My CJ3B, I picked up from a co-worker’s neighbor. It was a forgotten toy from over 10 years past. It had been converted to a small block chevy. And came with dual wheel adapters with dual chains for all 4 wheels, for running in the mud. It had a Koenig PTO winch, a brush guard and teardrop headlights mounted on the fenders. And a hood scoop that over the years let the engine fill up with water. All for $300.
I picked up a 350 from a co-worker that had just upgraded the motor in his truck. And he threw in a radiator. So I stuffed it in the jeep and mounted the radiator behind the grill guard, just forward of the removed grill.
He forgot to tell me why he replaced the motor. Once I became mobile( about 2 years) and was driving the jeep to work(30 mile round trip), I was using 1 to 2 quarts of oil a day. When I tore down the engine I discovered that all the oil rings were seized in their grooves. I did a quick ring and rod bearing job and it has ran good since.
That heavy engine was killing steering boxes so I converted it to power steering. The winch was in the way so I reversed the shaft out of the pto adapter and mounted the winch in the bed.
It ran good until when I was down with the flu for a week and a hard freeze hit. Froze it up and busted the block. I welded up the cracks with nickle rod and covered it with JB Weld and even pulled a low vacuum on it to try and pull the epoxy into any remaining leaks. Worked! The freeze also busted the block in my pick-up too. I welded it up too.
I learned a hard lesson about antifreeze.
So now when my Jeep’s radiator was too far gone to patch, I just picked up a universal fit one from Summit Racing. On the old radiator, I had mounted an electric fan directly to the radiator with no shroud. It would overheat doing winch duties. So on the new radiator, I built a shroud box, and it cools good now.
That’s some 3b you have.
I have looked into making my project CJ7 a V8 when I can afford to. It has the 258.
From what I’ve read about going small block Chevy and all of changes necessary, I look like I spend about as much as forking out for an AMC reman engine. If I went that route, I would aim for 360 or 401. They’re all pricey but should bolt up without too much extra difficulty.