picked up a 1960 studebaker

[hd44blazer]

Finished up the trim plate today and it came out great.

 

[Phil513]

Turned finish is perfect. Really nice.

 

[Greg Ducato]

Looks right at home, just the right touch

 

[hd44blazer]

Not a huge update, still waiting for my crossmember, but I got my legacy plates with my sort of unofficial title of this build.

 

[Greg Ducato]

coolness bar raised once again

 

[hd44blazer]

Here's the crossmember in all it's flat glory. It's all 3/16 plate bend and weld style from Paul Horton's welder series. For the budget minded builder it's a nice piece and keyed together very tightly without any tweaking.

I warmed up the tabs a little before bending as to prevent them from tearing.

Boxing plates.

Bolts slid through to keep everything true. I still need to clean it up before welding but just wanted to get a little start on it.

 

[GWeakland620]

That's cool!

 

[hd44blazer]

I just realized I bent the piece with the rack mounts the wrong way you can see in the first photo it's labeled for passenger and driver but I have it so the slotted passenger hole is on the driver side, so I'll have to break that top plate off and flip it around. Dangit.

 

[hd44blazer]

Welded up the crossmember last night and I'm very happy with the results, I alternated sections and let it cool awhile after each section as to not overheat the entire piece. I kept the two half inch bolts in the lower control arm holes throughout the process and they still slide freely in and out so I'm pretty confident it didn't warp.

 

[GWeakland620]

Still very cool!!!

 

[hd44blazer]

Started mocking up the sump I'm going to add to the original tank. It's 3" deep but won't hang any lower than the center of the frame.
I'll probably end up moving it a little closer to the front of the tank to get the best departure angle.

Also mocked up the potential ride height at about 6.5"

 

[Tweekls1]

Sooo much want!!! I was just looking for old studebakers in my area the other day, nothing to be had thats not a complete rust bucket. I'll be keeping a close eye on this thread to see how it works out, I scored a ls1/t56 from a buddy for dirt cheap that needs a home. If you dont mind me asking, what did you pay for it? Something like that would be an easy 5-7k car in south louisiana.

 

[hd44blazer]

Sooo much want!!! I was just looking for old studebakers in my area the other day, nothing to be had thats not a complete rust bucket. I'll be keeping a close eye on this thread to see how it works out, I scored a ls1/t56 from a buddy for dirt cheap that needs a home. If you dont mind me asking, what did you pay for it? Something like that would be an easy 5-7k car in south louisiana.

I paid $2000 for it, there's a couple super clean ones out here in California right now, ones a v8 option they're asking $6k has a couple dents and the other is an even cleaner white 2 door hardtop with the flathead 6 asking $5k.

 

[hd44blazer]

http://monterey.craigslist.org/ctd/5672269818.html

Here's the v8 one, couldn't find the white hardtop, it may have sold or the listing expired.

 

[Tweekls1]

Thats crazy, when its time to pick up the next project guess I'll have to come out to the west coast. Do you think you could fit anything bigger then a 245 out back?

 

[hd44blazer]

Not without a narrower rearend or some tubbing and high offset wheels the low fender line almost like a built in skirt makes it hard to fit anything wide without other modifications.

 

[Tweekls1]

Not without a narrower rearend or some tubbing and high offset wheels the low fender line almost like a built in skirt makes it hard to fit anything wide without other modifications.

Thats not that bad, as long as the frame rails wouldnt have to be pinched. Honestly dont need alot of tire with sub 3k curb weight.

 

[hd44blazer]

Got one wheel and tire mounted up over the weekend, I only bought one in case it wasn't going to fit well so I wouldn't have to deal with returning 3 of them but it looks like they'll work well.

 

[82355]

Looks good.

Martin

 

[hd44blazer]

Made the big cut last night and removed the factory crossmember after some careful final axle centerline measurements. I have to say I have some cool neighbors as I was laying into this thing for a good 10-15 minutes at about 9pm and nobody said a word about it. Before, when I was still doing most of my work at my parents house if I so simply as clanked a ratchet against metal she'd start bitching about noise.

I tacked that piece of square tubing on the frame just in case, the front is still held by the core support.