2008 – Trim, Interior, Wiring

1-5-08 Nothing ever goes easy, does it? I had to find substitute material for installing the rear windlace too, as the old cardboard was half gone. Then tacked it up, and got the driver rear door panel installed. Stock, Studebaker used a seperate piece about an inch wide here to lay over the door panel, and screwed through all this into the body. I decided those pieces were not necessary. I used chrome screws inside raised washers for a nice look. Drilled my own holes, and of course this ended up being a problem getting the screws in. Got it ALL done, and I had done the windlace wrong! You don’t need to dead end the stuff at the top. It actually goes up and tucks under the stainless inside trim at the top of the door panel. So now the windlace is cut too short, dammit. That’s the trouble with putting a car back together 10 years after you took it apart. Pull it all back off. Redo everything.

1-16-08 Installed the passenger rear door panel. Looks great. Lessons learned from doing the drivers side helped of course. I had to sew 2 pieces of windlace together because I am too cheap to buy more at $6 a foot.

1-26-08 Next up is the upper back seat. Not a direct bolt unfortunately, as the moved floor and seat brace have relocated everything back here. Had to make marks and drill all new holes. Went in OK. After his the lower reat seat piece is just supposed to “snap” in. Ha HA! Not even close. I am going to have to lie down here and try and see what parts of the floor under here are in the way, bend stuff on the seat to make it fit, etc. Sounds like a few hour project, which means it will proably take a week. Also, now is the time for some seat belts back here. Ther were none form the factory. A quick google search found me several places to get nice ones with chrome buckles.

1-29-08 Seat belts came today. Nice. The car is not very wide, putting 3 belts in the back is a challenge. Turns out I can use an old body mount hole not being used since the frame was narrowed. Should be no problem installing these.

1-31-08 Got the lower back seat in. The seat has many loops of heavy wire that keep it up off the floor. I just had to figure out which were hitting the new floor and transmission hump and “modify” them. And by modify I mean smash with 5 pound sledge. At first I tried to bend them with channel locks, but this is like 3/16 wire. No way pliers will bend it. The sledge seems crude but in this case was just the tool needed. It took about 4 trial fits then it finally snapped in. Very tight.

2-13-08 What next? I am working towards wiring, but in the meantime there is a huge list of stuff that can be done. Door panels. Kick panels. Under dash stuff like defroster and wipers. More painting of parts. Dash trim and glovebox. And of course the brakes are still not really done. I got a bunch of this stuff out of boxes and spread it all over the workbench.

2-18-08 The Studebaker Climatizer is made up of many parts. The piping and heater core for under the seat I have already recycled to other Stude guys. The blower motor for that and the piping for that I won’t use. However there is another blower motor in the firewall that routes air up to the defrosters. This would be useful, even in a race car. The 6V motor sort of works, it’s erratic. I found online a suitable replacement at Grainger. It sticks out a little farther into the engine compartment is all. Repainted all these parts, found new ducting, and installed. Works nice, when hooked to a power source nice air came through.

3-03-08 Other dash projects. I put the vacuum wiper motor and linkage back on. Does it work? Not sure. I can find out later. I am sure vacuum wipers are marginal, but this is one less thing I need to convert to 12V electrics. Later Studes do have similar wiper motors if I want to switch to electric later on. I’ll try the vacuum first. I made a glove box from matboard. Got that installed, glove box door, and some dash trim. The dash trim just sucks, the chrome is SO thin here it flakes off if you polish it. Frustrating! I can’t rechrome everything, too much money.

3-12-08 Started on the main door panels. I went with regular masonite/hardboard as the material. It’s the right flexibility. I’ll need to waterproof the backs. Made a cardboard pattern and got it perfect. Cutting the hardboard went smooth. I covered the whole things with white fleece to start. This will give a small bit of padding, the panels won’t look so flat and shiny. I have the other 2 materials on now, gluing the backs. Looking pretty good.

3-23-08 Front door panels done! Wow, this project really turned out well. It’s a bit of work, and the gluing must be done over several days, so patience is required. I’ve drilled the panels for the original chrome strip, and kick panel at the bottom. I was able to get 2 new kick panels from online Stude connections, and these do not have holes drilled all over them. Everyting just looks really nice. I choose to just screw them in, not use special door panel clips behind the board. Some might disagree here, but I have no problem looking at the screw heads as long as you use trim washers. And I know the panels are very well attached this way. Nice to have door handles and window cranks attached.

6-04-08 Spring came and went. And so did a bunch more landscaping projects. Not much done on the car last few months. What I would really like to do is get more stuff attached to the car, and empty off my shelves some. For years the rocker trim has been in my way. These can go on now. I want to see the shiny trim on the bottom, so I can decide what to do about all the window trim! 13 pieces of pitted, rotted pot metal. I have been dreading this for years. I have to be realistic here, this would cost thousands to redo and I don’t have that. Replating is not an option here.

6-11-08 The rocker trim is dented. So I have been trying my hand at hammering out dented stainless. The Stude trim is so hard and stiff you have to give it a pretty good whack. But if you aren’t careful bad things happen. Kind of a challenge. They look better…not perfect but better.

6-26-08 Got the rocker trim on. Like anything else, this took a bunch of time and effort. The orignal means of mounting these, with rocker mounted snap clips, was gone. The new rockers have no holes. These clips are available, could have done it that way. Instead I used a series of aluminum tabs across the top, and then stainless screws along the bottom. This seems bullet-proof to me, they won’t rattle off. Looks nice, I countersunk the screws in the trim and they are barely noticeable.

7-8-08 OK, all this pot metal trim in on the table in front of me. I have researched “chrome” paint, and they seem to be getting closer. But not close enough, not really an option. The trim can’t go on like it is, it is so fuzzy and pitted must chrome is completely gone. Copper shows through. The ONLY thing to do it fix and paint. If I paint all one color, which color? I don’t want grey trim up over my while top. So – the trim will be painted appropriately, whatever the body color underneath is.

7-27-08 Trim work. First rough sand. Then coat with either spot putty or bondo, depending on how bad the pits are. (some are like the grand canyon.) Sand. Prime. More spot putty. Sand. Prime. Repeat forever. I have a few pieces done, and they are baby smooth and beautiful Should take paint well.

8-2-08 Trim work is boring. I need something else to do, which is wiring, but before wiring I had better finish my brake job. Over the last week got 25 foot of line and a 10 lb. Residual valve. The proportioning valve from a parts car will be used, even though it is non-adjustable. We will see how this goes much later. Line bending and falring is not so hard with a few good tools. I think this came out great. Dad helped me fill and bleed the brakes. And they WORK! Real brakes in the car, that is amazing after all these years.

8-9-08 I am really ready to do some wiring. That has got to be the next project. In the last month I have been thinking about lights, gauge layout, and all the circuits that will be needed. I’ve have shopped some online sites for wiring, painless and the others. Some are a bit cheaper, but perhaps not as good. Not sure who to pick yet. Been reading up on my wiring from a book I have.

8-24-08 I like the Hot Rod Wires company. This guy is super helpful. Plus most of it is all based on solid components from GM circa 1960’s. Exactly what I am familiar with. And I have some parts and stuff lying around here already from my old Nova and Buick. Harness and few switches and sockets are now ordered. I took the Stude headlight assemblies apart and sandblasted things up. Getting these ready. Not sure how many clips and connectors I’ll need for the project, time will tell. I stole the headlight and taillight wiring out of the old 78 Chevy truck in case I need some clips. Absolutely nothing wiring related from the Stude will be used. All of it is toast, bare and brittle. Huge safety problem with that suff.

8-27-08 I was able to find one original 52 Stude backup light online. Now if I can find another I’ll be in business.

9-3-08 I have to put a battery in the car somewhere. The stock tray is long gone, too rusty. The stock location is no good either, wityh a modern battery size and a big block in the way. For a few years I have assumed that I would trunk mount the battery, most race cars do. But there are good reasons not to do it this way. For one the kit and long cables cost more money. Plus typically the ground goes to frame – direct engine ground is much better. Then there is the external kill switch, also a metal backseat barrier. It would be a whole lot nicer to put the battery underhood.

9-19-08 The smallest battery that is still avialble in good cranking amps seems to be the 75 series. So, I built a cardboard box just that size. Then went underhood to see where it might go. One spot seems ideal, right above the starter. But it needs to sink into the fender somewhat. The spot is available, as I am not using the climiatizer blower anyway.

9-23-08 Took a day off from work and had some fun building a battery tray. I made a cardboard box the size I needed first, which really helped to cut the fender hole properly. As I hoped, clearance to the tire, even when turning , is not going to be an issue. Welded up the tray and brakets. I think it’s great. Next project….