Hudson Rat's Nest?

RL Chilton
RL Chilton Administrator, Member
edited November -1 in HUDSON
This in regards to the batting material that Hudson used in step-downs, inside the frame members, which resembles a rat's nest.



Don't know for sure, but my educated guess is that it had a two-fold purpose: 1) used as a moisture abosorber, and 2) Sound deadener.



Any of y'all that have restored a step-down, have you made any steps in putting something back inside the frame members? If so, what did you use?



Any thoughts on the matter, let me know, please. It's going to be time soon to decide what I should do about this aspect.



Thanks!

Comments

  • Unknown
    Unknown
    I wonder if spray in expanding foam insulation would work, if it would have enough sound deadening effect. Blow in house insulation would be about the same as original. Maybe stuff some in and blow it with a leaf blower or other air source repeating untill full. ---Just a couple ideas.----BUD
  • Aaron D. IL
    Aaron D. IL Senior Contributor
    I think most guys just pull the stuff out and leave it out, however if you had to choose a property of materials I'd say moisture absorption or dissipation might be more important than sound deadening. Perhaps it could be packed with disseccant. You can take care of sound deadening from inside the body shell.

    How much difference it makes in the frame I'm not sure but I have heard that untouched barn fresh step-down Hudson's are whisper quiet even at 70 mph on the road and I guess that's what people got from the factory. A member in WI. had a Super 8 sedan in such condition and said he couldn't believe how quiet it was.
  • bent metal
    bent metal Senior Contributor
    I think the best thing to do is just clean it out and try and get paint or powder coat or under coat in there the best you can. That steel wool only seemed to collect debris which in turn collected moisture. It was just not a good idea. IMO.:)
  • Aaron D. IL
    Aaron D. IL Senior Contributor
    Also if you want to cover the body with sound deadener instead of using Dynamat you can get essentially the exact same stuff cheaper at your local home depot. It's Butyl (sp?) Rubber with an adheisive backing and it's used for roofing. They sell it for like $70 in rolls of something like 50 yards which is way more than you'd need but also in smaller narrower rolls for like $15. that should be enough to do the major sheetmetal sections of your floor pan and it has a low profile. and won't puff up your carpets. It does work. At least gets rid of the tinny sound of sheetmetal.
  • RL Chilton
    RL Chilton Administrator, Member
    Aaron-



    I've heard that too many times about the "whisper quiet" effect of untouched originals. Oldhudsons here on the forum has mentioned it, and is something I would really like to replicate. Metal ringing is not something I want in any car, much less in this Hudson. The quieter, the better as far as I'm concerned with the exception of the exhaust.



    The butyl material is also on my list as a must-do and planned on going this route. Dyna-mat is a nice material, but outrageously expensive, and unnecessarily so, in my opinion.



    Anybody know what the original material that was used? I've heard stories from folks that lived back in the 20's-'50's that used to collect the moss and lichen off of trees and would sell it for something like $1.00/ hundred lbs. or so. It was then sprayed, dried and sold to companies that would use them in pillow cushions, seat upholstery for cars, etc.
  • faustmb
    faustmb Senior Contributor
    RL Chilton wrote:
    Aaron-



    Anybody know what the original material that was used? I've heard stories from folks that lived back in the 20's-'50's that used to collect the moss and lichen off of trees and would sell it for something like $1.00/ hundred lbs. or so. It was then sprayed, dried and sold to companies that would use them in pillow cushions, seat upholstery for cars, etc.



    I heard that the hanging moss on the Cypress trees in Florida used to be harvested for car seats and insulation. It looks very similiar to some of the matting I've pulled out of old seats. I still need to pull my rockers and clean them out. The passenger side has a small hole that I attribute to that insulation. The insulation was a bad idea if you ask me...
  • RL Chilton
    RL Chilton Administrator, Member
    faustmb wrote:
    I heard that the hanging moss on the Cypress trees in Florida used to be harvested for car seats and insulation. It looks very similiar to some of the matting I've pulled out of old seats. I still need to pull my rockers and clean them out. The passenger side has a small hole that I attribute to that insulation. The insulation was a bad idea if you ask me...



    Matt-



    I agree on the hanging moss on the Cypress trees in Fl idea. Here in the hill country of TX, we also have Cypress trees that line the rivers. It looks very similar to what I've seen past. Last time I heard this story, was from a fellow who did this in MS, I think it was. Probably was prevalent here in the south.



    I have also thought that it was a bad idea. Then again, Hudson engineers 60 years ago were smarter back then than I will ever be. I'm constantly amazed while doing this restoration the things they thought of and how much our cars were over-engineered. The whole "insulation inside the frame members" seems like a giant water-trap to me, but maybe not. The stuff I've pulled out isn't exactly absorbent, although it may have had different properties 1/2-a-century ago. On the hot rods I've built, I simply used rubber sheeting that I glued to the insides of any large pieces of sheetmetal, to quiet the panel ringing. My thoughts with the Hudson was, why couldn't I just do that and get that "whisper-quiet" ride I've heard so much about?



    "Doc", my sedan, in my avatar, is an exceptionally nice riding car--quiet, smooth, classy, like floating on clouds. She is more or less an untouched original (no ground-up restoration, but very well maintained).
This discussion has been closed.

Categories

In this Discussion