What the Inside of an Old Military Jeep Looks Like
Called the Go Devil, this type of Jeep carried our troops during World War II.
When you hear the word “Jeep,” the first thing you usually think of is the new sleek lines of a Wrangler, or the suburban utility of a Cherokee. For one gearhead, however, Jeep means a 1948 Willys CJ-2A, a 70-year-old piece of automotive history. Called the Go Devil, this type of Jeep carried our troops during World War II. What would you expect to find under the hood of a Jeep like this? That’s what Jalopnik sought to discover in the video below.
A Piece of History
If you walked up to one of these Go Devils in the field during World War II, and took a peek under the hood, you’d see a 134-cubic-inch, in-line four-cylinder engine with a cast-iron head. Though it had quite a job during the war, the CJ-2A was also the first Jeep model that was designed for the civilian market.
Under the Hood
For being nearly 70-years-old, the engine of this 1948 Jeep is in surprisingly good shape, as Jalopnik’s David Tracy found out. The water pump was good and rusted, as well as the cooling system — nothing a quick clean and rebuild couldn’t fix though. But getting the head off turned out to be a bit of a problem, with three stuck studs that had to be cut off in order to extricate it.
Once the head was loose, the block was in stunning shape. The cylinders, though bored 0.030 over size, were in fantastic shape, with no pits or scores. A quick hone and some new piston rings could easily make the cylinders as good as new. As far as the top of the engine, the valves were all in one piece, and in pretty smooth working order.
Flipping the engine over revealed some sludge in the oil pan, but the internal workings of the engine were in surprisingly good shape. As an added bonus, there was no metal in the oil pan, and the crankshaft, oil pump, and timing gears were all in good shape. The cam lobe, which could be worn down after years of use, wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
Overall, the engine will likely be the easiest part of this car to restore.
Driving Into the Future
As you’d expect from a car that’s older than most of the people reading this blog, there’s a lot of work that needs to be completed before it’ll be ready for the 2,000-mile journey to Moab, Utah, where they hope to take it on some of the toughest off-road trails in the country. For an old Jeep, it’s sure got a lot of spirit left.