You Have GOT to be Kidding Me!!??

[shadetree77]

Some of you may have caught some of my previous threads dealing with the oil pan removal on my '53 Manhattan. Thusfar, this operation has been the most complicated oil pan removal process I have EVER experienced. With help from several of you guys I finally got the pan off and thought it was all down hill from here. Just take those front and rear filler blocks off and slap a new gasket on there! NOT SO MY FRIEND, NOT SO.

Today I crawled under to remove those blocks and clean the gasket surface. I got the rear block off within minutes. Then, on to the front. 3 hours later I crawled out from under the car cursing the Kaiser engineers and looking for something to break. There are two bolts under there that hold the front filler block to the engine block. I got the drivers side bolt out relatively easy despite only managing about a 1/4 turn at a time due to close quarters. The other bolt was a freakin' nightmare! It is positioned SO CLOSE to the crankshaft that nothing I had would fit on it. I had to grind down a wrench to almost nothing before it would fit on the bolt enough to give me a 1/16 of a turn. ARGGGHHHH!!

So I finally get this bolt to drop down, I breathed a sigh of relief, and tugged on the filler block.....nothing. Stuck tight. I went to the service manual and after looking through its vague passages several times located a section that says the front block is also held on by some "slotted head screws". Now it does not tell you where these screws are or how to access them but I believe I know. I have to take off the crank pulley and remove the timing chain cover to get to them......ARE YOU $#%&ing kidding me!!??? Anyone know if this is really what I have to do now? Man, you could not have paid me enough to be a Kaiser Frazer mechanic back then. I love working on old cars and I am no stranger to encountering problems, heck I even enjoy overcoming them, but this oil pan gasket replacement is RIDICULOUS. I think I could have pulled the engine and done this on a stand faster than this!!

[joefrazer]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but yes, there are screws that attach the front filler block to the front engine plate.

[superk226]

When you put the front filler on use two 5/16 allen head bolts instead of the hex head bolts into the block.

[shadetree77]

That's ok. I was 99% sure of that already. Thanks for confirming my fears, lol.  I do have some questions though. In the manual it says that a special puller tool is necessary to remove the pulley/damper from Kaiser models. It says that a universal type can be used for Frazer models. So has anyone removed this from a Kaiser and did you need the special tool? It also references a special tool to put the timing chain cover back on. Did you need this too?

Thanks for the suggestion superK. I assume this makes it a bit easier?

[joefrazer]

Pulling the damper is easier with the tool but you can do it with a 3 jaw puller.

I've never needed or used a special tool to remove/install the cover.

[retired wrench]

 
   In some cases there was a sleeve you slipped over the crank to center the seal before tightening the screws in the front cover. On some motors you can install the balancer then tighten the screws but others that is not possible.

[joefrazer]

On the 226 engines, the seal is an interference fit into the cover so it self centers.