Podguy

I have always wanted an Avanti. I liked the older ones with the Studebaker drive train. When they went to the Chevy drive train and all automatics I lost interest. Now I have a chance to get an 85 cheap. It has some body damage and needs restoration, but it does not have an engine and transmission.

So the question for all you experts. What would it take to put in a 928 motor. I have a couple extra just sitting around. If this was done then what is the best set up for the transmission. Would it be possible to put in the rear suspension and mount a transaxle. Maybe have to make a custom torque tube, but that is probably the least of my problems.

Lacking that anyone one have a late injection Chevy motor and a five speed trans.

Any one with some ideas?

Thanks

Dan the crazy Pod Guy.

Red1

You could PM user "littlejt1". He has a couple Avantis. He hasn't done a conversion like you suggest, but he's plugged into the parts/support network for those things.

Ed Hughes

Making a custom torque tube isn't the least of your problems if you go the rear transaxle route. There is a lot of precision that goes into making them. A one-off would require a fairly talented machinest, and would not be cheap.

dr bob

Dan--

I have a friend who's an ex-Studebaker employee, and has acquired tooling and knowledge on the cars that is unmatched. I will tell you now that he will tell you to restore it to original rather than trying to make a 'modern' 928 bastard out of it. As much as we love our 928 motors and drivelines, they are hardly the ultimate in this day and age. They certainly aren't cheap, common, or easy to get performance from. Your car would be interesting to you and other 928 addicts, but of little or no value to anyone else. Modern small-block conversions are popular because they are all those things that the 928 engine is not. Putting a mid-70's design 928 engine in a 1985 car would be a step backwards from virtually all points of view. Think about how highly the small-block conversions in the 928 are considered. Square that amount of disdain as you think of how a 928 engined Avanti would sit.

JMHO, YMMV, My too sense, etc. Art is often of greatest value to the artist alone.

Jim bailey - 928 International

The correct engine for an Avanti II is of course a Chevy that is what it had when new But do not expect the car to handle since the 1960 Lark convertible chassis leaves much to be desired. Even with the police front springs and station wagon rear springs! I also find that the original body was much nicer looking due to the lower fender hood line which was revised higher for the taller Chevy the old 289 was shorter which was about the ONLY good thing about it.... Great looking body ...terrible car ! But I confess I have thought of buying one but I also considered a Packard Hawk at one time

JP Rodkey

My next door neighbor has a '60 Avanti and is enthused about having me "go over" his car because he's seen what I do. Due to different projects, it's been almost a year since he first asked, but I believe I'll become pretty familiar with those cars before much longer.

Randy V

What's an Avanti?

SharkSkin

This is a 63... later cars had minor changes.

SharkSkin

1985:

Jim bailey - 928 International

Check out Raymond Loewy.....The Father of Industrial design......"1975 Smithsonian Institution opened The Designs of Raymond Loewy, a four-month exhibit dedicated to "the man who changed the face of industrial design."
1972 Poll of stylists representing the Big Three automakers voted his 1953 Studebaker Starliner Coupé an "industry best." Also named one of the most influential Americans by LIFE magazine.
1967 Began working as a habitability consultant to NASA.
1965 Joined the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped.
1962 After designing the Shell logo, it becomes such a recognizable icon that Shell drops its name from their advertisements.
1961 Designed the Studebaker Avanti, holding to the motto, "weight is the enemy."
1954 Designed the Greyhound bus.
1953 Designed the Studebaker Starliner Coupé, which the Museum of Modern Art later called a "work of art."
1952 Founded the Compagnie de I'Esthetique Industrielle in Paris, France.
1951 Published second design textbook, Industrial Design, and his autobiography Never Leave Well Enough Alone.
1949 Appeared on the cover of TIME magazine.
1939 Redesigned the Lucky Strike cigarette packaging.
1937 Published first book, The Locomotive: Its Aesthetics.
1936 Designed the GG-1 electric locomotive for the Pennsylvania Railroad.
1934 Designed the Coldspot refrigerator for Sears Roebuck & Company.
1930 Hired as a consultant by the Hupp Motor Company.
1929 Redesigned the Gestetner mimeograph machine. Founder and art director of Raymond Loewy, William Snaith, Inc., in New York City (later established as Raymond Loewy International).
1919 Provided popular fashion illustrations for magazines such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Freelanced as a window designer for department stores, including Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy's. "
The story was he and his design group roughed out the Avanti design during a weekend brain storming session to build a radical looking "sports car" with all existing Studebaker Lark running gear think Mustang from a Falcon but years earlier. Very influential designer !

docmirror

Okay, a few corrections from a long time Avanti owner. The end of Avanti production by Stude was late Nov 1963 for the 1964 model line-up. First car introduced was around April '62. there are no 1960 Avanti's. There are no 1985 Avanti's. There are a bunch of Avanti II(use roman numbers), that were made in Canada then production was moved for a while to MN. The type club is the AOAI

Jim is right that the original chassis was a modified Lark, although It was significantly stregthened for the Avanti engine. There is a very large "X" member running under the center of the car, that is almost impossible to get a modified driveline through. I doubt any kind of Porsche driveline woud even remotely fit.

The cat's meow would be to use the Porsche engine(if you were so inclinded and had a lot of time) mated to a GM TH400 trans and custom TC. The modified TH400 with straight cut gears will handle upwards of 450HP and it has a lockup feature that is easy to work with. Alternatively, I would use a stroke SBC of 383 cubic inch mated to the TH400 or the Borg Warner 5 speed which is off the shelf components. Keep the 928 engine for something else.

The Avanti II after 1964 used the same body molds, and just set the Chevy engine lower in the frame. The change in body shape came in 1982 when Newman Altman sold the rights to the car.

It's said that the combination of buying the dregs of Packard and the losses incurred in the Avanti production are what finally killed Stude. Oh, it hung on until around 1966, but the die was cast when the Avanti ceased production.

Original Avanit specs:

2+2 coupe, all fiberglass body, seats, and dash. 289CI V8 engine, Studebaker "Jet Thrust" R1 265HP. Also available with a Paxton supercharger as the R2 engine of 293HP @5200 RPM. BW 3 speed auto, or 3/4 speed stick. Options; PW, AC(R1 only), AM/FM radio, tilt wheel, LSD axle with 3.52, 3.73, or 4.11 gearing, mettalic paint, leather appointments, seat belts(seriously), and for three very special people, the R3 Granatelli special engine of 340HP(est) @5600RPM.

Mine is SN R4202 with supercharger, LSD, PW and BW auto trans. They ALL overheat. It is a design flaw that there are no exits for the warm air from the firewall, and a ridge of high pressure builds up just aft of the very low rad inlet, blocking airflow. Solution is to cut some round holes in the inner fender liner near the fireweall, and use a front air dam off a 1988 Saturn SL1 on the bottom of the rad. First US production car with disk brakes, asymetrical hood line, sculpted scalloped wheel arches(look at the gold one above), and double steel roll bar at the B pillar.

That should be about all you need to know about Avanti's but if you need more, just post!

Randy V

Thanks, Dave.

So I'm assuming that its butt-ugliness is what makes it desireable?

Bill51sdr

Mazda likes the rear window styling so much that they copied it on the RX-8.

Kevin Michael

I'm glad Randy said it, I was having trouble holding my tongue!

Jim bailey - 928 International

Avant II were made in South Bend...then Ohio but never Canada.