disappointing dauntless

I never understand the tire smoking comments about the engines or the jeeps. I guess because I did a little tire spin @ Tellico in 4LO in the loose gravel and broke my T-14 to pieces. It's made me scared as heck to try it on asphalt or concrete.

When I think of someone revving their little engine that could to 3K then side stepping the clutch on asphalt in attempts of smoking the tires, I picture parts and pieces of either the rear ends or the trannys/t-cases just exploding into a pile of parts.

But...maybe my little tranny was just about to go anyway.

 

after you have done the sbc swap, give me the V/6; gladly take it from you
If your in So. Calif, give me a ring, I'll take you for a ride in the dunes
low range and 5:38s + sand tires will give you a good ride, guaranteed!

 

Or if your near San Diego, let me know and I'll show you the brute force raw horsepower of the F-head for comparison. But you'd better let me know quick, because the odd-fire is about to go in. :twisted:

 

My hurrican seemed fairly strong for what it is. So can imagine how a v 6 would feel. My friend had a built 304 powered 70? cj5 and it was scary really to much hp in my opion. It just seems to sound like you have a tuning prob as every one mention or you need a 454 pro street dragster engine in it lol

 

i have never tried to spin on asphalt, but i know that i can get on her pretty hard beofre she even breaks loose on wet stuff due to the tires, but i would love to clock her in a 0-60 time cause i think i would be amazed now, she really $h!ts and gits after the latest installs

 

plenty of power from :v6: , what are you comparing the jeep to a 427 corvette? problem might be the trans, (unsure of t86 ratios) no problems w/t14. raced a newer wrangler w/350 at the dunes @ attica, wasn't a contest at all. He thought I had a big block in mine!

 

I think it's an expectation level thing. I drive a pretty fast car every day and my V6 jeep doesn't have that kinda power - but I don't expect it to. That said I can pull the front wheels in the air and spin my 31's on asphalt with 3.73's. It also goes pretty good in the sand - but I'd be willing to bet my neighbors sand car would be faster. Way faster. Scary faster. I gotta get one of those...

Jim - didn't you say you have paddles for the jeep? I'd like to see that someday.

 

See now that's what just throws me for a loop...I can't imagine anyone being able to actually pull the front wheels. Heck, I know lots of 1/4 mile race cars who probably run 12 second quarter miles that can't pull the front wheels. Then again...I think dang! he must be revving it to the moon and side stepping the clutch. Then I'm thinking BANG! well so much for those gears.

 

I, too, have seen the front wheels pulled off the ground.

John - I think it is attributed to the heavy flywheel and the high torque figures. Once you get that big flywheel moving, inertia will do all the work for you. On drag cars, I'd say they run a really light flywheel, to increase top end RPM.

I'm guessing, so if someone says it's all wrong, I'll act like I was joking!!!!!

 

I had no problems smoking the tires when I had 30's. Now with the 33's and 3.73 gears I can only chirp them when I step on it in a turn.

 

I once had an early 5 that had been converted to buick power by a po. I got it after it had been sitting for 10 years or so . when I first started driving it the pressure plate would stick. A couple of times i lifted the front wheels when taking off from a light. I would lift my foot off the clutch and give it some gas.and the engine would race up then the clutch would engage. a can of pb blaster emptied into the bell housing fixed it. that jeep with 5.38 gears and a buick 225 went really well. I some times i still wish I had that jeep.

 

"a can of pb blaster emptied into the bell housing fixed it."

yikes!


I suppose I dont understand. I can beat most newer cars off the line with my dauntless with no wheelspin (3.73 gears). Especially if they have an automatic. I figure its kind of a plus to having a V6. I dont think the oddfire was ever meant to be a race engine. I am sure you could make it into one, but the CJ5 platform works against it as many have pointed out.
My experience off road, is limited to tow trips to the Tahoe Natl Forest and the Ruby Mnts in Nevada.
Old time Jeep guys used to tell me "as slow as possible, as fast as necessary unless you want to break stuff".
I used to watch them race the Baja Trail in San Felipe Mexico. Those things were very fast but a far different breed from early Jeeps.

 

I'll have to agree with everything said above. I've beat 2 304's with 4 speeds with my :v6: and 3 speeds. They were shocked. I'm guessing the gearing has much to do with it.

Baby John: On lifting the front end. Inadvertently once, my foot slipped off the clutch in 1st. The front end came up, of course as the "floorboard" raised the throttle went down. Holly Sh**!! I'm looking at the sky! It WILL stand on it's rear wheels with 5.38's.

 

I too, at times have been disappointed about the performance of my :v6:. When I got it last year, it was about to die of all kinds of internal maladies. We rebuilt her to factory spec.s and she performed very smoothly, but seemed to lack power in 3rd gear climbing steep grades. Carbureator replacement and HEI followed and greatly improved performance, but there are circumstances where she just doesn't have the zip. On road and off road are two horses of a completely different stripe! Off road, I cannot complain. Works flawlessly and has lots of low range power. On the street around town, she's fine, but hates to lug around in third under forty mph. Freeway and highway....excellent, until you hit a long steep grade, or a high headwind. I have come to the conclusion that the T-86 is not the optimum tranny for this engine. 1st is good and low and fine. 2nd is fine until 40 to 45. Third is good from 50 to as high as you can stand. I think a good 5 speed manual tranny with granny low and overdrive 5th would be perfect. Of course the SM420 or 465 swap would be a tremendous improvement, but high speeds would require too high rpm's to make me comfy. Bottom line, I don't think its the :v6: , its in the gearing and the specific driving applications you are looking for. If I was to keep my CJ5 for only offroad work, I'd change nothing but the oil. I like to drive mine around alot and would like to get better on-road performance. I think the answer is the right gearing.


JK
PS. I got in a drag race with a late model TJ on the way back from a recent bird hunting trip. I took him by 1/2 a length until I hit about 70, and then his higher gearing made the difference.

 

I can't claim to any expertise on this, but there is a lot of difference between torque and horsepower. The V6 comes off the line quick, at least for me with 5.38's, but torque falls off pretty quick after about 3200 rpms. And it all boils down to what you use your Jeep for. One thing I've learned from this site is that there are a hell of alot of different ways to use your rig depending on where you live. If you have a lot of sand or mud to play in I can see how a 225 would be under powered. Where I am I have rocks. Lots of rocks. With 5.38s and a T18 I can stand it up on the rear wheels and I have more than enough power for the trails I run .

 

40-45 in 2nd gear?
Did I read that right?
I think mine would explode!

 

Yes, Andy, you got it right. I can run to 45 in second, but she is screaming. Everything kind of tops out there, but my point is that between 40 to about 50 third gear is on the weak side. Now, when you get over 50, I've got plenty of power to at least 80 mph. Things get a little scary over 70, so we don't explore there anymore. I believe that if I had a five speed transmission with a smooth progression from 2 through 5, I would never lust after a V8 again! I have failed to mention I have 3.73's, but most of you have already picked up on that. Going back to what most responders to this thread have said, the :v6: has good power. My first experience was in '69 with a '67 :v6: CJ5. As a teenager I was impressed with its performance. For those too young to remember, that was in the heyday of muscle cars.

JK

 

Thanks JK!
I was just checking.
Mine is all stock maybe thats part of the difference. I have never had mine much above 70. It would do a little more I just don't want to push it. I think I have 3.73's as well. Is that what most of them came with?
Thanks!