Phillip, one of the most effective modifications is to fabricate a dual exhaust manifold. Even though Hudson enlarged the manifolds for '37, they're still not open enough. The improvement with a dual exhaust manifold is quite easy to feel or measure. Or if you want to go totally wild, fabricate a set of headers and an adequate size collector pipe.
Another easy power booster is to reduce the radius of the "cam side" of the tappets. Al Saffrahn in Arizona knows how to do this. It makes the valve motion a bit more vigorous, but shimming the springs with a second washer at the bottom will solve that matter.

Phillip, this is probably a pretty stupid question but...are you in the Railton club, and have you put forth this question to members of that club yet?

thanks for the assistance, i haven't see a dual manifold before. It may be easier for me to build a header as per some of the UK Railton members have done. I have been in contact with Ivan Zaremba who was fantastic and gave me some great information on what he did with his engine build. I have also spoken to the Railton club in the UK and the Australian HET club. Unfortunately the locals didnt have a lot of info except for a couple of conversion builds that pressure fed the main bearings. My pockets arent deep enough for the pressure feed system so i am keeping splash feed and the cam info i am using Ivan's advice.

Thanks for your help. phillip

Hello John,
I have contacted the ROC members and locally the HET club and also Geoff Clarke in New Zealand. best info has come from the USA and in particular Ivan Zamerba.

I am also looking for 4 stud 16" wire wheels if anyone has some. I need 3 to complete a set.

thanks

im very new to this.. will this manifold fit a commodore 8. i would like to do a dual exaust set up

I am intrigued to hear what others have done to get better performance out of their Hudson 8 Cyl engines. Around a decade ago I was looking into this but don't remember finding much.

I had heard someone once made an aftermarket Aluminum head but were extremely difficult to find. I'd still like one btw, if anyone would be willing to sell theirs! I'm wondering if the stock cast or aluminum head could be milled a bit to bump compression?

Didn't Ivan have a super special grind done for his Railton 8? I too would like to have a performance grind on my 8's cam! Hopefully you can keep us informed on what you discover & decide to do to your 8. I am in need of rebuilding mine but with kids in college & more going (4 total) in the next 4 years, I definitely feel the drain on the wallet.

Hello Brian,
I emailed Ivan about the engine and he was very helpful with information but the cost of doing the modifications were way out of my budget. I built my engine fairly stock however i have improved the oiling system without pressure feeding and have used a different grind to Ivan's. I wanted to build a road going car with good performance so i could hill climb etc. the grind i used hopefully will give me a little extra breath without having a lumpy engine that wont idle or be any good unless its revving fast. Happy to send the details of what i did. At present the engine hasn't been turned over as i don't have any carburettor, inlet or exhaust manifold and not tested but im happy to keep you updated with the results when i complete everything. You do see the aluminium heads on ebay from time to time however if you want to lift compression a lot you will need to consider what you are doing with the bottom end. thanks Phillip

I've found that a dual exhaust manifold increases performance dramatically. Not too difficult to fabricate one, if you know someone who can weld the cast iron properly.

Thank you for the information. Can you tell me if there is a baffle between the two sections or is it open? Do you know how this compares to the headers that some people fabricate? Thanks

The one I had back in the fifties was totally blocked. With the one shown, a recently created one, I turned the butterfly closed, and partially blocked the remaining heat riser passage. Blocking or not is more a matter of the sound you want rather than a performance issue . . . there's no way you're going to "tune" the system like you can with some headers.

Edmunds made an aluminum head for the 254. Here's one that sold on Ebay around the same time this thread was active. Hopefully someone from the club grabbed it.

[url= http://www.ebay.com/itm/Edmunds-Aluminum-Head-for-Hudson-8-/322260645570?hash=item4b083b36c2%3Ag%3AMDAAAOSwFdtX2BzD&vxp=mtr&nma=true&si=%252Bi5wYJHJqAS6lTCH7JsGZ9cQoAg%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 ]Edmunds 8 Cylinder Head[/url]

Is there a significant difference between this head and an aluminum head that came originally on a Hudson 8?

I just saw this post 12-9-24. I have this dual exhaust manifold hanging on my shop wall. Purchased it from Per 10 years or so ago. I don't plan on using it anymore let me know if you are still looking for one.

As I think about it, I believe I bought this dual exhaust manifold from Park. Is he still around?