54 Mahattan Supercharger

[Mr Manhattan]

Can anyone tell me if the removel of the supercharger effects the performance of the engine, if so how ? I know the SC required a different dist,carb,and fuel pump. The one I am looking at, had the SC removed and the guy that owns it said the idle has be kept up high for the car to stay running .
                                           
                                    Thanks In Advance .....Fred

[joefrazer]

My guess is that there's a vacuum leak somewhere or perhaps the distributor was changed or reset so that the timing is off enough to not allow the car to idle. If you just remove the S/C and leave everything else, the car will run just fine. That's what I did on my 54...actually, I just removed the belt, but the effect is the same.

[kaiserkid]

My 54 doesn't have the supercharger right now but in the spring it will have! It runs just fine now and hopefully even better in the spring. My question is will I feel the power increase with the supercharger?

[joefrazer]

The S/C only kicks in when the gas pedal is pushed far enough down to actuate the switch in the airbox. That engages the magnet in the S/C unit that provides the boost. I can tell you that in my 54, I notice the difference. It's not V8 performance, but it is noticeable.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

According to the numbers off Kaiser-Frazer's Experimental Engineering report on supercharger development and the numbers reported in MOTOR TREND magazine's test of a 1954 Manhattan, overall numbers are similar to that with the 1954 Dodge Red Ram V-8 in its standard form, although torque curves are different.  It should be noted in the MT case, the car given them was set-up in advance by the LA office of Kaiser-Willys so it was optimum condition.

For purposes of judging, all 1954-55 Kaiser Manhattans were factory equipped with blowers.