Kaiser Frazer Owners Club Forum

General Category => Kaiser Forum => Topic started by: retroguy on September 05, 2021, 08:59:41 PM

Title: cast aluminum carb housing on supercharged engine
Post by: retroguy on September 05, 2021, 08:59:41 PM

Anyone know why the cast alum carb housing on a '54 Kaiser with supercharger is so robust and apparently overdesigned?  All it does is cover the carb.  Seems as though a stamped housing could have done the job.  What else does it do that requires such overdesign?

Title: Re: cast aluminum carb housing on supercharged engine
Post by: kaiserfrazerlibrary on September 06, 2021, 08:13:31 AM

This supercharger unit produces significant air and fuel pressure changes on a momentary basis when the blower kicks in and back out.  This causes stress on certain components.  The cover is not the only thing built like a battleship in the assembly.   Kaiser-Frazer built a test car using a company 1952 Manhattan and found that these things had to be done to keep the finished product reliable for long-term use. 

When the new version of KFOCI HANDBOOK gets posted to the club's members-only part of the new website take a read through the Experimental Engineering report on the testing program for the supercharger that took place during 1953; you'll see just how close the blower unit did NOT make production in 1954 and why the supplier had to back their part of the finished assembly with an extended warranty.