Member review of Hi Speed Gears for 32--38 Hud/Terr

ivanz62

Here's a buyer's thoughts:
Hey Ivan,
Gears arrived today in very smart time and unscathed.

Wow! I am impressed with them. Talk about beautiful machining, even down to the Hudson name engraving. Every surface has been finished with not a swirl or sharp edge anywhere. They are way beyond what I expected and sure would like to see their set up, presumably CNC stuff all through. What sort of work do they do normally?

You certainly picked the right people Ivan. Did you get onto them through the racing fraternity? They always seem to know where to get things done well.

I notice a marking on them .006, thousandths of an inch I presume. I am not sure what this is referring to, backlash setting? And there is a protective coating of some kind which I presume has to be removed. Any particular process/solvent?

I have done lots of restoring Ivan but never anything like this. Just to put you at ease I will be getting a professional differential place to set the new gears up for me. I do not want to risk doing something wrong even though they are not all that complicated.
I got on to you through the Hudson Club of Victoria who mentioned it in their newsletter. Glad I followed it up.

Thanks for including me in the order. I hope everyone else is as pleased as I am and appreciates your efforts. Great result indeed.

Kind Regards,

Geoff.
Order yours now--have a few left. Ivanz62@comcast.net

Jon B

When this batch of gears has been sold, is it possible that another can be made?  If enough people "sign on"?  This is just the thing to make our cars roadworthy in the 21st century!

faustmb

I got mine last week and agree with all the comments above. It will be quite awhile before mine will get a road test unfortunately.

ivanz62

Jon B,

This batch took a year to get made with ten orders up front with a $650 deposit each and a total cost of $1300.  High Performance Gear would make more, but to make this price again might take an order for 20 sets.  I imagine a one-off set would cost most of $2000. I actually absorbed the $800 tooling charge on the order so I would not have task for more cash per set.  That is paid for now and is saved on the future orders. Your guess is as good as mine about the future demand.

Ivan

Jon B

Well, I think it's great that you did this and I do expect that there will be future orders.  I was saddened to hear that they were no longer available from Pat McDonald, but thanks to you they are available once more. I assume you are advertising these in the WTN?  (Maybe it would be helpful to send a "news release" to someone like Richard Polese so he could mention them in his column in the WTN.)

ivanz62

Just sold two sets that are going to England. As you may know, I have sold about a dozen sets of the English made gears that Pat McDonald had made.  The last set of unused McDonald gears were the pattern copied for the current run.  I have only two sets of the current batch left.  No use to advertise anywhere.   

Ivan

dholck

Yes - should have bought a set of the fender skirt ornaments when they were available from the club store (even if you don't have fender skirts); should have bought one or two 34T hood ornament reproductions when they were available from K-Gap; should get a set of repro taillight bases and buckets while they are available; should get Walt to rebuild a carburetor while he is still doing it; should get a set of the high-speed gears... wait - I did all those things. Better to be safe than sorry!  ...and 20 or 30 years later I did get the fender skirts.

Never assume that some reproduction item available now will be available forever; get 'em while they got 'em because history tells us they will likely go away. 

Although... I bet somebody could make a better fender skirt ornament these days with a CNC machine than the old cast ornaments...milled stainless, maybe?