Super Six Radiator Mounts

Unknown

When I removed the radiator from the '26 Coupe (can it really be a year &

a half ago?) there were no cushions under the "ears" that bolt the radiator

to the frame. Some DPO had just bolted it all together metal to metal. Sweet

boy!

Well, the Hudson parts book lists a cushion for the radiator, but gives

no dimensions. I asked several people that had put these cars together and

received opinions ranging from 1/4" through 3/4" for that critical dimension.

The other dimensions were guesswork also. Another problem was the material.

Motor mounts are made of rubber, so this seemed reasonable for radiator

mounts as well, but it must be a stiff rubber as it would not do to have the

radiator wobbling or sagging.

Press Kale of K-Gap solved the material problem. He suggested mud flap

material which is stiff and fabric reinforced. He even had some scraps

available left over from making mud flaps. The mud flap material is a 1/4"

thick which will allow the thickness to be adjusted as required. That sounded

perfect, thanks Press.

I decided on a 2" circular doughnut shape as this fit the "ear" and

looked like it would take the load as well as any other shape I could think

of. I laid them out using a pencil compass and cut them with ordinary

scissors. They came out a little rougher than I like, but that should be

mostly hidden under the ear.

The center hole had me flummoxed for a while. An Exacto knife with a new

#11 blade seemed the perfect tool, but had real trouble cutting the rubber in

a clean predictable way. Scissors were out of the question on a hole only

7/16", so another solution had to be found.

I have a shop cat that sometimes offers some pretty good solutions when I

am struggling with some tough nut or other, and he was watching me that night

with some amusement. Cats are by nature lazy and smart and don't care to go

to much trouble over anything, but do enjoy watching people struggle. Well,

the Moocher had his fill of entertainment for this evening and I was

interrupting his nap with a steady stream of blue language, so he said, "Why

not drill it?"

I was not very impressed with his smart-aleck tone, but I was out of

better ideas. I knew that you can't drill rubber, it's too flexible. The

drill just grabs the piece and spins, but half the prove the Moocher wrong, I

went out and tried it.

Damned if it didn't work. In a couple of minutes, the drill press easily

bored every doughnut. The Moocher said nothing more, but he did were that

superior smug look that comes so naturally to a feline face for the rest of

the evening.



Moocher the smart Aleck

Paul O'Neil, Hudson29@aol.com

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1926 Hudson Anderson Bodied Coupe

1926 Hudson Parts Car "The Grapes Of Wrath"

1928 Hudson Roadster Project

1929 Hudson Town Sedan

1939 Cadillac Coupe (How'd that get in there?)

Fullerton, California USA

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