Short adventure, My ' 49 Hudson

Hudsonrules

Yesterday, Saturday, I decided to take my '49 Hudson Super "6" Driver for a good run to Reno-Sparks. There was a swap meet going on and I wanted to go. It was okay if you wanted new wtuff and chnese tools, not much older stuff for any car, let alone Hudson. I did find some '52-'53 wasp tailights but the owner just wanted to "display" them. I will never know where they come up with their prices.
The Hudson done pretty well on the way, but on the return, I stopped for a bite, went back to the Hudson andpushed the stater button, Nothing. Finally started it with a 12 volt jumper and continued onthe return trip home. The engine started just fine after a couple stops, but then cruising down the hiway, the overdrive stopped working. Drove a bout twelve miles and the engine really began missing, turned off the hiway ito an parking lot, coasted under a shade tree as the engine had quit. I made a couple phone calls and waited.A guy pulls up and told me he has a Hudson Pacemaker, so we talked Hudsons for awhile, My wife called me and told me a ride was coming.
Once home , I got the car trailer and away we went to retrieve the Hudson. The Hudson started right up and drove onto the trailer, ran about the same as always, a slight miss. Chained her down and brought her home. That was the fartest I had driven that car in the seven years that I have had it. Going into the shop and start making it more reliable. My wife wants me to get out of Hudson's and do yard work. But the Hudson bug does bite and stays with a person. Arnie in Nevada

[Deleted User]

Tinker with it and fix what is off kilter with it .Take it out for a drive and see how things go this time. if you find an issue comes up go back to the shop and address that problem .You do this a few times and drive farhter each time.
Before long you will be like so many of us Hudson guys that dont hesitate to take a 300 mile run in our car anytime we want.
Roger

Jon B

Not meaning to start handing out advice, but these old cars really need to be exercised often, or they get cranky. Also, the more you drive, the more these little quirks make themselves evident, so the quicker you can iron them out. The cars just go to pot when they sit around.

Just taking some wild guesses, it might be that either the generator is going bad or something is wrong with the voltage regulator, because it sounds like the battery was running down. After the car stopped, the battery "revived" briefly, enough to get the car running for a short time.

OR, something is going wrong when the engine gets hot -- such as a bad coil or a defective condenser. (I'm assuming your problem is electrical and not a case of vapor lock, because it sounds like you definitely had a lack of "juice".)

OR (as Super Dave notes below) you may simply have a bad battery (or ground) connection. Remove cables and ground straps from battery and clean the clamps and the battery post. Make sure the ground strap has a good contact with the frame and that there is a second ground strap from the engine to the frame.

If I were you, I'd get that car out on the next good weekend to see if the problem replicates itself. But "go prepared". First, if you can get it started, try testing the generator output and see if the battery is charging. Then replace the condenser (my experience is, it's ALWAYS the condenser). Then get some ice out of the fridge and put it in a cooler in the trunk, so that if the car suddenly stops again, you can "cool" the coil to see if that gets the car going again. Now head out on the road, maybe with a friend in a car behind you, not too far from home, and try to replicate the breakdown you just had. Only now you are going to have all sorts of tools, testing devices and spare parts to help. Maybe you can even borrow someone's old 6-volt battery and charge it up, to carry along and get you home.

TwinH

^ That ice comes in handy to cool down the fuel pump also,if you suspect vapor lock
screwing up your fuel delivery...Good Luck and have fun!

SuperDave

Gee, Sounds like some really bad battery connections to me. Check them all at both ends.

RonS

A few years ago I had a similar case, although I have a hydromatic. As Jon and Dave said, chect ALL electrical connections. I had a loose ignition wire at the starter relay. I must have been distracted and never fully tightened down the small screw and lock washer so the contact would "make and break" erraticly.

hudsonjeff

I had that type promblem with 51 super. It woould run perfect when cold but when warmed up it would spit sputter and hardly run. This problem happened on the way home from a show 2 hrs away ran great until 20 miles from home. Turned out to be the metal strip the points are mounted on had a small crack that when warm would change the gap.