Interesting engine swap for a Kaiser Manhattan (???)

[Jim B PEI]

Okay, maybe this is apocryphal, but I just saw this over on the Studebaker Forum. The topic was Studebaker engines in other cars, and there was such joy at the remembering/reporting the Corvette with a Champion flathead six installed , but also that many Studebaker V8 engines ended up in Willys--both cars as well as the Jeep wagons/pickups for a very good reason--durability. Here are some of the comments:

"Not directly relevant to your question, but I have seen Studebaker engines in other applications. Many years ago I was poking around in a small salvage yard looking for parts for my '54 Willys. I found a Willys with a Stude V-8 in it (don't remember which size). At the same time someone in the base auto hobby shop was putting a Studebaker V-8 in another make, but I don't remember what. Later, in Hawaii, my neighbor was putting a '59 Lark V-8 in his Willys Jeep pickup. I asked him why and his answer was the Studebaker V-8 was the toughest, longest lasting engine he could get."

"The Stude V8 swap into a Willys was a fairly common upgrade. I remember my next door neighbor had a nice Willys wagon (the two tone gray) with one back in the early 60's. I think it was something about the BW trans used in the Willys that made it a fairly easy swap."

"One of the guys here in the North Carolina chapter told me his father had a Studebaker V-8 installed in his 1954 Kaiser Manhattan back in the '60s, which some may recall came with a McCullough supercharged Continental 226 flat-head six. It took only two days, practically a drop-in (he said) and was a huge improvement in all respects."

Perhaps an inquisitive Kaiser type person with some knowledge of Studebakers would actually know from eyeballing and using a measuring tape whether this is a do-able thing, putting a Studebaker V8 (with an overdrive BW T86 transmission being an obvious type of choice) into a 51-55 Kaiser. The Studebaker V8--232/224/259/289/304 blocks are all more or less the same, especially the stock 259 which can be either 6 (1955) or 12 volt (56 and after), and hanging power steering/AC and other things would be easy, as in swapping a generator for an alternator etc.

HJ East Texas?? Anyone else any comments?

[Jim B PEI]

Bump Dec 26th

[boatingbill]

Jim B Pei: I know you like the Studebaker engine, but how about the big six used in Jeep
Cherokee's and Jeep Grand Cherokee's? The basic design is from the 30's and they are a 7
main bearing engine. Used up until 2002, the parts are everywhere, and many Cherokee's
were standard shifts. So manual or automatic is very available. There were all front engine
rear drive and should be a easy swap. I drove one for many years. I wish I measured it
before selling it to see if the length was correct. My '98 Grand was 4x4 and heavier than the Kaiser
yet it had plenty of pep. My son had a 2002 Cherokee manual 4x2 and it was quick. Those engines
were very sturdy and 200k was common without a rebuild.

[Jim B PEI]

The 4.0 litre in line six teamed up with either the manual, or the wonderful 4 speed automatic would be a great choice as well. The only fly in my hypothetical ointment is possibly the length, but also that the 4.0 L, from my personal experience of having run an 1988 (Cherokee body) Wagoneer Limited for years, is just as thirsty as a V8, but without the dual exhaust option   That being said, I have always loved the sound of a good in-line six, OHV or flathead.

Besides, a Studebaker V8 would be a 'natural' to be supercharged, either the earlier style Golden Hawk type 289 which is virtually the same as the 54-55 Manhattan, except it has 12V (solenoid) instead of 6V, or the later 63-64 engines. I was just interested in that the Studebakers and Kaisers used the same BW manuals/overdrives and Dana rear axles etc.

[HJ-ETEX]

Just to clear things up - The AMC 6 used in the AMC & Chrysler Jeeps was a new thin wall design that was introduced in 1965 at a displacement of 232 c.i. A new line of V8s based on the same bore spacing was introduced in 1966. FORGET about any relation to Rambler engines in the 1930s. This new 6 cylinder got a lot of use when SUVs became popular and I think it has some features that would work well as a swap in a 51-55 Kaiser. However, the 2 examples I own - a 70 Hornet and a 73 AMC Commando have water pump outlets on the driver side of the engine. This is opposite from the majority of American engines.

[HJ-ETEX]

How about this - a Henry J with a 232 Studebaker V8? One of the Studebaker Chapter members I used to talk with saw me show up one time at a Chapter Meet with my 51 HJ 4 cyl (I did this to demonstrate the resemblance between a HJ & a 50 Champion). His family usually had a lot of Studebaker cars & parts and not much of other makes. When the 360 V8 in his Dodge 3/4 went out, he replaced it with a Stude 289 HD engine. Sometime in the late 50s he got a HJ and put in a 232 V8 and DG automatic from a 53 or 54 Commander. He said he had to jack up the body about 2 inches above the frame. It didn't sound like the project was very successful. 

[HJ-ETEX]

My brother & I both have Studebakers with 259/289 V8s and Chevy V8s. Although the Chevy V8s have higher rated horsepower, the driving sensation is different. The Stude V8s have more power in the range of 40 to 55 mph.
If you read old Hot Rod magazines from the 50s & early 60s, you will find a lot of rods used Ford flathead V8s - because the chassis was a Ford. In fact, most of the rods were Fords of some type. The second most common engine was the Olds V8 because they made a lot of them and so they were cheap and they had a good automatic. A Studebaker 259/289 should have been popular but the idea of using them in a non-Stude never caught on. Perhaps the biggest obstacle was that it wasn't a GM or Ford product so the rodders thought there had to be something weird about it. 

[HJ-ETEX]

Studebaker V8s & Engine Swaps: Since the last time I posted here, I have looked at a lot of early to mid-50's rod magazine covers that were recently posted on H.A.M.B. A lot of the cover topics mention Stude V8s as motor swap material but that doesn't establish whether many Stude V8 swaps were actually made. It still appears to me that there was a reluctance to using a Stude V8 and once other medium & cheap makes got V8s, all interest in a Stude V8 in something other than a Stude just evaporated.