"your kind wife would appreciate not having to shift when she's heading west up the big hills"
Given the v8 power and only a 3speed manual with 4.27 gears and 27 inch tall tires, the willys won't need to shift out of high gear when climbing up the hills. Of course, on any section of flat or downhill it will be screaming rpm's to go 65....Its going to need an OD, and debating whether that means an external OD like I have on the cj5 (that would mean a total of 4 shifters in the Willys!) or a swap of the 3speed to a 4speed automatic with OD is TBD....Given the junky way the clutch is set-up with the engine swap, thinking it might just be best to get rid of the clutch and go automatic...The cost of the automatic isn't much more than the cost of the OD, but there are other complications with new cross-member and probably new driveshafts etc....