THE JET THRUST NEWS

Spring 2004 - Complimentary Issue #21 Special Edition for Avanti Owners

The JTN is intended to provide a link among owners and enthusiasts of the R1, R2, R3 and R4 powered Studebaker Larks and Hawks built for 1963 and 1964. We seek not only information about surviving cars but also parts which exist from ”parted” units. Please submit all the data of which you are aware on any of the nearly 2000 such cars built. Feel free to make copies of this notice to share with others who may be interested. Your contributions both financial and material will help to ensure its survival.

If you are the owner of a previously unreported JT car, the owner of a removed JT engine, the locator of a parted JT car, or if you can refer the Jet Thrust News to such an owner, please contact the editor as follows:

EDITOR & ROSTER KEEPER.....

Ron Ellerbe, P.O. Box 1783, Simi Valley, CA 93062

Phone: (805)-522-4544 Email: ellerbe@pacbell.net

Founding Editor: Don Curtis Past Editor: George Krem

**************************************************************

If you have a JT car to report, please supply the editor with the year, model, body style, VIN (driver’s door post), body # (firewall), engine type, engine # (top of block on driver’s side), transmission, interior and exterior colors. If it’s a ’63, please note if it has front fender badges and 160mph speedometer. Send a photo. For a loose JT or JTS engine, send the engine # and any info on the donor car.

The Mission of the Jet Thrust News

A permanent goal of the JTN is the maintenance of the owner rosters of ‘63 and ‘64 JT cars and loose engines. These 3 rosters are published on the PC. Reports of JT cars that the JTN receives go into the rosters. That includes changes of ownership, engine transplants, survivor discoveries and news of parted and crushed vehicles. “Loose” means the engine is no longer in its original car. The roster trio is available as shown on the title page. The JTN keeps a library of photos and build sheets. Please send JTN your photos and build sheet along with that JT story. JTN is keeping a detailed ledger of sightings and reports of JT cars that have not been identified by VIN. With the aid of the readership, we do our best to track down such sightings and reports. JTN counts on its readers to report such sightings and to aid in identification. This list has several dozen cars on it. Another part of the JTN mission is sharing of technical and historical information about Studebaker high performance from South Bend and Paxton Products during the 1963 and 1964 model years.

The newsletter is also involved in rostering efforts of other Studebaker models. Many readers have offered serial number information on ’63 and ’64 Avantis. JTN is now maintaining a Studebaker Avanti roster. The connections of the newsletter have similarly been used to assist in a 58 Packard Hawk roster effort and in a R3 / R4 engine owners roster. Readers are requested to share information on the cars and engines with the understanding that information submitted will only be circulated among like minded individuals.

Some back issues are hosted on the Web at www.stude.com/JTN/ These issues have been edited for the web. The webmaster is John Poulos.

Roster News

Surviving cars found since the last issue

Owner	Car	Owner	Car
Slick9195 eBay ID	63V19905 R1 GT Hawk	Kenneth Morris	63V4078 R1 GT Hawk
Doug Hughes	63V13219 R1 GT Hawk

Found engines

Owner	Number
David Crone	JTS1483 out of 63V20278 GT Hawk
John Poulos	JTS1512 out of 63V22330 GT Hawk
Colin Dye	JTS1697 out of 63V36939 Regal 2 door
Colin Dye	JT1506 out of 63V15610 Wagon

Cars sold

Owner	Car	Last owner
John Poulos	63V20647 R2 GT Hawk	Tom Crosswhite
Mike Gahlbeck	63V23433 R1 Custom 2 door	Les Shepard
Steve Doerschlag	63V31818 R2 Daytona hardtop	Stewart Mason
Tony Urick	63V20440 R1 GT Hawk	Lloyd Frette
Mark Aletto	64V8722 R1 Daytona 4 door	Tim Klein
Nick Nichols	64V1524 R1 GT Hawk	Lisa Faria

The Passing of Joe Granatelli – Andy and Vince Granatelli’s older brother, Joe, passed away last Sept 13 in Woodland Hills, CA at the age of 84. Better known among racing fans as the master mechanic for the Novi and STP Indy gas turbine cars, Joe was known by Studebaker enthusiasts as the long time president of Paxton Products and a principal in the Studebaker assault on the Bonneville record book in the Fall of 1963. Survivors include wife, Audrey; son, J.R.; daughter, Andrea; his brothers, and four grandchildren. Your editor fondly remembers Joe as the most generous and gracious man who took the time to ride down Lincoln Blvd. with a young Stude nut and his wife in a certain superbly prepared R3 Daytona. That was a time when Joe was heavily involved in Indy car building.

Letters from readers

George Krem retires George has moved from Iowa City, Iowa to Colorado. His new address is 740 Ramshorn Drive, Estes Park, CO 80517.

John Poulos and 63V30647 John has acquired this R2 GT Hawk that Tom Crosswhite took to SDC 2003 in Sacramento. John has been doing authenticity improvements to this very sharp, clean California car and has plans to take it to the SDC International meet in Charlotte, NC in June.

Bart Ladd and the San Jose R2 Daytona Nothing has yet come of the notice published at SDC 2003 but Bart straightened JTN out right away about the inquiry in issue #20 for the San Jose ’64 R2 Daytona. Bart bought this car from the 1990 ad. The car was the Blue hardtop that now belongs to Milt Larsen. The travels of the car, 64V17648, were chronicled in issue #15. Information leading to the fate of all those California 64 R2 Commanders and Daytonas is very much sought by JTN. There have been hints here and there but nothing solid.

John Poulos and JTS 1512 John extracted this R2 engine from a derelict ’63 Avanti. The engine had been converted to an R1 intake setup and all the blower hardware was missing. Above the serial number stamp, the engine has a very cleanly executed 5 digit number stamp. If anybody has information on what this extra number means, please contact John or your editor.

John Kemper and JTSJ 304 John is running this engine in a very sharp 58 Hawk that has been modified to look like a 56 Power Hawk. The engine came from a parted Commander 2 door, 64V4473. Painted silver, the car is immaculate and has 3.54 rear end and 4 speed transmission. This is another great example of the all Stude custom.

The Fate of 64V12422 R2 Convertible JTN was contacted by Bob Macleod about a ’64 R2 convertible that was sold new in Kinderhook, NY, near Albany. An acquaintance of Bob’s, a former employee of Stude dealer Kinderhook Sales, knows the early history of the car and Bob passed the news along. The car was described as Bermuda Brown with 4 speed, The car’s first owner was Christian Bauhauf of Claverack, NY. It was wrecked in 1964-65 and rebuilt. The last owner known owner was Tim Delavan of Stockport, N.Y but the car was sold to an estate after Tim. The car was sold at auction after the estate owner's death about 10 or 12 years ago and may have landed in Stottsville, N.Y. With the help of George Krem, we now know the car had Powershift, not 4 speed, and was 64V12422. Bob’s friend and JTN would like to find the car. The convertible had red vinyl interior, non-package, white top and no power steering nor TT.

Malcolm Berry’s R2 Wagonaire Malcolm is the well known owner of a beautiful red ’63 Avanti custom. Malcolm is also the owner of a custom white R2 ‘63 Wagon that appeared at the Sacramento meet last summer. The car has a 5 speed transmission behind the R2 and is the cleanest wagon around. The engine compartment is exceptionally neat and the engine sports finned valve covers made in Malcolm’s own shop.

The Wagonaire was not originally an R-2. Phil Harris and Malcolm bought it together to NHRA Drag Race. The R-2 pieces came from 1964 Daytona Hardtop 64V3725 that once belonged to Luke Barnes. The car was raced for a couple of years before Malcolm bought out Phil's part. Starting about 1980 the car was driven to car shows and cruises. In 1989, several major changes to the car were made including new rear quarter panels, a Ford five-speed transmission, paint and a set of stainless steel tubing headers. Through the years, the car has been to many cruises, mixed car shows, and Studebaker events. We even drove it on the Car Craft Magazine sponsored Ameri-Cruise. In the fall of 2002, the car was prepped for several long trips. It got air conditioning and a modern radio with a CD player. The car did not come with a radio from the factory.

Malcolm writes:

From Ohio, we drove out I-80 to Sacramento. After the meet was over, we started towards home down I-99 to Bakersfield--then across Route 40 and Route 66 visiting various tourist attractions along the way. We had a great trip. The only trouble we had was a stone thrown from a passing semi that broke the windshield. Last winter, I added air conditioning and a modern radio with a CD player to make it more comfortable traveling this summer. Since our trip to California, I've also driven the Wagonaire to Wink's Drive In--Barberton, Ohio. In September, we drove the Wagonaire to Asheville, North Carolina, to the Tri State/SE Zone Meet. So far this summer, we've driven over 8,500 miles. We met lots of people interested in knowing about the Wagonaire, where we were headed, how old it was, the sliding roof, and the normal Studebaker questions.

Build Sheet The attached reproduction build sheet is for a ’64 R1 Wagon that belonged to Allan Songer as recently as 1997. This is a non-package car that is otherwise extremely well equipped.

Survivor Table – South Bend produced the Daytona hardtop with the R2 engine in limited quantities. All such cars produced are listed in the attached table. Many are not accounted for including all but one of those shipped to California. Those missing Daytonas are shown without an owner. 13341 was found in the Sunnyvale area as recently as 1975 but has since disappeared. Filling in the blanks is a JTN mission. A similar situation exists with ’64 R2 Commanders.

Harold R. Johnson, Jr. of Studebaker Development Engineering Johnson made a presentation on the R2 engine at a Southern California section meeting of the SAE. The event took place on Feb. 11, 1963. Thanks to Nelson Bove and Mr. Johnson, JTN has a copy of oral part of the presentation. A synopsis of the presentation is found below.

Areas of Investigation

Contemporary 400 C.I.D. performance goal, increased compression ratios, enlarged induction passages, modification of valve lift, valve timing and duration, friction reduction and supercharging.

Findings and decisions

Limited power improvement from compression ratio, settled on 9 to 1 ratio for use with premium fuel and supercharging, opted not to enlarge induction passages due to torque losses at low speed and partial throttle, opted not to increase valve lift for the same reasons, new piston design reduced friction losses, oiling improvements planned for 1959 Golden Hawk but not executed were resurrected.

Torque amd horsepower comparison

Top end power increase was achieved for both R1 and R2 (data showed 302 bhp at 5200 rpm) engines but gave rise to new problems.

Supercharger

Opted to keep the Paxton SN-60 self contained oiling system. Five pounds of boost at 5000 rpm was achieved with a pulley ratio of 1.35:1.

Block, crank, etc.

100s of hours of dyno time showed the block, bearing caps and crankshaft to be adequately rigid. Tri-metal aluminum type main and rod bearings were used. Torsional studies at high engine speeds and cylinder pressures showed the need for a better vibration dampener. The standard Lark dampener was inadequate. The new dampener proved to provide ample control.

Combustion chamber

Since piston changes were required for other reasons, the compression ratio was done via piston design rather than a head combustion head redesign.

Pistons

The new piston chosen was a controlled expansion, closed skirt, slipper type.

Oiling

High engine speeds showed problems with oil return to the crankcase and crankcase ventilation. Upper valve train area and the valve lifter valley caused restricted oil flow back. Pushrod holes unintentionally served as flow back paths, causing side effects in the camshaft. Oil tended to whip into a froth, causing starvation of oil to the bearings and pistons.

Rocker shafts

A 35% increase in drain passage size along with rocker arm oil metering was the fix.

Reduction of the rocker shaft oil inlet hole from 5/16” to 3/32” was the metering approach.

Revised valve lifter chamber

Oil return was improved by elongation of the drain hole and moving it forward of the gear. The path of air flow ventilation was reversed so as to assist oil drainage.

Crankcase ventilation

The crankcase did not require a modulating valve. When the crankcase is in vacuum, a fixed volume is drawn into the inlet. A check valve prevents back flow under boost. Supplemental ventilation is provided by the connection to the air cleaner. Aeration of the oil and suction of oil mist by the PCV remained problems caused by crankshaft windage.

Oil pan baffles

A baffling system of plastic windows in the oil pan was developed. The traditional excellent blowby control of the Studebaker V-8 was not exhibited by this R2. Improvements were sought.

Piston Rings

The chosen ring set solved the problem. The top compression ring is a chrome plated bevel-taper type with a ground lip for tight gap width control. Doubly ground sides assures flatness and surface finish. The second compression ring is a non-chrome plated version of the top ring with anti-scuff coating. The oil ring is a three piece item with chromed rails for superior oil control and has an interlocking feature on the ends of the expander-spacer segment.

Manifold gasket

The supercharged engine used a stainless steel intake manifold gasket with a small hole in the left side. This approach limited amount of riser exhaust gas

Distributor

A dual point distributor was chosen for both R1 and R2, each with its own advance curve. Two weeks of spark plug temperature tests were followed by tests at the proving ground and laboratory.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Parts wanted

Lionel Stone, Paxton supercharger cores, 4476 Matilija Ave., Sherman Oaks, CA 91423 call 818-990-8916

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lanny McNabb, R2 engine for a ’63 T cab project, 423-886-5500 home 423-308-5819 cell, has 4.27 TT rear end to trade, TN

Cars for Sale

Ken Voigt ’64 R1 package GT Hawk, 4 speed, A/C 64V6523. $7500 605-724-2527, SD

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dave Dow R1 Marshal 4 speed 64V7450, built for State of Maine, $12500 obo, restored 6 years ago, 802-436-2041, much documentation VT

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bill Solomon R2 GT Hawk 63V6525 original supercharged R2 engine, power steering, disk brakes, TT, 4 speed/Hurst. Correct conversion from Flightomatic. Car has disassembled interior, chrome and glass in preparation for body work and paint, $12500, located in Joplin, MO, 417-624-6946 kas@sofnet.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tom Kazale, Jr. 1963 GT Hawk 63V31403 R2 full package option 46a, 4 speed, ermine white (now black) with black interior. 99% rust free and complete. One of rostered 19 (10 4 speed) survivors among 44 built (17 4 speeds. Needs tlc. Looking to trade for R2 lark or best offer. 630-235-7788 IL

Parts For Sale

www.studebakervendors.com is the place where customers and vendors meet. Forget the phone, the mail and SASE. All the major vendors are listed on Studebaker Vendors. Just point, click and view. Most vendors have Email, and many have on-line shopping carts. Studebaker Vendors, your one-stop shopping mall.

Each person listed below is a parts and/or service supplier and a reader or contributor to JTN:

John Poulos – Historic Automotive advertises interior kits in Turning Wheels.

Don Simmons – Silvertone Exhaust manufactures stainless exhaust systems in Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada.

Ted Harbit – Ted provides engine performance parts and services from his Summitville, IN shop.

Jon Myer – Myer’s Studebaker Parts advertises parts and repair in Turning Wheels.

Chuck Collins – Chuck of Phoenix, AZ advertises engine paint and other supplies. He took over the late Charles Schnetlage’s business.

John Metzker – John is the automatic transmission advisor in Turning Wheels Co-Operator column.

Stephan Williams – Steve has a parts operation in Napa, CA.

Bob Peterson – Bob has a parts operation in Castro Valley, CA. candbstudebaker@aol.com

Lionel Stone – Lionel regularly advertises performance parts in Turning Wheels.

Bob Belling – Bob advertises restoration services in Turning Wheels.

John Dwyer – Dwyer Enterprises advertises in Turning Wheels.

Bob Kabchef – Bob operates a parts business in Visalia

Malcolm Stinson – Malcolm operates Southwest Studebaker in Show Low, AZ

Jason Thomas - Jason operates Orange County Studebaker in Anaheim, CA

Gene Rinck – Gene operates a parts business in Millstadt, IL

Freddy Freeman – Freddy operates Freeman’s Auto Repair in Jackson, MS