Michael,

Back in the days, I had lots of chances to follow 1950's cars down hills. I found that the early '50s Plymouths and Dodges produced very smelly fumes as they went down hills. I would make a point of closing my windows, dropping back, or passing them to avoid getting "gassed".

There weren't any Hudsons to follow. However, those Plymouths and Dodges use Autolite distributors with the same points and condenser as similar year Hudsons! Does anyone have experience following Hudsons down hills?

Per

[quote="Per Christiansen" post=18053]Michael,

Back in the days, I had lots of chances to follow 1950's cars down hills. I found that the early '50s Plymouths and Dodges produced very smelly fumes as they went down hills. I would make a point of closing my windows, dropping back, or passing them to avoid getting "gassed".

There weren't any Hudsons to follow. However, those Plymouths and Dodges use Autolite distributors with the same points and condenser as similar year Hudsons! Does anyone have experience following Hudsons down hills?

Per
You might want to ask that of Russell Chilton, he followed my ' 53 Hornet down the Raton Pass on the way to the National in Colorado Springs in 2015. Something about being able to hear it popping even though he was 200 feet behind me.......with windows rolled up and AC going. Might be the Clifford headers with glass packs I am running, albeit the glass is gone from the glass packs......I don't mind, I am deaf anyway....

My Hornet popped pretty badly on deceleration until I backed off the spark timing a little. Had set basic advance about 8 btdc, which it didn't like. It was happy at 6, with no popping.

Ok, Michael, since Ken brought it up . . .

Yes, Kenny's '53 Coupe has the popping on deceleration or at least letting off of the accelerator. Like Ken said, he has headers and glass packs, which I think had something to do with it. Ken's car is particularly obnoxious, but in a good way as it sounds like a hopped-up Hudson. On the flip side, when he accelerates, it's got some real power. A nice, strong engine. I'm not a fan of the BOP-BOP-BOP every time you let off the gas.

On my convertible, I went the 7X Splitter-route on the exhaust. No crossover in the traditional sense, but filtered all into one large muffler and then continued the split out the back. My car doesn't Pop. Many times cars (V-8's included) with headers and no crossovers will have that popping on deceleration because the exhaust isn't allowed to mix and harmonize.

As Park mentioned, popping can also be mfg. by slight timing issues, and is usually a different, higher-pitched type of popping. Sounds more like it's coming from the manifold itself and is often attributed to a lean mixture.

Per-

Yes, I have experienced that phenomena on many marques, not just Hudsons and have found that it seems to be worse on cars that run rich. I could smell Ken's car on that particular occasion, but it wasn't overly gassy. More like normally pleasantly, like you get when following older cars.

I have seen these articles in where there were scientific studies that say cars tend to resemble their owners in some way....... I know how I resemble my Hornet! POP POP POP POP! Buts that's Ok......... I am deaf and can't tell how loud they are....

LOL Kenny !!!

Popping in the exhaust is not caused by timing, but by a lean idle mixture, which is not completely burnt in the combustion chamber, and the gas builds up in the exhaust system and periodically ignites. Enrich the idle jets slightly and it will go away.

Hi Geoff - thanks for the suggestion. Will that adjustment lead to a drop in fuel economy? If so, since it only occurs upon coasting down a steep grade, I'll probably just live with it. If not, I'll give it a try.

There will be absolutely minimal effect on economy by enriching the idling mixture slightly. The other thing to consider is the bad effect explosions in the exhaust system are likely to have!