40 Studebaker street rod

Hi, I'm Roger and just acquired a 40 Studebaker Champion 2dr Sedan to street rod. I have been in the autobody and paint industry for nearly 40 years now and am retired. I have built quite a few nice cars over the years both for myself and my customers. This will be my first street rod. I have a usable body on the original frame modified with a Mustang II front suspension and steering. Rear is simply a Chevy rear axle on the original leaf spring set up. At this point engine and trans are up in the air, the car is set up for a small block chevy, but I might like something different. I have a fresh olds 330 I'd like to use, but that remains to be seen at this point. Also considered buying a c4 Corvette and robbing the front and rear suspensions and drive train. Debating a top chop as well. Would appreciate and feedback to my plan and of course all good advice. I live in northeast florida, I have a large backyard shop with a lift so I'm gathering info to make this happen. Thanks.

Sounds like a great project!! Lots of experience and opinions here. Be patient your first few posts especially if you try to post pictures (I think the pictures need to be approved by the moderator for the first 10 posts or so) and we love pictures here :3dSMILE:

Welcome.


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Sounds like fun. It also sounds like you've got things well in hand. I look forward to the build.

Welcome. I'd say that C4 'vette idea is good, especially if you can get one of the 375 horse LT5/ZR1 models. Looking forward to your build, and like Mike advised be patient, and don't be shy about posting "stuff" to get past the ten post threshold which proves you're not a spammer, and eliminates much of the oversight from the moderator.

Welcome, a fun project indeed! Good having you on here, always good when someone comes along with a really unique project to build!

Welcome to CHR!

Love the look of the '40. That grill makes quite a statement and you just don't see to many Studebaker hot rods out there.

Sounds like the skill set is in place as well as a nice large shop - we'll look forward to pictures.

I'd second the C4 Corvette rolling chassis. It seems like there are plenty available from salvage yards.

Good luck and once again, welcome
Glenn

Lots of yak over the years about, Ford in a Ford, Chev in a Chev, and so on. With a Stude you've got a cool option. Their last couple years of production they used first gen sbc......................almost a factory swap!:LOL:

Funny how life goes sometimes.

Ok, I'll admit I had to google a 40 Studebaker to get an idea of what the car looked like. Anyway a little while ago I went over to a friends speed shop because they had the mobile chassis Dyno set up today and were running a few cars across it.

As I'm standing there guess what pulls up?


https://farm1.staticflickr.com/810/2...899fb7dc_z.jpg39 stu by M Patterson, on Flickr




Turned out it was a 39 Studebaker instead of a 40, but there doesn't appear to be much difference. I talked to guy who owns it. It's running a 421 Pontiac TH 400 and Chevy 12 bolt.




https://farm1.staticflickr.com/813/2...642b3b4d_z.jpg39 stu 421 by M Patterson, on Flickr



He was on his way up to Tucson for the Nostalgia Drags so he was just there for a little bit.......I'd forgotten all about it being this weekend otherwise I'd be headed there too.



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Yep, that's it alright. Have seen pics of one with a chopped top, but will look at it after suspension mods to see if I like it. Thanks to all.

Just so you know my stand, not that it will make any difference to you, but I hate chopped tops. It's like monkey see, monkey do and the eyeball of the car is ruined forever. Only possible exception to this is a '49-'50 Mercury done in the Barris style. Just sayin'.....
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And a lot of work for sure. Not sold on the idea. Let's see what I can do with suspension. Right now it looks like an overblown version of an old London taxicab.

Thanks. ( there's one)

Welcome to the forum and I love the sound of your build, I also like the sound of using the 330 Olds for the engine. I also agree with Tech on the chop, few and far between to I like them, but that's just me.

Welcome to CHR! It definitely sounds like you are up to the task and you definitely have a car that you don't see very often.

Thanks to all for the words and advice. After inspecting the car for a while, I've decided my best route may be a frame swap using a 68-72 GM A body frame. It would need modification for sure, but many of the dimensions are very close. It would need to be shortened 1-1/2" to establish a wheelbase. The stude says 110, but looks more like 111 or so. This would give me the proper mounting for the Olds drivetrain I plan to use. The stude frame is both a perimeter and an x frame, and the x could always be grafted back on for more rigidity. I would like to find a complete junker so I can also salvage parts like brake and throttle linkages as well as some wiring and the fuel system, e brake, etc. If anyone knows of one for sale in the N Fl. or S Ga. area, let me know. Thanks, and let me know what you think. Always on the hunt for good advice and personal experience.

It's just my personal bias, but I'm not a fan of total frame swaps like that. I think that you'll find that it's gonna be a whole lot of work to make it fit, and then when you look at it from the bottom it'll be a bit of a mess adapting body mounts, etc to make it all fit. I'd stick with the '40 chassis unless it's a rusty mess, but that's just me. Others seem to like the idea of a later model chassis under old iron.

Perhaps you've got plenty of experience with this kind of thing, but just for yuks I'll pass on some things to contemplate. Getting the wheelbase correct is certainly important, both for function and looks (I used to collect pics of botched S10 frame swaps in their heyday just for laughs). Track is also very important, particularly for tire clearance, and again appearance. What most seem to not consider sufficiently is the difficulties they'll face in getting the core support and the rest of the front bodywork mounting points done well. Those are not small matters. After that there may end up being considerable reworking of the floor pan, especially, but not limited to, the trunk area. When all the real, potential problems/opportunities and rework are considered, reworking the original frame (as long as it's fundamentally sound to start with) isn't so much effort/expense after all.

EDIT: that crafty Roger, just a few keystrokes ahead of me................LOL

While I agree with Roger and Uncle Bob for my skill set - it sounds like the OP has a long history of working on cars and I for one like the idea of him even thinking outside any box I've considered and tackling such a complex project that will be full of technical challenge. There was mention of George Barris in an earlier post. Just think what we would have missed in terms of some really great creations if George hadn't cut up more than a few cars?

I'm looking forward to see where this build goes!

Regards All,
Glenn

Here's some info that may or may not help.....

http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/w...l_measurements

http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/wiki/Frame_swaps

I would also consider the mid-80's Jaguar XJ6 chassis. Rack and pinion steering, independent front and rear.
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Yep-agree-those Jag frames are everywhere and dirt cheap!!!!!!!!

Hey welcome fellow stude builder, it's not always easy doing the odd ball cars like ours - good luck finding any restoration parts. I'm doing a frame swap too, which leads to a fair amount of work making everything fit, but everything has its good and bad points. I think my truck shares some parts with the 40 stude cars.

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Originally Posted by jerry clayton

Yep-agree-those Jag frames are everywhere and dirt cheap!!!!!!!!

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I'm not sure if your serious or not. I know some of you guys talk a lot about Jag frames and suspension. I've been on this planet about 42 yrs and I've never seen one. Am I in the wrong part of the country ?

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Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

I'm not sure if your serious or not. I know some of you guys talk a lot about Jag frames and suspension. I've been on this planet about 42 yrs and I've never seen one. Am I in the wrong part of the country ?

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You'll have to get out more Seth, 4-wheel discs too....
https://tampa.craigslist.org/psc/cto...563688957.html
https://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/cto...536999672.html
https://lakeland.craigslist.org/ctd/...552540263.html
https://lakeland.craigslist.org/cto/...529017884.html
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Quote:

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Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

I'm not sure if your serious or not. I know some of you guys talk a lot about Jag frames and suspension. I've been on this planet about 42 yrs and I've never seen one. Am I in the wrong part of the country ?

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Our Cobra runs a Jaguar lsd rear end.
The '47 runs Jaguar front and rear, disc brakes at all four corners. Standard parts that can be bought across the counter.
They're also easy to install.

Although the Jag parking brakes are proper mongrels to adjust. There's always a lot of talking to God when working on them. And you always lose a bit of skin.

I was surprised to run across 2 Jag XJ-6's recently sitting a fellows personal junk yard. I could have bought both reasonably cheap since he was getting older and was looking to clean up some.

If I had found them sooner, my Spyder project would be Jag suspended. The XJ stuff is really too wide for my car, though. I would have had to cut it down or scare up some XKE parts which are even rarer.

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Originally Posted by Hotrod46

The XJ stuff is really too wide for my car, though. I would have had to cut it down or scare up some XKE parts which are even rarer.

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Fender flares........:D
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This one is going to be good. I'm along for the ride. Did you put on a pic of the Stude?

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Originally Posted by techinspector1

Just so you know my stand, not that it will make any difference to you, but I hate chopped tops. It's like monkey see, monkey do and the eyeball of the car is ruined forever. Only possible exception to this is a '49-'50 Mercury done in the Barris style. Just sayin'.....
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Tech, I found this 3 Window Coupe Roof Lift Kit pictured on SharpMark's FB page and immediately thought of you!! You might want one to bring a chopped top coupe back to stock!

Attachment 69612

Sorry for the theft, Mark! It was just too tempting.... :LOL::LOL::LOL: