Studebaker startup after 17 years

I found this 54 Studebaker in a driveway in Martinez CA. in 1999. This is the same car shown later in "My dad's old Studebaker", which, by the way, isn't really his dad's old car. His dad's car went to a close friend of mine.

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Autos & Vehicles

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• Studebaker

[DeserTBoB93535]

I hope all that oil smoke was from oil squirted down into the cylinders. There wasn't anything wrong with the ignition; it was a fuel problem. It sounded pretty solid once the manifold cleared out. Cylinder balance sounds good, too. The Stude V8 was way overbuilt, so this isn't surprising..

[bombero42]

@DeserTBoB93535

I wasn't going to save the engine, so I didn't put any oil in the cylinders. It wasn't out of gas, so, unless the carb fuel feed got plugged up, I assumed it was the points. They burn up pretty fast when running 12 volts.

There is no market for those 232 engines. I offered it for $50 on the Studebaker web site and got no bites. I saved the rods, cam and rockers and junked the rest.

[johnsenkenn]

@bombero42

Have you junked the car ?

[bombero42]

@johnsenkenn

No, I restored it as a hot rod.

Look up "My dad's old Studebaker on YouTube to see it finished.

[dmellow45]

so he just sets the spark plug on the engine to ground it out? never done that..

[bombero42]

@dmellow45

Yes, that works well if there is no thick paint where it's laid. If the spark will jump the .035 gap in the plug, it will certainly jump the smaller gap from laying on the engine.

[deanmerc]

Great car! That engine sounded great once it smoothed out.. I wouldn't replace it. Besides, the car will lose half its value if you do. But great car and good luck, thanks for saving it!

[tomsriv]

I'm the kid with the camera in the video. We found a crack in the threaded fuel inlet to the carb. It was letting air in with the fuel and was probably what caused the drivability problems that caused the former owner to park it for 17 years.

[Dendiol]

Cracking video...

[175yam1]

great when the old buckets start,

[Kagaines]

Sounded good for after it cleared up. Shame to replace it but I think some of those motors werent very powerful. From what I hear anyways

[MM00SS]

goooood ^^

[EgaoNoGenki]

You guys seem to need to install an aftermarket catalytic converter.

[mouserorignal]

nice job 

[DeserTBoB93535]

@soopermv These days, due to cracked base stocks that make modern gasoline, any gas over 3 mos. old is bad. You'll need to pressurize the tank and get ALL the old crap out and send it to a waste disposal site...it's classed as toxic waste. Then, you'll need fresh fuel, PLUS solvents to de-gun the whole fuel system. Dumb, parking a car with gas in it. Same goes for oil.