'54 Hudson Jet Race Car Project

SuperDave

Since this thread is about racing Jets...I met a fellow at an AACA meet here in Florida on Saturday, Mar 1st. He said his father raced a drag Jet with a 308. He was based in Maryland.  He seemed very knowledgeable  on the subject. His name is Andy Caldwell. He said he had numerous pictures posted on one of the social networks.. U tube, my space??  Can't find my note.. Maybe someone with expertise can find the site? He expressed interest in building a replica. I gave him a lead on a rusty jet. (aren't they all, here in Florida?)

Shaun1162

Ol racer that seems like a very good option- probably the width is relative close as well. How hard was it to build the brackets and center it in the car?

SuperDave, that sounds pretty interesting.. I'll try some searching and maybe I can find some info on it- I'll post some pictures if I do.

Ol racer

Was not difficult in my chassis. I ensuured the rack & T/Rods were in a straight line with the Hudson Steering Arms then centered and fabricated two brackets from 3/16" Angle welded to the front crossmember. Racks come in many widths so suggest walk a Scrap Yard and pick one that closely fits the Jet width ..

Shaun1162

Thanks for the advice- there's a couple local places that should have some good supply. Did you go power steering on your car? I'm guessing I would need it since the Jet is pretty light, but it would be kind of nice some times, and should be pretty easy to hook-up..

Ol racer

What are your plans for this Jet?
 I see Aluminum Drums on the front. Are the Hubs & Wheels old Ford Wide 5 pattern where the lug nuts are close to the Rim?

Shaun1162

I'm planning to make it street legal again, but keep it like a race car. I did this on my last project, a '33 Ford that had been a stock car and then I did all the essentials and registered it as a street rod. I'll add some pictures of that later to show it...

They are indeed the old Wide 5 pattern. There's not backing plates on the fronts, but the old drums and hubs are still there. The rearend actually had the original cast iron wide 5 drums- with the hub for fuller floater axles.

Ol racer

Thats a good plan to restore a Racer that someone pur a lot of work into to build. The front spindles have to be Ford trk or an adapter was made to fit over the Hudson spindles. It had to have front brakes when raced to avoid spinning out.

Shaun1162

I'm not too sure about the spindle... I know the "safety" hub is there to keep the nuts on to prevent the wheels from coming off, but I haven't looked at the spindle. I'll try to see if some stock '42 to '48 Ford backing plates fit on there (that'd be my guess).

Here was my last project... Not bad for a 19 year old huh? I did everything except for sandblasting...

ski4life65

Wow! I like it

Ol racer

FYI

After seeing the before and after pic's of your last project I would say your very talented and capable of restoring the Jet. I see you put in a V8 flathead so maybe consider installing a Hudson Mtr someday. You need to fit front brakes on it but dont know if want to use those wheels, Maybe try searching for Backing Plates & brake parts on the H.A.M.B. Site,
 I used to race that Rear End and pull apart and switch from 4.86 on long Tracks and 6.66 on Short Tracks before going to a Quick Change..Its the only 2 Trk Ratios. If its a 6.66 it will be too real low geared for the Highway be like driving in Low,, but if 4.86 with Tall Tires may be ok for cruising with the 292 Mtr. However, If use an Automatic Trans you will need to go up to 3.42 ratio or higher, but they dont make it for that Rear..(Is it a Quick Chg?.That would be ideal for Cruisin by simply reversing the Gears (Ive seen old QC Rears at Swap Meets very Cheap because everyone wants the newest light wt versions.

Consider buying a Sheet of thin clear Polycarbonate then cut and screw on for all the glass.Itseasy to form on a warm day. I would make the front side windows to drop down so not hot when cruising. Its easily down by drilling a couple positions to insert a cotter pin on a cable...

Glowplug

Velocity had an episode of a show that features a former NASCAR crew chief and his old car activities focused on NASCAR vehicles. The show was about Marty Robbins racing in Nashville at the time he was also singing.  Marty's original race car was found with a fellow like yourself collects these relics from the woods.  The show panned his storage and there were multiple coupe race cars from this vintage. One was in the middle of what looked like an old tobacco drying barn, to me it looked very much like a 34 - 35 Hudson coupe.

The Speedway Museum in Lincoln Ne has a 34 Hudson Circle track car displayed that is powered by a Hornet engine.   http://www.museumofamericanspeed.com/Vehicles.html .  Several of the folks in the Nebraska-Iowa chapter of the Hudson Club are former circle track racers.  The Johnson family used to race at 2-3 tracks simultaneously using Hudson bodied and powered cars.

Shaun1162

Ol Racer, my Jet actually has a Ford banjo rear out of a car or pickup, and the center section said it has 4.11 gears, so that should be decent for the road. My coupe above has one of the old 3/4 ton rear-ends that splits in half... It's an oddball one though. It looks just like the one guys always used to use, and then they would take two left hand sides and use a quickchange center, but mine is different inside. It uses 16 spline axles like a Dana 60, instead of the older 12 spline like with the older axles. All the other internal parts are also oddball, and only made for 2 or 3 years... It had 5.83's when I got it, but I managed to find a set of 4.86's. I went with the big tires on the back to help with the ratio, and it does about 50... I like back roads more anyways so I don't mind it too bad.

If you like, I made a build thread over on the HAMB for my coupe: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=707009

I think I'm going to use the 292 for now, and then down the road if I can find a Hornet engine I'll swap that back in... Right now it's all about budget, and the 292 was free, so I can't beat that!


Oldfarmer I have seen the ads for that show... Definately looks like some interesting old race cars. I'll keep an eye out to see when that episode is coming on. That'd be pretty cool to find someone famous like that old jalopy. I checked out that museum page but didn't happen to see the Hudson on their site? Still sounds like a cool combo!

Shaun1162

Had a free day to work on my Jet, and figured I'd post an update...

Picked up an original Offenhauser transmission adapter today, and mated everything up to put it in the car... I was planning to put it in the car tomorrow, since it's going be 40 degrees out (that will feel like summer!), but I got bored and had to try it out.

I seem to have quite a bit of clearance for the most part. Firewall will probably be a little tricky, but hey that'd half the fun.... Hopefully tomorrow I can start making some motor mounts- I'd like to use the holes at the front of the block to mount it, instead of the regular side mounts.

Shaun1162

Today I worked on the motor mounts- I think it came out pretty good.

I didn't want to deal with the normal side mounts, since they'll only add to clearance issues, plus I wanted to retain the stock Hudson mounts to make it easier if I went back to a Hornet 308.

I sort of based it off of the old Hurst mounts for V8's. There was two threaded holes on the passenger sie which made that side easy. The driver's side had two holes- but for some reason GM decided not to tape them. It would have been pretty much impossible for me to tap though, so I used the side holes for the alternator/power steering brackets at the bottom.

I'll take a picture when it's out of the car some time.. I've still got some finishing to do, but for now it's sitting in there all one it's own. It should be plenty rugged- the main part is 3/8" and the support pieces are 5/16".

Glowplug

Ol Racer, my Jet actually has a Ford banjo rear out of a car or pickup, and the center section said it has 4.11 gears, so that should be decent for the road. My coupe above has one of the old 3/4 ton rear-ends that splits in half... It's an oddball one though. It looks just like the one guys always used to use, and then they would take two left hand sides and use a quickchange center, but mine is different inside. It uses 16 spline axles like a Dana 60, instead of the older 12 spline like with the older axles. All the other internal parts are also oddball, and only made for 2 or 3 years... It had 5.83's when I got it, but I managed to find a set of 4.86's. I went with the big tires on the back to help with the ratio, and it does about 50... I like back roads more anyways so I don't mind it too bad.

If you like, I made a build thread over on the HAMB for my coupe: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=707009

I think I'm going to use the 292 for now, and then down the road if I can find a Hornet engine I'll swap that back in... Right now it's all about budget, and the 292 was free, so I can't beat that!


Oldfarmer I have seen the ads for that show... Definately looks like some interesting old race cars. I'll keep an eye out to see when that episode is coming on. That'd be pretty cool to find someone famous like that old jalopy. I checked out that museum page but didn't happen to see the Hudson on their site? Still sounds like a cool combo!

I found and added the picture to the previous posting.  The museum regularly changes its displays and the vehicles they show the public.  They own a dozen or more of this vintage circle track cars and most are cars that were campaigned on Nebraska tracks.

Shaun1162

I found and added the picture to the previous posting.  The museum regularly changes its displays and the vehicles they show the public.  They own a dozen or more of this vintage circle track cars and most are cars that were campaigned on Nebraska tracks.

Thanks for the update- that's an wsome looking old coupe! Never seen a museum leave a car in "as-found" condition with an old stock car... Makes for a pretty cool display! Gotta love the holes drilled in the rear quarters to lose some weight

Shaun1162

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today wasn't quite as productive... But I did get the old steering out, and had to free up the driver's side hub- that took a few minutes. Took off the drums to check out the hub set-up and then tried a stripped early Ford backing plate on there. Bolted right up and everything had clearance EXCEPT the bottom right hand bolt- it hit on the A-Arm when turning left way before it should have. Not sure what I'm going to do about that problem... And also, the aluminum drums that are on there won't fit with that style brakes... It seems like the hubs are really short for some reason??





But I did managed to order myself a rack and pinion steering set-up to try in my Jet. A couple guys on the Hudsom forums had some advice on rack and pinions, and I saw a couple pictures of a Jet that had rack and pinion steering in it so that helped in the decision. I found a nice, used rack out of a Chevy Monte Carlo, complete with tie rods, u-joint, steering shaft etc. for cheaper then I could find at any yard (plus all the cars are covered in snow!)... Maybe I can cut-up this brack and use it to mount the rack:

Ol racer

FYI
Back in the day Racers welded on a Snout to utilize Truck Huba so wouldnt break the stock spindle especially on the R/Front. Thats what your Jet has to accept the Wide 5 Trk Hubs & Wheels. Probably an old Ford (late '30's early '40's) 3/4 Ton (F2) Brake lining & wheel cyl's will fit those drums.( It had to have brakes on the front to race)...
You could convert back to the Hornet Large front brakes but probably want to use those Wide 5 wheels. Another thought is put a disc setup inside those large drums likre some modern St Rods. A Forum member recently adapted a Disc Set up to his Hudson Trk using wrecking Yard pieces. I think it was 12bolt Tom if you wanted to search his Oct '13 Posting of Crown Vic Rotors with '78  mid'80's Calipers

Shaun1162

One snout is has bolts that go into it, the other snout has studs holding it on. With that backing plate (the typical early Ford style for cars and trucks) there's no possible way for those drums to fit on.... Can't even see the threads for the nuts. They must have had some sort of brakes on there, and there is lines heading to the front, but I have no idea how they did it. The nuts for drums were just hand tight so they took something off of there, but the nuts for the bolt-on snouts hadn't been off for a long time. Puzzling for sure...

Shaun1162

Haven't update this build for a while... Got hung up on the rack and pinion, it was a quite a project (should have probably just found a stock steering set-up!). But anyways, I've got the steering temporarily hooked up and all looks good. Steers pretty easily, good clearance- now I just need to get a power steering set-up and get some new hoses made up. Today I managed to cut the old floors out, and started on the replacement firewall. Hopefully by the end of next week I'll have the firewall, floors, and brake set-up figured out

For some reason though, there's a 1/2" gap now between the rear transmission mount and the torque tube bell? I've had them bolted at one point, so I know initially everything was in the right place... Perhaps being up on jackstands for so long bent things a little?

[IMG]http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg195/Shaun1162/Hudson6001_zpsc30942e0.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg195/Shaun1162/Hudson6002_zps23ea6934.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg195/Shaun1162/Hudson6003_zps30ca6d55.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg195/Shaun1162/Hudson6004_zps4600a737.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg195/Shaun1162/Hudson6006_zps745df1c3.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg195/Shaun1162/Hudson6007_zps8fddc45a.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg195/Shaun1162/Hudson6008_zpse42b7737.jpg[/IMG]

Shaun1162

Here's an overdue update...

Anyways, I started work on the rear-end last fall, and now things are starting to come together. Painted the rear-end red like it was before.

I've figured out a way to retain the 3/4 ton drums and hubs, while eliminating the 12 spline axle "mini-spool" that was inside the car, and having an open differential. More on that to come, after the machine work is done.

hudsonjet54

Pm sent ....