NA power as possible from given factory parts. Blowers are cool but doing it “the hard way” by not boosting the engine gets all of our respect. Oh, you’re wondering where this engine is headed? What if we told you that it will end up in a Studebaker Wagonaire! We’re gong to stalk the owner until the car is done and them provide you with a full feature, because that car is going to rule.
Scroll down and check this rare beast out. Chances are, it is the closest you’ll ever get to Studebaker’s ultimate naturally aspirated high performance engine –
Very cool, I love it! Studebaker made some really great cars. Like AMC, I wish they were still around today.
Ditto, add International’s light truck division. I want a new Scout or Travelall.
I think the “antlers” were more for isolating the wires for noise suppression for the radio.
Corvettes had/have them. I don’t know what they do today.
The box that covers the coil/distributor is missing from the picture.
Actually the antlers DO stop arcs between plug wires, too. Even my 55 259 would arc between cylinders unless the wires were separated and routed properly in the looms. It’s weird and a bit freaky, but according to the good folks at the Studebaker Drivers Club improper wire routing can destroy your best tuning efforts.
Correct! These engines were mostly intended for the fiberglass bodied Avanti, which like the Corvette had no metal firewall to prevent ignition static interfering with the radio. The more common R1 and R2 engines lacked the stainless steel shielding when installed in Larks and Hawks.
South Bend Indiana is some distance (and a state border) from “Detroit”. While Studebaker HAD had a presence in the Motor City, it had been way back in the “teens”. Further, STP was owned by Studebaker for a time, and ALL Stude engines had STP stickers on the oil filler caps during that time.
Bob, valid point. Was using “Detroit” in place of American in this case but will make the edit because you are right, of course.
Cool seal on the STP stickers. That I didn’t know!
Thanks for the note!
A short drive from Boston to Northboro, Mass………..and you reach Mecca…….Studebaker Mecca that is……..WCD Garage on Main Street where it’s all Studebaker 24/7! Kingpin of the parts bin is the big man himself…………Dave Thibeault or big Dave as he is known. When cut, he has been known to bleed Studebaker paint pigments……if it’s a Studebaker vehicle……….speak to Dave…….’cause you have reached the mountain top………….and he is the higher authority:-)
Thanks Brian for the great Studebaker story. I appreciate the great reporting and pictures. As you know Studebakers rarely get a lot of love among car people so it is nice to see what you have written here. The R4 may not be the absolute Studebaker holy grail, but it is close. I tip my Studebaker hat to you, Brian.
I’d love to hear that beast snorting thru drag Zoomies …. awesome tunes!! At 12:1 compression, I’m willing to bet the HP was just a bit north of 300…
Wanna see Studebaker R1, R2, R3 and R4 engines in Studebakers running driving and drag racing? Make it to the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Races in Stanton Michigan, September 13th and 14th this year. http://www.purestockdrags.com/ Lots more than just Studebakers. 1955 thru 1974 muscle cars from all US automakers.
Probably gonna be the 12th and 13th of September in 2014. I think the web site is off on the dates. Anyway, usually on a Friday and Saturday in early September.
Make it to the Pure Stock Drags and you will see a Lark powered by one of these R4 engines and several Larks powered by R2 and R3 supercharged engines. More than one competitor has been heard to comment when asked who they paired up with “Bad luck, I got paired with one of the Studebakers”. Studebakers record at the PSMCD is simply amazing. Hope to build a car for the race some day and join the fun. For a preview stop by RacingStudebakers.com and check out the forums. Lots of PSMCD posts and a good read.
Great article and good comments, too. The Pure Stock Drags rock. Beware those Studebakers!
Another “holy” Studebaker shrine is located about midway across these United States …specifically Duncan Falls, Ohio. Located here is Myers Studebaker lorded over by the “lord” himself, Jon Myer:-)
Thousands of feet of repair floor space, and tens of thousands of Studebaker/Packard parts are reposing here. Son Michael, handles the vehicle restoration(s) as “‘ol” Jon is pushing 73 and does not ‘cotton’ to layin under dem cars anymore:-) Mikes BFF is the always beautiful redhead …………Linda……..who with Jons wife Betty, keeps this asylum all together!
Jon has been at this for more than fifty years and is without a doubt one of the most interesting fellows you could ever pull up a bar stool with to share a brew-ski!
you do come up with some real of the wall stuff that is very cool thahks
Thanks for the pics!! I’m planning to build my AMT Avanti as an R4 street/drag car. Your photos will make this much easier. Were the heads iron or aluminum ? I’ve seen pics of them unpainted and they don’t look to be iron. Again, thanks for putting my project on the front burner………..T