hudson on gas or lpg as we call it in the UK

baz1 · Hornet Joined: Oct 05, 2009 Posts: 55 Location: England

hi just thought i would tell all on the Hudson conversion to lpg

Finished fitting the kit about a week ago real easy job realy helped by the fact that computers were in space ships and not cars in 1954 its a very basic kit and change over is manual but its not a chore i think i could have done the conversion in a day if i had one to spare but i took a few weeks as i didnt. after fitting the kit it was time to gas it up and check for leaks. I was nervous but there were no leaks so that was great. i filled it up took 85 liters i was going to drive it back to the workshop on petrol and set the lpg up there my pal Mark said switch it over and try it so i did and it ran straight away the idle was not brilliant so adjusted it a bit and it was better drove back to the workshop and packed up for the day. A couple of days later it had to go for test on the lpg about 150 mile round trip so i set of early and made my way to Cambridge on the way there the alternator started overcharging (45 amps) i thought this is going to kill the Battery so switched on the lights and the rebuilt heater this pulled it down to about 15-20 amps so i carried on (this was the first run the Hudson had since i bought her) got to the test center and she passed with flying colours even the petrol side passed the emissions. On the way home i drove a little harder and all was fine untill about 15 miles from home when the hudson developed a miss so i swiched back to petrol and it was still there (at least it wasnt a gas problem) turned out to be plug gaps opened out so all is well again. I got about 17 miles to the gallon on LPG and i should be able to get this a bit better with time all in all Brilliant. Oh the heater stopped working again just a blown fuse. That night i took it to the car club the headlights stopped working on the way there (hooray for unity spotlights) turned out to be the lighting switch gona fit another switch under the dash for now. I have been hot rodding since 1973 and have had many great adventures just hope i can have a lot more. I am sure lots of you guys can relate to this story we all get problems just hope this one makes you laugh ( i was sweating) Oh just a note if you do this do fit a valve saver or similar to lube the valves etc Baz

51hornet

Great news Baz. What distributor are you running? if its the stock points I would switch over to Pertronix electronic module. You will get a better spark and can open the gap up which would run nicely for lpg.

Nice thing about lpg is it runs really clean so it will extend the life of your engine. My Dad used to do these conversions in the hundreds for school buses and taxi's.

baz1 · Hornet Joined: Oct 05, 2009 Posts: 55 Location: England

hi yes its the stock points it runs fine but pertronics would be a good idea do you know the pertronics parts no for the stock dissy ? also my manifold is cracked i think i might get a set of headers from clifford but on their site ther is no contact no and i need to know that i can use the stock intake before i buy them do you know how i can contact them thanks Baz

51hornet

Model number depends on what you are running:

For 6V system its 1362P6 (P6 designates Positive ground 6V system)
For 12V system its 1362 (12v Neg ground system)

Clifford try emailing Larry he works there at Larry Millwee <larry@cliffordperformance.net>

Should fit fine with stock intake.

baz1 · Hornet Joined: Oct 05, 2009 Posts: 55 Location: England

hi again thanks for the info my guess is that the distributor will be the 6 volt pos earth although the car has been changed to 12 volts by the previous owner going by the fact that all the bulbs in the dash were blown i guess he wouldnt have bothered to change the distributor! so now what to do the car runs fine but should i change the distributor if i can find a 12 volt one! the car is still pos earth (alternator) should i change the alternator to neg earth. also if i dont change the distributor and it is a six volt pos earth one can i get a 12 volt pertronics conversion that will fit a six volt distributor eventualy i am going to re-wire the whole car and change it to neg earth but not this year as i want to use it not look at it in shop. i will contact larry about the manifold thanks Baz

baz1 · Hornet Joined: Oct 05, 2009 Posts: 55 Location: England

just had another thought will the six volt dist work on neg ground! i guess it should Baz

51hornet

The distributor will run on any version of current you provide. So 12V Neg or 6V Positive. There are not different versions of the distributor based on current.

Wonder why he converted to 12v Pos never heard of that.

If the charging system is 12v Pos you cannot run the 12v Pertronix unless you switch to 12v Neg.

Send me a picture of the setup under the hood. Would like to see what the heck the previous owner did.

baz1 · Hornet Joined: Oct 05, 2009 Posts: 55 Location: England

u dont want to see under the bonnet it realy rough but definatly pos earth as i had to alter all the LPG kit because of it dont know where he got a pos earth alternator (maybe Marine) just back from the shop and looks like the manifold is fixed for a while anyway changed the plugs running realy sweet i will send a pic of the engine asap need to get my camra out Baz

51hornet

Ok should be pretty easy to pick up neg alternator and fix the wiring.

baz1 · Hornet Joined: Oct 05, 2009 Posts: 55 Location: England

just got some info from pertronics and they do a pos earth set up as well although they say its quite differently wired from the normal set up also Larry mailed me and said the manifold will work with the stock intake manifold so looks like i am sorted thanks again Baz