Posted by Ken Dunnington on Wednesday, November 29, 2006 at 11:21AM :
In Reply to: OT - Willys 4BTconversion ? posted by bruce in CO on Wednesday, November 29, 2006 at 8:41AM :
Bruce, I have been considering a similar swap but with a few key areas different. I have a Willys wagon body mounted on a Scout Chassis that I built 8 years ago. It's served me extremely well but I'm ready to either get rid of it or make a change. The change would be to swap in one of the Hercules 3.7TDs I have sitting in my garage. Really this is a swap onto a Scout chassis with a Willys body over it so very little useful swap info to you, but one thing I have determined that height of the engine is not a problem between the hood and axle. Trans tunnel mods may be necessary for you but the engine will fit under the hood.
The Willys trucks and wagons were available with flat-head sixes so I imagine the weight of a 4bt isn't much more than a six w/ winch. The torque the 4bt makes would have me wanting to beef the frame abit but the stock numbers are ~105/250. Not exactly 'chassis pretzel' type numbers.
Mannyc makes a good point, though my conversion is not stock looking nor that cleanly done. I did it on the cheap and it shows. It is what it is. Lots of folks like it. I'd like it more with a fuel efficient 4 cylinder diesel under the hood though the 345 has returned 16 mpg on occasion.
Dodge content: the trans behind the 345 is a TF727... hehe, 2 OT subjects in 2 days that I was atleast able to get a tie-in to Dodge.
Ken
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