Hello! - and some questions...

mikeyb

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,



I´m new to this forum and hope you can help me. I have been restoring a 1949 Hudson Super Six for 7 years now. The original block was cracked so I put in a 1951 308. After having the engine rebuildt and putting the car together again I made my first big trip with the Hudson to the Power Big Meet in Sweden this year (see www.bigmeet.com). After a total of roughly 2000 miles the car had consumed about 2 quarts of oil and 1 turn signal bulb.

However, one thing worries me a bit: on the left front side of the engine, right betwee the cylinder head and the gasket, a small droplet of water is leaking after the engine is stopped. Not much, just a few drops. And only after stopping the engine... not while running. The drops run down the block, evaporate and leave blue marks because of the antifreeze. There is no water in the engine oil, and there is no oil in the water drops. And there is no significant amount of water missing in the radiator even after a few thousand miles. So I guess it doesn´t do any harm... water has just found a way outside between the gasket and the cyl. head. Still, I´m not sure so I would appreciate your comments. There is no other Hudson stepdown owner in my country that I know of, so information here is pretty limited. So far I have not re-tigtened the cylinder head bolts.



The second question is an easy one... I just recently purchased some stuff from the HET club store and now I´m the proud owner of a Hudson Specifications decal, a Patent decal and a set of lube stickers. Where exactly is the right place on the car to put them? I couldn´t find any info in the shop manual...



Thank you very much! Hudsonly



Mike

RL Chilton

Hi Mike! Welcome to the forum! You took too long to get here! Regardless, welcome to the mix.

As far as your head goes, if it was not re-tightened after your initial run-in, or at the 500 mile mark, you should certainly re-torque those heads. 60-65 ft. lbs. is std. for a stock motor. Make sure you follow the correct tightening sequence as designated in your shop manual. After re-torquing, check again for troublesome leak in same spot as you have it now. If the re-torquing does not correct it, then a new head gasket is the order of the day. If as you say, there is no oil in the water, and no water in the oil, you could probably live with the leak, but I wouldn't as it probably will develop a more severe problem in the future.

As far as your reproduction stickers, the spec. decal goes to the left of the hood latching mechanism (under the hood). The patent decal goes on the cowl, right side of the car (passenger side if a LH drive), up high on the flat area about 1/3 of the way between the right side and the center of the car (hope that makes sense). Lube stickers can go anywhere as they are an owner-used item. Typically they go either on the driver door jamb between the hinges, or sometimes on the strike side of the driver door.

Got any pictures? Sure would love to see your car.

mikeyb

Thank you very much for the info, Russel! Attached find two pix from our Sweden trip!



Mike

RL Chilton

Thanks, Mike. Looks like a cool ride, love the fishtail exhaust.

mikeyb

Russel, would you recommend re-torque with cold or with hot engine?

nick s

mikeyb wrote:

Russel, would you recommend re-torque with cold or with hot engine?

answer: yes.

actually it depends on the head cast iron hot, aluminum cold. it will take a few temp cycles and re-torqueing before its done. 75-80 ft-lb

RL Chilton

Mike-

Checked out the website. Wow! Didn't know there was so many American Autos in Sweden.

Also, some pretty good pics of Swedish women in bikinis! My, my, my! That's almost better than a Hudson . . . almost.:D

onerare39

Love the color and Love the flames...Nice Job!



For what it's worth, I torque the aluminim head on my 308 at 65 ft-lbs. cold.



P.S. The current 2008-2010 HET Club Roster shows 10 members in Sweeden, 33 automobiles (18 stepdowns in that group)... you're not alone out there.



Join the club, it's International !



John



P.P.S - Mike, if the Big Meet internet server just crashed it's because of Russell's last post. :rolleyes:

mikeyb

Thank you gang for all your thoughts! - actually I´m from Germany, 2000 mls south of Sweden. Restoring and cruising classic American cars is extremely popular in Sweden, especially with young people. The "Big Meet" is like a huge carnival, with more than 10000 classic US cars meeting each year - as opposed to the more "static" classic car meets that we are used to. There are even a lot of Americans attending each year... one of them is Jay Leno who donated his own "Jay Leno Award". As much as I remember, the winner this year was a meticoulously restored late-40s Chevrolet Gasoline truck!



And yes, the Swedish Ladies are wonderful. And everybody speaks English there!



@Hudson 308: this is what I originally thought. The aluminum might have a different thermal expansion coefficient than the cast iron block, so it would put stress on the gasket when heating up and cooling down again. Actually some old Mercedes inline 6 have the same problem. I will take a pic of my head later and show it here, so maybe you can tell me if it´s the aluminum head that I have?



BTW, here´s the reason why I put the fishtails on... those flames just look better with them!

rambos_ride

mikeyb wrote:

Thank you gang for all your thoughts! - actually I´m from Germany, 2000 mls south of Sweden. Restoring and cruising classic American cars is extremely popular in Sweden, especially with young people. The "Big Meet" is like a huge carnival, with more than 10000 classic US cars meeting each year - as opposed to the more "static" classic car meets that we are used to. There are even a lot of Americans attending each year... one of them is Jay Leno who donated his own "Jay Leno Award". As much as I remember, the winner this year was a meticoulously restored late-40s Chevrolet Gasoline truck!

And yes, the Swedish Ladies are wonderful. And everybody speaks English there!

@Hudson 308: this is what I originally thought. The aluminum might have a different thermal expansion coefficient than the cast iron block, so it would put stress on the gasket when heating up and cooling down again. Actually some old Mercedes inline 6 have the same problem. I will take a pic of my head later and show it here, so maybe you can tell me if it´s the aluminum head that I have?

BTW, here´s the reason why I put the fishtails on... those flames just look better with them!

Mikeyb - Just use a magnet to test the head. The magnet shouldn't stick if it's aluminum.

BTW - Really great looking car - Great Job!

mikeyb

Great idea! - I just tried with the magnet and it sticks. So I have the iron head.



Here´s a pic of the truck that got the Jay Leno Award:

Park_W

Mike, on that coolant leak, I would look VERY closely at the cylinder head just above where you're finding the drops, to see if it could be from one of the hoses or the thermostat housing gasket. I've found that often a little coolant will seep out of those places, run down the side of the head and stop at the gasket or block, without leaving much of a trace of where it came from.

mikeyb

Park, here´s a pic of my water leak. It´s on the left side of the cylinder head. Those tiny drops definitely come out between the gasket and the head. But only after running! (probably the water evaporates before it can form a droplet when the engine is running)