ClassicCar

Smasher O'Brannan

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00121-1.jpg

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00122.jpg

I found out this morning the friggin quarter panels BOLT ON!......Thats the best thing since sliced bread!....wish all of em' had this trait. Qtr. isn't too bad I guess....Fixable. Drivers rear door dented bad at bottom with a little rust out........Upon furthur inspection and half hour with a grinder......LOTS OF RUST OUT!.......fixable....(I just keep telling myself that over and over)LOL!!!

Anyway, Its starting to look like the pics of Rambos Ride when He started gutting it. Frame rails at rearend, trunk floor.......Bunch of other stuff...More stuff......

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00003.jpg

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00005.jpg

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RL Chilton

Smasher-

'48-'53 Quarters bolted on, '54's were welded. Great idea on Hudson's part. You'll find lots of pleasant surprises on your car if you are used to working on other "Brand-X's".

Everything is repairable, just depends on how much work you want to do.

Attached is a couple of pics of what I had to do to the bottom of one of my doors. Last picture is the project I started with:eek:, so metal repair has been bled into my veins with this one project.

My door wasn't rusted out, but was smashed beyond what I wanted to try and pull out as far as the skeleton goes. The lip on the door skin was bent underneath 90-degrees, so I pulled that part out.

Smasher O'Brannan

whoa!.......I thought mine looked rough at first......That rag top was rather...Ragged!........I like projects that start like these and end up a really nice car!.......I enjoy a challenge and I try to repair everything My self literally, Good thing is I've had experience with body mods and roll cages, back halves, that sort of things so I come prepared with the fire wrench and handy mig! I'll keep my progress posted and I'm sure i'll have a ton of questions later on! Thanks for the pics Chilton! It makes me even more anxious to get the ball moving.

RL Chilton

Smasher-

If you want to see more of what I'm doing, check out this thread:

http://www.classiccar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16549&highlight=Russell%27s+Convertible

Smasher O'Brannan

okay.........Russel.......After I picked my jaw up from the floor, all I have to say is.......Holy ****!!!.......If there's one person I would have working on my ride, It would be you!......Wow! I can't believe the skill you have!......(pardon my french also, sorry folks)........Okay, Now I know who's the Master! LOL! I'm so impressed with the pics I've seen, I'm really at a loss for words. I really like the way you go about with projects. I can honestly say, I've never bought/passed up a car from the shape it was in. I on the other hand, could envision what it "could" be again. I will say that frame of mind got me in trouble with the ol' lady quite a few times! lol!!!.......I am truly amazed at the work you put in on that rag top. People with that skill have friends that say, "why don't you open a shop?"....My answer:..cause I only like to work on MY PROJECT CARS!......Its no fun any other way!

Browniepetersen

That impressed me....

RL Chilton

Thanks for the kind words. That kind of stuff keeps me on track and keeps me plowin' along. This type of project has been done before with Hudsons, I am certainly not the first. Clutch Guy here on the forum, Bill Albright and Larry Kennedy, Paul Schuster and Dave Sollon, among others I know have all had similar projects. Clutch Guy is right in the middle of his convertible project, as well, as we speak (or write, that is).

Keep us posted, Smasher . . . I look forward to seeing pics of your progress.

RL Chilton

Smasher-

What part of LA. are you located? My wife's family are all from Plaquemine-- they're all a bunch of Cajuns! She's had family there since the dawn of time.

Smasher O'Brannan

RL Chilton wrote:

Smasher-

What part of LA. are you located? My wife's family are all from Plaquemine-- they're all a bunch of Cajuns! She's had family there since the dawn of time.

lake charles, been here a little over four years now. I'll keep the progress/regress posted! LOL!..

46HudsonPU

Russell,
I've been following your 'convertible journey', as well as many other folks rebuild/restoration projects... I seem to recall that this convertible you are restoring was found upside down, in a river bed?

Smasher - Looks like you've got all outdoors as your workshop! Good luck, and keep up the good work. Also, check those rear framerails real close, Hudsons are famous for rotting in that area.

Smasher O'Brannan

Outdoors for now anyways! I've got a 50'x30' shop going up in the back of my two acres. Hurrican rita took the old pole barn made shop down for me

As far as the rear frame rails go......Just like any other I guess, They look pretty bad so I've got lots of work ahead. Its going to be hard to just simply redo them. I have that "bigger is better" syndrome where I know when I start the frame rails its going to turn into me beefing up the whole frame and tying in the whole chassis with a new subframe!......Its hard to get that drag racing engineering out of my system!...(not that i'm going to build a drag car) just built like one!.....

wkitchens

Its going to be hard to just simply redo them. I have that "bigger is better" syndrome where I know when I start the frame rails its going to turn into me beefing up the whole frame and tying in the whole chassis with a new subframe!......Its hard to get that drag racing engineering out of my system!...(not that i'm going to build a drag car) just built like one!.....[/QUOTE]

I guess we do what we know. I thought the best way to mount my motor was to use an engine plate, like in a sprint car. I wonder where I came up with that idea???? Glad to see others taking a Hudson to pieces, and putting in back together. Now, the competitive side tells me not to be the last one to finish!(ha)

Smasher O'Brannan

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00008.jpg

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http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00005.jpg

A little more progress, A little more rust out......Alot more work!

rambos_ride

Smasher O'Brannan wrote:

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00008.jpg
http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00007.jpg
http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00005.jpg

A little more progress, A little more rust out......Alot more work!

These grand old ladies don't always look so good when you start to take their clothes off :eek:

Which Reminds me of a joke - pc people just stop reading :rolleyes:

Q. What do men and women have in common as they get older?

A.
men look like Sean Connery...
and
women look like Sean Connery

Smasher O'Brannan

rambos_ride wrote:

These grand old ladies don't always look so good when you start to take their clothes off :eek:

Which Reminds me of a joke - pc people just stop reading :rolleyes:

Q. What do men and women have in common as they get older?

A.

men look like Sean Connery...

and

women look like Sean Connery

heheeh!........I like it!

wkitchens

Holy Cow Smasher............you've got metal-eating termites!

Smasher O'Brannan

wkitchens wrote:

Holy Cow Smasher............you've got metal-eating termites!

yea!....getting rid of the little buggers is even harder!!!.........The hula girl on the dash is in pretty good shape though!...lol!!!

Smasher O'Brannan

removed most of the trunk floor and the drivers side trunk area behind wheel well and perimeter frame. Frame looks good except the very rear where it make that nice round curve towards the trunk/back of car. Other than that, still cutting out the cancer.

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00035.jpg

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00034.jpg

wkitchens

Smasher, you might want to check out that "cancer" closely in the rear curve. I remember years ago, I think the guys name was Barry, had a car with lots of rust. One day, he went to jack the rear end up, and in the process, heard a "Clunk", and noticed the roof now had a huge buckle in it. Basically, the car BROKE-in-half. Good luck with your project.

rambos_ride

Smasher O'Brannan wrote:

removed most of the trunk floor and the drivers side trunk area behind wheel well and perimeter frame. Frame looks good except the very rear where it make that nice round curve towards the trunk/back of car. Other than that, still cutting out the cancer.
http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00035.jpg
http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00034.jpg

Ouch that looks ALL TOO familiar - I've got over 100 pictures of the trunk/chassis repair on my website, you might want to familiarize yourself!

On the perimeter rails - take a screwdrive or pick and hammer and forcefully probe any areas that have rust showing. Right now you need to determine just how bad it is....

Custom HowTo - > Trunk
Restoration - > Trunk
Restoration - > Chassis

lsfirth

Smasher O'Brannan wrote:

removed most of the trunk floor and the drivers side trunk area behind wheel well and perimeter frame. Frame looks good except the very rear where it make that nice round curve towards the trunk/back of car. Other than that, still cutting out the cancer.

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00035.jpg

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00034.jpg

Hey Smasher.....excellent work. I love your enthusiasm!! Remember this is a marathon....don't burn yourself out :-)

Keep up the good work and thanks for the pictures....I'll be doing some of this on my '49.

Lee

Smasher O'Brannan

wkitchens wrote:

Smasher, you might want to check out that "cancer" closely in the rear curve. I remember years ago, I think the guys name was Barry, had a car with lots of rust. One day, he went to jack the rear end up, and in the process, heard a "Clunk", and noticed the roof now had a huge buckle in it. Basically, the car BROKE-in-half. Good luck with your project.

oh yes!......that actually scares me!.....I have a sand blaster on the back burner waiting to visit the undercarriage. Then I'll assess the damage and repair accordingly.

Smasher O'Brannan

lsfirth wrote:

Hey Smasher.....excellent work. I love your enthusiasm!! Remember this is a marathon....don't burn yourself out

Keep up the good work and thanks for the pictures....I'll be doing some of this on my '49.

Lee

Thanks! I appreciate it. I don't get burned out!.......It starts with a pint of Guiness!.......and then I mount an attack on something that needs it!......Wow, that sounds familiar!?....The Irish drinking and fighting??!......absurd! LOL!!!

wkitchens

Smasher, I've been trying to find a link, where you could look at the restoration of Paul Shuster's Stepdown convertable, affectionally named "BABY". Talk about a rust-bucket turned into a shinning gem! He used to have a website that began with "Hashville", but I looked and that site has been shut down. Hopefully someone on here could find and post some of "LITTLE PAUL'S" before and afters. Or maybe Paul might be lurking on here, and could post them. It's well worth a gander!

Smasher O'Brannan

Just a few updates to add to my tear down of the 49' sedan. My WIFE AND I!!......stayed up to 1:00am in the morning pulling the engine/trans as a complete unit. Its the first engine she's helped me pull out of a car. Shes torn one down a time or two but not pulled one. I think Bruce Gold is supposed to come this weekend and pick up the motor and trans. It was hell getting it out with the grill still in the car. I had to angle it down and pull it from the undercarriage and when I got the trans. cleared I didn't have room to set it back down to readjust my chains to level the engine. I had to use a ratchet strap and strap down a 8ft. pole to the trans to lift it over the front end of the car. It was interesting!......about the nicest thing I can say anyway. I can't believe how long the engine is!.......It doesn't look that big under the hood, hanging off a lift.......Its HUGE!....at one point I had the lift set on the 2000lbs. hole and the rear of the lift started to come off the ground. I know the engine/trans can't possibly way even a 1000lbs together so I figured being its in my soggy yard it must be sinking or something. I slid the lift bar back to the 3000lbs hole and had no problems then. I did find some engineering feats under that car today though. I was impressed with how the clutch was setup on the trans. and the shift and brake linkages was a well thought out system as well. Hudson really did their homework building the car. The undercarriage could have used a little more bracing I think for sure.

Smasher O'Brannan

just an update, Got the engine/trans pulled out finally with a few pics also.

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00048.jpg

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00049.jpg

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00051.jpg

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00052.jpg

The first pic is of my lovely assistant who stayed out with me to 1:00am. pulling the old girl out......gotta love a girl who doesn't mind a car crazy man.

if you think thats long and heavy wait until you pull one with an automatic transmission...even worse. Best thing I own for pulling / installing motors is an adjustable mechanism ( don't know the actual name of it ) that allows you to change the angle of the motor as you lift/ lower.

46HudsonPU

Jimalberta wrote:

if you think thats long and heavy wait until you pull one with an automatic transmission...even worse. Best thing I own for pulling / installing motors is an adjustable mechanism ( don't know the actual name of it ) that allows you to change the angle of the motor as you lift/ lower.

Think this is what you are referring to -

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LOAD-LEVELER-FOR-CHERRY-PICKER-ENGINE-HOIST-Very-Handy_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ63697QQihZ023QQitemZ360158117726QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Here's an eBay search for the item -
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m37.l1313&satitle=engine+level*&category0=

Yep thats similar to mine. I also use an A frame in my shop ...makes life a little easier.

BJ__TN

I have the same thing and it is invaluable when pulling engines, and especially when the trans is still attached.
Bob

rambos_ride

First thing I did with my load leveler was get rid of the stinking little handle!

I've got an air-over-hydraulic ram on my cherry picker (worth every penny) and use a 1/2" impact to position the load leveler.

46HudsonPU

rambos_ride wrote:

First thing I did with my load leveler was get rid of the stinking little handle!

I've got an air-over-hydraulic ram on my cherry picker (worth every penny) and use a 1/2" impact to position the load leveler.

Got my load leveler from HarborFreight.com - wasn't too expensive, and for how often I use it, it is well worth it. I will take a look at it, and see if I can make use of the impact gun, like you do - Takes a bit to get it level now...

What does that air-over-hydraulic ram setup look like? My cherry picker is an 'El Cheapo' one, but works. My only complaint is in moving it, under load (wheels do not swivel well/easily/readily).

Smasher O'Brannan

well I finally got the cancer cut out of the bottom of the back door and replaced with a new panel and it looks pretty good!.....no pictues yet but ill get on that.

rambos_ride

46HudsonPU wrote:

Got my load leveler from HarborFreight.com - wasn't too expensive, and for how often I use it, it is well worth it. I will take a look at it, and see if I can make use of the impact gun, like you do - Takes a bit to get it level now...

What does that air-over-hydraulic ram setup look like? My cherry picker is an 'El Cheapo' one, but works. My only complaint is in moving it, under load (wheels do not swivel well/easily/readily).

Air-Powered, hydraulic ram from Harbor Frieght - should work with just about any cherry picker..I got mine on sale for 59 and change - priceless!

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94562

Ken U-Tx

wkitchens wrote:

Smasher, you might want to check out that "cancer" closely in the rear curve. I remember years ago, I think the guys name was Barry, had a car with lots of rust. One day, he went to jack the rear end up, and in the process, heard a "Clunk", and noticed the roof now had a huge buckle in it. Basically, the car BROKE-in-half. Good luck with your project.

I think you are referring to Barry Lackey in the Gulf Coast area of south Texas. The car is the one he called the "Rust Rocket" It sat in a rice paddy for years, often flooded by the rains there, which incidentially were "Acid Rain" due to all the Petro refineries in the area. I took the steering column out of that car for him, and in doing so the car made a loud " PRONK!" sound and the firewall and windshield assembly moved about 2 inches. Barry's eyes bugged out, I just laughed.... Kenneth

wkitchens

Ken U-Tx wrote:

I think you are referring to Barry Lackey in the Gulf Coast area of south Texas. The car is the one he called the "Rust Rocket" It sat in a rice paddy for years, often flooded by the rains there, which incidentially were "Acid Rain" due to all the Petro refineries in the area. I took the steering column out of that car for him, and in doing so the car made a loud " PRONK!" sound and the firewall and windshield assembly moved about 2 inches. Barry's eyes bugged out, I just laughed.... Kenneth

You're right Ken, it was Barry. What did he end up doing with that car?

Memphis hasn't changed much since you were last here..........except the crime rate has gone up!

Smasher O'Brannan

finally got the new panel for the bottom of rear door welded in. I also fabricated a new weatherstrip channel and I think it turned out pretty good.

Theres a HUGE dent in the door along the door edge that I could not get out all the way without denting the rest of it up so, when I welded the new panel in I had to match up the panel with the shallow dent to weld it in but I think a little body filler will work just fine to smooth it all out......HEY ITS ALL NEW METAL UNDER IT!!!!......lol!!.......I think I could have done a better job but was limited on metal working equipment. (desperately need to buy a metal break!).........Anyway here's a few pics of the door.....I say FIXED!

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00069.jpg

http://i324.photobucket.com/albums/k359/brannandavid/DSC00070.jpg

Smasher O'Brannan

the dent is not as big or deep as the picture depicts by the way! Its smooth and flat and I guess thats what it should be!

:D

lsfirth

Hey Smasher......you still out there.....any progress lately???

You launched into your project like a rocket.....but haven't heard anything in a while

Hope all is okay!!

PAULARGETYPE

hi all i'm on vacation when i get back home on monday i'll post the new web address for 'BABY'S'redo photos

Hudson308

PAULARGETYPE wrote:

hi all i'm on vacation when i get back home on monday i'll post the new web address for 'BABY'S'redo photos

I think I may have inadvertently done that already in a post last week, Paul... :o

http://hudsonpix.multiply.com/photos...oBABY#photo=87

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