Hey Hambers. Is there an easy way to make some wire or steel wheels fit on a 1931 Es***? Has anyone made a traditional hot rod out of a es***. I been searching on the internet, but it´s mostly street rods. Regards Andreas from Denmark
You will have to get some brake drums with studs on them for a wire wheel or steel wheel to bolt up. Most 1931 cars had the wire wheel option, so if you can find a 1931 Hudson or Es*** with wire wheels, it should be an easy conversion. If you want to use a modern suspension, you will need to ask other H.A.M.B. members about how they did it.
Lots of Es*** rods over the years and it is all either easy or not easy depends on your skill level I suppose. A lot of guys go full Ford suspension under them which makes it easier I suppose. easier brake upgrades for instance, easier to find parts n pieces. You are no f doubt going to want to upgrade your brakes anyway if you are building a hot rod, unless of course you are staying with an early 30s theme.
if you know a good machinist then maybe MG or jaguar knockoffs are an option. Otherwise mail order is your best bet.
I am a machinist myself maybe that will work, I had not thought of. Thank you porkn******. It´s not my car yet, but the owner want to trade it for my styleline. I really like the body design on the es***, but im also very happy with my styleline... What to do????
Hudson products make great Hot Rods, my avatar is a 29 Hudson, cut down into a truck. If you want original wire wheels for it, look in Australia. They used em, as they have termites. I'm building a 28 Hudson Speedster that I need wheels for, mine are rotten. Hudsons are bigger than the Es***, but look the same. John A Conde's book, The Cars That Hudson Built is a great book to get hold of.
they have a person on the east coast ( if my memory serves me right ) that makes wooden wheels ( for carriages, automobiles, etc .... )
Depends on how much meat you have on the hub. it should be nothing to chuck the hub up in a rotory table and knock out the both pattern. One thing to remember is that you already have the drives for the spoked wheels that are on it, if you didn't you would have no working brakes. You have to figure a minimum 3.375" from the center and 3.5 would be better on your hub.
I should have mentioned that the wood spokes can be rebuilt. Also check out Cl***ic car.com. They have a Hudson forum on there, and lots of info. One expert there, is Geoff Clark, a Kiwi, who is top of the field. He is very help full, but isn't a fan of hot rods. 31 Es***'s production fell to about half the previous year, to 40,338 cars, due to the depression.
I don't really think that there is a way to alter wood wheel brake drums to fit wire or steel wheels. Way too much work. They are built differently.
You can get adapters for the hubs. I have two front ones, and Hudson did have the option of wire wheels. I'll have to catch up with my ol buddy Mo for the correct details.
The chart says 1931 Es*** had 5 on 4-1/2 bolt circle. Just buy available 5 on 4-1/2 to 5 on 5-1/2 wheel adapters. Set of four shouldn't cost mor than $200. Or ask for a set here in the wanted section. I'm sure somebody on here will have a set for $100 plus shipping. Just bolt them to the drums and you've got the Ford wheel bolt circle. Just make sure you find ones that are 1 inch or so thick, if you are running fenders. Just my $.02 Good luck!
A lot of modern cars have bolt-on stub axles. Pick a wheel bolt pattern that'll let you mount the wheels you want, and see if there is a recent heavyish front-drive car that has the same bolt pattern. Spindles are much easier to fabricate if you don't have to machine the actual stub-axle. Then it's a case of mixing, matching, and modifying to get a brake set-up to work. For instance, the current round of head-scratching around the Morris Minor is involving fabricated drop spindles, VW Golf Mk1 rear stub axles on the front, VW T3 rear hub carriers on the back, VW T3 hubs all round, Mercedes-Benz M-cl*** brakes, and Mercedes-Benz steel wheels modified to have a bit of a '50s Rudge/Dunlop alloy feel. It limits me to the MB/T2/T3 112mm PCD, but there are enough wheel possibilities in that. I'd say, download a Timken bearing catalogue to see what would interchange with what. Some of the larger brake suppliers have searchable databases which might help you find the necessary parts, but you'll have to search that yourself. A word of warning, though: this approach delivers such an embarras de choix that it might send you off on all kinds of tangents that turn out to be a waste of time in the end. Don't get carried away!
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