Hornet Twin H

464Saloon
464Saloon Senior Contributor
edited November -1 in HUDSON
This may sound like a stupid question to some of you but when the Hornet 145 was first brought out did it only come with Twin H? It seems from what books I have they upped the horsepower in 53 and again in 54 but not really clear on what were Twin H and what were single two barrel. I am guessing that the two barrel option came around in 53 as a reduced cost option but I am just guessing. Does anyone here know?

Comments

  • My understanding is that the Twin H was an option from the start. The horsepower rating was for stock engine with the Twin H adding another 10 hp.
  • Twin H was not an option until mid 52. The Hornet engine in 51 had 145 HP when you added Twin H took it up to around 170 HP. Base configuration came with the two barrel carb and Twin H was an option from 52 on.

    You could then buy the Twin H setup as a dealer installed option and add it to your 51.
  • 464Saloon
    464Saloon Senior Contributor
    Wow was I off base. I assumed Neils 51 was an original Twin H car and it has the 145 badges on the doors so I just assumed the Hornet was first introduced with Twin H. As I understand the Twin H was good for 170 only in 54 which supposedly had a little higher compression and a bigger cam. HP was 160 with the 2 barrel. Right wrong?
  • The posted HP ratings of Twin H were a little shy of what they actually produced. The 54 had the relief in the block for better breathing and coupled with the hotter cam and Twin H was probably over 170. The 7X replacement engine I have heard tell did about 210 HP.

    Yes the 2bbl 54 did around 160HP maybe a little better. They were always a little conservative on the estimates maybe for insurance purposes.
  • 1952 mid year was the first availablity for twin h.



    the 52 shop manual has instructions how to retrofit a non twin h car with twin h, ie... drilling the manifold, and how to space the iper motor on the short wheelbase cars.
  • hudsontech
    hudsontech Senior Contributor
    Story I heard was that most car companies dyno'd their engines in what was called "bare" block - ie, nothing attached that would add drag such as water pump, generator, etc. This gave a slightly higher hp output.

    Hudson, from what I can find out, supposedly tested their engines fully equipped, thus 145, 155 or 165 hp as advertised was actually closer to, or a little over 200. Add the Twin-H to the mix and you kicked everything up as much as 10 to possibly 15 hp.

    Anybody else here this?? I'd like to know if it's really true.



    Hudsonly,

    Alex B.
  • Yes I heard this I think I even have factory burlp on this will have to look that up again.
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