North Florida machine shop

befishers1

I have a Hudson 8 that I am starting to rebuild and I am looking for a good machine shop as close to North Florida (Jacksonville) as possible. Any recommendations?

Also, my pistons are stamped as C size but when I look in the shop manual they don't mention a C size, is it between a B and a D? The motor was rebuilt at some point over the years, the pistons appear to be original with replacement pinned rings, but maybe the C size suggests otherwise.

RL Chilton

I wouldn't even mess around with a machine shop that does not have experience dealing with Hudson engines, particularly an 8, because you need someone who knows how to handle a babbit-bearing-engine. I took my engine to one of the best, Wildrick Restorations in Shelbyville, Indiana. I live in South Texas. I know what to expect when I get it back and it's from people who know how to handle these extremely hard, chromium-alloy engine blocks.

SuperDave

I have my 49 eight in a shop in St. Pete....Godwin-Singer... Closest I could find to Melbourne. HAH! At least a 3 hour drive.They do have a resident Babbitt guy. They are not cheap and certainly not fast! LOL. One other shop in central Florida said they thought they could find inserts to use. I knew from that statement that they had no experience with these engines. I think I took it there in early February.. Still there. I only needed the bottom end done since the pistons and valves were excellent. Dale Cooper in Cincinnati has the gaskets and internal parts you need. They also have new lifters/cam followers. A bit pricey.. but available.
We have an OBC Hudson meet in Melbourne, May11th at Wickham Park. Please attend. email me for details. HETDWAD1939@att.net.. drop the HET.
Dave

Kdancy

befishers, check your message box.

SuperDave

Update on Godwin-Singer. I forgot to mention that they furnish a CD showing "your" engine being done. That is unique. The next best thing to being there .. I got an email yesterday telling me it's done. The amount of time it took was reasonable considering the amount of hand work that goes into pouring and machining 13 bearings! Turning the crank, line boring, cleaning the block etc. I don't have the final Bill yet. My plan is to pick it up Thursday and bring it back to my shop. That will take up most of the day. I will report more as the project unfolds. Being able to do my own transporting saved me a bundle of $ compared to the Hassel of placing stuff on a pallet and shipping via truck to an out of state machine shop. These eights seem to be much heavier than a 308 ! or am I just getting weak?

[Deleted User]

I have never weighed one but remember somewhere it was said they weighed about 1100 lb.
Roger

SuperDave

Got the engine back in the shop today. A three hundred mile round trip in Snow bird traffic.. Ha... Godwin-Singer (St. Petersburg Fl.) did a superb job on the engine. Tom knows his stuff. I am a happy camper. The CD showed me a lot of problems he encountered. this engine was the victim of a ham fisted dumbass "mechanic". Tom was able to save it and I think it's going to be just fine. No need to go into details here, but it's safe to say.. I am happy . Godwin-Singer gets a thumbs up from here. My total $$$ was $3,059.50 I now have to assemble the valve train, install all the "stuff" and put it back in the car.... for the last time...