Having rebuilt a 1936 Chrysler engine for Bernie that we custom modified to allow him to compete in various events, we were asked to again redesign and customize his Hudson straight 8 engine. This project has been carefully planned and assembled over a long period of time, however the engine is now being fitted to its original chassis. This straight 8 engine is your typical large, low compression engine that relies on a splash feed oil system and is certainly not a performance engine which Bernie is looking to create.
The biggest challenge for us was to design the oiling system and work out how we were going to feed the necessary bearings. For a start, the crankshaft was drilled to create oil galleries and was then ground and Nitrided for strength. It was decided to externally feed the crankshaft and camshaft with oil pressure, so we based our design around the use of a Peterson single stage belt drive pump. This meant we had to drill through the side of the block and make a manifold for the pipes which then lead into the main caps that were drilled and tapped, all the way through the drilled bearings. The timing gears were taken care of by a series of drillings from the front gallery.
We then designed and had a set of custom H-beam conrods made by Classic Rods using ARP 2000 bolts. A custom designed set of Forged pistons were made which were then skirt coated and ceramic coated on the crown of the pistons. A custom ground camshaft needed an improved spring package so we used LS1 Chev stainless Ferrea valves, with a performance set of beehive springs and LS1 Moly retainers and locks with some custom made alloy spring seats. The block had 16 hardened valve inserts fitted with custom guides and some nice hand porting to help the old timer breath a little better. To keep all this in time was a custom made vernier adjustable gear set with a custom made bronze thrust washer.
The engine was fully balanced and an ATI race harmonic balancer from a Chev fitted to the front. ARP head studs were used to help seal the custom made head gasket. One of the only standard items used was the cast iron flat head which may be replaced one day with an alloy item to give this engine the compression boost it needs. Keep an eye on the website for any updates on this interesting project.
