The transmission is a TKO-600  5 speed transmission.  The clutch is hydraulically activated.  The rules require a safety shield or a safety bell housing.  Since nobody builds a safety bell housing for a Studebaker engine I adapted a Chevrolet safety bell housing by drilling it and adding some bosses to fit the Studebaker engine.  See the page 3 photo's.  The clutch is hydraulically actuated as this was the easiest way to do it.

The engine is a Studebaker V8.  In order to run in an E engine class the engine was over-bored and de-stroked to produce 260 cubic inches.  The crankshaft was a new 259 crankshaft that was de-stroked and uses 1.88 diameter rod bearings.  The crankshaft was also nitrided for added durability.  The mains were modified by machining them and adding straps.  Afterwards the mains were line bored.  An ATI crankshaft damper is used with a custom made crankshaft hub.  

The standard Avanti V8 is 289 cubic inches.   The R3 and R4 engines were 304.5 cubic inches.  An Avanti with one of the standard size engines would run in D class.  An Avanti owned by Dave Bloomberg is the current record holder in Classic Production Supercharged D class. 

The connecting rods were custom built to our requirements.  See the page 3 photo's. The pistons are also custom built to our specifications.   The block preparation included modification of the main bearing caps to add reinforcement straps, line boring and machining the deck surface to obtain equal height side to side and front to rear.  A roller cam is used with a total lift of over .600 inches.  The heads have been modified with 1.84 inch intake valves and 1.6 inch exhaust valves.  The existing heads have had a significant amount of porting work performed.  The rocker arms are aluminum roller using a modified Studebaker shaft and stands.  See photo on page 3 photo's. 

The oil system has been converted to a dry sump system.  The pump is belt driven from  the crankshaft.  The oil pan is a modified stock oil pan.  An accumulator is also used to protect the engine in case of an oil pump failure.

The Since electronic fuel injection is not allowed in classic production classes a mechanical fuel injection system is utilized.  The fuel injection system is an Airflow Performance unit that is frequently used in racing airplanes.  It is based on the Bendix constant flow design with a number of enhancements.  The unit measures air flow through a venturi system and the fuel flow is directly controlled by the air flow.  The air metering system sits in front of the supercharger so the amount of boost will not affect the fuel air ratio.  The supercharger is a Paxton Novi 2000 driven with a multi-grove belt.

The rear axle is the stock Dana 44 converted to use flanged axles.  Brakes front and rear are stock Studebaker.

In the current configuration we expect to have a top speed of about 180 mph.  Future modifications should provide enough power to get to 200 mph.  At the bottom of the page is a chart that shows an estimate of required horsepower vs speed for an Avanti.

If you are interested in seeing more information on racing at Bonneville or El Mirage you can go to the SCTA-BNI website  www.scta-bni.org.