hello everyone. am glad to see other willys jeep fans. i have always had a love for willys and jeeps. they are in my blood. my dad had a 1946 willys jeep we are restoring. and i also have my self a 52 ish willys cj-2A jeep i believe. the issue i have is i am not able to find a data plate or vin where it should be located. there was a engine in the back box of the jeep. i know this engine is not for this jeep. but i already have it disassembled and i am wounding what size and kind this engine is. i am going to rebuild it. if you could please give me some information or tips on what kind or year range the keep is and what size the engine is. i would really appreciate it
The engine block appears to be an F-134. The original Jeeps, from 1940 through mid-1950 or so, featured the L-134 as their 4-cylinder power plant. The L-134 is the "flathead" version. The "L" designation refers to the path fuel, air and exhaust gas make as they pass through the engine. The "L" head had an inherent limitation to power because of the need to locate both valves in the small combustion chamber area in the block limited their size.
In mid-1950 the Kaiser-Willys engineers introduced the "F-head" engine. (Again, "F" describes the flow path through the engine). They moved the intake valve into the head and actuated the intake valves with a fairly conventional push-rod/rocker arm mechanism. This allowed the intake valves to be larger and gave the new engine a whopping 10-HP boost; all the way to 70HP vs. the original 60 HP.
The addition of the rocker arm to the top of the engine required a rocker arm cover of course, and the carburetor was relocated to the top of the engine to take advantage of the new intake valve placement. This required the new Jeeps to need a deeper hood to clear the taller engine. Your block has four exhaust valve openings, the mark of the F-134.
The F-134 was produced in a lot of different versions through the 1970's, but there are surprisingly few F-134 blocks available. Keep us posted in your project - post pictures!
The engine appears to be a Willys F head, seeing that the exhaust valves are in the block. The numbers shown are casting numbers used by the factory, but sadly there is not a register breaks down the numbers. The engine was used in the high hood Cj3B, pickups, wagons, FC, M38A1, and CJ5. The biggest difference between the L head is that the intake valves were moved to the head, were the L head has both exhaust and intake valves in the block. The L head is flat. The down side to running an F head in a early Willys is that the carburetor sits up enough to where the hood will not clear. Often times people cut a hole in the hood for the carb to clear. A fix for that is to find a carb off a Ford Falcon.
Your Jeep looks to be in fact a CJ2A, but the year is most likely a 46 or maybe a 47. The clues are the marker lights in the grill, and the front bumper gussets. Looking close to your pictures, the front frame stub looks to have been beefed up, and it is very possible the the serial number plate was removed when the frame is plated. The brass plate would be located on the driver's side outside frame, directly behind the front bumper. As you already know, there is a second serial plate on the passenger side firewall.
I agree with the assessment that this is an F-134 engine. It appears to me from the milled surface that there are no intake valve seats, only the ports for the push rods for the overhead valves. The main problem you're going to find is that there is no room under the hood for the carburetor for an F head engine in an L head jeep, without cutting a hole in the hood.