58 Willy's Engine swaps

Howdy,

Hope I can get a little help from ya'll. I've just recently re-aquired my father's 58 Willy's CJ-5. I was soooo bummed when he sold it after I graduated High school years ago. I aquired it back about 10 years ago but didn't have the time or $$ to restore it then. Well I now have it AGAIN, have my own house and garage to play with it.
Here's my dilemma, the engine and radiator are GONE. Bellhousing, tranny T-case are still there.
I should mention that I live in a remote town in Alaska, so going to swap meets and shipping heavy items are out.
Right now I'd like to get the Jeep running between now and next spring so I can cruise it to work on nice days (all 3 of them) instead of running my Diesel pickup everyday.

My Questions are 1. What engines bolt to the stock bellhousing?
2. I know the Buick V-6 and Chevy V-6's fit nicely, what changes have to be done( bellhousing etc etc)I priced adapters and 500$ is to much.any other options?

I'm on a shoestring budget to get it running then in a few years I'll do a frame up.

 

I've gotta agree with Mike. Your going to spend more $$ puting any other engine in the jeep than an Fhead. Good luck with it.

 

L head too! There used to be a kit to convert a L to F. At least get a running engine in there.

 

These guys are right, find another F-head (4 cylinder). There's got to be one floating around there somewhere. I spent several thousand dollars on my engine swap, you don't want to do that, well not right now anyway. Good luck!

 

The L-head should have plenty of hood clearance in a 5. F-heads won't clear on a 2A --only 3b and 5's.

 

Polarisjunkie,
Good to see another member from Alaska. I don't post much but am often lurking. It may be less work in the long run to put in a V6. You don't have to find an older 225 odd fire. I think it would be easy (well maybe not in Valdez) to find a newer, even fire 231. I think that's the direction I would go.
Jerry
Looks like you already have a tranny. If you need one I still have the T-14 I took out.

 

I heaard that they used lots of jeeps in the building of the pipeline. Call the local salvage line and ask at any military bases. Got nothing to lose.

 

Thanks for the replys. I can get my hands on numerous engines. Buick's or chevy 4.3s. I have a co-worker that kinda has a junkyard, plus another co-worker with a rolled chevy s-10 that he'll give me.
But I'm curious to what it takes to swap? To put in the buick v-6 like some jeeps have, is it a different bellhousing that bolts to the t-90, or an adapter between the bellhousing and tranny. I found one of those on e-bay, but dosen't that change the input shaft length.
I forgot to mention in my orginal post I'm a Heavy Equipment Mechanic for the State DOT. So turning wrenches and fabricating are not a problem, just curious to find what'll bolt up easier.
I've made some calls, I've found a couple 134's. But they are in need of rebuilds, thats why I thought of adapting a good running engine I can get my hands on.

 

would be eaiser in the long run to find the drivetrain from a jeep that had the v-6 or a fsj with the v-8 in it for needed parts.

 

AFAIK none bolt to the stock bellhousing other than the L134, the F134, and maybe the Kaiser-Willys 6 cylinders. I think a Studebaker 6 will swap without adapters if it originally had a T90. I think you'd still need the bellhousing from the Studebaker. (I'm not old enough to know about the Stude first-hand... you could probably find out by looking through 1950s copies of Popular Mechanics and such).

The Novak page has a lot of info on swaps http://www.novak-adapt.com/knowledge/knowledge_gateway.htm

IF you want to switch to another engine, typically you'd take the clutch and bellhousing from the motor you want and mate that to the transmission. As was mentioned, the T90 input shaft has to be changed to be long enough. LOTS of CJs have been converted in the past 50 years to Chevy V8 power, and these adapters can sometimes be found used. The Chevy adapter fits several engines, including the Chevy 153 I4, the Pontiac Iron Duke 151 I4, the 230/250 Chevy I6s, the GM 2.8L V6 from XJ/ML Jeeps (IIRC), the Chevy 4.3L V6, and the Chevy V8s.

If you have the skills and access to a machine shop, you could make an adapter. Looks to me like the Ford 2000/2300 adapter is just a plate. You still have to lengthen the input shaft, but the long input shafts can be foud used. <edit> You may not need the long input shaft for a Pinto engine. If you can locate one of these engines, measure the bellhousing depth and the T90 stickout. The stickout has to be long enough to reach the pilot bushing.

hth (hope this helps) - Welcome from Boston!

 

Using the parts from a wagon or truck isn't such a good idea. The input shaft on a wagon or truck is really long, and there's either a long bellhousing or a big spacer between the bellhousing and transmission. The length is needed to put the shifter far enough back in the cab of the truck or wagon. The overall length is too long for a CJ.

 

There's a Chevy adapter on WillysTech now: http://www.willystech.com/parts/messages/17768.shtml

Maybe the seller would send you just the parts you need.

 

The front engine plate for the motor mounts is different between the L and F and different Jeep models, ie wagons, CJs, FCs, etc