The work begins.

Unknown

I am easing myself gently into this Hudson world but like what I see, the web site of literature I was directed to (Hudsonmanuals) is a tremendous help and my thanks to the man who did it if he is part of this group. To give a potted history of the car I have bought, it appears to have been in this country since at least 1991 but don't know where it came from.

The last owner did not have any mechanical apptitude so had someone else 'help' him with work on the car. The car has been converted to electronic ignition and has an electric fuel pump. The engine has just been reworked but the extent of the work is as yet unknown. The cylinder head has been refitted and 3/4 of the head nuts are only screwed down onto half the nut thickness. Not a very professional sign of the work done by the engine rebuilders so the head has to come off at least to lengthen the studs (or could they be in upsidedown?). One of the plugs has had a helicoil fitted but still blows from there so more work is needed. I may even pull the engine apart again to double check all is as it should be inside as the head nuts concern me as to the rest of the work, how could the head have been torqued down correctly? The car would not crank over easily to begin with and rattled on starting but disconnecting the waterpump to generator drive allowed it to start easier and showed the generator is way out of line with the waterpump. It appears these are adjustable to line up? The engine is nice and quiet now.

The previous owner always had trouble engaging the starter gears and necessitates rotating the engine by handle a couple of inches, there has to be some solution to this as jabbing the peadal hard can only break things. Again from reading the books it may just be an adjustment which is required.

The cover is missing off the flywheel but has been there recently but can't be found now. Are they a simple shape to make if needed?

With luck I may get it home next week but first have to move my '31 Buick 90L to a storage container to create space.

If anyone can offer advice on any of the concerns above I would appreciate it ie.

Could the cylinder head studs have been fitted upsidedown?

Which are the best spark plugs to use currently available?

Is lining up the generator to water pump a straightforward task?

Does the starter engagement problem sound like bad adjustment of rods/gears/switch?

I do appreciate the contacts I have made so far and hope eventually to be able to offer opinions on things rather than currently just asking.

Kind Regards

Peter

(England)