Studebaker flat 6 engine swap

Havent seen this swap before:
http://tucson.craigslist.org/cto/4959878454.html
Jon

 

Think that will be listed for an extended period at that price. To me, it's a maybe $1500 driver Jeep. One that's going to be hell to find engine parts for, one that get's the same mileage as the 134, and one that certainly DOES NOT have 50% more power. Think those were rated at 85HP. Sooooo, you have a bubbaized semi-gutless Willys still using the Ross box and MAYBE a semi rust free tub. I don't doubt he spent close to $7500 having someone else do all the work but he will never get more than a third of that back.

Back in the day, the Studes were at least a not uncommon swap because they did use the T90. I certainly would not be one spending what certainly cost probably double the expense of a sbc rebuilding one today-unless it was going into a Studebaker Champion.

 

Well stated John............and I could not agree more with your comments. It's almost like this guy was looking for sympathy in that entire dialog.

 

I was actually kind of irritated with his pontificating about "lifted v8 junk" and whatnot. The machine gun really makes his so much better....He actually states that 7500.00 is HALF of what he has in it.

 

Actually... I think it's kind of neat... but only from a retrospective nostalgia POV. Putting an inline 6 into a CJ can be a mess.

There's very little practical appeal of the Studebaker engines today ... anchor heavy, expensive to rebuild, down on power ... but they are very reliable engines. And why such a naysayer about the power boost? I'd guess it's a 90-100 HP engine, which would be a significant boost over the L134, and should allow the Jeep to go highway speeds with an overdrive. Not a terrible upgrade ... clearly not the choice you'd make today, but still an upgrade.

 

Would rebuilding the six just because it was already there be your choice if you had purchased that Jeep? No doubt he ended up with a lot more money in that engine than would have been needed for 225/4.3L/small block Chevy install with vastly better utility in every way. I think it was a totally silly choice and now it is very likely going to cost him some big bucks. More economic Darwinism but guess he can always hope someone else managed to escape Darwin theory.

 

Once again it is really easy to put 10 grand into a Jeep that is worth 2. Or in this case about $1500.

 

I'd wheel it.
It's different and something you won't see every day.
It's just old iron.

 

oh..and my 47 2A started out as a $750 Jeep....

 

WAY overpriced old iron. Again, a $1500 driver to go beat on.

 

Mine was free. Get this heap of rusty junk gone ASAP. Have a title too, oh and here have this extra frame and this extra body and these extra engines and and and, just get it out of here!

8 or 9 years later and I still am under 7 grand total.

Can you imagine the comedy if you saw that thing rolling up with the machine gun all waggling around and smacked the guy upside the head.
what do they say about a fool and his money?

 

Hey that fits really well for a straight six.
Someone just commented to me the other day about dropping a 161 Super Hurricane (Willys F head straight six) into a CJ.
The F-161 Super Hurricane is a short stroked engine
I find the only advantage to be that inline sixes are very smooth.

I figure the GM I-4 153 should be almost as smooth running as any of the straight sixes.
Plus the GM 153 essentially puts out the same torque as the Studebaker 170 and will fit even better.

 

for ever reason . jeep and machine gun made me think of this
TV show in the 60's

 

"made the classic mistake"

Yes. The mistake of paying other people to do all the things that would have given him some pride in owning that 'old iron.'
Probably pays someone to walk his dog, too.

 

Actually irritated me.

 

I like it except for the motor swap...and of course the price too...I lost my shirt on my last flatfender project too...put who hasn't on these things right??

MikeC

 

I don't think there are too many of us that actually believe we will not loose our shirt doing much of anything to these vehicles. An accepted, well established fact. But there are a lot of different outcomes available on how we chose to dispose of that shirt. This one wasn't a good disposal and deserves to take one in the shorts. For that kind of money you could have had a much more usable Jeep.