need advice, Jeepster for a traditional style driver ?

Well all the front suspension parts from Street Rod Engineering arrived , 7 boxes in all, we will trailer in the jeepster to the shop next week, our hope is to make it look as stock as possible to the untrained eye, but safe and reliable to drive, part of the kit is front disc brakes, the stock master cylinder is frame mounted forward of the floor pedal, I want to keep the floor pedal but go to power booster, any ideas? I know someone has an application for this , any help would greatly appreciated.


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I bought one cheap, sold off the parts the restorers wanted (overdrive trans and willys script bumpers) and it was then free. Put in. A 4.3 6cyl from a Chevy pickup then sold it off. Plan was to run wide whites on steelies.I thought it would be pretty cool. The Jeepster is the last American made phaeton.

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While running the little four cylinder is cool I think that you will find that it is under powered. My family had a 48 wagon as our only vehicle for about ten years when I was growing up. My dad eventually had a stude champion six installed that was a good combination after the four cylinder gave it up. He eventually put in a stude v8 but it wasn't a good combination because of the added weight and the brakes were marginal.

 

I'll never forget the first Jeepster I ever drove. Summer of '62 one of my buddies bought a nice white with red trim Jeepster, clean as a whistle it was ...but quite a bit more than met the eye, 'cause under that cute innocuous exterior lurked a beast in the form of a fully loaded triple-carbed '58 Caddy 365.
What a class ride! I haven't recovered in 52 years. Still have a 390 Cad and go fast goodies stashed just waiting for the opportunity to recreate that youthful thrill ride.

 

Had a great learning experience on a 48 Jeepster. Learned body work, patch panels, how to modify replacement floor panels, how to make full length running boards, how to chop a windshield 4", how to make the top mechanism 4" lower and still fold, how to redo the top of the doors to get rid of the dip and make a better body line, how to install a Mustang 2, a small block Chev. and 350 trans. and 8" Ford rear end. How to tunnel 48 Ford tail lights. How to recess the license plate, how to extend the rear fenders down, fill in the spare tire mount, tuck the bumpers closer into the body. How to use an "IDIOT STICK" block sanding board to get panels straight, how to 'high fill" prime, how to block and prime, get it flat, or curved, but straight. And a Gazillion small details. It was a 3 year learning experience, that gave a BOAT LOAD of knowledge and an attitude of "HELL I CAN DO THAT!!!". Got it that far and put that knowledge into my 48 Chev. P/U. The Jeepster was a really neat looking car---But honestly---It just didn't work as a HOT ROD---it was a real neat JEEPSTER. Just saying. BILL RINALDI

 

OK----That being said. The flat head 4 is kinda anemic , it doesn't hold up well at 60 mph. A working O.D. does help, but there isn't much power there. Rare hop up equipment usually cost more than an engine swap. As weird looking as the front suspension is, it works pretty well, steering box can be adjusted for box play. Reversing the spring eyes and removing #3 spring will bring the front end down. Lowering blocks will work in the back. The brakes are decent, so long as the are adjusted/operating correctly. The most common (and easiest) engine swap is Ford or GM v-6 and automatic trans. Any late model 4 cyl. and trans. will work well. The JEEPSTER MAN is a great source for Jeepster and like year P/U's and Station Wagons parts and information. (they are on the internet) Also there is the Midwest Jeepster Association,(also on the net) an active and friendly bunch of folks that don't seem to mind engine swaps. They can put you on to who has swap kits available. Fat Man fabrication has a nice Mustang 2 swap kit. Hope a little more in formation helps BILL

 

Isn't the Jeep 225 V6 a Buick motor? Should make parts easy.

 

Anything can be a hot rod....

 

I seem to remember that a Studebaker engine swap into Jeeps was fairly common in the early '50's. I have seen kits for such a swap. I would think such a swap would be "traditional" and with a t-86 tranny out of a Studebaker (with overdrive) it would be a very good and reliable alternative.

 

We opted for power steering, the jeepster runs nicely, the 225 V6 is very good, it's mated to a Chevy 3 speed with O/D, it just needs to steer and stop, the Streetrod engineering kit, is really a complete kit, Fox body rack and pinion, disc brakes, etc. , the power master cylinder is going to be the big question, I am hoping to keep it frame mounted, so I don't have to hang swing pedals, if anybody has used a particular frame mounted setup, and liked it, I'd sure like to know about it.


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That little Buick V6 would be a good transplant. You could probably include the Saginaw four speed also. If my memory is right, I think that the station wagon came in at about 2800 lbs. and the jeepster should be lighter.

 

I have a Jeepster project going on...

In Finland Jeepster is very rare. None were sold as new. My car came from US 1989 to Finland by a collector who had hundreds of cars. He never got it done before he died, so I could buy it last october.

It needs a lot of TLC. I´ve started to fix rusted floor and such. There is much to do, so back to garage...

Here is link to AMC Evolution forum. http://forums.amcevolution.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1706

I´m going to use Chevy V6 and th 700. Better front suspension is my dream.
Do somebody have pics of that Mustang 2 conversion?

juhap

 

I bought my 48 jeepster in 65, VW bugs would pass it going up hill
. First swap. : 57 buick nailhead,
ford wagon T 85 od and 9 in rear,ford wagon front brakes on the jeepster hubs.
# 2 Small block ford, with dealer cobra kit, manifold carb and cam. T 10 4 speed
# 3 401 buick with TH 400.
# 4 swapped the body onto a Jeep FC pug wide chassis with 350 chevy and Od trans kit on the back of the T case
# 5 it 's now on a 78 blazer chassis and this one was way too much work, had to move the engine and trans back 8 inches, new drive shafts, rework the floor pan, new gas tank, redo the steering shaft and firewall brake pedal. make new bumper mounts

 

Juhap, I went to your build site, wow, you possess skills that I wish I had, I am lucky to have had good floors, as far as the front suspension, we are getting started next week, we would have started this week, but my fabrication guy came down with kidney stones, but we went with the streetrod engineering design, because the crossmember was made of the heaviest gauge steel, and was specifically made for the jeepster, it came with mustang fox body rack and pinion steering, coil over springs, disc brakes, stabilizer, it was pretty much complete kit ,shipped to the door for 2400


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Jeepsters make good looking cruisers. About ten to fifteen years ago there was a guy running a detail shop out of a downtown parking garage in Austin that had a gorgeous light blue or turqoise early Jeepster that was lowered just right. I remember seeing an Early Times group shot around then in a mag with a simular if not the same Jeepster in it. Good enough for them to iinclude in their pic, so must have been a hot rod!

 

I have been coaching a friend cutting his teeth on one. The first thing we did was make a kick over dolly. The dolly allows the Jeepster to be rolled around but also 2 guys can kick it up on one side. It also allows it to be transported in the back of a pickup.

At one point we cut the up right off one side and welded it to the other side so we could set it on the other side.

We had the floor pans sand blasted and he learned to weld re-building the floor pans:










He has recently finished the floor pans and took the body to have the bottom sprayed with bedliner and looks fantastic.

 

I live at the beach and built a 50 Jeepster as my daily driver. I wanted the stock appearance witha more modern approach. Used 2003 S-10 frame, S-10 Blazer rear, 350 crate, 350 trans. Lots of power, 4 wheel disc brakes, posi rear and power steering. A lot of work but worth it.

 

Well we installed the independent front suspension kit from streetrod engineering , in the jeepster , over the weekend, rolled the old girl off the trailer at 10:00 am rolled her back on at 8:30pm, all done except hooking the steering column to the fox body rack and pinion. The kit was amazingly complete , everything fit exactly as advertised, a very experienced fabricator , and 4 other good guys helping, it went very well, the ride height dropped about 4 inches, but it was nose high to begin with, it looks awesome now.


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I just completed 6,000 mile coast to coat and back trip with 6 other Jeepsteers. People thought it was a hotrod.

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