Falling into Winter

We have had a beautiful fall, but snow is falling today. I don't think it will last the weekend, but it is a sure sign that I will have to get the Hudson ready for storage soon. I was part of a layoff in March, worked a contract job for 6 months, but have been on unemployment for the last couple of months. I hate it, not just because it leaves me felling poor and dependent on the state. I need to be productive, so I am diving back into my work with United Way. I had hoped to have the Hornets interior restored this winter, but that does not seem to be a possibility. The Hudson money has become the money needed to bridge the gap between unemployment and actual bills. I am actively looking for work, but it is slow business and Thanksgiving -> Christmas is not the time of year for hiring. Most companies I am talking to are trying to use 4Q to make their full year numbers. If you happen to of anything. please let me know.

Here is my professional profile: www.MichaelJSandberg.info
Here is my resume:  https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B6DMvGiIRqeMNWU0MmQwYzAtOTE2Ny00Mzg0LThhNzUtMjc0ZjIyYTcxZWY4&hl=en

Good news all around

Problems Fixed:

• Leaking fuel pump fixed, thank you Williamsfield Motors!
• Engine knock taken care of by retarding the engine timing. Sadly I do not seem to have the standard reference point, but I have it pretty close and no matter how hard I push it, no knock.
• Distributor working  great after help from Tom from www.valleymotorsofwinona.com
• Head gasket tested and passed
• Radiator overflow and collapsed hose issues taken care of by a new 7lb radiator cap

The family is just enjoying cruising around town and making up excuses to drive the Hornet. I found that we can fit my family (wife & two kids in car seats) and grandparents together in the car. That is how we went to the farmers market last weekend :)

Classic Car forum topic: http://classiccar.com/index.php?option=com_jfusion&Itemid=62&jfile=showthread.php&t=22702

Some unexpected but very welcome help

I had the good fortune of running into Tom Thorson of www.valleymotorsofwinona.com this morning as he stopped at his son's house on the way to pick up a 1940 Ford Pickup. He spent some time with me looking at the distributor, and he found the remains of the rivet that I thought I had drilled out and a washer deep inside. Once he had it all apart and was satisfied it was in good working order, he told me to reassemble it by the time he came through town again with the Ford and he would listen to the engine. I did my best and managed to get it all assembled by the time they arrived back, but needed some guidance on finding #1 on the distributor cap. He actually had me hold my finger over the #1 spark plug  hole while he tapped the ignition. It was damn obvious when it blew my thumb off the head. With the distributor back on the engine, he had me run it while he watched with the radiator cap off, revved the engine and listened to it. He reported that I did NOT have a bad rod / rod bearings and that what I described was most likely spark knock. He put the radiator cap back on and told me to let it build some pressure and then turn it off and let it cool for a couple of hours. The good news is that the hose did not collapse and I did not have any white smoke when I started it up again. That would have been a sign of coolant getting into the cylinders. FYI - I bought a new radiator cap since my upper radiator hose collapse.

I schedule a pressure test for next Tuesday where the local auto shop will pressurize my radiator to 10lbs and see if it loses pressure. If it does, it may point to a head gasket leak. HET Forum Question.

I am hoping my spark knock is due to my timing being too advanced. With my cleaned out / repaired distributor I can now see the timing lines, but I need to verify where the pointer is that they should be set relative to. I think it is the little red triangle you can see in the crankcase opening, but I want to find out for sure before I start turning the distributor.

Something or nothing. I chose something.

I have decided to do something instead of nothing. I am thousands short on rebuilding my engine, and I am still looking for permanent work. If I go for a rebuild, it would be months if not longer before my Hudson is back on the road. With this in mind, I have decided to play it by ear and see what can be made of the engine now. My first step is to send out my distributor to have it rebuilt by 21st Century Hudson. After that, do some tests to see if the head gasket is really leaking and diagnose the knock. I am assuming we will end up lifting the head, and when we do, taking a critical look at the top of the engine. I am cautiously optimistic this will get me on the road again for hundreds and tide me over until the time comes for a total rebuild.

Little Signs point to big problems

There have been a number of small issues that have built to critical mass. I have what appears to be a blown head gasket (foaming coolant & disappearing oil), a engine knock every time I accelerate hard or uphill, plenty of oil drips, and a distributor chewing itself up. I was told the engine was rebuilt once before, but I have no more information than that.

I could try and do band-aid fixes, replace head gasket & distributor, drive it easy and cross my fingers about the knock and hope it was just bad engine timing, ignore the oil leaks,  and why the head gasket blew in the first place.
or
I can have the engine rebuilt.

I am strongly leaning towards rebuilding, am located in South East MN, and don't have any mechanics I trust to do more than maintenance on my car. Doug Wildrick has been recommended to me by someone I trust. I plan on talking to Doug see if he is interested & willing and also to get an idea of the cost. None of this can happen until I find steady work, hopefully in the next few months. No matter what, I have a feeling the Hudson will not be moving under it own power again this summer.

I am a bit shaken that I am talking about rebuilding the engine only 6 months after buying what I thought was a rock solid car, but I am determined to help my Hudson survive another generation and hopefully be my son's or daughter's someday.

Pertronix Ignitor

Here is what my Pertronix Ignitor looks like after three months. I asked Pertronix for a return / exchange. Waiting to hear back.

When it rains it pours; Problems That Is!

I seem to be having a lot of small / moderate issues with my Hudson lately. First there was the fact that when it got stuck in a long downpour the door panels got soaked. Solution there will be to work with my glass guy on installing the new sweepers and figuring out the waterproof lining that is suppose to be in the doors. Then I had some knocking in the engine while climbing uphill in the bluffs at 70 MPH. I read up on that, and am hoping it was bad gas or the timing is too advanced. A couple of days ago a gasket for my radiator failed and after I fixed it I started having trouble with a collapsing radiator hose. Today my timing gun arrived in the mail and I could not see any chalk lines on the flywheel. When I opened up my distributor, I found a pile of debris from my Pertronix electronic ignition kit, seemingly from it rubbing even though it has clearance. I now have a message into Petronix support and also an e-mail into 21st Century Hudson to see if they can possibly just rebuild the whole distributor to make sure it is done right. As of this moment, I need a break from the Hudson troubles.

I should point out, the Hudson is actually running quite nicely, but at this point, I am not sure why.