Kaiser Frazer Owners Club Forum
General Category => Modified Kaiser-Frazer & Willys Cars => Topic started by: Gordie on December 11, 2018, 11:56:13 AM
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Thanks Chris for going through our posts and inserting them in our new topic so that they are all in one place for us. We are converting our cars to modern drive trains more and more and this new topic well help us to do it the correct way and be able to benefit from everyone's experience who has learned the hard way. I hope that we get some advice about which is the best way to go. Which engines and transmissions work best? Is putting our K-F bodies on a modern chassis a good idea? We will look forward to your stories about how you did it.
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Thanks Chris! This is a welcome addition.
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This new thread is great. Thanks to all who got it done.
I will try to help anyone who needs help. I will give as much help as I can on all cars but I can be of more help on Darrins. I have some experience with Darrins.
Ask away.
Lee
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Not much out there for beefing up the Henry J frame the modifications done for the Darrin were very effective. They are not difficult mostly boxing the frame rails with channel iron and flat plate. I have installed a BB 502 a BB 454 & a 1954 331 Cadillac in 3 of my Darrins with no additional frame work to my Darrins. One is a drag car.
I have installed an electric fan for the 331 Cadillac engine with the stock radiator. Electric fans require 12 volts and do use a lot of power so generators work which I have in my car but not as well as alternators. A 6 blade steel fan works too.
Hope that helps.
Lee
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Yes had to install motor mounts and rear cross member. not to difficult.
Kaiser's and Darrins have a lot of room under the hood.
Any small block V6 or V8 will fit easily.
Lee
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Thanks Chris for going through our posts and inserting them in our new topic so that they are all in one place for us. We are converting our cars to modern drive trains more and more and this new topic well help us to do it the correct way and be able to benefit from everyone's experience who has learned the hard way. I hope that we get some advice about which is the best way to go. Which engines and transmissions work best? Is putting our K-F bodies on a modern chassis a good idea? We will look forward to your stories about how you did it.
Just to clarify...….. Is this thread for modified complete cars or for non factory modifications in general
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Not sure but I think it would be good for everything non stock.
Lee
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Yes,
This is a Good Idea...
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This thread is for any kind of modification to any Kaiser, Frazer or Willys passenger car. It could be for adding seat belts for safety or placing a Kaiser body on a later Chevrolet chassis.or anythig in between. Hopefully it will be modifications that will enhance our driving pleasure and make our cars safer to drive. Modern gasolines do not work well in older cars and it makes it hard to plan long trips in our cars. Air conditioning was not available on Kaisers and Frazer's when they were new but it is certainly nice to have in hot weather. We will read about modifications that we would like to do to our cars and we can learn to do it the correct way and be happy with the results.
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HOW ABOUT A 600SEL ENGINE WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS?
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That is a twelve cylinder Mercedes-Benz engine. How about a Toyota Prius engine and get 50 MPG? Mine does.
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If you know how to do it you can teach others. That is what this thread is about. It’s all about helping others, kind of the KFOCI YouTube.
Lee
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Doc, have you considered installing an aftermarket electric fan on your 51? I wouldn't think it would have to be automatic, probably could just be "switched" so you could turn it on as needed. They can be noisy tho....
The previous owner who modified the car did have an electric fan on the car but because of limited space I believe it was a fan in place of the mechanical one. There just isn't any room for a pusher fan in front the way the car is configured. I have thought about trying to put a shroud around the radiator fan and perhaps trying to mount a small puller fan off the side. Have not pursued it yet because the car has not overheated enough to be a problem and knowing what the limitations are I just don't do parades and try to select routes that avoid traffic congestion.
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Have to look tomorrow, can't remember. For sure no addition of A/C to the car. But I will say that I have tracked the temperatures for three years and of course June-August is when it ran the hottest (not that drastic but hotter then I prefer) when three times it got up to the 210+ mark and twice up to 220-227 degrees and these last two were while idling.
The radiator is one of those types that rather than the temperature being hotter at the top and cooler at the bottom, it reads hotter on the driver side and then noticeably cooler on the passenger side based on the hand hold infrared thermometer.
I would go with a pusher fan if there were room. But overall, it's manageable and we drive the car a significant amount on short tours, to shows, and displays.
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Uh, bustidwing do you even KNOW what a 305/351 GMC V6 looks like? These were medium duty gas truck engines. The 305 was available in 1/2 ton trucks. They were 60 degree V engines, but they had some weird features: the spark plugs stuck out of the intake manifold and they were heavy... like Buick straight 8 heavy or 750 lbs. Their features were long mileage (many miles before an overhaul, not mpg) and truck torque.
I can think of several real stupid swaps like a Ford 460 that would be a better swap in an HJ
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A Fan shroud is extremely important to proper cooling. If you can get one on make sure that it covers the radiator core and that the fan is half way in. The fan should fit with only enough room to clear the fan.
Also depending on the radiator try to use a cap with as much pressure as you can. For each pound of pressure the boiling point rises significantly.
Lee
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Have to look tomorrow, can't remember. For sure no addition of A/C to the car. But I will say that I have tracked the temperatures for three years and of course June-August is when it ran the hottest (not that drastic but hotter then I prefer) when three times it got up to the 210+ mark and twice up to 220-227 degrees and these last two were while idling.
The radiator is one of those types that rather than the temperature being hotter at the top and cooler at the bottom, it reads hotter on the driver side and then noticeably cooler on the passenger side based on the hand hold infrared thermometer.
I would go with a pusher fan if there were room. But overall, it's manageable and we drive the car a significant amount on short tours, to shows, and displays.
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Doc, if your radiator is hotter on one side than the other it is possible that you may have some clogged tubes in the radiator. A radiator shop can fix that problem. My '48 Frazer reads hot on the gauge but when I pull over to let it cool down it does not seem to be boiling and cools down quickly. I think that may indicate that mine is really cooler than what the gauge indicates.
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I guess there was some confusion about my fan and shroud statement. The fan should fit into the shroud with about 3/4 of an inch of clearance
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Do You have any Pictures?
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A Fan shroud is extremely important to proper cooling. If you can get one on make sure that it covers the radiator core and that the fan is half way in. The fan should fit with only enough room to clear the fan.
Also depending on the radiator try to use a cap with as much pressure as you can. For each pound of pressure the boiling point rises significantly.
Lee
I was looking around last year for a shroud I could use but just didn't follow through...another item for the to do list. I agree, a shroud would be beneficial.
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Yes but be careful about boosting the pressure, check what the radiator will take. Also I have found that flex fans are not as effective as steel fans they may be a little quieter but not as good for cooling.
I will try to post a picture.
Need to do it from my desktop won’t work from iPhone.
Lee
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Are you using a 4 or a 6 blade fan? Darrin 502 brought up a good point on that making a difference..
This is a 7-blade fan.
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Steel.
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Totally agree with Lee regarding the flex fans...tried them on my Ford Y-blocks and were horrible!
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also not crazy about clutch fans the after market ones are junk. If you want to use one get one from a new car dealer they are more expensive but they work.
I used a 6 blade steel fan. There are universal ones out there that fit any bolt pattern some times you have to open up the center hole to fit.
Lee