If you skim the internet, you will find that there are a lot of Jeep Willys models that have been equipped with LSX engines, Nitrous Oxide and plenty of boost. Some of them are pushing 1,000 horsepower to the wheels.
It's amazing to think these vehicles were built to be as cheap and easy to maintain as possible, probably winning the Second World War and a few others after it.
Is stuffing the latest V8 engine in it a form of sacrilege? Probably not. All those boys that rode Harleys and formed motorcycle gangs would have loved one of these. In fact, Jeep remains one of the most rebellious brands in the world.
The only thing we don't like about this mod is that it went for GM muscle instead of a Hemi or the Hellcat. But considering how popular the LSX is in the engine swapping business, we're not surprised.
We figure that the Justin being referred to here is Justin Miller, owner of the 300 rear wheel horsepower 1952 Willys CJ3-A. The old military truck has been stripped of all its non-essentials (not that it had that many) and weighs under 1,900 pounds dry.
As the story goes, the Willys has been in Justin's family for many years. As a kid, he visited his grandparent's lake house in Lake of the Ozarks and found the vehicle sitting in the barn.
Besides the motor, the Jeep also features a custom fabricated Moser 9-inch housing and axle package. He also swapped the wheels for new Weld RTS ones with Mickey Thompson ET Street R 31-16.50 rubber.
For safety, Corbeau bucket seats with harnesses will hold him in. The roll cage makes kicking the bucket a little less likely, but when you have a tiny wheelbase and lots of power, it's still not safe.
Justin suffered a setback out at SCT Orlando when blowing a hole in the block. Even without that much power, the LSX couldn't take it. Fortunately, there's a replacement engine available, so perhaps the guy knew something bad was going to happen to his V8.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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