Street rodding a 46 Hudson coupe

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Would I need a front clip to put a 350 sbc in a 46 Hudson Super Six coupe or will the stock front end be allright?? I would like to have power steering as part of the package. Also how would the rear end be if I went with a BBC like a 454 instead?? Thanks JR

rambos_ride

jr38special wrote:

Would I need a front clip to put a 350 sbc in a 46 Hudson Super Six coupe or will the stock front end be allright?? I would like to have power steering as part of the package. Also how would the rear end be if I went with a BBC like a 454 instead?? Thanks JR

Anything is possible given enough time and money - what's important here is what are your goals for the car? Everyday Driver, Week-end-Warrior, Racing, Trailer Queen....?

How much are you going to spend? Who is going to do the work? When do you expect it to be done (or how long can you go without driving it!)

If power steering is a necessity then you may well need to to a "front clip" or better called the cradle with the steering and wheel to wheel suspension. Fat Fab may make a kit..I know they have one for step-downs but thats a whole different beast as I assume the 46 has a full frame?

Generally the only thing you want to do with a full frame is make sure its not cracked or bent and if its not boxed - box it!

The rear axle also depends a lot on the useage - I'd say plan on 250 - 2500+ depending on your needs but the original one would work for a while if you kept your foot out it - I suppose...

For my 49 I kept the original front suspension (with a slight steering mod) - modified a crossmember and added a new rear x-member and stuffed a 454 and TH400 into my stepdown.

I'm keeping the manual steering because thats the way the car was built and I don't plan on parrallel parking it - EVER...

I haven't done all the legwork yet but I'm going with a modified rear axle for the 49 because of the space requirements and I'm most likely going to pick up a newer Ford 8.8 w/31 spline axels and Disc brakes and then have the housing shortened and new axels made. They're cheap (quoted 400.00 stud to stud w/disc brakes) - probably be into it about 1600-1800 for a bolt in setup.

Anway - There I've answered your questions with questions and dispensed some hard earned advice and went on and on about my car... but if you haven't yet...Check out the website - it might give you some ideas - even though yours is different in style and construction.

Unknown

jr38special wrote:

Would I need a front clip to put a 350 sbc in a 46 Hudson Super Six coupe or will the stock front end be allright?? I would like to have power steering as part of the package. Also how would the rear end be if I went with a BBC like a 454 instead?? Thanks JR

Did a '41 Hud pu year or so ago, put a 302ci Ford with toploader in it and a 9' Ford rearend. Left the frontend stock but had to remake the firewall to get it in,main issue was front sump on the oilpan not clearing the centre steer plus I wanted the engine low in the hole and as far back as poss. All works fine, steering is no different than before,it's light enough without trying to adapt to PAS, wouldn't know where to start on that one with a centre steer, phew!! did put a front disk conversion on which had some issues but OK now. I guess with a Chevy you could sit the engine a little higher and the rear sump pan could sit just over the steering centre link, that way you might get away without firewall mods.(dizzy clearance might be an issue tho') i would definitely swap out the rear end, you'll break it soon enough and that's gonna happen when its dark raining and your miles from home with no cellphone so do it now in the safety of your garage. You need an axle that's 60' hub/hub Ford or Chrysler are the same bolt pattern as Hudson if you are retaining stock rims.Also watch out for those skinny rear springs, I soon bust the first set which are now replaced but looking into something stronger. My next project is another '41 H p/u (as my son now seems to have laid claim to the first one) This time I'm going with a 390/427 FE Ford and for that I'm changing the front end. Those Hudson front chassis rails have got some curves to them! couldn't see how I could use any of it to come up with a better set up, I also wanted to use a steering box rather than a rack as personally I don't think a rack looks right on that era of car unless it's slammed and bling bling- not for me-too old skool .After putting a request on here with no response and doing a lot of research I came up with the S10 frontend. It has the same front trackwidth, near as damn it at 56.5' which was my main concern and will adapt to the Hudson chassis and look better than the wider(59') camaro clip. I bought a S10 chassis and cut off what I wanted and now the fun begins.

Good luck and keep me posted.

Jerry (U.K.)

[Deleted User]

jr38special wrote:

Would I need a front clip to put a 350 sbc in a 46 Hudson Super Six coupe or will the stock front end be allright?? I would like to have power steering as part of the package. Also how would the rear end be if I went with a BBC like a 454 instead?? Thanks JR

Dan's the man for the BBC set-ups. I can't comment on the stock frame/chevy issues as I'm going with the Fatman MII set-up because I want a very low stance and power steering (it will be a daily driver) and later, air bags. They do list frame stubs for 1940-1953 Hudsons, so they must have one for your coupe. But, if you don't want the low stance (I've never seen dropped spindles for Hudsons, maybe someone else has though), power steering and modern suspension, I would stay with the stock frame. If you want power steering, I would go with a more modern front end unless you will rarily drive it (A frame stub or later car front clip as mentioned before). I'm not convinced of reliability of parts and systems so old as an original Hud power set-up, or whether you could even adapt one to your year. Not sure whether the stock springs will hold up to a modern V8 weight (especially a BBC), so thats something someone may be able to tell you. Watch the firewall clearance issue with chevy's distributers. I'm not sure how much length is in the 46 Coupe engine compartment. My LT1 doesn't have a rear distributer, so thats not an issue for me and I have a step-down which looks to me to be wider in the engine area than the earlier models.

Anyway, have fun and post some pics when you can. Lots of guys here to help ya.

Jay

[Deleted User]

hi hudson dave here. i have done three of them now with p/s disc. brakes all with hudson front suspension . very inexpensive rear brakes off 91-98 ford c/v fit on the front with no problem .izzu steering fits and uses all o/e hudson linkage. i payed $75.00 for steering and $100.00 for every thing for the brakes including the hoses.for more info go to wwwfatwhitewalls.com and give me a call i would be happy to walk you throw it 61-63 big car ford 9' works perfect .all kinds of gears to pick from. i am using 3.0 in my 46 4 door and 3.25 in my 46 p/u. HudsonDave