Exactly what do I have here???

this is the motor...I believe it is 1975-77 Buick V6

rear view from the ad

front axle as found

Rear axle as found

anybody seen a VIN tag like this before???

carb as found on Jeep...

My goal is to get it running and see how it runs...it even has a hydraulic firewall mounted clutch set up....Any idea where I can get those plastic caps for the master and slave cylinders???

They even moved the seats back so as not to be as cramped as a stock Willys would be...

Any insight would be awesome

It *could* be a good combination of stuff.

The ID tag may be completely bogus, but if it matches the title, I would not start asking any questions, just leave it be and don't rock that boat.

I have to wonder if the aluminum tread plate is hiding some rust.

All in all, if it was a good price, it could be a fun toy, maybe without costing a fortune. 

OK, I'd like to simplify this a little and eliminate extraneous info.

For a quick check:

Check the valve covers. What style are they?

If you have this style of flat-topped valve cover

Then the top of the cylinder head should look like this:

If it does, you almost certainly have a Kaiser manufactured Dauntless 225 V6

If the valve covers looks like these:

then the top of the cylinder heads should look like this:

If so, you have some variety of Buick 231 V6 and further identification is required.

A Buick V6 will have a casting number on the top of the back of the motor, between the intake and transmission.

You'll need to check the engine block casting number located here and compare it to the PDF linked above:

This number will tell you:

If the valve covers don't match the head type, then you have a modified engine. Either way you should check the head casting number on both heads. They might not match.

Head casting number location for Dauntless and Buick V6s, circled in red:

You can swap Buick 231 and Dauntless valve covers by hogging out the mounting holes, so valve cover type isn't necessarily an indication of which engine you have.

Buick 231 heads can be installed on Dauntless motors, but there's lots of work and money involved for very little return. In most cases, the head alone will tell you whether you have a Dauntless or Buick 231.

However, the Dauntless is the predecessor to the Buick 231, leading to the Turbo V6 used in the Buick Grand National T-Type, and on to the supercharged Buick 3800 still in use today. Because of the ease of modification of these motors and the way you can interchange parts, it's not uncommon to see Buick V6 motors with mismatched parts.

You can technically bolt Dauntless heads on a 231 and convert to pushrod oiling, but my understanding is that the motor wouldn't cool properly (different passages through the head gasket) and the valve tips wouldn't be properly oiled, leading to premature wear and failure.

Dauntless heads have smaller ports and valves and is generally considered inferior to the 231 performance-wise, so this is a swap you're not likely to ever see.

Dauntless valve covers could just be a P.O. dressing an Odd Fire Buick 231 to look like a Dauntless.

The popular internet consensus is:

You can put Buick 231 heads on a Dauntless, but the oil passages through the deck must be drilled, tapped, and plugged. Then the motor has to be converted to pushrod oiling by using 231 lifters and pushrods. Further, you have to do some welding and modifications to the water jacket ports on the bottom of the head. This is expensive and not much use on a Jeep. You're not likely to see it.

My personal opinion (not worth a lot, in my estimation), having examined the differences between early Buick oddfire and Dauntless heads:

All you should have to do to stick 231 heads on a 225 is plug the oil passages on the deck and drop in 231 lifters and pushrods.

In my experience, the difference in water jacket ports from the deck to the gasket and the gasket to the head is usually more extreme than the differences I see between the ports in the 225 deck and the 231 heads.

I see no reason that the water jackets need to be modified. That said, I've never done the swap so I couldn't tell you if this results in cooling issues. It very well could.

Bubba has been known to actually go much farther than this. Not specifically on jeeps, but the bubbafication of Buick motors knows no bounds. Bubbas with Buick cars are known to mix up even fire blocks with odd fire cranks, swap heads around, and god knows what else.

There are two different HEI ignitions for Buick 231 V6 motors, one for even fire engines and one for odd fire. The Odd Fire HEI will drop right into a Dauntless and will run as long as the wiring is modified to match.

How to tell them apart.

Look closely at the differences between the two reluctor rings, specifically the layout of the triangle bits (odd on the left, even on the right):

It's not uncommon to have the wrong distributor cap on an odd fire motor with HEI, so check the cap as well.

Again, odd on the left and even on the right. Notice that the odd fire cap actually has eight spark plug towers with the even only has six. If the distributor and cap don't match, it won't run right.

Usually, the block will have the right crank for the block type - odd or even fire, but this isn't always the case. If an amateur builder mixes the wrong parts and can't get it running, a simple cure is to sell it and let someone else sort it out.

If you find you need to sort out this kind of mess, we'll jump...

If you get to the point of trying to start it and it still won't run right and you have a matching distributor and cap, the distributor may not be matched to the crank.

At this point you may have to drop the oil pan and have a look at the crankshaft. If the distributor and crank don't match, you'll need a new distributor.

These are the two crankshafts in question - even and odd fire. In keeping with previous pictures, odd are on the left and even on the right.

Note the connecting rod journals in each picture, circled in red.

On the odd-fire crank, the journals are co-axial - the centers line up and it has one long journal that both rods attach to.

On the even-fire crankshaft, the journals are offset from each other, known as an 'offset crank'. They almost always have a thin flange between the journals.

They're a bit harder to distinguish when they're installed in the motor, but it can be done.

What you're looking for is whether the connecting rods are offset from each other.

Notice in the odd fire engine on the left that the circled connecting rods sit lined up very well with each other.

However, the even fire engine on the right, the circled connecting rods are visibly offset and the flange is visible between them. The little flange between the connecting rods is a dead giveaway that you're looking at an even-fire 'offset' crank.

I highly recommend that you document casting and part numbers every time you replace something on this motor, like a timing cover or a rear main seal. Dig that number up online and find out what it came from.

My observations:

I bring all this up because we have a preliminary ID of the motor as mid-70s Buick 231 Odd Fire. I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to post one of the pictures you sent in a PM:In this picture, I see Dauntless 225 valve covers and a mid-70s Odd Fire HEI. I highly recommend checking the block and head casting numbers against the PDF I linked to earlier. Someone has modified this motor, but we don't know if it's Dauntless valve covers on a Buick 231, or a Buick 231 HEI installed on a Dauntless. This will likely be important down the road, especially if it turns out that the motor needs work on the internals.

I suppose it all boils down to the question of whether this motor actually ran as installed in this jeep. If it did, then initially the only thing you need to worry about is the engine casting number to tell you even or odd, Buick or Dauntless.

Drop me a line any time you'd like help and we'll get it sorted out.