engine

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I understand that the 8 cylinder engine was developed by Studebaker. What year was the crankshaft drilled for oil passages? When was hydraulic lifters introduced on the 8 cylinder engine?

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David,

It’s clear,that without Studebaker,Pierce-Arrow wouldn’t have had

the money to develope/produce the straight eight.Development must

have been collaborative as the end products had interchangeable

components(some)and yet were not the same.The P-A block was poured

in a South Bend foundary of harder material and the rest of the

manufacturing was in Buffalo to the highest of standards.

Studebaker went on to break scores of records with their straight

eight.Ab Jenkins drove to set some of the score of records

Studebaker set in 1929.

Hydraullic lifters first came out Nov. ’32 on 1933 models.I own

a 1934 P-A 836A with non-hydraullic lifters.This was done as a

cost-cutting maneuver to compete in a lower price bracket.You

could buy a Pierce for about the same price as a Chrysler

Airflow Custom Imperial(their mid sized offering)or a Buick

98C convertible phaeton(top of the line).Very good condition

price today is $70K for the Buick,$136K for the Chrysler(they

made 106 of them)and $66K for the Pierce(500 ’34s,300 ’35s

est.).

I don’t know about the drilled crankshaft,but my 1912 Marmon

32 has one.Also attempts at hydrallic lifters go back to the

earliest times of the twentieth century. Tony Costa

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It is my understanding that some of both the bodies and the engines were built and developed in Studebaker shops, however the workers were Pierce employees temporarily working there to bring out the new ‘eights’. The design was created quickly, but early designs were started while talks were still in progress between Pierce and Studebaker. Though some parts are interchangeable (very few, I understand) these engines are really different from each other. My comments come from careful reading PAS material-some factory original printings, and Otto’s remarks.

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The only engine parts that are the same are valves and springs. And only for the President series. I have seen a Stude head on a 32 Pierce, but am not sure if ALL the coolent passages line up. The valve interchange only applies to 29 to 32. Some other Stude parts may fit, but only with modifications.

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Years ago I remember reading in the Bulletin or Arrow, that pierce put hydraulic lifters on six 1931 models on a trial basis. I’ll try to find it report back.

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I wish to thank Anthony, Willam, Edgar and Leo for thier comments.

the reason I asked about drilled crankshaft for oil galleries is that Studebaker introduced that feature in 1931 for thier eight cylinder engines.

regards to all.

Dave

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There were some fundamental differences between the early Studebaker President eights and the Pierce eight introduced in 1929. The President has five main bearings while the Pierce eight has nine. The crank on the ’29 Pierce is fully drilled for pressure lubrication to the mains and rods.

I did not know that a drilled crank was not used on the Presidents until 1931. That would imply to me that the earlier engines are splash lubricated? I’m guessing that the ’31 Presidents were the beginning of the nine main bearing engines in the Studebaker line.

Bill

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Pierce drilled their crankshafts way back in the earliest years when the oil was gravity fed from an elevated tank above the exhaust manifold to the main bearings etc.

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Back in the late 60’s or early 70’s, I discovered notes from the engineering department from Pierce-Arrow in Medina, N.Y. Medina is 30-40 miles from Buffalo. These notes explained that the timing gears on the 29 Pierce-Arrow and Studebaker were The same. This caused great consternation on the part of Pierce purists, who had been fighting the so called Studebaker stigma for years. I gave the stuff to Bernie for the club, I don’t know where they are now.

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