CJ-3B Bulletin Board

As per what I said in my introduction in the CJ-3B posts I'm starting a topic which I'll document my 1953 CJ-3B restoration. If you missed my introduction here is a link New Guy to the Bulletin Board

I didn't take any pictures of jeep with the body on and the engine in it but here a a few pics of the aftermath of taking the engine out. All of this happened in June of last year, since then I have not done a lot to the jeep but I have regained interest and am starting to work on it again.







Once the engine was out and on a stand I tore it down to its bare block and inspected it. Water managed to get into #4 cylinder and rusted it really bad, it also has a crack in the block by the exhaust valve. The engine can be rebuilt but I can't see spending $2500-3000 to get 71 horsepower @ 4000rpm, even then the motor shouldn't go past 3000rpm.

The tub is junk, its got more rust per square inch than any other vehicle I have ever worked on, but that's what happens when its used as a hunting jeep in west Texas. It's fixable but its going to take a lot of man hours and sheet metal to get it back together, it will still be cheaper to fix than buying a new tub or finding one in better condition. Also, I want to fix this tub, I like sheet metal work.

The frame is is decent shape, it has a lot of rust in the front where the original boxing was, its now rusted out almost completely. I took a torch and cut out all of what I deemed needed to be removed, including: front bumper, rebar grill guard, rear bumper, motor mounts, battery tray, inner frame boxing. I removed the riveted parts by burning out the rivets and then knocking the part off with a hammer. Before I removed the bumper I welded a piece of metal across to keep the frame from flexing to much. The bumpers are trash they are rusted too much and I would rather make some from scratch.

After the frame was cleaned up I remove the axles and set them aside for later, then I spent a week sandblasting the frame down to bare metal and spraying it with lacquer primer and green acrylic enamel, it was a color I had at the time and it was free. I will probably end up re sandblasting it and putting a coat of POR-15 on it before spraying it semigloss black.



Since June of 2011 the only thing I have done to the jeep is tear down the T-90 trans and D-18 transfer case. The transmission is shot, the only things worth using is the case and shift tower. Water got inside it and rusted all the gears, the cluster gear has few teeth missing from rust and all the other gears have some serious pitting. I don't think I'm going to rebuild it. The transfer case is a different story, everything seems to be in decent shape. I think a master rebuild kit from Herm the overdrive guy would be enough to get it in working order.

As of now I'm not going to do a lot to the jeep until I find an engine for it, as I previously stated I don't want to put the F-head back in it as it too much work for not enough HP. I'm looking for an engine but I'm not sure what I want, I'm open to almost all suggestions however I think a stock Ford 302 out of a truck is the best option. I know the 302 pretty good, the distributor is in the front making it easy to tuck the engine into the firewall and it will give me the power I'm looking for. I'm also looking for a transmission, once again I'm open to all suggestions but its probably going to be a ford T-18. The T-18 has a 6.32 first gear and a 3.09 second so I could probably take off in second most of the time. Not to mention the engine in trans bolt together so all I have to do is get an adapter for the transfer case.

Well, that's the end of the first installment of the restoration. If anyone has any questions, comments or suggestions for my jeep restoration feel free to tell me.

Thanks, Ranger