1958 Willys Jeep

looking for some info about my 1958 Willys Jeep

has small block that looks stock from factory with 3 gas tanks (under driver seat, and both the rear quarter panels) with a crazy transfer case? and a hard top

 

Luv the Willys Jeep pics. Ain't got any tips as the Jeep is older than me but hopefully someone can chime in to help save this Jeep

 

Thanks for sharing that, zammer! Cool Jeep and photos!
I can’t add any knowledge to your project except to cheer you on, lol. This Jeep was in my era when I was a kid growing up, and would have been new then. But what is more interesting, is the evolution of survivors like this. You can see the use that this Jeep had over the years, some of it tough love. It always amazes me the amount of mods, torture and creativity that old vehicles display that are being used for back country travel, especially at the end of their mechanical lives. In the wilds of northern Canada, you see the occasional new 4x4 being used by mining companies and environmental consultants, but civilians use some pretty rough equipment. It works for them, miles from nowhere!
I once had a brand new Suburban fail 50 miles from the Alaska Highway, and as I was hiking out to be rescued, I met an indigenous trapper driving the roughest old shell of a 4x4 pickup I had ever seen. He gave me a ride all the way to civilization in Haines Junction - a humbling experience. I sure appreciated his help. That truck shouldn’t have run at all the way it looked and sounded, but there it was still doing a days work. Good luck with your project!

 

hopefully someone on here can help but if not, you may try this site.

https://www.jeepwillysforsale.com/forum/

 

OK, not by any means stock. The ONLY engine offered in any CJ from 1953 to 1965 was the 134 cid F head (intake valves in head, exhaust in block). The stock transmission and transfercase were the BW T90 and Dana/Spicer 18 respectively. The D18 of that era used the twin shifter arrangement you have and that does appear to be a stock T90 transmission shifter. I suspect you will find a stock GM bellhousing under there bolted to a 2 5/8" thick adapter (probably Advanced Adapters), GM clutch-likely with the larger 168 tooth ring gear fitted with a hydraulic slave cylinder.

Now for the goodies: That tall shifter between the transmission shifter and the two short D18 shifters is no doubt for an overdrive, most likely a Warn. They work fantastic with a SBC and you can use them with any gear combo, including reverse (but you can get some strange looks from people when shifting gears in reverse). The stock axle gearing for that Jeep would have been 5.38:1. With the OD engaged, that knocks it down close to what you would have with 4.11's and no OD.

You have a York AC compressor under the hood that is very likely set up for on-board air. Those came in three different displacements. I have the larger 10 cid version on my 55 CJ 3B and it puts out enough air to run any air tools without a tank. A tank does help the cycling time and I suspect you may find that under there someplace too. You can still buy new clutches for them.

And last, a remote mounted vacuum booster for power brakes. With that, I suspect you will find the stock 9" brake drums have been replaced with the later 11" Bendix self-adjusters.

With the manifold oil filler, the engine is likely a 283 but similar to old Willys, sbcs are a huge tinker toy set with all kinds of parts swap possibilities. Under the York, there will be a set of alpha numerical letters stamped on the right side (passenger side) boss on the block, right above the right side water pump mount. Those can significantly reduce the possibilities.

Performance/longevity: SBC's and the T90 are fine together up to about a 350 and the D18's are good for way more than that. But that assumes one pilots it with some common sense.

And if you have not already found it, join Early CJ 5: http://www.earlycj5.com/xf_cj5/index.php That is the BEST site for early CJ 5/6 Jeeps through 1975. A huge wealth of applicable information there. Derek Redmond's 3B Page will also have a lot of useful information: http://cj3b.info/. The 3B and early CJ5/6 models use pretty close to identical drivetrains.

 

OK, miss spoke a little bit-brain fart. Jeep did offer one other engine in early CJ 5/6s. That was the Perkins diesel, very rarely optioned, from 1961 to 1968. Irrelevant in this case. And I did notice the 283 emblem on the cowl.

 

Thank you MTgeezer. I knew someone would come through, this is what the forums are for.

 

Several more thoughts. The top appears to be a Kelly. I don't believe Willys/Kaiser ever actually made tops for CJ5/6's but several were available as company authorized equipment. In my humble opinion, those full steel tops are REALLY detrimental to the handling with that significant weight over head. My CJ 5 came with a dealer installed full Meyers steel top. That lasted about 6 month before I replaced it with a new Whitco soft top. A word of warning if you do pull that top. The only versions of the T90 transmission that had "waterproof" shift towers were on the M38 and M38A1 military jeeps. For the rest of them, if you park them outside without cover, you WILL end up with water in the transmission. And since the lube is shared to some extent with the D18 transfercase, you may end up with water in both.

Then there is the cooler pasted on the grill. The hoses appear to be heater hose and I suspect that was probably added because the cooling system was inadequate to cool the SBC. A better fan and fan shroud would have likely solved that problem in a much more aesthetic manner. The hood louvers are also custom additions.

All in all, that looks to be a very good start on a fun project. Even a 283 will put a big grin on your face. Way more spunky than any Jeep engines up until maybe the 3.0 and 392 JL's but I suspect it will even give those a real run for their money with a Jeep that weighs 2000 lbs less. My CJ 3B is now on its 4th edition SBC. The first, a 327 went in in 1973, in an almost identical fashion as the post CJ 5. That was replaced by the original LT1 version of the 350, then a 400 crank in a 350 block produced a 381 that lasted 3+ decades (fantastic low end Jeep power). And now the bucket list even longer stroke version at 4.125 x 4.125 bore and stroke-aluminum block, heads, intake, water pump, and pan. I might actually get that fired up for the first time this coming week------

 

@zammer. Sounds like you've picked up a very cool project that could bring you years of fun!

 

@MTgeezer it sounds like every iteration of your jeep just brings you more fun. Not to hijack @zammer thread, but do you have any pics of your Jeep for inspiration for @zammer and others who may be considering a classic?

 

@MTgeezer Hello, the dual rear fuel tanks look like they could be factory or dealer options. Thet look pretty well done to be home made. Any info on those

 

I don't recall those type of fuel tanks being offered in the aftermarket but it is possible. More likely those were custom fabricated. I did run an aftermarket Con-Ferr rear tank in my 3B for several decades but those mounted in the more conventional manner between the frame rails. That was my only fuel tank and had the same 11 gal capacity as the stock under-seat tank. It was replaced by a 24.5 gal version I welded up about 15 years back-no more jerry cans.

As for the present state of the Willys CJ 3B:






Not many parts left from when it departed Toledo. And yes, still a trail rig. I previously posted some of this in the build forum: https://www.jeeps.net/threads/the-50-year-1955-willys-cj-3b-saga.6129/ Some of that in these photos has already changed yet again.

 

Very cool, it must have taken a very big shoe horn to get that engine in that bay.