Jeep

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My 1982 Jeep Wagoneer Limited.

I purchased this Jeep from a gentleman at Fairchild AFB, near Spokane, Washington. He had been trying to adapt a Chrysler engine and transmission that didn't quite fit, or work. For $400, he wanted the engine and transmission back. Since I already had an engine and transmission, it was a no-brainer to pull his old one out and drop it off in his driveway. So there I had it, a new body for the Jeepand engine, a 1967 AMC (Kaiser) 327. All -I- needed to do, was adapt it in.

Well, there it is. Looking straight on, it all fits. The transmission mount had to be moved back, but there were already a set of holes in the frame to accept the transmission cross-member at the point I needed it; very fortuitous. The engine mounts -had- to be changed though, and there were no "adapters" on the market to fit this application. We die-grinded the old mounts off the frame, and used the frame mounts from the old 1961 Willys chassis that the engine was originally in.

Okay, so what was a 1967 engine doing in a 1961 Willys pickup? My grandfather, George Laughton, built a show truck, using a 1961 Willys pickup cab, a 1968 Willys frame, 1971 International pickup box, and there was a myriad of other parts from various years and makes. I'll try to post a photo of it here later. I later totalled it in a rollover accident, but we purchased it back and it's run ever since.

We welded in the older mounts and the engine dropped right in. We did need to get an adapt-a-plate to mate the Turbo-Hydramatic 400 to the later transfer case, but that was no bid deal as there are plenty of kits available. I had the front drive shaft lengthened, and the rear one shortened, since the transfer case sat further back. The rest was hookup and linkage modification.

Drivers side, looking in. Very clean arrangement, looks like brand new. The emissions folks never even blinked.

The passenger side, looking in. Again, very clean installation. Everything looks like it belongs there, with one exception.

This upper radiator hose. I spent a good hour at Napa one day, trying to find a hose that was "just right", and never finding it. So we improvised, and using a bit of old fashioned ingenuity, we made an adapter using some copper pipe. Now I just use a couple of small hose ends, fit to the pipe. Double clamp it and I'm done.

And here is the beauty of the whole system. The Holley 2V Projection Electronic Fuel Injection. Bwaaa-haaa-haaa. I had to install a return line to the tank, which was no small feat. I had to remove the tank, and install a fitting at the top. Then, I had to find a good place for the fuel pump which is supposed to be at the lowest part of the tank. Being a four wheel drive, you don't want something like a fuel pump hanging out where it could be caught. We found a spot in the frame, protected by a removable plate. We took the plate off, mounted the pump and put it all back together. It works dandy.

I had to install a relay to drive the EFI module, and I also opted for an electronic ignition. I used a system from Crane. It uses a hall effect sensor that installs to my original distributor, which was really nice, for two reasons. First, there is no room for a huge Chevy distributor, and second, a Chevy distributor wouldn't fit. The AMC 327 is a weird dog of an engine. There are virtually -no- parts for them.

After some tuning of the electronic ignition and the fuel injection, we took it to emissions testing and passed with flying colors. How's -THAT- for melding old and new technologies?

Since then, we've put a set of custom headers on it, which really makes it breath easier. The starter finally went out when the original manifold cracked and leaked hot gases on the starter. Finding that no one rebuilt these anymore, I -did- find a place that had figured out how to adapt newer technology to the old housing. What luck! It works great! It cranks faster and more efficiently than ever before. Oh, and the cracked manifold is why we put the custom headers on it too, since you can't find the manifolds anywhere.