David, Have you checked the camshaft thrust washer?? Broken tappet guides suggest this might be an issue.

"Ric"

Dave,

It is nice to see how much you have already accomplished! I had a '41 Commodore 6 four door for a long time, and enjoyed it a lot. After a barn collapsed on it about twenty years ago, I gave it to a club member here in Massachusetts, Don Reich. He intended to make it into a woody, but he has decided against it, so it sits with Don as a parts car now.

Recently I was working on a '47 Hudson with a friend. He needed a thermostat of the non-bypass type, which is what you have, according to the picture you posted about your belt. No part number was available, so we looked for one with the right size of mounting disk, and preferably 160 degrees F opening temperature.

Also, we found that there is not a lot of vertical distance between the inside of the water passages below the thermostat, and where the mounting flange rests on the head. Some thermostats are too deep on the end that has to be towards the engine. I once saw one of these installed backwards, since that was the only way it would fit. The owner wondered why the car overheated with his new thermostat!

I have had a couple of cars where the pressure from the water pump was great enough to push the thermostat open. This may not be a problem with a car that has a heater turned on, since the heater can function as a bypass. However, the design of thermostat where the mechanism is sort of like a throttle, where one side opens upwards and the other side opens downwards eliminates this problem because the forces cancel each other out. We didn't end up finding a thermostat in the limited time we had, so there's no thermostat in his engine right now.

Since the '41 radiator has its overflow tube connected at the top of the radiator, not where the radiator cap is, any radiator cap that fits will work, whether or not it is supposed to be a pressure cap. It would be nice to find one that looks original, though.

Per

David and Per.

I used a Murray #3476 thermostat from O'Reilly's. It is 160 degF. I drilled a little hole to release air. It's on my rebuilt 41 engine, but that is not yet installed or fired up yet. Fits fine.

Here is a picture of correct radiator cap. All my 41s have this type.

Fred ,
No, I haven't checked the thrust washer on the cam yet. To me the evidence suggests the issue with the tappet guides and marks on the lower part of the connecting rods most likely all happened about the same time. The reason I say that is I only found one piece as I was removing the upper oil pan. I did watch closely as I poured the couple of inches of muck out of the lower pan for other pieces. None were found. I also looked closely at the piece I did find and it had a uniformly color of the material witch means it had been broken for some time. I appreciate you taking the time to reply and share some of your knowledge with me. I do plan on changing out the tappet guides as soon as I locate some. I also will check to be sure a thrust washer was installed. Thanks again,

David

Tim,
Thanks so much for the part number of the thermostat and picture of the radiator cap. I greatly appreciate it.

David

Per,
I so good to hear you you enjoyed the 41 Commodore you had. I may try to get in touch with Don to see if he would be interested in me buying a few parts from that car. I also want to thank you in sharing so much interest in my car. I could go on and on about it. The radiator cap I have now for it does look to have been on it for a long time. I have most always been fairly good at improvising but not on this 41, I want to get as much of the right parts as I can. It's not a matter of making it work like I have with so many things in my past. I know I don't have the only one but I still think it deserves to be done up right.

David

David,

I think its great that you are being particular about everything for this car. It is fortunate that so much of the car is in good, original condition.

Don is very nice, and I am sure he will be happy to help. He also has two 1940 Hudsons, and knows a lot about the details of this age of Hudson.

In case you don't have your roster handy, his home phone is 978 372 8753, and his email is evreesev at aol.com

Per

David,

Will you be coming to the National Meet in Colorado Springs? I am coming, but without a car. The Hudson I have which can go that far is presently in Phoenix, AZ. My friend Dan McNichol drove it there from Boston in May and June, together with a reporter from Engineering News-Report, a weekly magazine concerned with infrastructure. If you put "ENR Low and Slow" into Google, you can get an idea of the route they followed.

It would be nice to meet you (and the '41!).

Per

Per,
I will not be attending the National Meet in Colorado Springs. I wanted to attend very much but have been recovering from a radical prostatectomy performed in May of this year. Funny thing is i made it 50 years without a surgery or a nights stay in the hospital. I guess my luck ran out. I didn't gain the ground on my Commodore this spring as I had planned but recently coated the inside of the gas tank. I did a static leak check with water and no leaks were found. I have a NOS fuel tank sending unit to install but had to make the fuel pickup tube. The factory steel line running from the fuel tank to the right rear of the engine compartment is original. It looked like a flared female fitting at the tank but I found that the fitting is a AN #5. fortunately I thought to check this type of fitting because a standard flared fitting was the wrong size in diameter and thread. AN fittings as I call them are commonly used in jet engine plumbing. I was very surprised to find this type of fitting on a car. The fuel tube coming off the frame at the right rear of the engine compartment doesn't have any fitting on it. I suspect it did but someone cut it off along the way. Any information on this would be greatly appreciated. I have put close to 100 miles on the car just in very short trips close to home in the last year. The clutch is pretty much gone, but I have accomplished what I intended before a full dis-assembly. I wanted to get almost everything on the Commodore functioning first, mostly the mechanical items. I am pleased it starts right up and will pull in and out of my shop as it should. I enjoy the Hudson and this community, I wish I could attend the MEET even without my car but I don't see that happening this year.

Dave,

I'm sorry that your own body required work instead of just the car. I hope you will continue to feel better. The original flexible hose that connects from the gas line to the fuel pump has a fitting at both ends. All cars used a flexible hose with fittings, but the Hudson hose had an unusual fitting at the end which attached to the fuel line. Most likely the same kind as you describe at the back end of the fuel line. Most people have ended up doing away with their old flexible line when it began to leak, and being unable to find an original one (new old stock ones may not be any good) just cut off the end of the tube and used an ordinary piece of hose. Someone in the club may make the correct hose. However since your fuel line is a little short, you would have to add a little to it, with the proper fitting and flare. If nobody in the club makes this, you could get one from Ford or GM people, and put the appropriate ending on your fuel line to use the fittings that go with that hose.

Per,
Thank you, I am slowly getting back to feeling like myself, but like with our cars I feel I may not be exactly original. The steel fuel line fitting at the tank is female. Is the fitting on the steel line at the right rear of the engine compartment male or female? Thanks again to you and all here at HET.

David,

The fitting at the end of the steel line from the tank in the engine compartment is female on my '35 Hudson. I believe the flexible fuel line for Hudson was the same from 1934 to 1954.

When you mention that your clutch is pretty much gone, what is it doing?

Per

Thank you for the information on the front fuel line fitting. I received the car with the clutch slipping. I made some adjustments and was able to make several very short runs close to home. Usually 1 to 3 miles. I then drained what fluid was in the clutch and serviced it back with the proper amount and type that I purchased from one of the Venders on the list here. I followed the mechanical procedural manual setting the clutch linkage. This proved to not work very well so I continued adjusting until I had less slippage. I did another drain and service of fluid but no improvement. My thoughts are there just isn't enough cork left on the clutch or the pressure plate is weak or maybe both. I am open to any suggestions but currently plan to pull the transmission and overdrive as the need new gaskets and go through one of our listed Venders on the clutch and pressure plate. The clutch will grab at slow speed and when cold, but once your on the road and in top gear, with or without the overdrive engaged it starts slipping. The longer you go the more it deteriorates.
One side note: I might be able to attend the meet in Colorado Springs, at least the last few days. Currently I am looking at Thursday through Saturday. I am not sure yet but we have looked into staying at the Plaza hotel about 12 miles from the Meet Hotel. We have stayed there before. My wife was asking how many normally show up for this annual meet. I haven't read anywhere how many attend and of course I would like to know about how many parts booths will be set up.

David-

Best guess from past experience is that there will be between 200-250 cars, around 600-700 people (not counting stray spectators). There will probably be around 2 dozen booths or so.

Sometimes less, sometimes more. Being centrally located, I would think we would have a good turn-out. Hope to see you there.