My new and first rat rod Hudson :-)

[Deleted User]

I posted an intro over in the Main Hudson group, but since I have a Rat Rod looking hudson as my first Hudson I thought it might be appropiate to post a pic here of it and say hello...



HELLO Custom Hudson World, I'm coming in



Hope to chat with everyone eventually here and here's a picture of my impulse buy:



http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/6587/img0681sz.jpg



L8R,



Herb Mooney

Dillsburg, PA

rambos_ride

Welcome! If it's a runner you started off better than my project!



How about some more info on the ride? What kinds of stuff has been done to it other than the large flames?



You might want to take a look at my website (link is my my name) as I have a 49 Commodore I am rodding.

[Deleted User]

Except for an electric fuel pump running off of a 12volt battery in the trunk, not much more done to the car, but I will be coming up with ideas as I look around aty other customs. I'm going to start digging into the car to find all the problems over the course of the next few weeks. I'll post my finds and questions here as I go.



Thanks,



Herb in PA

[Deleted User]

Welcome Herb! Looks like you've got a nice starter project there. Like Rambo, mine is not starting out so easy....but hey, thats the fun of it anyway! And a "custom Hudson" is whatever you want it to be.

Please post more pics and keep us up to date. Lots of good info from the guys here on both forums.

Jay
'50 Pacemaker Custom Coupe (someday at least! lol)

Unknown

I can relate to the "impulse".



I definately like your car, but I am especially impressed that you are out when it's raining! All weather hot rodding.... rat rods and rain. Now That's what I am talking about!



Terry

[Deleted User]

Herb, I'm jealous of your grill! :-) I like your grill over my '50. But, I'm going to try a '55 Olds insert instead.



Jay

Unknown

Hi Guys,



My first street rod project. I have a commodore8 two door and can't wait to get started. I have a good friend who has built many street rods but not Hudsons. Has anyone got any advice on engines, trans, drivetrain, etc.



I will share what we do with everyone, maybe we can make it easier for the next guy.



Thanks

[Deleted User]

Where are you located? What year is it? What you want to do with it will partially determine what drivetrain you want to run. Will it be a daily driver, or a weekend warrior? Will it be driven hard or lightly? What stance are you looking for?

In my opinion, if you are only going to drive it on the weekends, you could try and build the flathead 8 if you have it. But anything other than that, I would can it. Parts are too hard to find and you don't want to get caught in the middle of nowhere broke down with a flathead! Are you concerned about mileage? No, an older carbed small block or big block "anything" would get you down the road in a hurry (did I say blower? :-)). Yes, look into a modern EFI engine, your choice, SBC, 5.7 Hemi, Ford 6, whatever fancies you. They are a bit more to install (emc's, lots of wiring, etc.), but I think you will get better mileage and performance.

There's lots of guys here on the hot rod forum who can help you with tips and tricks for your build.

Me, my '50 Pacemaker is getting a '95 Vette 5.7L (all aluminum reverse flow) and 4L60e. Pretty sure now I'm going with a narrowed Ford 9" w/ discs, highway gears, and a triangulated 4 link rear suspension (already got a newly rebuilt 9" diff coming for free!). Up front will be a Fatman's MII on their stub frame. Airbags all around.......gotta be in the weeds! Shaved doors and trunk lid, welded fenders, possibly frenched headlights, etc., etc., etc. (really depends on how much cash the "other half" lets me spend). lol

Anyway, welcome and good luck with your project. Post some pics when you can, we'd all like to see them!

Jay

rambos_ride

commodore8 wrote:

Hi Guys,

My first street rod project. I have a commodore8 two door and can't wait to get started. I have a good friend who has built many street rods but not Hudsons. Has anyone got any advice on engines, trans, drivetrain, etc.

I will share what we do with everyone, maybe we can make it easier for the next guy.

Thanks

Welcome! Great attitude about sharing information with everyone. You should outline your plans for the car and share some pictures! We all love pictures.

Check my website out - there's a ton of pics so it is a little slow - but lots of details on my build so far.

Unknown

Welome to the "MODIFIED" Hudson group. You'll find some of these guys have really come up with some great modifications. We love to see pictures of people's work, so post away! I came from a Chevy Racing background, so that's the route I took. Tricked-out Chevy smallblock with tunnel-ram, and 2 Holley 4bbls.(MY VERSION OF A TWIN-H), 700R-4 tranny, Ford 9in posi-trak, and 4 wheel disc. My advice is to spend time deciding what you want, then, when you start, quit looking at magazines, and stick to your game plan, otherwise, you'll always be finding something you like better.

Unknown

Here's a picture of that same motor.....dressed-up.

rambos_ride

Hello Wes,



I don't think we've heard an update in awhile how is your project progressing?

Unknown

Welcome to the forum!!! I've been down the 460 Ford and the 500 Cadillac road. Either will motivate the Hudson as no small block can... As Jay and Dan have said, style your drivetrain to your expected type of driving. I have a friend that had a fuel injected 300 Ford six with the AOD transmission in one of his Hudsons. He enjoyed the driveability and fuel economy.



Again, welcome!!

Unknown

I got the paint and primer stripped off my car, now with work getting busy, and yardwork, I only get to slip a couple of hours a week on it. Just about ready to hit it with the self-etching primer, but I need a full day to devote to that, and I haven't had that luxury yet. Took my Vette to a show, and got a second place plaque. I told them, if you like this, wait till I get my Hudson finished. I really want to have it finished by 2009, for Hudson's 100th!

[Deleted User]

wkitchens wrote:

Welome to the "MODIFIED" Hudson group. You'll find some of these guys have really come up with some great modifications. We love to see pictures of people's work, so post away! I came from a Chevy Racing background, so that's the route I took. Tricked-out Chevy smallblock with tunnel-ram, and 2 Holley 4bbls.(MY VERSION OF A TWIN-H), 700R-4 tranny, Ford 9in posi-trak, and 4 wheel disc. My advice is to spend time deciding what you want, then, when you start, quit looking at magazines, and stick to your game plan, otherwise, you'll always be finding something you like better.

Thanks for all the replys, I'm still trying to decide what to power my car with this winter. I'm driving the 262 around for the rest of the summer and Fall. I'd hate to take it off the road any more then I need to. I really hate having to wait for Hudson parts to get mailed out to me when I can just go down to the local auto parts store and get chevy/ford/cad parts off the shelf. I've missed a few shows and cruises already because I need some parts and haven't been motivated enough to send some money by snail-mail (why don't any Hudson parts folks take credit cards???)



wkitchens: what kind of mods did you have to do to the crossmember/steering/trans mount to get the 350/700r4 in your hudson? I starting to think I may eventuall build a big 308 7x to go back in (years from now) so I'm looking for a motor/trans combo that won't have me hacking up the engine bay and components to much that I can't just drop my 308 back in in a few years from now.



Also... Anyone ever consider buying one of the 7x plus motors from Uncommon Engineering? $7000.00 + puts a big hurtin on my wallet but looks like he updates most of the stuff that goes bad on these old motors so might be a good long term "I need to save some money" project. I don't have the expertise or the patience to build my own HP Hudson motor so I'd rather buy one complete so I may go to these guys eventually. Thoughts?



Thanks in advance

hornet53

ndustrl wrote:

...$7000.00 + puts a big hurtin on my wallet...

$7K puts a big hurtin in everybody's wallet, but it's looks like those guys at Uncommon know what they are doing. Did you look to see how much the 8x cost? Just curious.