Tom I went over a 34-6 chevy twilight inner reflector with cleaner wax and jewelers rouge on a buffer wheel, more wax. There was no corrosion because the bucket is brass. Came out perfectly servicable and no need to send in for re-silvering

What did it look like before you started? Mine is nearly black with spots that appear to be corrosion pits. I think it must be on brass too as its non ferrous.

I decided to send back the painless fuse box I had and ordered another with all the wires attached so all I have to do is feed them to the needed place and cut to length and attach.

I also have been studying the instrument panel and am back to using the original one. I can get the temp guage repaired and fitted with a fitting that will screw into the mb head. So I gotta figure out how to interface the other functions too.

I like that! I think it's cool to keep enough of the original vehicle so that you can relate to it but upgrade the rolling stock so it's safe and usable in today's world. Being able to look down at a basically stock dash reminds you that this IS a Studebaker.

Dan

Does anybody know what the gear ratio of the stock 123 transmission drive is for the speedometer? I want to match it to my 39 Studebaker speedo head and presume I need a reduction or speed up gear to make them work together.

Mine were just clowdy/milky tarnished.

Tom - In the Detroit area was (maybe is) a speedo shop named Bob's Speedometers. They had a little chassis dyno with a calibrated speedo and they could take your car up to a given actual speed (seems like they used 50) and read the indicated speed then build a little gear reduction box that attached to the trans and corrected the reading. I'll wager there's someone in your area that can do this, as well. As long as you can physically hook the cable to the speedo head they can fix the cal.

Dan

Thanks Dan! I was thinking someone could do exactly that.

I think I will put my drill on the stude speedo and the mb speedo and see how different they read.

I gave up on modifying the instruments I have and bought a new speedometer. I will have to have an aluminum panel made but it all will fit inside my stock dash trim panel. I'll have a 3 3/8" mechanical speedo with trip meter, water temp, oil pressure, fuel, and ammeter gauges. All with traditional black faces and white numbers and chrome or stainless bezels.

Today it hit me to paint it light Khaki with a brown interior. We are ready to begin the painting process now.

Light khaki is a nice period color. I like it.

Thanks!

Good choice from the perspective of body conditioning time. Black requires a lot more hours preparation as it magnifies any issues present greatly.

The amount of hours even a really good body man can spend especially getting an older vehicle ready for paint. Can be extensive.

I used to get a now deceased friend on mine to do things that were beyond my skill level. He could find things to correct that I could not even detect.

The fenders and body of the Stude are covered with dings and dents. It has dents on top of dents, creases and a million small cracks. He has been straightening and welding as he went.

At least the base metal is thick enough to work and stay stable. I do not know how much room is available but some decent soundproofing of the cab might be a consideration.

Most old trucks had noisy cabs in comparison to what we have today. I guess that could be seen as having some appeal to some as well.

I would not want the unit to sound like a 240d on audio steroids myself if it were my truck. But again that is just me. Plus it is not my truck.