Mileage, performance, and misc. questions

[leorob51]

I've enjoyed receiving my initial membership envelope and shortly thereafter the monthly K-F bulletin. Was it correct that I received the 3rd quarter report from 2014? Now to the main reason for my posting. I live in a rural area, so 90% or my driving is on the highway. I would like to make some modifications, to the engine and differential, which would be done in such a way, that it could be turned back to original later. 1. How high can one up the compression ratio without causing rapid
wear on the starter and engine parts?  2. If I remember correctly, the standard gear ratio for my 1948 Manhattan with O.D. is 4:27. I saw in the OEM parts book, that there were 3 (?) other ratio choices, so I considered going to a 4:09 (?), which is close to what many cars had in the 1950s and 1960s, when equipped with O.D.. Has anyone done this? For sure, this would help keep the engine RPMs down and hopefully increase the fuel mileage.  3. In the country, there's more dust and dirt in the air, so I would like to eliminate the oil bath air cleaner BUT has anyone done  a modification on the original housing so you could use a paper media air filter, but still have the original appearance on the outside? 4. Has anyone done a "split" 12V/6V setup, where you use 12V for the starter, generator, etc, but all of gauges would still be running on 6V?  5. In the monthly bulletin, there was an ad for KAISER parts interchange information from a member in California. I'm at work, on lunch, so I don't have the member's name beside me, but does anyone know if the data he offers, includes Frazer parts? I know that many parts will interchange between the two makes.
Thanks for all  the responses in advance; you can be sure that more questions, from me, will follow.

[joefrazer]

Hello and welcome to the KFOCI! I'll try at answer a few of your questions. I'm sure pthers will chime in as well.

Edmunds made an aluminum head and dual carb intake for a KF engine to help with performance. The dual carb setup was said to affect gas mileage to the point most folks removed them. Several members have done things like shave the head to increase compression, however, there isn't a lot of room between the top of an open valve and the cylinder head so there isn't much that can be removed. I'm not aware of any performance cams or pistons that are currently available in the market, but I could be wrong.

Regarding 12V/6v setups...if you install a voltage reducer in line, you can drop the 12V drop the battery to 6V at the gauge cluster. Chrysler used this system in their cars thru the late 1960s. My 68 Dart and the neighbor's 69 Coronet had 6V gauges but my 72 my Roadrunner used 12V units.

Member Richard Hansen assembled a parts interchange list that is quite useful. Since most everything that's on his list for a Kaiser also fits a Frazer, I think it would be a good investment.

[leorob51]

I just got off the phone with Delbert Fankhauser, who is the rep for the North Central KFOCI club. What a friendly guy! He had called to welcome me into the K-F club. In my earlier post, I talked about gear ratios for the differential, so tonight, when I got home, I pulled out my April, 1948 K-F parts manual  to refresh my memory about what numerical ratios were offered. If the parts book is correct, the 4:29 ratio was only for the Frazer, while the 4:09 and 3:73 ratios were for Kaiser only? That seems kind of odd. Can anyone clarify what I found? I also noticed in the OEM parts catalog, that 16" wheels were made for export vehicles. Is that information correct? Who knows what K-F dealerships were in southwest Minnesota where I live? Last - I have been told, that the older, longer stroke engines, IF they are tuned properly and not worn out, that they could burn quite clean, emissions wise, since the mixture was in the cylinder a bit longer, before being shoved out the exhaust valve? Has anyone ever had their vehicle checked for emissions, and, what was the result?

[FleetMaster]

In general long stroke small bore engines burn cleaner with a good air fuel mix.  The twists and turns from an overhead carb. to manifold then back up past the flathead valve arrangement into the cylinder are excellant at mixing air and fuel.  All those same turns limit efficiency at higher rpms- 4000 plus.  So a lean well tuned flathead engine has low NOx, reasonable PM, and has flexible operation through most speeds.  Engine bores over 4 inches tend to have "dead" pockets and an uneven burn of  a lean mix and have higher emissions- big block and muscle car era noticeably dirtier.

In your power quest, from a couple items i read on the Willy's Jeep forums with Jeep type Station wagons etc that used the same 226 engine, even porting valve passages in block, polishing manifold, balancing reciprocating parts, and polishing the transfer slot only added 10-20 HP and about 10# torque.   That was in addition to using a KF 2bbl carb and intake.  Altering the distributor curve had little effect.

Now, if i were a BIT crazy, I would speak with Dale Cooper or Randy Maas in the Hudson community about the possibility of having a 55-56 Hash era hydraulic tappet 308 camshaft grind profile put on a KF cam and running that for a power bump.  Concept in my mind is good, not sure how practical or possible.  I would expect close to $500 if it can be done.  Hudson offered mid bore long stroke flathead sixes with ample block passages and a factory transfer slot that responded well to some grind and heavy polish.  The grind i mentioned shifts the power band from 1000-4000 rpm to 1500-4300 rpm with strong pull between 2700-4100 rpm without hurting off idle grunt- less but still will lug at low speeds.  I better be quiet before i convince myself to call those guys and ask if possible and then scrounge a workable core.

SK

[boatingbill]

Leorob51: A trick we used back in the day was to put the rear gears from an automatic into a stick rear end. This gave better
mileage and less wear due to lower rpm's. Some performance around town would be lost, but not much. Your car could cruise
at 65 easily. The '51 Frazer had the automatic option so there maybe a set out there that would bolt right in your differential.
Some one would know the ratio that was for the automatic but I would guess around 3:25.

[leorob51]

I'm trying to be able to generally run the engine a bit over the maximum torque RPM. I know, the old debate between torque and horsepower will come up, but most engine builders say you need to consider both, but mainly what speed the engine will normally run at. Anyone out there have any Kaiser gear sets for sale - 4.09 or 3.73?

[Fid]

Where are you located leorob51? I'm about 30 miles from Del.

[leorob51]

I live 20 miles SW of Marshall, MN, outside of Balaton, MN

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

1.  There is a heading on your firewall body tag marked RA.  What is the number there?  Check the tag translation information on the KFOCI HANDBOOK CD's General Information to identify what rear axle ratio is on your car.  Remember that with overdrive working properly, when it is engages your engine is only working at 70% of normal RPM, or the equivalent of a rear axle ratio of 3.00:1 (within a small fraction).  The thing with swapping rear axles is that you need to make sure first that the differential end on the axle is the same type as on your car; K-F used the U-Joint and Mechanics Type universal joint; the two are not compatible as a rule.

Only Frazers & Frazer Manhattans had overdrive available as an option (except as noted in item 2); Kaiser Special and Custom models did not.  That's why there is no 4.29 ratio listed for 1948 Kaisers. 

2.  I didn't see it so I am asking; is your car equipped with the 1 barrel or 2-barrel carb set up; the 112 bhp dual-manifold version of the 226 was introduced as an engine option during the 1948 model year.  If the car has the dual-manifold engine, overdrive was a mandatory option per the confidential bulletin that announced the engine to dealers.

3.  KFOCI HANDBOOK not only has an overview on the 1948 Frazer Manhattan that included equipment information and other interesting information.  It has another section in it listing all the known K-F and Willys dealers known as of the time of the handbook's release in 2013 (next release will probably be in late 2016 or 2017 and has a lot more useful info in it compared to Version 5.0 which is still the current release level).