New member on the forum

[Tevel Jean-Jacques]

Good morning afternoon all,

I’m new member on this forum, so let me first introduce myself.
My name is Jean-Jacques Tevel (JJ to make it shorter), and I live in Belgium. Being from the southern part of the country, I’m a French speaking person, this means that I will first need to ask you to be patient and tolerant with my English language skills which are more than limited.
I have been “playing” with old-timers for quite a wile and have different cars.
1925 STUDEBAKER Standard Six
1952 KAISER Manhattan (of course)
1961 MGA coupé
1983 RENAULT 4GTL (easy for short drive in the village and cool for my daughters to drive friends)
See pictures in attachement. 

The other cars on the group picture are my brother’s cars.
1931 RENAULT Primaquatre
1950 DODGE Meadowbrook
1979 MGB GT

About a year ago, I bought the 1952 Kaiser Manhattan four doors sedan. When I bought it, the car was in pretty good condition, but had been stored in a dry warehouse for quite a long time (I was told 8+ years) with only regular engine static starts.
Before I started using it, I proceeded to a solid maintenance with ignition renewal (except spark plug wires and distributor assembly), oil change, and brakes set up. I also changed the fuel pump as it was out of order.
When I started using the car, two major issues seemed to be persistent.
The first one is the engine still not working smoothly. It starts OK, but once a running temperature, I often have erratic power cuts during accelerations. As said above, I changed all ignition parts, I also installed a transistorized ignition, but not a 123 full electronic, means that the pointers are still used, but with low amp current. I also should mention that at several occasions, before I installed the transistorized ignition, I faced a cut of the wire between the pointers and the connection at the entry of the distributor.
I also cleaned the carburetor, but still need to control and set the fuel level in it (if one of you has the procedure to do it properly, it will be more than welcome). 
The problem doesn’t really come with high temperatures, and I insulated the fuel pipe, so it is most probably not vapor lock. I controlled the spark advance and set it at 5° as prescribed in the shop floor manual I have. I tried with more advance, but it worsened the issue (I might try to get it set at less than 5°). I also replaced the manifold gasket to ensure I have no free air intakes.
The second issue is the brakes which are…………. NOT BRAKING AT ALL…… At the best, I could name them decelerators, but nothing more. I changed the shoes, the 4 wheel cylinders, the master cylinder rubbers and the oil (I use a silicone one to avoid corrosion). All that with no or very small improvement.

So, this is where I am for now. Any idea, advices or comment will be more than welcome.
I really thank you in advance for your reaction on the forum.
Have a great day all.
JJ.

[Tevel Jean-Jacques]

Sorry, I only got one of the pictures attached.... My mistake....... Here are the other ones (I hope......)

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

If you do not have the service manual for the car, I recommend you get the set:

1951 Kaiser and Frazer Service Manual
1952-53 Kaiser Supplement to the above.  This book covers changes, updates, etc. made after the 1951 book came out. 

Are you a member of the KFOCI (Kaiser-Frazer Owners Club International) also?  Joining the forum is NOT the same thing as joining the car club itself.

[joefrazer]

Tres belle voiture monsieur!

[Tevel Jean-Jacques]

Merci joefrazer... I just try to make them nice.

@kaiserfrazerlibrary, not in the club yet, but think about it in a near future.

I'm also thinking adding a remote brake booster that could improve the braking performance. If shoes were designed to have asbestos material and replacement are made with other product like Kevlar, this could drive to an impossibility to fix the issue with original parts. I would much prefer to keep the car in the original design, but safety first, and the car is not really safe at the moment.
What are your thoughts on this?

[Gordie]

Replacement modern brake linings should work just as well as the originals.  They are readily available on eBay or from our KFOCI member suppliers

[Tevel Jean-Jacques]

That's what I thought when I replaced the shoes. I bought the WAGNER PAB53 (Daily Driver) ThermoQuiet kit at Rockauto web shop.

What is also surpising, is ha we replaced my brother's 1950 Dodge Meadowbrook (similar car in power and weight) brakes with the same product type, and they are performing extremely well on it. We even need to be careful with those brakes as they tend to block the wheels too early as soon as you put a bit of pressure on the pedal.

[Gordie]

It seems like your master cylinder could be frozen and not pushing the brake fluid properly.  I would have it checked for proper operation especially because it sat unused for a long period of time.  Kaiser brakes are very efficient when all parts are in good condition.

[Tevel Jean-Jacques]

Morning all,

I just revisited the all master cylinder and found nothing specially wrong with, but after I re-assembled it...... it still doesn't brake properly. So I ordered a new one and will let you know how it goes after I install it on the car.

I now still have an issue with the carb. When the engine is at idle speed, it doesn't run well, with vibration and I would say only one of the carb barrel working properly. I have the 3 back cylinders not working the right way. The engine neither keeps its idle regular and stops easily. When driving the car, the engine stops when the gearbox goes on free wheels when removing my foot from the throttle pedal. I plan to buy a repair kit at Willow Run KF parts.

Should one of you have a document that could help me taking the rebuild work on the right way with lower risk of loosing or forgetting some steps in the run....

Thanks a lot in advance.
JJ.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Some ideas

1.  Have you checked compression in ALL 6 of the engine cylinders with a vacuum gage?  All 6 need to be very close to the same; check the speck for compression in the shop manual

2.  It is not unusual to need a carb rebuild on an old car.  If the car was imported from the USA of late it may have run for some years with out alcohol/gasoline mixture and the ethanol attacks rubber seals, etc.

[Tevel Jean-Jacques]

Hello all,

A little bit of news on all the issues I had.....and sometime fixed.

There finally were multiple issues for the engine not run in the proper way.

I first dicovered several intake leakage on the carb. this was due to poor carb gaskets hand made and installed by the previous owner. there was also a leakage at the advance vacuum connection.

While removing the carb, I noticed that the hexaust manifold was cracked all arround the central cylinders fixture. It was just on the point the completaly break. I fixed it, but the part is so weak that I'm not that confident that this will keep running for years.

I also changed the master cylinder, and the brakes are working (a little bità better. no miracle nevertheless, I still thing installing a remote servo......

As the car loves to keep me buzy, I also had troubles with the overdrive. The solenoid has broken down and I have question about that. I have the opportunity to buy locally a piece that was installed on a 1953 Ford Mercury, it lokks very similar, but if somebody couls confirm it works or not, that should make me more comfortable.

That's about it for the moment, but I sure will keep you updated on further evolution.
JJ.

[joefrazer]

Ford used 6 volt electrical systems in 1953 so the solenoid should work. I think some Ford solenoids were a different length but if it fits, it should work.

[Corsairdeluxe]

Good reference

http://www.kaiserbill.com/Web-PDF/OD-Solenoid.pdf

I used the solenoid from a Ford. The end of the plunger was shaped different. I swapped the old plunger from the Henry J into the ford solenoid. No Problem. It may not have been necessary.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Borg-Warner designed a basic overdrive unit and the various car companies tended to make the unit work with their transmissions by design changes (such as K-F and Willys) to the gearbox and developed their same linkages for the same reason.  It is my understanding from old B-W information that solenoids and some other components can be interchanged with little or no change to the component between makes of car.  This seems especially true with Kaiser-Frazer products.  It's the biggest reason that we have the parts availability we have, be it overdrives, engine parts, clutch parts, etc. at the mechanical level.

[Corsairdeluxe]

https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hmn/2010/09/Borg-Warner-Overdrive-Solenoids/3689641.html