[455Grandville]

Originally Posted by Sirrotica

One of my Wagoneers (65) had the tornado OHC 6 in it, and it ran fine until it blew a headgasket, it then got a 65 GTO engine. This was a 3 speed stick so the V6 buick 225 (CJ5) bellhousing made there no need for an adapter, Jeep had already done that.

The next Wagoneer (67) had the 327 Packard based V8 that spun a rod bearing, it also got a 65 Bonneville 389 transplant. Jeep was using the T 400 with a generic short bell case that GM designed so that other car manufacturers could use the short bell case with their own adapter to mate it to whatever powerplant they decided to use. Jeep had opted away from the 327 in favor of a Buick 350, so again Jeep had already made an adapter to mate the short bell T 400 case to a BOP Cad bolt pattern. You can use a GM case also and bolt it to the Jeep transfer case with the mid plate adapter that came in T 400 Jeeps.

My 73 truck came with a 360 2 bbl, and the timing chain and gears jumped at around 75,000 miles, rather than screw with that I just opted for Stratostreak power since I already knew how well it had worked in my Wagoneers. Motor mounts are cut and weld, stock manifolds fit fine, it's really a fairly easy swap to do. Considering the AMC was rated at 170 HP and a similarly rated 455 was rated at 250 HP it was an easy decision. I made the swap a little harder than it needed to be by mandating headers. Left side 3 tube slips right in, right side has front driveshaft to contend with so I had to remake 2 tubes to fit the chassis, time consuming. Years later when the headers rotted out I just replaced them with log manifolds.

I've always wanted to do a civilian conventional short wheelbase Jeep with a Pontiac V8, just never have gotten around to doing it. God willing maybe I can get it done before arthritis makes it impossible.

The 327 is actually an old Rambler/AMC motor.
I had another Jeep truck with one in it, and it spun a bearing too, with 80,000 miles.
I took it apart and it was clean. They must have been a junk motor I guess ?

My wife has a CJ7 from Arizona with a 304/automatic, but she uses it on our property or to take into town occasionally, that’s it.
I replaced the timing chain in it with 70k orig miles and inspected the oil pump, it was real clean. The chain was sloppy as hell, probably about to go.
The 4.0 , the 232 & 258 are reliable as hell , though.