Think you’ve seen everything in American V8s? Here’s one that never saw the light of day: the 1951 Kaiser-Frazer 288.
When the Kaiser-Frazer brand was launched before an eager public in 1947, the entire line of Kaiser and Frazer autos were all powered by the same 226 CID six, a rugged flathead that was largely based on the venerable Continental Red Seal powerplant. (This basic engine powered everything from boats to forklifts.) Sporting 100 hp at 3600 rpm and eventually tweaked to 115 hp in standard form, the engine was already old-fashioned, though it was good enough for the car-hungry shoppers of 1947.
But by 1949, new overhead-valve, high-compression V8s were introduced by Oldsmobile and Cadillac, and Chrysler and Studebaker would soon follow with their own advanced V8s for 1951. Kaiser-Frazer was quickly falling behind. In an attempt to remain competitive, Kaiser-Frazer’s experimental engine department at Willow Run, led by engineer Dave Potter, a Continental transplant, developed a 288 CID overhead-valve V8. Although the engine never made it into production, obviously, it’s certainly worth a look. Let’s jump right in.
The lower end of the K-F V8 was quite conventional but sound and robust, with a deeply skirted cast-iron block, five main bearings, and a fully counterweighted crankshaft. A link-belt silent chain drives the camshaft at the front, while the oil pump (and distributor, not shown) are driven from the rear of the camshaft. We don’t have bore and stroke dimensions but the visible proportions indicate a decidedly undersquare bore/stroke ratio.
The top portion of the cylinder case is equally stout, with the decks comprehensively tied together at the valve lifter chest and 13 cylinder head fasteners per bank. A generous oil passage runs down the center of the block between the lifter bores.
Here’s a second view of the top of the block with the cylinder heads installed, showing a conventional parallel valve layout and a single rocker-arm shaft per bank. Note the cam lobe sequence front to rear.
Valvetrain lash adjusters are on the pushrod ends of the rocker arms in typical period fashion. Possibly the most intriguing aspect of the K-F V8 is the intake port design: The runners are round, symmetrical, and downright tiny in cross-section. We don’t know the theory or developments behind this feature, but we wish we did.
Here’s a right-rear view of the K-F 288 on the dyno. While the intake ports are symmetrical, the exhausts are siamesed at the two center ports, a common feature in the first generation of American overhead-valve V8s.
While the Kaiser-Frazer V8 at least reached the running prototype stage, as these photos show, the engine was never greenlighted for production. Instead, the company chose to direct its modest product development budget to the Henry J, a new compact car based on a prototype by American Metal Products, a Detroit auto parts manufacturer.
While the Henry J sold well in 1951, its first year, demand fell sharply the next and the car never came close to meeting its volume objectives. Meanwhile, without a modern OHV V8, sales of the full-size Kaiser models also suffered. The company at one point attempted to purchase Oldsmobile V8s from General Motors, but the deal didn’t go through. The addition of a McCulloch supercharger on the tired old L-head six increased output to a claimed 140 hp, but did nothing to boost flagging sales.
Historians often point to the decision to drop the V8 and produce the Henry J as a key factor in the ultimate failure of Kaiser-Frazer. That might miss the point: A properly organized and financed auto manufacturer should have had the resources to do both. K-F never really had the clout to compete head-on with the big Detroit automakers.
With its upright valve covers, the K-F 288 V8 has a superficial resemblance to the first-generation Buick Nailhead V8, but inside they are nothing alike. The K-F lacks the Buick’s vertical valve configuration with under/over rocker arms. As a design, the Kaiser-Frazer V8 pretty much stands alone.
In Motor City car lore, from here the story goes that when the Kaiser-Frazer V8 project folded, engineer Dave Potter was quickly grabbed up by American Motors and the stillborn K-F V8 became the first-generation AMC V8. (Well worth mentioning here: Assisting Potter at AMC was British engineer Len Bailey, who later played a key role in the Ford GT program.)
It’s a really great story with one problem: the production AMC V8 has absolutely nothing in common with the K-F V8. They’re totally different animals from the drain plug up. We can see here that Potter went in a whole new direction on the AMC V8. Often, that’s the power of experience in engineering. Know-how is one thing, but knowing how not to do it can be equally valuable.
Thanks for once again guiding us on a trip into the unknown! Had heard rumors of, but certainly had not seen photos of, a Kaiser V8. An OHV six was described in an article in
Jan/Feb 1979 issue of , I believe the Classic Car Club of America magazine, and includes photos of the engine installed in a ’51 Jade Dragon, identified as Henry J’s
personal ride. Cross flow head was another feature of this six. The independents had so much more to contend with than just producing reliable transportation, if they wanted to compete with the big boys. Hardtops were another area in which even Ford had to play catch up. Yet Kaiser styling in ’51 was miles ahead of others, and the Vagabond and Traveler, as well as the 4 door convertibles, have their own loyal followings; now
I have to imagine them with Kaiser V8s…
Amazing! Where do you %$#* even find this stuff?
Two of my fellow designers at the Chevrolet Engineering Center in Warren, MI came to Chevrolet from K-F when it folded. Both of them had a big part in designing the first Chevy “smallblock”, the 265 cu. in. V8 released for the 1955 model year. One, Russ Hunter, designed the production crank and I’m not sure what the design responsibility was of the other, Bob Steffes. Unfortunately, they are both now deceased. I began my GM career at Chevrolet Engineering in 1952 but left after four months as I enlisted in the USAF. I returned after my four year enlistment but missed being involved in the design of the 1955 Chevrolet Smallblock V8. If memory serves me correctly, Smoky Eunich (sp?) hosted a party for all the designers involved in the “small block” to celebrate its 40th anniversary. I saw the souvenir booklet that Russ Hunter received for his part in the design.
Yunick is correct I believe.
Please do your homework. When Mr Potter left K-F and went to Nash Motors, taking the work with him, he found that the design had additional problems with it which required going back to square one and re-doing the whole thing. His work created the “Typhoon” V-8 that American Motors started to use c.1955. This is recounted in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) paper which was reprinted in AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIES magazine (in slightly condensed form). Read the actual SAE document for more info on this.
K-F had a deal worked out with the Oldsmobile division of GM for a minimum of 25,000 detuned Rocket 88 V-8’s for the Kaiser starting in the 1952 model year; this was worked out in 1950 about the time the Korean War started and was contingent on GM being able to expand the Olds engine plant in Lansing. Government restrictions imposed during the last 4 months of 1950 (we were the arsenal for UN forces in the Korean War) prevented expansion for civilian goods. Olds offered K-F the upgraded engines when the restrictions were lifted in 1953 but by then, K-F had acquired Willys-Overland & the Kaiser car was starting a slow fadeout, at least as far as a regular full-sized car went.
I have the SAE paper in question (570016) in front of me. There is no mention of the K-F V8 there as you seem to imply (?). Beyond that, why so rude?
The Typhoon V-8 in my ’55 Nash was a de-tuned Packard V-8.
According to information I have, The 320-cid (smallest) Packard V8 was an option in ’55 for both Nash and Hudson because of a possible merger with Studebaker-Packard. The new AMC-built V8 replaced the Packard engine midway through the ’56 season.
With the new 1951 design of Kaiser full size autos….and if a proper size V-8 would have been available for it….perhaps, it’s sales might have saved the brand. That body design is attractive still, in our decades later design of autos. Of course it would have been required to be updated to new safety regulations, designs, etc.
There’s probably not enough information to get more than an appearance model, but it would be awesome if one of the model builders that create running 1/3 scale small-block Chevrolet V8s, 2nd Gen Chrysler Hemis, etc. built one of these.
Thanks! Interesting cam lobe placement. I miss car tune Saturdays.
My family had a KF back in the 1950s, and stepfather ran back and forth L.A. to San Diego at top speed, wore the sucker out. Cool look to it though. Fond memories.
The vh8-288 shown in the pictures is not the last version Kaiser designed and prototyped, the vh8-327 of 1953 was the last version. Ralph Isbrandt and David Potter took the engine to amc from Kaiser Motors and that is how amc got there first v-8 and made it in two versions,250/327, half inch different bore.