My dad's 71 Commando that I am building with his help and very little money

[sungoesdown]

There's nothing like a father/son project so here we go.
My dad got bit by the wheeling bug while riding shotgun with me at URE in my waggy. He remembered riding in his dad's Commando when he was younger when they went to get firewood so he has been on the lookout for a Commando of his own.
This is the result-

With the engine/trans/transfer case in the back of my tow pig, we towed the Jeep back to my garage to work on it.
The guy that we bought it from never cranked it up since he got it. When he bought it, it had been sitting out with the hood up and carb wide open and that was 8 years ago.
After running the numbers, the engine was a 231 buick v6 from 1975. The Jeep originally came with a 225. Both oddfire. I knew the motor was in need of a rebuild and had considered putting in a 304(that I already have) to keep costs down, but(with very little help from the Jeepster site) I decided to go ahead and rebuild the Buick engine.
not sure if the oil ever got changed-

Overall, the sheetmetal on the outside is good, and as the PO said, there is very little rust on the inside-

because they cut out the floorboards all together...
Plans are small homemade body lift, and some pizza cutter tires so he can wheel Wolf's Den....

 

[Chris_Keziah]

Guess they put the high quailty used oil in that motor. Why not got with the 304, i'd rather see a mopar in it than a buick.

 

[R Q]

Guess they put the high quailty used oil in that motor. Why not got with the 304, i'd rather see a mopar in it than a buick.

225 was stock, it was Jeep motor at the time, then Buick bought it back. The 304 won't fit without major mods, the engine compartment is too short.
Glad to see y'all are putting it back on the road/trails. At one time I would have had a lot of parts for ya but I ended up selling out.

 

[sungoesdown]

304 isnt mopar, lol. When AMC took over, they eventually(1972) extended the front end(called a bullnose) to fit the V8s in it and after doing lots of measuring, there is not enough room to fit an AMC v8 in and not extend the front or push the trans and T/C back

 

[Chris_Keziah]

225 was stock, it was Jeep motor at the time, then Buick bought it back. The 304 won't fit without major mods, the engine compartment is too short.
Glad to see y'all are putting it back on the road/trails. At one time I would have had a lot of parts for ya but I ended up selling out.

Oh def did'nt know that.

 

[sungoesdown]

Did some oil galley work and got the block back from the machine shop after taking 3 friggin weeks.... bored .030 over and $75 later

Got $40 worth(4'x8') of 16 guage sheet metal for the floors...

 

[Caver Dave]

There's nothing like a father/son project so here we go.
My dad got bit by the wheeling bug while riding shotgun with me at URE in my waggy. He remembered riding in his dad's Commando when he was younger when they went to get firewood so he has been on the lookout for a Commando of his own.
<snip>
Plans are small homemade body lift, and some pizza cutter tires so he can wheel Wolf's Den....

Great story!

but(with very little help from the Jeepster site)

Come on brother, your questions were answered PDQ!
I hope you'll accept my apology for the thread spiraling out of control afterwards? (we only have 2 mods total).
Holler if there's anything I can help you with!

Maybe y'all will get it put back together in time for the Jeepster JAM in June? I promise you won't find a better group of folks to talk Jeepsters & Commandos with anywhere and your Dad will have a ball!