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The Mystery of The Slot

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tomj View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tomj Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/13/2021 at 12:31am
Originally posted by gtoman_us gtoman_us wrote:

I would think that modern Dynamat would have solved the problem.

That would be interesting. It would require, probably, recreating the original problem by welding up the slot to see if it sings/groans, and what speed, conditions etc. tbh I'm unlikely to do this. 
1960 Rambler Super two-door wagon, OHV auto
1961 Roadster American, 195.6 OHV, T5
http://www.ramblerLore.com

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote farna Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/18/2021 at 6:56am
I did!! The problem was actually with a Hudson and the engineer English. May have been the then new "Step-Down" bodies, I forget. The story was they had a drone they couldn't resolve, and management brought this expensive English engineer in (forget the name). He rode around one of the prototype/pre production cars for a while, and told them the rear floors were the problem. Hudson engineers refused to believe it! He said cut the floors out and drive it then. They didn't want to, management said we are paying this guy big bucks, do what he says! Turns out the drone went away when the floors were cut out. Floors were redesigned.

It's my theory that the slot if there for the same reason. Could be crack preventing flex as TomJ mentioned as a possibility. I remember one person welding it up when building a hot rod with a big (loud) motor, but no issues were reported. I'm not even sure he finished the project, don't remember. If it's a flex issue it could take a few years of driving in a hobby car before it came up. Sound could be drowned out by a louder motor/tires/exhaust. The factory exhaust is darned quiet -- I could sneak up on people with my first Rambler, a flat-head with factory exhaust. They would hear squeaks from suspension/body before they heard the motor if I was careful!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 6768rogues Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/19/2021 at 5:12am
If the floor flexed and made a snap through oil can sound a cut could have solved it. But I just had surgery and I am in a drug induced state of euphoria, so maybe I am Rambling on, so to speak.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bigbad69 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/19/2021 at 8:49am
Originally posted by farna farna wrote:

I did!! The problem was actually with a Hudson and the engineer English. May have been the then new "Step-Down" bodies, I forget. The story was they had a drone they couldn't resolve, and management brought this expensive English engineer in (forget the name). He rode around one of the prototype/pre production cars for a while, and told them the rear floors were the problem. Hudson engineers refused to believe it! He said cut the floors out and drive it then. They didn't want to, management said we are paying this guy big bucks, do what he says! Turns out the drone went away when the floors were cut out. Floors were redesigned.

It's my theory that the slot if there for the same reason. Could be crack preventing flex as TomJ mentioned as a possibility. I remember one person welding it up when building a hot rod with a big (loud) motor, but no issues were reported. I'm not even sure he finished the project, don't remember. If it's a flex issue it could take a few years of driving in a hobby car before it came up. Sound could be drowned out by a louder motor/tires/exhaust. The factory exhaust is darned quiet -- I could sneak up on people with my first Rambler, a flat-head with factory exhaust. They would hear squeaks from suspension/body before they heard the motor if I was careful!
It sounds like they were addressing a resonance issue in the body tub. Cutting the slot in the floor changed the resonance to some less n oticeable frequency. Welding the slot closed may or may not reproduce the resonance since the new structure is not the same as a contiguous stamped floor pan.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tomj Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/20/2021 at 10:46pm
Thanks Frank!! After solving Hudson's problem, I wonder if Nash/AMC had the same problem, or if they simply put the slot there without testing? Probably no way to know. 

I'm glad you could recall that story, that's an interesting problem.

1960 Rambler Super two-door wagon, OHV auto
1961 Roadster American, 195.6 OHV, T5
http://www.ramblerLore.com

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote farna Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May/21/2021 at 6:13am
One of these days I'm going to look through my collection of old articles and find some of this! Have a couple paper boxes full of magazines and a file drawer full of articles I pulled from magazines to save space. Most of the pulled articles came from magazines in rough shape on the covers and outer pages, or were rather new at the time. No vintage magazines in good condition were destroyed!

When I was researching my first Rambler book I went through Popular Mechanics and Popular Science magazines -- every issue, every year (library, older ones on Micro Fiche). They had one or two page "columns" that covered the auto industry, with short blurbs about rumored this, just introduced that -- sometimes with a small photo -- that didn't warrant an article of it's own or fit into an article, or was just really new and they wanted to mention it before something like a new car full article came out. The Pacer generated a lot of these over the course of about a year (at least six months) before it was finally introduced. AMC apparently "leaked" tidbits of info to the auto press as the Pacer was developed to keep excitement/interest up. Lots of the info on the GM Wankel engine as related to the Pacer was gleaned from those. I still have a big box (about half a paper box) full of 50s and 60s PM mags that were in too good a shape to dismantle. Bought the whole box cheap at a yard sale in the early 90s. You can see ALL issues of Popular Mechanics on Google Books now -- from 1905-2000. Lots of interesting car info in those! That MIGHT be where the Hudson story came from... not sure now...

The search feature isn't the best, but it works... sort of. Hard to find anything in the pre 40s issues. Part of the reason is the number of advertisements in the early issues.


Edited by farna - May/21/2021 at 6:39am
Frank Swygert
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