A 49 year 1955 CJ 3B build thread

WARNING!  The following content may not be suitable for all audiences. 

Perhaps the title of this should be  “A 3B runs through it” with my apologies to Norman MacLean.  This is a much condensed 49 year build thread or how a stock 3B became something a little different.  Restoration purists should run for the exits NOW.

I have broken down the history of my 3B in roughly 5 different configurations, the last of which remains to be finished.

Version 1.0: I bought the 3B in 1972 because I had ended up wheels up in my CJ5 and needed a quick Jeep fix. My opinion of 3B's at that time was that they were as ugly as ugly gets but that wasn't the determining factor in the purchase. For $500 I got a completely stock (except for the snow plow mounting) Willys with 26K miles on it. The bed was beat to near oblivion and all the usual spots were rusted out. The Willys had been owned by a machine shop and they had fish plated the outside of the fame up front with a second plate covering the front spring hanger position, and boxed the frame horns for a shop built snow plow using a Meyers lift.  The lift was mounted on a 6x10x1/2” angle plug welded over the stock bumper.  Under that machine shop yellow resided President red.  The only photo I have of Version 1.0:

Machine shop fish plating

Ver 1.0 lasted about a year and a half, making several 600 mile trips to Ft Collins, CO and back to Montana  before I burned an exhaust valve trying to pull a SMALL U-Haul trailer from Denver to Bozeman.  Between Casper and Midwest, there was a strong headwind and for most of that, I couldn't get out of 2nd gear.  Some of that stretch of I25 was still 2 lane at that time.  There was no way I wanted to rebuild the F head (sorry guys) and hence I tripped down that slippery modification slope. 

Ver 2.0:  A Chevy 327 was put together from mostly stock parts over the following winter, including the 62 block and high performance heads, Crane solid lifer cam, 1968 302 GM Winters manifold and a 650 Holley.  I used the T90J main drive gear and the Advanced Adapters long adapter.  The 9" brakes and Ross box remained along with the rest of the stock components.  A used/repaired CJ 5 Whitco top replaced the factory ½ cab soft top and duct tape. 

Ver 2.0

 The back story on these photos was a fateful trip to Ft Collins in November 1974 to get hitched. The 3B at that time was completely stock except for the 327, my 67 CJ 5 stock wheels, and the ill fitting CJ5 Whitco top. The B was actually trying to tell me something when it emitted a big crunch sound about 40 miles north of Ft Collins. With the engine dead and no starter engagement. I drifted off the shoulder of I25 and stopped. I didn't even need to open the hood to know what happened-the antifreeze draining from the window in the left side of the block said it all. A forensic tear down back in Bozeman exhibited a pretty big crack at the bottom of #5 cylinder-chalk one up to an early 4" block at .030 over.

So the hitching event went off as planned a couple of days later and in the meantime I searched in vain for a rental truck almost all the way to Denver. The next option was to find a flatbed truck and the 53 B4D was in the classified for $450. It seemed to run ok so changed the oil, lubed, and loaded the 3B on the back-the only time 3B has never been on its own wheels while I've owned it. The trip back to Bozeman was long (flathead 230 power) but completely uneventful.  That truck basically paid for its self that trip but it hauled many loads of firewood in the ensuing years.  But I digress.

And that hitch job lasted about a year--------

Ver 3.0:  Following the self-destruct of the 327 in the fall of 1974, I decided it was time to do a frame off and make most of the rig the way I actually wanted it.  That project spread out over the next 4 years and included a job relocation to Utah and back.  I didn't get a whole lot done on the B in Utah.  Ver 3.0 included a boxed frame with a new cross member under the radiator, Saginaw manual C3 (Corvette) sector box and 1 piece tie rod, 11 gallon Con-Fer rear tank, relocated battery, 1970 350 LT 1 engine (more or less stock except for the Sig Erson camshaft), Chevy truck radiator, Muncie M20 transmission with Advanced Adapter tail housing/mainshaft, 19 spline full float Powr-Loked rear D44, 11x2 Bendix brakes, and fiberglass tub with a steel tube subframe and fiberglass fenders.  The Warn overdrive and winch also went on at that time.  The D18 and D25 remained stock.  I was going to use an aftermarket steel hood (MD Juan?) but it fit so poorly I ran sans hood for a couple of years before putting together a Saturday night special with a fiberglass skin over an aluminum frame work.  The Saturday night special lasted about 25 years and its basic aluminum frame work is still under the current hood.

Since I started with a blank piece of paper with the fiberglass tub (which was a 3A tub and in 3 separate pieces-the floor, tub shell, and firewall; all of which needed laminated together with the extended cowl and firewall), I built in wheel well storage compartments and boxed the entire right side of the dash off for a large glove box. 

3.0: