Proper wheel color 1958 CJ 6

When I was at the Willys Swap meet in Jeff City I asked the reps from Northstar Willys about the brackets that went over the wipers that are used to protect them when the windshield was lowered, and if they carried them. They told me that they could get some, but didn't carry them as a normal stock item. You might try there.

http://www.northstarwillys.com/

Jim

 

If not try 4Wheel Drive Parts Wholesalers or Army Jeep parts

 

Just as a note, when I beadblasted my original brackets and repainted them, I found they were marked on the backside "L" and "R" for left and right. I had them on backwards at one point and could tell they didn't sit right against the hood when the W/S was down, but didn't think anything of it until I saw the marks. Something to think about if you get an aftermarket set (don't know if they are even available) or even a used set.

 

Just thought I'd add my two cents - even though I'm late in doing so. I believe in 60 or 61 the "cream" colored wheels became the norm for jeeps. Up until that time, the wheels were painted to match the body color with black as an option. CJ-2A's and 3A's were the exception with various colors and corresponding body color pin striping. My 58 has traces of the origional Fountain Green and corresponding wheels as evident in my pics before they were painted white (I like the white better):

http://home.earthlink.net/~mrstaves/index.html

 

This is more fun than Model A restoration!
After some thought, I seem to recall that my '60 CJ-5 had black wheels, but they may not have been the ones that came on the vehicle, and of course, my '51 Willys wagon had body color wheels.
So, I think I will go with white wheels on this '58 with some modern bias tires, but not NDTs. I found some Hercules HDTs

http://www.herculestire.com/hercules/pdfs/SuperExpress_HDTBias.pdf

that look like the exact same tire as the Coopers that were suggested in an earlier posting. They are tall and somewhat skinny, but the tread looks like it can handle the sandy dirt trails we have here in New Mexico and the occasional spin around town after our heavy snows. I'm not going for the monster truck look or performance. I just wanted an old jeep to tool around in and haul home the occasional small load of firewood or hardware store purchase.
I want to thank all who contribute to this thread. You are a knowledgable bunch.
I decided after some trail fun last weekend to make the best of my purchase of this Ford-powered beast and just enjoy it. For now, I'm going for a stock appearance and will leave the mechanics alone. I did find an F-head here locally and I think I will buy it and put it aside for another day (or year).
Thanks again. Love being part of all this.

 

Did you get a price on those Hecules? I got one from a local shop for the Coopers. $114 each. Seems kind of high for that kind of thing, but maybe not. Sam's club is full of cheap truck tires for less. Probably the odd size and low demand makes the price higher I'd guess.
Gonna paint my wheels white this Spring and put some new rubber on it once I figure out the right setup.

 

Actually, the Hercules tires were quoted at $78 each, mounted, balanced, and on the ground. That seemed pretty fair to me considering what Coker gets for their tires without shipping.
The 15" rims I finally found (off a Willys wagon) are the older, riveted, tube type rims, so I will probably need tubes which will increase the overall price.
I have an early-issue Willys sales folder on the CJ-6. It indicates the 6.00 x 16 "All-Service" tread was the stock tire/wheel, but it lists several tire/wheel options including 7.00 x 15 "All Service" or "Studded Sure Grip" tires. Thus, it kooks like restorers have a lot of wiggle room on wheel/tire selection.
While on that subject, what the heck was a 9.00 x 13 high flotation tire?
Steve

 

Yep. I had written an explanation when I cancelled the "for sale" ad, but I guess the system just deletes them. I had a good time last weekend taking the 6 up in the mountains to pick up some wood. Tried all the 4-wheel drive combinations and the little beast really pulls.
I was kind of disappointed when I found out all that it will take to convert this back to original with the Willys 4-cylinder -- repair the firewall, new drive shaft, move everything up about 4 inches, plus some frame restoration (in the sense of replacing parts that were cut). But, for now, it really does what I want it to do -- starts up, drives nice, stops, steers, and has a pretty good punch with the big 170 cu. in. Ford "mill" (little joke there). As for the wheels and tires, I'm going for a stock appearance overall and will leave the mechanics alone for now.
Besides it's an early CJ-6 with a factory 4 speed. Pretty hard to find and pretty neat to own.
1958 CJ 6

 

I wouldn't diss that Ford mill too quickly. From what info I can gather, the Falcon motor is an attractive swap because the bellhousing is shallow, like the Pinto. This means that you can use the T90 with just a plate adapter and some bearing retainer machining. In fact, the Falcon motor may use the same plate adapter as the Pinto. There may be no adapters available for the F4 T98, so this engine may be the most sensible swap for the F4 here (since you can make the adapter with some really basic machining).

Of course, the downside is the length of the 170. If you can make the firewall cut neatly, I'd say that's not a problem. Plus, the 170 is light, something like 380lb IIRC, vs. the 600lb of that putt-putt F4 (sorry, F4 fans). And, the 170 has the same block as the 7 main bearing Ford 250, which is clearly competitive with any other inline 6 (and the 225), if you were to want a little more power.

I'd say tidy it up and be proud!

 

Oops, sorry, that's wrong. The 200 is the same as the 144/170, and has 7 main bearings. The 250 is basically the same block, but has the same pattern and bellhousing as the 260/289/302. You can use a 250 head on a 200 though, and gain some additional performance. Still, the 200 would be a nice upgrade from the 170.

Check out fordsix.com: http://www.fordsix.com/recommendedmods.htm There are lots of other web sites about these engines too.

 

Well, I must admit I feel a little better about my Ford engine now and I'd have to say it does provide lots of power. I recall my bone stock '60 CJ-5 was rather enemic, so even though not correct, the Ford engine will probably serve me well. The most annoying thing is what you mentioned: the homemade "well" in the firewall. Everything else about it is pretty cool and the engine itself seems to be in good shape. It started right up this week when it was 10 above and it holds 45 lbs. of oil pressure, doesn't leak or use oil and doesn't smoke. I'll run a compression check one of these weekends and see just how good it is. Plus, the local Mustang repro parts dealer has lots of routine stuff like filters and so forth.
I'd just never heard of anyone swapping this particular motor into a Jeep like the Buick v-6 or the small block Chevy crowd do so frequently.

I don't like the way the vintage Ramsy winch looks on the front and frankly, I don't think I'll ever use it. Any thoughts on that from the CyberSpaceJeep crowd? Will taking that weight off of the front bumper improve the handling? Does it have any resale value that might help finance the endless tire and wheel quest?