Chapter 3 Things Heat Up

About this same time period I had arranged to buy a rust free 1964 GT Hawk from a friend in Ohio. I hadn't picked the car up yet and it was taking up valuable storage space. After loading the car into the trailer, the seller and I stopped for lunch and as car guys are wont to do, began talking about automobilia.

 

Nels is a big Studebaker fan and has several significant cars and engines in his collection. On my first visit to Nels' shop not only had he shown me the Hawk which I bought, but many other cars as well. The one that stood out in my mind was a Daytona that had been the cover story for Hot Rod magazine in 1964. Nels was just beginning to restore the car on that first visit. On this occasion I asked how the project was faring. What I heard was an incredible story about the original R3 engine being separated from the car by Andy Granatelli's shop. In its place was a highly modified engine with a special crankshaft, cam and pistons.

Nels went on to tell how he had found the original engine and purchased it, then started a search for the car. Obviously, he found and procured said vehicle and reunited it with the rare hardware with which it was born.  And this set into motion events that would bring the Hawk, that nasty block, and genuine Granatelli ingenuity together.

My curiosity aroused, I asked what the modified engine had been. As the story goes, the Granatelli's had been on a quest for the same thing I was now, displacement. Their answer was to build the longest stroke crankshaft ever attempted in a Studebaker V8 block. By using a stock Studebaker forged crankshaft for a 289cid engine and welding massive amounts of material on the rod throws, they were then able to move the rod journals outward over 5/16's of an inch. The normal stroke on a 289 was 3.625". The story had it this crankshaft boasted a tremendous stroke of 4.250"!!

How did they do it? Did it work? What were the other changes required to the engine to accomodate this? The questions were popping up faster than I could register the answers.

At that time, Nels explained he couldn't really answer my questions as he had yet to tear the modified motor down. He was busy with the restoration of the car and its original engine. As best I could I calmed myself enough to get a commitment that I would get first word and first shot at the internal rotating assembly when he had time to take the engine apart. And then, it could all be for naught. Many myths surround the goings and comings of experimental parts and engines. Plus, 48 years had elapsed since the motor was built. It might all just be a story.

 

Several months passed. Then word from Nels. He was going to tear the engine down and peek inside. Questions were sent and pictures came back. More questions asked and more pictures and measurements returned. It was true. A monster stroke Studebaker crankshaft had been built. Nels promised he would bring the parts to South Bend for the annual swap meet held in the Spring.

 

 

Then, a major catastrophe. In February was working on my sawmill in preparation for cutting lumber for Lisa, my wife's, and my dream house. I found myself alone and on fire. Gasoline had sprayed out of the carb on the sawmill engine hitting me in the chest and then ignited. In trying to put myself out I staggered through the old gasoling I had emptied from the fuel tank on the mill. It was pretty ugly. Two weeks in the burn unit and enough pain to last the rest of my life. But, I kept telling myself, "If you get out of here, you are going to South Bend in May." And thanks to a lot of prayers and hard work, I did.

 

Despite my wife and family's objections I went to the South Bend meet. Sure enough, Nels had the rotating assembly wrapped in towels to keep the grease and oil from staining his upholstery. We carried the parts in to Ted Harbit's tables inside, laid everything out, and the discussion and dissection began.

 

The rod journals were moved out far enough that steel plates had to be welded to the counterweights to balance it.

 

The modified engine couldn't have run very long. The ink confirming the bob weight needed for balance was still visible.

 

The bearing journals we perfect with the rod journals were 0.002" under Studebaker spec and the mains were dead on. No scratches or blemishes to be seen.

 

How did they swing that huge stroke in a Studebaker block?  Our initial thought was the obvious reduced base circle cam.  It was a full 1/4" smaller than an R2 cam we compared it to.  And dwarfed by the roller cam I had gotten for the project.

On further inspection, that cam had been destroyed by the lifters, presumably, by the excess valve spring pressure they tried to run.

Nels wanted to keep the R3 rods used in the rotating assembly, so I returned home with the crankshaft, pistons, cam and lifters on top of the world.

That brings us back to that nasty block, race candidate number 1.

 

Chapter 2 This Needs SALT

My first exposure to land speed racing was by way of a fellow I had met purchasing my first Studebaker, a 5,000 mile all original R2 Avanti. Greg had found the car, stored in a garage for the last 43 years, and brought it to running condition. When I answered the ad I had no idea what chain of events would be triggered. You see, Greg had another Studebaker that he was racing at Bonneville. A 1953 coupe that was run with several powerplants and had already set several records.

Months later, when Greg came by our place to check in on my progress with the Avanti, I learned of the Salt2Salt race team. After a few war stories I was hooked. After meeting the rest of the team at a swap meet and, unbeknownst to me, passing the verbal interview, I was asked to join their effort.  Later that year I made the pilgrimage to the salt with the Salt2Salt team and the die was cast.

 

Very quickly, a plan I had been working on, namely running a GT Hawk at the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Races, was detoured to run the car at Bonneville first. In the 2 day drive back home we scoured the rule book for a configuration to run the Hawk on the salt. It didn't take long to decide to run as Studebaker did in the early '60's; a stock bodied car with safety and endurance modifications to represent the brand and follow the sales mantra of the 60's. "What wins on Sunday sells on Monday." Thus the Classic Production Supercharged class was selected. But what about engine size?

Studebaker as an engine manufacturer had a long and storied past of successful endurance engines. The last of the line was a group of V8's, the fastest of which were supercharged. But displacement was not their strong suit. The largest displacement V8 raced and sold by Studebaker was the R3 and R4 engines. With a displacement of 304.5 cubic inches, modern racing classes at Bonneville would place those engines near the top of D Class by Southern California Timing Association (SCTA). The destroked engine was 259 cubic inches which falls into Class E. Studebaker engines are raced to this day at Bonneville, many holding and breaking world speed records in those classes.

 

The Salt 2 Salt boys had built a 182 cubic inch V8 Studebaker engine.  In tech inspection, it was confirmed to be the smallest displacement Stude V8 ever run at Bonneville.  Always striving to be different and with a keen sense of symmetry, I felt it would be fun to build the largest displacement Studebaker that had ever been raced on the Salt. At the time, I was thinking about boring a block to the razor's edge. Enter fate.

Chapter 1 Introduction

First, a bit of explanation about the team name.  We use centrifugal superchargers in our engines in the Studebaker tradition of big power from small displacement.  If you look at a centrifugal supercharger from the intake scroll side you will notice the snail shell like appearance.  Of course, Snail Racing wouldn't be all that exciting, so we looked for a hook to create that double take moment. Making that snail rabid was just the touch needed.  Taking cues from the Super Bee and Mr Horsepower characters we worked out a crude logo and "Speedy" was born.  As our mascot, Speedy needed to represent Studebaker proudly, so he wears a helmet with the Lazy S logo.  And that gave us the team motto.

 Watch That "S" Car Go !!!!

  We would love to find a good Photoshopper who is excited about giving Speedy some improvements and bring him to life.  If you love creating graphics, have the talent and would like to contribute to our team effort, please contact Jim at jim@rabidsnailracing.com

 

 

  Our current race project is a 1964 Studebaker GT Hawk being prepared for the Bonneville Salt Flats to compete the C/CPS which means an engine between 306 and 372.99 cu. in. competing in Classic Production Supercharged.

 

  The race engine in it's final form is 362.6 c.i.d.  Of course, it must be supercharged by the same type of blower originally offered by the manufacturer.  In our case that means no turbos.  The blower must be a belt driven centrifugal piece.

 

   Over the next few days I will be adding information in a compressed time frame to catch everyone up to the point the project is at currently.

 

  Some pictures of the car as we acquired it below.

 

 

 

 

As you can see, this is an extremely good body without rust or mangled panels.  The interior is better than it looks.  The sun simply ate the seat upholstery and carpets, but the underlying material is solid.  There is not much happening with the body and chassis, but the engine program is moving along nicely.

 

Starting with a 1959 259cid block that was abandoned in a pine forest, the block came to us by way of Dan Miller via Matthew Burnett from the Atlanta, GA area.  The bare block was so rusted that we had to cut 0.040" in the cylinders just to get a sonic reading of the wall thickness.

On the same trip to GA, I stopped by Jeff Rice's DeepInHock Acres.  Jeff had a rolling chassis from a '63 GT Hawk, so I picked that up as well.  This allows me to build on the chassis before pulling the body from its original rolling stock.



 

 

 

In the next installment I will take you through the block's transformation from boat anchor to real racing bones.  You will also learn of an amazing coincidence that allowed the addition of another 103 cubic inches to that 53 year old block.