Notes about the Avanti II 'Rake"  ( or lack of it)

The Studebaker Avanti body was designed to mount on the Lark Daytona 
convertible chassis.  Slight modifications to the Daytona frame were made to 
accomplish this.  The Avanti body, when bolted flat to the frame has a 
significant 'rake' to the front end.  The styling concept of the Avanti was 
taken from pieces of the aviation community by Loewy and his team.  The 
overhead guages, red instrunment lights, flat seating, etc.  The lowered 
front end attributed to the aerodynamics of the car and in effect would 
cause the front of the car to be forced downward at speed, increasing the 
stability, etc.

When the Avanti II was introduced, the rake was eliminated, much to the 
chagrin of many.  No real reason was given for the change, except that it 
was inferred to be necessary to clear the newly retro-fitted GM small block 
engine. Many purists would rather have the rake, so odd ventures  to 
accomplish this have been noted.

The suspension has nothing to do with the rake, it's entirely body oriented.  
If you play with the front or rear springs, you'll be upsetting the geometry 
of the suspension and steering.  The alignment specs dictate a preferred 
caster setting of 0 degrees, which will translate into a negative setting 
 if the frame is raised in the rear.  This will cause the 'Shopping cart" 
wobble if your tierod ends are the slightest bit worn out of spec.

Comments from owners..
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I had the usual 350/300 with quadrajet, big flat air cleaner, Delcotron 
alternator, smog pump and York air conditioner compressor.  The problem, 
I believe, was the alternator because it sat on top of the DS valve cover, 
then the air cleaner.  When I started, there was a pack of 1/4" shims at 
the radiator core support totalling about 2.25 inches.  I got it down to 1.5 
inches and had to call it quits.  The easiest way to find out how much 
clearance you have, is to get some modelling clay and roll out some small 
cylinders around 1/2" by 2".  Place them on components under the hood when 
the engine is cold.  Then, drop the hood from about 2 feet and let the 
cylinders get squashed.   After you open the hood again, you can find the 
shortest one and that's  the limit.  I know, from hearsay, there was a 
fellow in the Philidelphia area, back in the late 60's  who was taking  
Avanti II's and dropping them back on the frame, but not without modifications.
  I understand he was using an engine mount from an early Corvette, that 
bolted to the front of the engine.  The mount  was a large plate that 
spanned the entire engine.   My slant on this is, if you try and drop the 
engine, you'll run into a problem with the oilpan and steering bellcrank 
and the mechanical fuel pump on the main crossmember.   Maybe the 327's had a 
shallower pan and skinnier pump??....  Jim Pearce ( Florida AOAI Chapter), 
owns a 63 with a GM 283 small block and a 700R4 trans.  His car still has 
the  Stude rake.  I cornered him at the 97 International Meet in South 
Bend and picked his brain.  He revealed that only with extensive 
modifications ( modified engine mounts that pushed the engine back and 
down 2 inches, smaller crank pulleys to clear the bellcrank, etc) was he 
able to accomplish  his goal.  If any of you have seen his car, it's a 
real work of art, so 'seein is believin'.  I've never refurbished the rear 
springs on my car.  They do sit flat, but I still carry a lot of spares. 
( old Stude tradition)  The front springs are also original and still seem 
fit after 150,000 miles.  It could be that they are somewhat weak and have 
allowed the car to settle, attributing to the squat stance, but it still a 
bit higher in the rear.  Currently, I'm at the limit of travel downward on 
the body. After installing the supercharger and then modifying the mounting 
bracket to sit at a lower point, I had to roll the volute around to the 5 
o clock position to gain the current clearance( 3/8" to the hood).  Doing 
this required modifying the blower to box connection with a S shaped series 
of 3" copper pipe sections.  Looks a bit dredgy, but works.  Like Chuck 
said, at some point, Altmans cars discarded the 1/4" steel shims and  started 
using lifts welded to the frame.  All the cars before this are fair game 
for the face-lift (drop?!) 


If your car is like my 84 you will have very little or no 
engine/hood clearance.  I put a new hood liner (about 3/4 inch thick) on my 
hood and you can see where the engine touches the hood liner.  Not much 
clearance at all.

You will also find that there are some bumpers on the lower A Frames that, at 
least on my 84, are on some extensions to limit the travel of the lower A 
frame.  This Dan Booth told me was related to the changes made in the 
relationship of the body and frame when the GM motors were added.  There were 
some design changes to the front fenders that modified the wheel openings.  I 
do know the bumper extensions that are on my 84 do not exist on the earlier 
Studebaker Avantis and are not shown in the parts catalog.

Regards, Tim TimJackman@aol.com 







A man named Tommy Thompkins who used to live in the Boston suburbs/dealt in
Avantis  (in the 70's) lowered a number of Avantis II.  His take on it was
the additional height was needed to clear the York piston A/C compressor.
He took out the shims and fender wheel opening sections, installed GM rotary
compressors and had no clearance problems.  He liked the rake and believed
they handled better with the original rake.  My limited high speed
experience confirmed that.  My '66 had a lot of float over 100 mph where my
'63 R-2 didn't.
Paul Johnson
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