Messages

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General Discussion / Re: OLD CARS Car of the Week: 1949 Kaiser Custom Virginian

« on: March 07, 2020, 10:31:56 AM »

That's a great car, great find! And a really cool story!!

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General Discussion / Re: Kanter Parts...the good, the bad...the ugly...

« on: February 16, 2020, 11:42:50 PM »

And let's face it, sometimes a newly constructed repro part is just a better choice than an NOS part that's been on the shelf for nigh on 70 years...

While I can't speak to the quality of aftermarket vs NOS KF parts (in the odd circumstance where both options exist), I can speak to the aftermarket/repro vs NOS world in a more general sense, and there are almost no cases in my experience where an aftermarket part is superior to a properly stored, good condition NOS part. Obviously seals, gaskets, glass, hoses, other rubber soft parts degrade over long spans of time, but when it comes to hard parts that do not degrade over time with proper storage, the actual original part is almost invariably higher quality. Especially in today's "global economy" i.e. Chinese economy, where the large majority of new parts are made in China these days. That means sub-standard quality control in most cases, sometimes grotesquely so.

That said, there are some areas where the marching on of technology has offered the potential for substantial improvement over original in terms of material quality, or correcting known design flaws with a given part. Brake and clutch friction materials have advanced tremendously in the last several decades, providing a world of different brake pad options, etc. But that comes with a caveat, as just as the potential is there for a noticeable improvement in quality over the original part due to a redesign or using different materials, the potential is also there to go substantially cheaper than stock as well, thus worsening the overall esperience. Cheap parts store brake shoes and pads are a great example of this. Most off the shelf cheap brake shoes now are bonded rather than riveted, and the friction material itself is of poor quality, causing grabbiness and generally poor performance and/or service life.

So, as long as one understands the two opposing sides to every part story - that new does not always mean better, just as NOS does not always mean the best that a part can possibly be despite seven decades of advancement - one can make an informed decision on a part by part basis after asking the right questions about the part in question. One simple thing to keep in mind is, if you are having a hard time figuring out where something was made, odds are it was made in China or else other than the USA. Being made in the USA is a big selling point on most things, so if it simply does not say anywhere on it or its packaging whereit wwe mad, odds are it was China.

Edit: The quality of most repro parts for the big three makes are woefully sub-par, some astonishingly so. High quality repros that are genuinely as good quality as the original are very much the exception, and you definitely pay for them. There is a reason why a lot of NOS parts are big bucks even when inexpensive repros are available.

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General Discussion / Re: Greetings to all!

« on: February 08, 2020, 11:22:39 PM »

As far as trusting Ebays 'parts compatibly I have seen lately a listing showing a 1955 Chevy front fender as working on a Kaiser, as does a 1951 Ford door.  Ebays listings are getting like an old J.C. Whitney catalog, real suspect.

Absolutely. It's been that way for years, unfortunately. I am constantly dealing with the incredible amount of misinformation, ignorance and outright dishonesty from all manner of sellers in the automotive parts world, especially with vintage stuff, double especially with online sellers with almost no accountability. Just last week, I was trying to source some seals and such for a '62 Ford Ranchero with a Fordomatic two speed. O'reilly claimed to be able to get some of them, but when I made a comparison with the ones in the transmission, they were totally different. Their computer had a completely different transmission listed for that car than what they actually came with. The kid behind the counter didn't have a clue of course, had no idea what the difference was. That is unfortunately par for the course in the mainstream auto parts world now. If they can look it up easily for a common vehicle, you may get the right parts. If you have something uncommon or totally out of the mainstream, you're going to get a lot of blank stares.

Thankfully Trans Pac had a complete seal kit for me, for a reasonable price. That's what I worked on today.

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General Discussion / Re: A tale of two Manhattans, and one first-time Kaiser owner...

« on: February 08, 2020, 09:04:46 PM »

Also, a couple folks have reached out to me to offer clutch discs and related parts, and I've been having an interesting conversation with one fellow about some potential chattering issues with a relined clutch disc vs. an NOS disc. Has anyone else had any problems with using a relined disc vs an NOS or new disc? Needless to say, I only want to do this job once. Anyone have any input on this subject?

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General Discussion / Re: A tale of two Manhattans, and one first-time Kaiser owner...

« on: February 08, 2020, 08:57:28 PM »

Glad to see people like you are still saving these great automobiles ! My dad started driving a Frazier in 1951 and I started my driving my 1951 Kaiser Deluxe in 1960.

Thanks! It deserves to be saved. It's just way too solid a body to let it go to waste. I have not found one spec of cancerous rust on it yet, even in the wheel wells, rockers, quarters or anywhere, which is REALLY surprising considering its age and how it sat on dirt for 50+ years. It survived all this time, it has earned the right to keep on living!

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General Discussion / Re: A tale of two Manhattans, and one first-time Kaiser owner...

« on: February 06, 2020, 09:27:49 PM »

I have not bee able to source a new clutch and pressure plate thus far...

Some clutch parts available here Forgotten:

Pressure Plate:  http://kfparts.com/store/product/208630/

Friction Disc:  http://kfparts.com/store/product/213068/

Thanks.. I saw those in my search. I can't really justify spending more than double to get a relined clutch disc and rebuilt pressure plate through them when I can have it done (somewhat) locally and likely get it back much faster to boot, still using USA made friction material and American labor. Unless there was a significant difference in quality, in which case I would always choose the higher quality part, but I don't suspect there is any appreciable difference between them.

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General Discussion / Re: A tale of two Manhattans, and one first-time Kaiser owner...

« on: February 05, 2020, 11:32:35 AM »

The transmission:

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General Discussion / Re: A tale of two Manhattans, and one first-time Kaiser owner...

« on: February 05, 2020, 11:30:25 AM »

A minor update here.. I found a potential reason why this car was parked all those years ago.. The clutch was completely oil soaked and worn down to rivets on the flywheel side. The flywheel and pressure plate were severely hot spotted, and the flywheel has noticeable grooves in it from the rivets. This thing would have slipped like crazy, and if it worked at all it would have chattered like crazy as well. So I bet that's why they parked it.

I have not bee able to source a new clutch and pressure plate thus far, but a shop a couple hours away in Sacramento can reline my clutch disc as well as resurface and rebuild my pressure plate, all for about $160 out the door, so I'm very likely going to go that route. Then I just have to hope the flywheel has enough meat left to be safely machined.

The T86E transmission itself appears to be in fine shape. After pressure washing, I removed the top plate and inspected inside. All gears and synchros appear to be in good shape, no excessive wear. It operates smoothly by hand in all gears, freewheels as expected with overdrive on, everything works as expected with overdrive on or off, and the solenoid, governor and switch all seem to work as they should. I'm going to reseal it, renew the clutch and I will hopefully be all good there!

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General Discussion / Re: A tale of two Manhattans, and one first-time Kaiser owner...

« on: February 01, 2020, 11:06:51 AM »

Great pics and description! The car looks very rust-free even after sitting outside for so many years and being inhabited by all those critters.

Indeed, it is remarkably rust free all throughout! That's one of the reasons I just couldn't pass it up. Mostly straight and solid with all intact trim, reasonably straight bumpers, etc.. The mechanical aspects don't phase me, but I don't like getting into serious rust repair, nor do I want to spend years tracking down impossible to find parts and trim. I hemmed and hawed about it for a couple days before buying it, but what made the decision for me was jacking it up and finding no rust in the floors or rockers or anything underneath, and the crank turned easily by hand. Figured it'd be worth the chance!

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General Discussion / Re: A tale of two Manhattans, and one first-time Kaiser owner...

« on: January 31, 2020, 11:40:06 PM »

I appreciate the info and input you guys have provided. You bring up a few good points.

Yes indeed, projects like this definitely take considerable time and money to finish. Thankfully I am no stranger to projects of this scale, being a professional classic car restorer and lifelong enthusiast. The Kaiser aspect is certainly new to me, but the work in general is not.

Phase one of my plan with this car is to get it basically cleaned up, make it mechanically solid and reliable, then drive it for a bit to see what I think of it. Because of its advanced state of filth due to critters, I am going to nearly completely disassemble the car so that I can thoroughly clean it inside and out. The interior will be completely gutted. I will attempt to save the door panels and dash pad, as I'm sure those would be difficult or impossible to replace, but I will be getting rid of the carpet, seat upholstery and headliner. I will strip the seats down to bare frames, then start with having the front seat professionally refoamed and reupholstered.

I will be removing the body from the frame, so that I can throughly pressure wash the frame inside and out, then make new copper-nickel brake and fuel lines that mimic the original. I will check the condition of the rear axle and perform any required repairs and service as needed. Likewise, the brakes will be completely freshened up. I've already ordered new shoes and hardware, wheel and master cylinder rebuild kits, as well as hoses. The suspension looks surprisingly good, including the rear leaf spring bushings as well as front sway bar bushings. If the ball joints check out ok, I will likely leave the suspension alone for now.

The engine and trans will be thoroughly pressure washed as well, then disassembled only as required for the replacement of gaskets and seals, but otherwise left alone. I will surely rebuild the carburetor, as well as give the required attention to the distributor, fuel pump, etc. as required to ensure proper running and reliability.

As far as wiring goes, I am very likely going to use a new harness kit from the likes of Ron Francis or American Autowire, as I have used such kits in the past with much success. I am not as concerned about strict originality as much as I am reliability, ease of installation and service, as well as cost. I have not yet decided on the matters of 6 volt vs. 12 volt, nor alternator vs. generator, but I do know that if I go 12 volt I will need a voltage reducer for the gauges and such, as well as a ballast resistor for the ignition. I used a 12 volt source the other day to run the engine, with a ballast resistor hooked up for the ignition, and it worked well.

At the end of the day, I know that I will likely have more money into the car than I can get back out of it when done, and certainly a lot of time, but this will be a labor of love. I did not want to see this car end up needlessly in a junkyard, which is likely where it was headed considering its condition.. but the body us just so solid and rust free, so much of the trim is straight and nice, and now that I have seen the engine run, I know I'm doing the right thing with this car. My goal is to make it safely drivable, enjoy it over the summer and take it to some car shows (including Hot August Nights in Reno, which I am not far from), then depending on how much I like the car, probably get more serious about doing some paint and interior work over next winter. I am already enjoying the process with this car, as I most often do with each new project I take on. I do look forward to talking to a lot of folks out there who will surely ask me what it is, having never seen one before!

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General Discussion / Re: A tale of two Manhattans, and one first-time Kaiser owner...

« on: January 31, 2020, 11:59:03 AM »

By the way, does anyone have any information on what these cars cost when they were new? Maybe even a breakdown of what various options cost, like the automatic transmission in my parts car?

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General Discussion / Re: A tale of two Manhattans, and one first-time Kaiser owner...

« on: January 31, 2020, 11:50:11 AM »

More pictures

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General Discussion / Re: A tale of two Manhattans, and one first-time Kaiser owner...

« on: January 31, 2020, 11:45:04 AM »

So, the trunk picture above shows the huge rat nest in the trunk. There was a tremendous amount of droppings in the wells on the sides as well. Very disgusting. The interior is no different. It's a shame too, as the interior looks like it was in fine shape when the car was parked all those years ago. This car will take a tremendous amount of cleaning, inside and out. I plan to tear it all down, bagging and tagging everything as I go.

Does anyone have any tips on how I might clean up and save the door panels, without ruining them? Since I don't imagine I will ever be able to find a good set of door panels to replace these, if there's any way to clean them I'd like to try. Same goes for the dash pad. I plan go reupholster the seats, replace the carpet and headliner and all that, but that's relative easy stuff.

First picture here is all the stuff that was in the interior.

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General Discussion / Re: A tale of two Manhattans, and one first-time Kaiser owner...

« on: January 31, 2020, 11:23:00 AM »

So as you can see, she's quite a mess.. lots of critters spent lots of years living in, on and around this car, so it's going to take some serious cleanup. That's why I elected to pull the engine/trans out first before getting it running. Didn't really want to work around all the critter mess!

So, as you can see by the firewall picture, the engine had already been out once before. I have no idea what the story is on that. When I eventually tear the engine down for gaskets and seals, I'm hoping I will find out.

Also, the oil that was in the engine was in surprisingly good condition. It smelled old, but did not have the typical varnished old fuel smell that I typically find in engines that have been sitting for decades. It had a noticeable greenish-blue tint to it, and I found no sludge in the filter housing. Also found no filter, which was interesting. There were also numerous things disconnected underhood, like the lower radiator hose and fuel line to the carb. Makes me wonder if maybe this engine was pulled decades ago for a refresh, reinstalled but never finished.

More pictures and info to come!

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General Discussion / Re: A tale of two Manhattans, and one first-time Kaiser owner...

« on: January 31, 2020, 11:21:07 AM »

So, for some reason when I try to upload picture attachments, it won't let me post them. It seems to upload for a bit, then just goes to a blank page. Guess I'll have to sort that out somehow.

In the meantime, I finally got a chance to get started on one of the Manhattans. I pulled the engine out of the first one, went through a routine where I drained the old oil, refilled with fresh oil and Marvel Mystery oil, pre-oiled it with a pressure bleeder, turned the crank by hand for several revolutions to make sure there were no issues, then finally cranked it with the starter. When I felt all was in order, I applied power to the coil and fired it up using aerosol brake cleaner. She runs! No smoke, good oil pressure - I'm impressed!

Here's a short video of the first startup in nearly 50 years:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xuZhpzvkxh8