Formal Introduction and Projects

[Cortes121]

I'm sorry its been a while for me to actually formally introduce myself.

I'm Anthony Cortes, I'm 21 and I own a 1951 Kaiser Deluxe. I've had it for about 4 years now, and it has been a real joy. My grandfather owned a 1948 Frazer and my dad said he loved that car.

I know many of you have pristine show cars, but mine is a work in progress. ( trying to get through school at the moment!)

Here it is at the Palm Springs car show:




I've put a new clutch, wheel cylinders, a new master cylinder, rebuilt the carb and many other maintenance and upkeep projects.

The car suffers from a poor attempt at a restoration, which sometimes is as bad as being rusted out.

I also own a 1954 Manhattan junker that I bought about a year ago :



I plan on restoring the engine and installing it and the supercharger in my '51.

Heres the progress so far:

http://www.deadlinetv.net/images/enginebay.jpg

It sure was messy, but everything appears to be in good shape

http://www.deadlinetv.net/images/Engine.jpg

Tranny appears to be... light green?

http://www.deadlinetv.net/images/Transmission.jpg

Sadly, the engine got away from me and I broke the pump:

http://www.deadlinetv.net/images/FuelPump.jpg

I cleaned some parts today at work, and they came out decent. 56 year old paint held up well..

http://www.deadlinetv.net/images/oilpanandcover.jpg



Anyways, From the hospitality I have received thus far, I can tell this is an exceptional group of people!

[joefrazer]

As Vice President of the Kaiser Frazer Owners Club, let me be the first to formally welcome you to our forum!

The 54 you own is a rare car...not just because it's a 54, but because it's a stick/overdrive car. Not many were made and until recently, I'd only ever seen one...and I've been in the KFOCI since 1964. Yours now makes 6 that I am aware of.

The green tranny is correct since it was a leftover item from the 1953 cars that used green for the drive train color.

Your 51 is also a rare car, being a 2 door...and a nice one too!

Again, welcome and check in often, we like hearing from the new folks...as well as those of us who've been doing this for a long time.

P.S., my real name is Jim, I use Joe Frazer as a pseudonym.

[Cortes121]

Thanks for the welcome!

I wondered why someone would order a manhattan and not get the hydramatic, but now the color makes sense. Very neat to hear!

Also, isn't it uncommon to have a one tone manhattan?

I would have loved to try and save the car, but it is so far gone it would be too much money and work, as well as some pieces were missing.

[Harry]

Look's like a nice car, my father had a 48 Frazer and a 53 Kaiser so to cover both base's I got a 48 Kaiser, the Kaiser name and the Frazer body, mine is a daily driver it has been a great experience, have fun with the car. Harry

[HJ-ETEX]

Good point, Cortes. Almost every 54 - and that includes Specials - I have ever heard of were 2 tone. And while there were a lot of 2 tone combinations listed, about 8 or so are normally seen.
About automatics... some people did not trust them. For example a very small % of upper level GM lines continued to be ordered with standard trans. There was a 1969 Olds 88 (probably with a 350 and not a larger V8) with a column shift in my town. A man my father worked with bought a 1977 Buick Century (intermediate) station wagon with a column shift. This guy was 82 and claimed the decision was based on needing the clutch pedal to exercise his left leg. He wasn't known for having a sense of humor either.

[Cortes121]

I do remember hearing about the distrust of automatics in the early years of their introduction.


btw, if anyone is in need of '54 parts, i'm selling pretty much everything I can. Just let me know.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

It's only been recent that the old adage about manual transmission cars getting better gas mileage no longer applied to production automobiles (in many cases you can still get faster acceleration with the stick shift).  Back when K-F cars were new, manual with overdrive gave you best crusing on the highy for engine RPM and best gas mileage owing to the final gear ratios the overdrive created compared to automatics.  Also, there were many different automatic transmissions.  By 1953 the Packard Ultramatic was starting to get a bad reputation for servicability and longevity, the Buick Power Glide often took city blocks to get up to 35-40 mph (but boy, was the shifting smooth) and so on.

The Hydra-Matic also had major problems during calendar year 1951 production due to shavings and other debris that were not completly cleaned out after part machining operations.  G-M had to issue a special warranty on these gearboxes that was still considered viable up until it was discharged in the recent bankruptcy.

[Cortes121]

I did not know that.

So did the ratio of automatics to manuals with over drive in Kaisers (non henry J automobiles) remain steady, or was there always a lean towards Manual with OD?

I also wondered how many Kaiser ( non Herny J) with built with standard Manuals w/o OD.  How is their drivability today?

[HJ-ETEX]

Jack: Buick had the DynaFlow and Chevy had the PowerGlide. Both were sluggish performers because they had 2 speed gearsets. The low range gearset was to move off from a stop and most of the car travel was expected to be handled by the high range gearset and the torque converter.
Chevy was a cheap car so you shouldn't expect much out of what they had as an automatic, but Buick... The DynaFlow in it's various incarnations (especially the SuperTurbine DynaFlow) was a drag on what could have a better performing car. 

[HJ-ETEX]

Cortes: There was a surprising high % of 51 Kaiser Specials with Hydramatic and the few 53 Carolina cars (which were supposed to be a price leader) I have seen tend to have Hydramatics.
I believe there was pressure on GM to offer the Hydramatic to other car manufacturers. When the Hydramatic Plant burned down which lead to Kaiser selling Willow Run to GM as a replacement facility, the cars that suffered from the lack of Hydramatic transmissions were GM cars, not the other companies like Nash and Kaiser.

[HJ-ETEX]

BTW, Henry Js COULD have been offered with automatics but they weren't. Rick Kamen has documented several Willys Aeros with the 161 engine that had Hydramatics. It sounds like they were available well before Kaiser bought Willys. Now, these were the F-Head version of the 161 engines rather than the L-head used in HJs, but it shows the major parts were there.
It would have been an expensive option relative to to total price of the car and the car was competing with the lower trim model Chevy. But perhaps if it was marketed towards woman as an urban vehicle?
Well to answer that idea, in an urban setting (block by block, stop light to stoplight) if you have a HJ with an OD, you don't need an automatic. With a 4:55 rearend, you can start off from a nearly level stop in 2nd gear. If your speed exceeds 28 mph (engine may be starting to scream), you let off and shift into 2nd gear OD. So you actually have something that works similar to Chrysler's Fluid Drive but is cheaper, simpler and lighter.

[Cortes121]

How would I go about checking my gear ratios in my 51 differential? I know it has to do with the number of revolutions of the drive shaft compared with the rear wheels.

Since I will be installing a 54 motor, do I have to replace the differential gears as well?

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Shortly after World War II, General Motors managment knew it was only a matter of time before Ford, Chrysler Corpoation and others offered a fully automatic gearbox for cars, especially the medium and luxury class cars.  It was no secret that Warner Gear (Borg-Warner) was working on an automatic that they would offer car companies who were already using their manal boxes.  To get the jump on everyone, since Hydra-Matic (introduced by Oldsmobile in 1939) seemed to be working well, GM decided to expand H-D production at the Detroit Gear plant in Livonia.   It was also considered a good anti-trust sort of thing to offer the transmissions to any other car company-including Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Corporation--who wanted it at a competitive price.  This is how it got into Nash, Hudson and even Lincoln (through the 1955 model year).  Kaiser-Frazer began using in 1951 model year cars...first deliveries from GM came in June 1950.  While this was too late to go into Frazer standard sedans and Vagabonds, it was used in Frazer Manhattans and Kaiser Deluxe models (H-D became available on Specials as an option in June of 1951). 

[Fid]

To answer the question about how to tell which rearend ratio you have, there is a tag on one of the rearend cover bolts. It will have a number on it such as 41/9 or 41/10,  47/11 etc.  That tells you how many teeth are on the ring gear compared to how many are on the pinion.  If it says 41/9, that means there are 41 teeth on the ring gear and 9 on the drive pinion.  Here's a picture of what it will look like -


You can see this tag has 41/9 on it.  This rearend was on a restored car (where the restorer did not know the rearend should've been changed) so it's nice and clean. You may have to clean the one on your differential to see/read it.  They can be quite caked with grease/dirt after 50+ years!

One of the most common mistakes I hear about, and it was the case with the car who's owner sent me this photo, is someone changing a Henry J from a 4 cylinder to a 6 cylinder.  This works great if the car has overdrive as the six cylinder with OD used the 41/9 but if it doesn't have OD (which was the case with this one), you'll only be able to go about 45 mph with the six.  I've read of several people claiming on other sites that they replaced their Henry J 4 with a 6 and the performance was worse! It's true if you don't have the correct rearend ratio. The 41/9 does not work well in a Henry J with the six cylinder engine and no overdrive.  Not sure about the Kaiser but it does have to match up in any case.

[GA Kaiser]

Hi Anthony, welcome to the club.  When I read you were selling parts, I was going to ask if you had the fuel pump with the extra outlet for the Supercharger, it's what I need for my '54, but I saw your photo.  Man, that is just my luck.  Do you have another one, by chance?  Does anyone else have one, or know where I could get one? 

If your trunk fits snug (mine does not) I might be interested in the trunk hinges if they work.  I could also use the knob from the turn signal if it has the chrome cap.  My cap is missing.  Thanks.

If you have a 2009 calendar, my car was featured in December.  It looks really good from 20 feet, but don't look too closely!  Oh well, I am still proud of it and have the most fun with it at shows and cruise-ins.