8 cyl water jacket question

bob ward

This is a photo of a '35 8 cyl water jacket that is pretty well lined up with where it fits on the block, the distribution hole 2nd from right is almost but not completely obscured by the vertical web. At first glance it looks like a dumb design mistake but I think the Hudson engineers were a bit smarter than that.

So what is the reasoning behind mostly obscuring that water hole?  

29sptphaeton

Is that a crack in the head near the freeze plug?

bob ward

No, that's a casting blemish.

Uncle Josh

I heard someplace that it was a screw up.  Check with Geoff Clark

Geoff

Definitely a Screw-up!  I wonder if it persisted right through to the Step-down 8's?

bob ward

I've done some accurate measuring and 1/4 of the hole in question is open for water  flow. That hole is 1" in diameter, 1/4 of a 1" hole is equivalent to a 7/16" hole of which there are 2 at the front end of the water jacket.
I think that in the prototyping stages Hudson were moving that 1" hole back and forth to determine the best cooling effect, and it has ended up in the most suitable position.

barrysweet52

A few years ago I had a local business make a batch of 6 and 8 cyl stainless steel water jackets. I came across this problem and shifted the hole clear of the vertical web. If there is a demand I can contact them again to see if they still have the computer program to laser cut the holes and parts. 

Huddy42

As far as I remember from many years ago, Clive Gibson was the person who found this problem during his time working on Hudsons. We have on several occasion published this in the Hudson Hub and was also in my splashfed Journal.