The owner's manual for my '51 Kaiser Special (which should be the same specs as a '54 early Special) lists crankcase capacity as "5 Quarts." As a rule of thumb, if the car has a by pass filter, that's another half quart but I've heard others on this forum state it's a full quart. You can be pretty safe with 5 and half. You should be able to put 5 quarts in the oil fill spout, then remove the cover on the filter and pour in enough to fill the canister - that should do it. Of course, you have to drain the canister first and this is assuming there is a filter in the canister!
