Solanki Performance Website and Aluminum Blocks (2023 Update)

Design the bellhousing area to accept modern housings .Choose the pattern of the most used 5 or 6 speed manual or auto and make it a bolt on.Any other choice would need to use a adapter plate.

Bob40

Billet aluminum blocks? Sounds cool. Cubic $$$, maybe? What about designing the block so the oil pan rail is full-circle, so you can use a one-piece flat neoprene gasket?

And definitely design it so that a one-piece seal can be used at the front and rear mains. If a stock Stude crank is used, that would require some sort of seal-matching hub be attached to the crank flange, but I think it's doable.

My .02 worth, anyhow.

Gord Richmond

If the internals remain Stude, I see a BIG advantage as to weight. It would be great to see a 259 cid that weighed a couple of hundred pounds less than the current 600+ lbs.

Are aluminum heads a possibility?

JT

First of all let me say WOW! That's a really cool project, wish I could afford one.

I'm sure you've thought of this but it seems like it would be a really good idea to get Ted's ideas.

Would you like to share with us what you are thinking a finished engine might be like? I bet it's going to be a bit bigger than an R3!

Can't afford it but it's fun to dream... how about a Champ pickup with a Studebaker 500cid alumnum V8

Jeff DeWitt

Sounds interesting. I watched this video on Dart blocks

I still don't undertand how they machine the water passages though? I would guess the big advantage, besides weight is that you could get a much bigger bore?

Alex

Is there even a market for something like this?

Lee

I'm only planning on making 3 blocks, mainly for myself as I don't think anyone will want to spend between 9-11K on a block. There are a few people out there that will buy and maybe I will sell 2 or 3, but I don't expect more than that. Again, this is just a personal project and if I sell one or two that would be cool, but if not, that is cool too. The problem is that where should the modifications stop. If too many modifications are done and the block is made so that everthing that is brand X bolts on, then is it really a Studebaker engine? I want the engine to look like a Stude, or it might as well just be a chevy, ford, or mopar.

nimesh

Okay now I understand, I thought you were building these to sell.

Ever thought about producing a marketable set of headers for a 289?

Lee

According to Ted Harbit, headers didn't help the performance of the Chicken Hawk and it's my understanding there are all kinds of clearance problems for headers with the starter and the steering box.

What I'd like to see for a Stude is workable, computer-controlled fuel injection and modern pollution controls. Here in Alberta the government is talking about special roadside cameras with pollution sensors to get "old technology" off the road. This from a committee headed by the same mindless idiot who dreamed up the changes to private auto insurance here that capped soft tissue bodily injury claims at $4,000 without reducing liability premiums the insurers were charging. As well, the feds are talking about incentives to send cars built before 1995 to the boneyards.

Brooksie

That was my immediate thought too... if you can bolt on everything Edelbrock ever made for a Bowtie or bellybutton, where is the Studebaker in it?

Brooksie

I was thinking the same thing. Too many changes and it's not a Studebaker. If you want it too look like a Stude, it seems you would have to use the stock heads or something close. If you use stock heads, isn't there a limit on how big you can make the valves? If you greatly increase the bore, can those valves feed a much bigger engine? The six bolts per cylinder design make for a strong engine but it limits intake and exhaust options. I think that is why the center ports are siamesed.

replying to nsolanki77, Jack Jeziorski wrote: I would like to talk with you about R-5545 which is sitting in my garage.

Supposedly when Studebaker made a limited number of R-3 heads they were designed for a proposed new block that would have been 340-350 c.I.. now those heads are extremely rare. If you could make those heads and then build a 340-350 ci block to accept them with Studebaker internals that would be awesome!