Thread: Stude M5 build

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Hey, I'm new here and want to share some pictures of my current build. It's a 48 I got in Nevada with the usual truck rust areas, but pretty good considering it's age. I got it with no drive train or interior. I decided I wanted a modern chassis so I got a 95 explorer and stripped it down to the frame, sold the extra parts and came out with a free rolling frame with an 8.8 posi, 4 wheel disc brakes and torsion independant front suspension with rack and pinion. The track and wheel base were very close to the original truck, just has to cut the back of the cab opening a little wider to get it to sit down on the frame.

Made some cab mounts utilizing the explorer body mounts.

Welcome to CHR.
You've been busy.
It looks good.

Welcome and thanks for the intro and pictures as that is one thing we love here. Stude's are a vehicle that have become popular to rod now in the last few years as I would think most of the earlier guys would of placed them in the " Too ugly bin " but I think the design features of the body were very cool. I hope you continue with the build thread as I for one will follow along. Again, thanks and welcome to the Club family.

I agree, thanks for the pics and sharing the build. A Stude is really very rare , you just don't see them all that often.

Keep up the good work.

Thanks guys, I have more pictures to load up. I always wanted to do a 50's stude until I saw a 40's one on craigslist and fell in love with it's funky looks. I've always been one to look for the unusual at car shows, you see so many of the same ford and chevys, not that there's anything wrong with them- they are awesome that's why they're so popular.
I'm trying to not go the easy way and buy pre made parts, I want to fab as much as I can and get as much as I can at pick n pull.

I did some work on the bed. The steel floor was ruff so I decided to do a wood floor, so the side were cut off and I put in some trailer fender steel for mini tubs. I got a new tailgate and bed front from Mac products that are really nice. I still have to build an under frame support and mounts for the bed. Sorry the pictures aren't in order.

We don't care if the pics are in order!
We just love build pics! And I can see you are very talented in the metal work. That's great.. 8-)

Excellent beginning. Great job on matching the Explorer chassis with the Studebaker cab. I could not have found a better match myself.

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Next I pulled the cab off and drug it into the yard to blast it so I could start the rust repair. I've never done a build this old, my oldest car was a 56 chevy, this really requires a lot of heavy lifting.

The back of the cab, the cab corners and the driver's side floor were the worst. I got some poorly made patch panels for the cab corners, didn't even come close to matching the compound curves, but with some hammering etc. I made them fit. The floor panel was an ebay one that looked really nice but didn't fit at all.

More of the same

Next I got an ebay 5.3 chevy motor that was not as described, to make a long story short I had to completely rebuild the "35k" motor-lesson learned I guess. These ls motors are not like the old small blocks, they are a pain to put together. Every step of the process required a new tool and technique and ls parts are way more expensive. Did most of the wiring mods but still need to send the computer off for a reprogram. Made some motor mounts out of channel and plate.

Originally Posted by DennyW

Excellent... I got my wide trailer fenders also, that I still have to fit in. But the cost was way cheaper, and the metal thickness is like the old days... Thick...

If you buy actual tubs they are super expensive.

Nice build you have going here! You are doing great work on it. Nice fab and sheet metal work too! Those LS engine parts do add up quick.