Hudson 8 Engine

[Deleted User]
[Deleted User]
edited April 2011 in HUDSON

How many miles could you put on these old 8's (1948) in the old days with reg maintenance before a rebuild?.Can anyone post their higher mileage on an original engine?

Comments

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    Concerning mileage on Hudson engines. A 1952 Popular Science magazine said if you put rings in a Hudson Engine with less than 100000 miles on it you are wasting your money. Every Hudson I have owned (15+) I have never had to overhaul one. Some have gone over 200000 miles and the body rusted out first. In the early years they werent easy miles.Drag and open road racing etc. The clearence of the rings etc were twice as close as other cars due to the block material and 4ring full skirted pistons. I am only knowledgeable on the 48-54 sixs. I have owned a couple of the 8s in those years and evertime I ran them wide open it seems the valves would loosen up and clatter. They had a splasher system for lubrication.In my opinion the best and toughest engine was the 51-54 262ci. Just my opinion.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    edited April 2011
    What is the difference between the 51-54 and the 48-50 262 cid and how do you tell them apart?
  • RL Chilton
    RL Chilton Administrator, Member
    While I can't relate to personal use, I can relay what many an old-timer has relayed to me. That is, that "in the day", if you got 100k out of a Ford or GM you should count your blessings. Chrysler maybe 20-30% better. And, if you didn't get 200k out of a Hudson engine, you were flat out abusing it.

    While I don't think HMCC intentionally was shooting for longevity, quality prevails here.

    Personally, with proper maintenance, a Hudson motor should outlast the car in which it resides (which is so often the case).
  • hudsontech
    hudsontech Senior Contributor
    41truck wrote:
    What is the difference between the 51-54 and the 48-50 262 cid and how do you tell them apart?

    48-50 262 engine is narrower than the later 51-54 262's. I don't have the figures for width tho.


    Hudsonly,
    Alex Burr
    Memphis, TN
  • hudsonguy
    hudsonguy Senior Contributor
    I don't know the exact number but I believe it's around .20-.25". Basically they 'moved' the drivers's side of the block out that much which widened it. Then, they widened the spacing of the rows of head bolts accordingly, so it's a pretty sublte difference between them. A good measurement is the only way to know for sure.
  • hudsontech
    hudsontech Senior Contributor
    hudsonguy wrote:
    I don't know the exact number but I believe it's around .20-.25". Basically they 'moved' the drivers's side of the block out that much which widened it. Then, they widened the spacing of the rows of head bolts accordingly, so it's a pretty sublte difference between them. A good measurement is the only way to know for sure.

    Thank you for clarifying my post on the width of the 262 engines.

    Hudsonly,
    Alex B
  • Park_W
    Park_W Senior Contributor
    My recollection is that back in the early fifties, the days of my youth, one could expect to have a valve job done every 30,000 miles or so, and typically a full engine rebuild at 50 - 60,000. And as said above, if you got 100,000 on one, rebuilt earlier or not, it was time for the junkyard man. There are always exceptions, but these were typical figures. As for personal experience, in those days I never had one Hudson long enough to need to do much of anything to the engine. When I managed to save up a couple hundred bucks, I "upgraded" to a newer or better one. At age 21 I was driving my eleventh Hudson-built car.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    edited April 2011
    Which ones stuck out from the 11 that you would want today and how many were 8's?
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    I never had problems with valves, however I would set them .010 and 012 Hot with engine running not the .008 and .010 as the factory suggested. Mileage would depend on where it was driven. City mileage was much harder than open road driving. My driving was out in open country with very little city driving.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories

In this Discussion