230 Tornado - better years?

marten

marten

Sharpest Tool
Mar 15, 2015
327
new mexico
First Name
carl
Willys Model
  1. CJ
Willys Year:
  1. 1946
So which year of the 230 Tornado is better? I may be looking at a '62 this weekend and I hear that the later years Tornado were much better. What improvements did they make on these? One deal fell through and another popped up, same engine different years though.

Thanks,

Carl
 
Hi Carl,
They were pretty much the same since it was such a short production run for the wagon and pickup. There are a number of service bulletins in the technical library.

From my perspective, the three major changes you need to make on a 230 (if it's not already been done) is the front mounting plate -

(1) Adding the additional mounting bolt for the plate keeps the plate from slipping. We also machined the back of the plate where the gasket sits as it was poorly cast. Using the correct sealer on the front plate is also a must. There are a number of products listed in the forum but we used the NAPA product.

(2) Swapping out the valve guides for the newer version is a big change and finally,

(3) Clearing the oil channels (de-burring) with a grinding tool needs to happen.

Overall, the 230 is a great engine. I'm at the point now with all of the updates that I have more engine than brakes and looking longingly at a front disk upgrade.... a few weeks ago we were out and hopped on the interstate to bypass roadwork on a secondary road and was cruising at 70 before I realized it. Overdrive engaged, of course.

Not to hijack your thread but I've been searching for a 230 pickup. Let me know if you run across anything.

Greg
 
There were improvements in the plate retention during production in several steps, so later is better, but you can do the upgrades Greg suggested. I have a later engine apart here and it has plate dowels I don't think the earlier engine has - does yours have those Greg? They are on a service bulletin. This engine also had the service bulletin "hook" around the water boss for the upper left timing cover bolt to have something to attach to.

They made some casting changes in the head for plate support and drainage. The last pn head seems to be the same casting as the military head (different machining) and is noticeably better. As well as a boss cast in for the extra bolt into the head on the passenger side the it has an extra boss cast into the drivers side and the upper left timing cover bolt is directly into the head, better still than the hook. This head also has a cast passage on the front passenger side for oil drainage the earlier heads don't have. I think you could re-machine a military head if you wanted to and you were careful.

I don't have the engine together yet but I'm going with Greg's experience that it's a very good engine, and very pleased to have scavenged a NOS last production head with the extra features.

As a point of interest I stuck the head on the flowbench and it is amazing. These things were intended to make power.

Also very pleased to hear you can cruise at 70 Greg, not really planning to but I was hoping you could drive it on the highway. I'm going with the Bendix drum brake upgrade to get both shoes to actually work and keep the stock look, think it will be good, but time will tell.
 
Thanks for the great info! Are there any numbers on the block that I can look at to see if it is a later model or the original engine? The owner said he did a valve job on it before it was parked for 12 years....guess he had a heart attack and never got back into the restoration.
 
 
Thanks! Here is the beast I may look at tomorrow. It has been sitting for 12 years!
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It looks like it has the 1 bbl carb instead of the 2300 Holley. I had thought all the 62's had the 2 bbl.
 
My 62 truck has the two barrel on my 230. It takes a mirror and some stretching to adjust the rear half.
 
Trip is off for the day, 200 miles. Skunk got into the laundry room. Guy is asking $6500, to high for a vehicle that has been sitting for over ten years. Needs a battery and fuel pump....I could see dumping a chunk of change into it pretty fast to get it road worthy.
 
Pavel has some good info on the Tornado on his site:

http://www.members.shaw.ca/pavelb/engine.html

I was away so could not check, but am back. Out there the Tornado stuff has bred and had children, so I now have 4 of them, 3 civilian and one military, and a NOS late upgraded civilian head. Looking at them and Pavel's info here is what I learned:

The head has had at least 2 casting changes. The earliest I have, a very early production 62 the castings were march 62 and the head is casting #928760. The later casting is still the same number, April 64, and has a casting boss added for the passenger side extra plate bolt. It also has the exhaust side spring seat casting area changed to allow oil drainage from the outboard side.

The last head is casting number 944076, and it has further casting changes to add a support boss for the plate on the drivers side, and a drain channel on the front left side into the timing cover area. Both the military and the civilian replacement are the same casting and seem to be cast in 67, but they are machined different for the different timing covers.
 
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Greg, in post #2 you mention that there were changes to the Tornado head - my block was cast in June 1964 - don't know when the head was cast. Here are a couple of pictures on the two front "corners" of the engine. Can you and Ken Parkman identify whether or not this casting is an updated one?

Thanks, Pavel

PS: apolopgies to Ken, I couldn't figure out how to send pictures in 'private message' mode.
DSCN7095mod.jpgDSCNmod2.jpg
 
Very interesting Pavel. That picture shows your engine has the extra plate support of the late casting. It might (should unless there is another one) be casting number 944076, which is under the valve cover on the front drivers side. Your engine has both extra support bosses. The other one I was talking about is under the valve cover on the passenger side very close to the timing cover. There should also be an oil drainage channel there. You have the good stuff - ever had much on oil leakages from the front?

As long as it has never been replaced then the very last production Tornados had the new casting, also used as a service replacement and with different machining in the M715.
 
Thanks Ken, that is very interesting. I'll be taking the valve cover off "soon" (late Sept?) to pre-oil the valve train before starting up again. I'll leave those casting numbers nearby to check if they are the same. I find that leaving little reminders around is the only way I can remember anything these days...

There is a small oil leak from the front driver's side of the valve cover and I suspect there's another small one at the back where is faces the firewall. I need to check the valve cover casting for straightness.

Pavel
 
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To me the Holy Grail of Tornado cylinder heads would be the IKA one that has individual intake ports designed for 3 side-draft Webers. It would have worth going to The Rio Olympics and searching for one of those heads instead of attending the sports events... It would be interesting to see what a modern multiport injection of such an engine could do.

Of course, then there's the more modern variant with 12 lobe cam and the 7 bearing block. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be a Willys engine anymore.
 
Well, thanks for all the free knowledge! I drove the 220 miles today to check out the beast. Am i glad I did not take my truck and a trailer. It would be a complete rebuild from the tires up. Lots of bondo too. It would be ok for a young guy but the price was to high for me. The hunt goes on! He may have come down to $4000, but .....
 
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