ordering a new 54 kaiser

[Bobm90]

OK here's a test of knowledge and the answer may help me with questions I have about my 54 Manhattan . When a person bought a 54 Kaiser, were there engine options offered, did the salesman have premade cars or were they ordered as the customer desired, in the color combo, accessories , etc. or both ? I use to find factory order sheets under the back seat on other makes but not on this car. I am trying to determine if my 54 Manhattan could have been ordered with a 54 special engine, not the supercharged engine, or do I have a Late special that someone marked up as a Manhattan?

[rialto]

Put your vin number and body plate numbers on here and we can tell you what model it was when new. As far as I know the supercharger was standard equipment on the  US 54 Manhattan and was not available on the Special. It's possible at one time the engine or supercharger failed and things got changed around. Include your engine number maybe we can tell if it's original. When new some cars were ordered for stock .Some cars were ordered to a customer's specification. I don't know if it was possible to order a Manhattan without a supercharger.

[Bobm90]

Thanks rialto,
 VIN on door post is 005089, data plate model 542, data plate body 1, all this points to a 54 Manhattan 4 door, good so far. Engine number 2178536, has 226 on head, and the side plate matches a 54 or later, no supercharger, by the condition of the holes punched on the inner top fender looks like one was never attached. Correct carb, correct fuel pump for a Special engine, single pulley on damper, motor was made in Ohio as was the car, it has a hydro-matic trans. no ashtray behind the front seat, none in rear door armrest (broken) only has heater and radio. Makes no sense that someone would go to the trouble of swapping engines for one of lesser power unless they were desperate and this one was easily available, this is why I was asking if it could have been ordered this way ? 

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

This seems like someone had trouble with the blower prior to your purchase and replaced it with a different motor.  What color is the engine block & head?  1954 Kaisers had red engine blocks with "Kaiser 226" on the head and the ID tag.  1951-54 EARLY SPECIAL Kaisers had a block painted green that had "Kaiser Supersonic" on the head. 

As for the stocking of vehicles, that was up to the dealer to either carry cars in inventory or have only a demonstrator and order when a sale was made.  In many parts of the country, even in 1954, there were distributors for Kaiser automobiles that carried stock for the dealers in their sales territory to draw from.  Some dealers even waited until they had 4 cars sold before putting in an order if the dealer knew the cars would end up being made to his order rather than out of distributor stock.  They paid $10.00 per car otherwise for delivery of less than truckload in addition to the normal transportation charges.

[Bobm90]

The block is red, has Kaiser 226 in raised letters cast into the head, 226 on the engine tag, but hard to read, also Ohio. What color was the late Special engine ? I  will try to attach a photo.

[joefrazer]

The engine in your car was replaced and some of the parts from the old engine went into the new. The heater tube is from a supercharged engine...the unit used for non-SC cars sits much closer to the head. And, they probably used the head from the old engine as well. The engine paint is close but not exact, and the oil cap is the wrong color, it should be black.

I can recall when my dad tried to find another SC engine for his 54K. This would have been in around 1966 and he couldn't locate one so he ended up using one from a 53K. I remember being in charge of moving the generator and starter from the old to new engine. I also had to move the distributor and that's when I learned you can install one 180 degrees out of time because I did it. The car ran but not well.

In my opinion, your car experienced an engine swap at some point in its life. The good news, if you want to reinstall a SC it's easy to do. The toughest part of the whole job will be to remove the existing vibration damper and install the proper SC unit.

[Bobm90]

Thanks everyone for your replies, I just learned a lot, I think. So this was a engine swap with a head and parts change but the engine plate indicates it is a 54 or later motor (because it says Toledo Ohio on the tag), the engine number also points to a 54 or above engine, I think. I was hopeing that it came from the factory that way but if not OK because it runs fairly well and with some tinkering I can make it better, I wouldn't consider a engine swap because that still wouldn't be the original engine and it would be a lot of work for little gain. I used NAPA tune up parts for a 1954 Special and they seemed to work out good. Thanks to you good guys I know I will be looking for body parts from a Manhattan and engine parts from a Special, that narrows it down for me, interior should be Manhattan so someone "borrowed" the ash tray behind the seat ok that confusion is all straight. One more question because the trans is slipping, would the hydra-matic trans be the same for both a Special and a Manhattan, thinking that both the engine and trans was swapped at the same time. Thanks guys you have been a big help.

[joefrazer]

All KF hydramatics used from 1953 thru 1955 are the same and can be swapped.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

I would say that your car title shows the engine # on the 226 tag matches VIN number.  Many states at the time used the engine number for that purpose rather than the door post serial number.  The tag was carried over to keep the car "legal" for registration purposes.