just finished rebuilding JT 1645. I put it in my 'GT, will be putting a GH blower on it this week (see ya at the Rt 66 fun run on May 5th &6th!!!!) I used John Erb's cupped piston (based on Ford 255 slugs). I shelved the "571" casting heads in favor of '57 GH "976" heads. I figure I have 8:1, maybe 8.5:1. Everything, I mean everything on this engine needed to be remachined except the crank. Nothing was within specs except the crank. I know some guys say you can reuse bores and such. Not a bad idea if you are doing your own bores, but at the cost of machine work, it doesn't make sense to not take the engine back to the specs laid down by the original engineers. I used an R/1 cam, converted DElco distributor (anyone know have to hook up the tach to this conversion with electronic ign). Restricted oil flow to the heads (outlined in Dick Datson's books), smoothed the oil passages back to the pan and blueprinted the oil pump to specs with new gears. It runs great on regular pump unleaded, 60# oil pressure cold, not less than 40 warm/idling. Will use pump unleaded with the blower. I am extremely happy, so far. You can find cheaper parts (RPM in California), but Ted Harbit's parts are competitive and his advice is invaluble Just a nice guy. One stop shopping and he isn't out to double his profit margine (I am not anti profit, only when I'm paying). Go to Ted and ask him. My gnarly, old circle track racing machinist was impressed with Ted's knowledge (and John Erb's) Just my two cents.....Kelly in Flagstaff apr02 ------------- << Will I need New rod bolts after I tear it down? If I must, what ARP bolts do I ask for? Will the weight be different so as to necessitate rebalancing? >> We have the ARP rod bolts. They are $68 a set and probably as cheap or cheaper than you will find nos bolts for. No, you do not need to rebalance the engine; however, you should have the rods resized as these bolts fit real snug. Also, in case you get them from somewhere else, the torque should be 60 pounds with 30 wt. oil or 50 pounds with ARP lube. Ted ------------------ Hey everyone. I have some questions that I hope y'all can help me with. When reattaching connecting rods to 289 pistons to notch in the top of the piston goes toward the front of the engine right? Cansomeone tell me though which way the the oil hole in the rod should be configured. It says in the manual that the solid side of the piston must be to the squirt hole side of the rod, but I sure can't figure out what they mean by that. Also, the oil rings that are on these pistons are of a different type than the ones pictured in the manual. According to the manual the two gaps in the oil rings should not be aligned and each should be aligned with the piston pin, but it says the gap in the expander ring should be opposite to those. I assume it means the gap should be turned 90 degrees to the piston pin. Is this correct? ///////// I have a service manual. I just don't understand what the manual means when it says what it says. I should have taken a picture of the rods when I took them out of the engine, but I didn't. Can someone please tell me which way the oil squirt holes should be configured. In the manual it says, "the solid side of the piston must be to the squirt hole side of the rod", but I don't know which side is the solid side. Maybe I'm not making myself clear on what I am asking, but I don't think the repair manual is very clear on this item and there are two other problems. The manual shows 259 pistons in the pictures, and the oil rings in the pistons I am trying to use are also different than te ones illustrated in the manual.Thanks in advance.//////////// ---------- My pistons were solid all around so I didn't worry about it. Put the notch in the piston to the front. Mount the rod so that the numbers on the rods will face the outside of the engine as shown in the manual. See the earlier post here about how to tighten the piston pin clamp screw. The modern oil rings are different. Follow the instructions that came with those rings. I didn't worry about the gap being near the piston pin. Of course, I only have about 400 miles on my engine. Contact me in about 90,000 miles and I'll let you know if I did it right. Alex M ---------- ON THE LEFT BANK THE OIL HOLE SHOULD BE ON THE CAM SIDE OR TO THE CENTER OF THE ENGINE. ALSO THE OIL HOLE IS ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE ROD AND CAP NUMBERS. ON THE RIGHT BANK THE OIL HOLE SHOULD BE TO THE OUTSIDE OF THE ENGINE AND IS ON THE SAME SIDE AS THE ROD AND CAP NUMBERS. ALONG THE SAME LINE, SOME INFO ON THE PISTON/PIN BOLT AND NUT, ON THE LEFT BANK THE NUT SHOULD BE ON THE SAME SIDE AS THE NUMBER AND OPPOSITE THE OIL HOLE. ON THE RIGHT BANK THE NUT SHOULD BE ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE NUMBER AND OPPOSITE THE OIL HOLE. IN OTHER WORDS, THE NUT SHOULD BE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE CAR ON BOTH BANKS. I KNOW YOU DIDN'T ASK FOR THAT BUT THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE HELPFUL. It says in the manual that the solid side of the piston FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTION WITH THE RING MANUFACTURER. USUALLY, IF IT IS A THREE PIECE OIL RING, THE EXPANDER ENDS ARE AT THE SIDE OF THE PISTON ALIGNED WITH THE PIN AND ONE RAIL IS PLACED APPROXIMATELY ONE INCH TO EITHER THE RIGHT OR LEFT AND THE OTHER RAIL AN INCH OPPOSITE THE OTHER RAIL. THE SECOND COMPRESSION RING IS 180 DEGREES FROM THE OIL EXPANDER AND THE TOP RING 180 DEGREES FROM THE SECONG RING. ALSO PAY ATTENTION TO THE DIRECTIONS ABOUT TOP AND BOTTOM OF THE TWO COMPRESSION RINGS. THEY ARE USUALLY MARKED BY A PUNCH MARK OR WITH ONE EDGE OF THE RING WITH A CHAMFER. HOPE THIS HELPS AND NOT TOO LATE. (STILL TRYING TO CATCH UP) ` ------- R3 Clone--- Forces within the engine go up by the square of the RPM. Thus, 7,000 RPM is 36% harder on the rods than 6,000 RPM. Unless the R3 clone uses the no longer available R3 rods, or the $1,200 Carillos, as Ted Harbit is doing, extended or repeated 7,000 RPM is certain death. The stock Studebaker connecting rods stretch around the big end and bearing failure soon follows. This is a sad truth learned the hard way. I'm so dumb, I had to repeat the experiment numerous times to prove it to myself. An interesting side note, the stock cast pistons are usually lighter than some of the ForgedTrue R3 pistons. Rodders thought they were building a stronger engine by putting the forged pistons on stock rods. The extra reciprocating weight caused earlier failure than the stock cast pistons. Bottom line, pay the money for the lightweight Ross forged pistons, pay the money for the strong rods, or supercharge the engine and keep the RPMs below 6,000. Compressive forces are much easier for the rods to handle than are the stretching forces at high RPMs. Jack Vines June 2002 ------ Feb 2005 157773's or 1555479's(heads) would be best stay off the flors except to polish and remove irregularaties raise the roof of intake and exhaust go a little larger on the valves. Do not hog out the bores for big inches or you will not have any meat for future rebuilds.Use a cam about like a Iskenderian ST-5 or similar spec.Expect about 225 horses to rear wheels. Should get you into mid 14's. --------------- "Never" lower the port floor, intake or exhaust. If you are going to raise the port roof, do the entire length of the port, not just the entrance. The biggest gain is in the bowl area, right at the valve and about 1.25"/1.5" back. Part of the chamber work is nice. The most important part was done incorrectly, for good flow anyway. The "eyebrows" right adjacent to the valves should be layed back to about a 45 degree angle or a little less. All the way to the chamber roof. This way the incoming fuel has an open area to go rather than a wall to hit. "Mike" ========== Sep2005 --------------------------- Pilot bushing ( Flywheel) -------------------- ////(id/od & length) and/or crossover for a pilot bushing (for a clutch change over) for a 1952 Commander V-8? Part number 510168////// pilot bushing from a '62-late seventies Mopar V8 is the same as the Stude. pilot bushing for 1951 to 1964 V-8's is: BCA PB286 or PB286HD (heavy duty) or an SKF B286. -------------------------------- 10 Oct 2005 Cast rings will last about 40 to 60k. Longer if good maintenence is done, regular oil changes, maybe even the use of the synthitics. They are easy on the block. Will seat themselves easily on a non re-bore provided the surface isn't to abnormal. When next overhaul comes, 99% of the time a simple re-ring is all that will be needed. They really do tend to save a block. Not so critical now, but the supply of good core engines can't last forever. I like Chrome rings. But, they are a bit harder to seat, especially if your not boring the engine. It just doesn't like to reshape itself to conform to any abnormal surface area. On a non re-bore, they may take a while to seat, or they may not seat if the surface is to abnormal. They are a bit harder on the block then cast, but don't seem to cause the same extreme wear problem (down the road) that a moly ring will. You should get 60 to 100k out of them. With the high nickle contend in the Studebaker block these may provide the best answer, or compromise. Most of the high mileage engines I've rebuilt (where a factory chrome ring was used) 100k+ I've only had to bore .010 to clean a block up. Some times .020 on the really high mileage ones, but rarely any more. Moly chrome rings are extremely hard and unless the bore is perfectly (near as possible) round and the cross cut extremely fine, may never seat. It could take up to 4 to 6k miles to seat, if at all. While these type of rings last a very long time, they aren't necessarily nice to blocks. So, you might very well get 100 to 130k out of them before major overhaul, but 99% of the time you will most definately have to bore a lot when that overhaul comes. These are the best rings money can buy, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are the wisest to use. Bead blasting merely super cleans the head in preparation for sealing and painting. Nothing more. It's a nicety like surfacing the head, and block. No real advantage unless something is wrong with either and you keep blowing head gaskets. I'd pull the pistons, mic the cylinders for wear, check the pistons for wear, see what kind of rings was last used and go from there. If they used chrome rings and the bore is still pretty tight I don't see a problem. Just be aware that it may take them (the new rings) a while to seat. The Teflon seals are good, but really an extra nicety. They last longer, but I'm not sure that compensates for the price. 80k miles out of an the standard Studebaker valve seal is all right with me, as I don't expect them to last forever.markhamb@earthlink.net