The Frazer's engine is still coming together. I got the timing put together and I installed the pistons. My brand new crankshaft is identical to the old one with one exception - there is a step of about half an inch of extra material in front of main bearing 1. The result was that the flange of the timing gear was too thick. My solution was to grind half an inch off the bottom of my timing gear. This engine was produced for such a long time and for such a wide range of cars and machinery that I'm very lucky this was my only problem.
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| End of new crankshaft - see the extra step sticking out? |
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| Timing marks are separated by 9 links - weird |
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| Front end reassembled, but still upside down |
The second issue I ran into was with piston rings. I found a complete set of NOS Kaiser Frazer original factory rings, but got into trouble as soon as I started putting them together. The original rings that came in the engine were a pretty complicated deal - Top ring was a single cast iron piece, Ring 2 was a cast iron ring with a spring that went under it, Ring 3 was a thicker cast ring with a spring under it and Ring 4 was also a thick cast ring with 2 springs under it. Each piston had to have 8 pieces on it. The NOS K-F rings were different again, and have a total part count of 9 pieces per piston. Nine potential failures for each and every cylinder, yikes.
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| 3 sets of Rings: old, used at the bottom, NOS in the middle and modern new rings at the top |
I was ok with trying to use the old style, NOS rings, but either I was being careless or they were just poor quality because 2 of them broke easily as I was trying to put them on.
Back to the computer and
Carl Walck to the rescue with brand new, modern rings (6 total pieces per piston). Jeeps are more popular than Frazers, and use a lot of the same engine parts. I also got a set of head bolts and an oil filter.
With new timing chain, rod bearings and rings my short block is nearly back together.
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| Supersonic freeze plugs have been ordered (Dorman 555-031) |
I have a little mystery about exactly how to install 2 sheet metal splash guards behind the valve cover. I'm tempted to leave them out because they look like they could cause trouble, but I'm guessing they keep oil from getting shot out through the breather. If anyone knows how these are supposed to go in please educate me. They are not in any of the parts books or service manuals I've seen.
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| Mystery splash guards (?) where I think they go |
Water pump, oil pump, bell housing and clutch parts all need some attention
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| Water pump is looking good |
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| Transmission and overdrive are dirty, but seem ok |
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| Did I mention dirty? |
The weather has been great and Freddie is hopeful we will do something fun for dogs. Sounds like a good idea, let's follow Olive!
