66 CJ5 engine conversion

[mlennon]

Hello,

I am new to this site, I am joining this site to get some help with an old jeep I have had for the past 18 years. This is going to be a project my twin 15 year boys and I are going to do.
It is a 1966 CJ5 , it has a F134 Hurricane engine, the engine is in a bucket at this time. The body is in great shape and all other mechanical parts are functioning.

This is my question. What would be a nice little late model engine to put in this CJ. 4 cylinder would be the favored but a small 6 would be fine. Or is the F134 Hurricane worth having totally rebuilt. We are not planning on putting big tires on it or making it into a hot rod 4x4. Just a simple little jeep.

thanks

matt

 

[Saddle Tramp]

Welcome to the forum. If it was me, unless you plan a full resto back to original, I would be looking at a V6 of the GM variety. Jeep introduced the first CJ V6, the Dauntless Buick 225 V6 , in 1966. The Dauntless Buick 225 V6 was a Buick motor but in fact GM sold the tooling to Jeep early on. When the oil shortage accrued in the 1970s GM needed a small gas friendly car quick so they bought the tooling back from Jeep; by then Jeep had moved on with the AMC I6 & V8. I believe an updated version of this block is still being used in GM cars today.

Parts between the Dauntless Buick 225 V6 and the newer versions are not necessarily interchangeable as the Dauntless Buick 225 V6 was as externally balanced engine with a very heavy flywheel to add low end torque while the newer versions are balanced internally. Chevy Astro vans are good donor candidate in my opinion and if you are willing to do the work your CJ can end up with modern fuel injection. The best way to do that would be to buy the donor and strip the parts as needed during the build. This would be a good time to upgrade to a GM Transmission too for a direct bolt in to the motor/bell housing.

At any rate I would not put a Chevy small block V8 in your jeep. I stuffed a Chevy 350 in a 1947 CJ2a once years ago and wished I never did. Everything fit tight a glove and it had way too much power; first the tranny went, then the rear end, then the front. The only part I didn’t have to upgrade was the Spicer 18 Transfer Case . Once that work was all done the front of the frame started to give way and crack due to the extra weight of the 350. The other thing as you may well know, CJs of any year tend to be a little tippy and have to be driven with a certain amount of civility. I’m not saying your 15 year olds aren’t civil but boys will be boys and I would hate for a tragedy to happen inadvertently; keeping the power to a reasonable level could only be a good thing in this case.

 

[BajaEdition]

the Dauntless Buick 225 V6 was introduced in 65
it lopes at idle but is smooth above that,it is called an odd fire because of the firing degree is not even such as a modern V6, to offset the unbalanced Buick put a huge 50 pound flywheel on it.and the rest is history, that engine has 155 HP and 180 pounds of torque in a package smaller than anything else in the day.Those figures are in a small V8 of the day,
Jeep went looking for a engine they could squeeze into the short nose they had on the universal and this is what they came up with, they ran it for a year and liked it so much they bought the tooling and rights in 65. Only to sell it back in the mid 70s, the modern Dauntless Buick 225 V6 is a direct decedent of this engine with a cranks shaft design change to become a even fire engine.
It fits into the CJ universal package real good with plenty of room and is a legend of Jeeps. A much sought after package and can have the TH350 or GM Turbo 400 bolt right up to it.
Many a early Jeep owner seek them out for conversions in to their pre 72 jeeps. and bot Advanced adapters and Novak sell adapters to convert to most trannies.
It shares parts with the Buick 305 and when Buick was making it was built on the same line because they only had to change a few parts to make it. Basically it is a 305 with 2 cylinders chopped off.

now as to your question about the 134, yes it is worth having rebuilt, it may not be a power house of an engine, but it develops a lot of low end torque. In 4x4ing torque is the word. And the 134 has a lot of it for the size. Looking for another 4 popper you need to keep in mind that it needs to have low end torque, something a lot of 4 poppers do not have.

A strait 6 is or V8 can be squeezed in, however they will be a constant problem as the clearances are so close you end up with fan in radiator problems etc.

My suggestion is to just rebuild the 134, that way you have a more historical little jeep.

 

[Sasquach]

^^X2^^