terrawombat

Thanks! My grandfather owned three MJs - an '86, this '88, and a '92. In my opinion, this '88 was the best looking one of the bunch, hands down. I've always like these Jeep five-spokes and the Pioneer trim package is just right for me. I prefer carpeted cars - not rubber mats or bare steel floors. I also like the painted fender flares and the yellow stripe down the sides (although I've only seen two other MJs with that stripe...wondering if it was a dealer option?).

I pulled it into my shop last night and started taking some of the interior apart to get to the floor pans. It took me a couple of hours to remove the bench seat due to some rounded nuts at the brackets :fs1: The carpet is trashed. I don't think it's ever been fully dry in the last five years and it just continues to trek in mud. I ran out of time and couldn't get all of the interior trim pieces out to completely pull up the carpet, but I did take a quick peek under it on the drivers side. I even looked under the truck expecting to see a giant hole or a spot I could put my finger through the metal. Surprisingly, it seems fairly solid, but we'll see when I can get the carpet out. I can't get the drivers side kick panel off because of the nut behind the e-brake. The e-brake is frozen and will not move no matter what I do so looks like I have to solve that problem first. Here's a quick shot of the exterior: I think those five spokes are my favorite stock wheel on the MJ, but the tires on them are all dry rotted. In the essence of trying to save some money, I'm going to just swap them out with a set of stock steelies from a '01 XJ. I just found out that I OWE the government money this year rather than the other way around...need to pinch pennies here and there.

A little backstory - my grandfather bought this truck brand new in 1988 and then bought a 1992 eliminator four years later (but sold it :fs1: ). It was then passed on to my Uncle who drove it from 1992-2000. Around 2001, I was fixing to get my license and really wanted this to be my truck, so we bought it from him and I cleaned it up and did my best to get it ready for the road. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out what the heck was wrong with engine and why it kept stalling when I gave it gas. My father was convinced it was a problem with the computer and me being a 4.0L noob had no choice but to believe him. Instead, my father and I purchased a 2001 GMC Sonoma for me to drive when I got my license. Somewhere around 2003, my Uncle took the MJ back from us and used it as a farm vehicle on his horse farm until about 2007 when he parked it in a field where it just died. Again, we took it back from him in 2007 when I was a lot more knowledgeable about cars (took a few tech courses and tinkered with my own vehicles). The truck had somehow melted the rotor in the distributor and I replaced it with a spare I had lying around and VROOOM...back in business. Here are some pictures of when I brought it home and got it running again: The stalling problem turned out to be a bad EGR. I capped the lines going to it and all was well. Finally, I had an MJ of my own! Sort of....I was still in college and already had a car and could no way afford to insure this one too, so I wound up giving it to my parents for use on their 350 acre farm. They have a roadside produce stand and used the truck to haul sweet corn bags from the field back to the stand. It's been way overloaded plenty of times in it's life...I wish I had a picture for the 'Earning Your Keep' thread, but I do not... So I get a call from my parents last week - The MJ was making all kinds of crazy noises and there was coolant leaking from the engine. Turns out the water pump went south and they want me to fix it. I agreed to and got it back to my shop, but what I didn't tell them is I think I'm going to officially take it back from them and get it road worthy and make it a weekend chore truck. Now that I have a job and a steady income, I can actually afford to insure this guy. I am a bit scared, though, as the drivers door leaks like crazy and the floor is CONSTANTLY wet. I'm in the process of pulling the seat and carpet, but I am very afraid of what I might find...

What if one were to go in the opposite direction. I'll be going from a BA 10/5 and NP231 out of my '88MJ to a AW4 and NP231 out of a '98XJ. I realize the output splines on the two transfer cases may be different, but anyone know off hand if the length of the driveshaft will need to be changed?

I can trade you cash for the '92 :cheers:

What kind of pressure are you seeing at the rail? Want to sell it to me? :wavey:

Sounds like you shot yourself in the foot.

The convertible Comanche was merely just a hobby to occupy his free time after a long day at work doing the voice for Kermit the Frog.

For such a rare factory Jeep rim, there seem to be a lot of us Comanche guys that have a set! There is another set fairly close to me going to $300, but I don't think it includes tires. If it had decent tires, I was going to snatch them up for my MJ project.

Guess I better strike while the iron is hot! I just sold two of my other non-Jeep vehicles and freed up some space in my shop. First thing I need to do is repair my '89 MJ waterpump and get that back in service, but then I still have plenty of room for some 'other' toys...

Holy cow that thing is clean! I do have one question, though. The picture of the gauges. I see an engine running at about 1300 RPM and 0psi oil pressure. Initial start up, broken oil pressure sender/gauge, or a 2.8L just showing it's true colors :rotf:

I'm really not sure - that's something you'd have to look into. All I know is that I cannot get this car registered or insured in NJ until I do the scheduled, formal inspection and have all of the proper paperwork. If you care to look, here is what needs to be done in NJ: http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/pdf/About/OS-4.pdf This XJ is not yet for sale, by the way ;)

$1500 would be my for sale price IF I were to put it up for sale, but I would only do so if I happened to stumble upon a 97+ XJ with a smashed up rear end that I could steal all of the front end and interior parts from for my MJ restoration. But, to answer your original questions - There is no longer any visible damage done from the theft. The thieves smashed in the rear hatch window and then cut one (possibly two) wires to get the thing running, but both of those wires have been spliced back together. Also, the rear hatch window, as well as the windshield, were replaced by the previous previous owner (PPO). As for the title - herein lies the issue as to why I chose this to be a donor car. I have the title. It has a big, fat SALVAGE written across is diagonally. The title is also not in my name yet. The title is also not in the name of the fellow I bought the car from, but it IS signed by the person whose name it is in. I think what happened was the PO bought it from the PPO, but never got the truck to run so he never transferred the title over. It's almost like the PO never owned the car and it went right from the PPO to me. I haven't transferred it into my name because I never intended to put the thing on the road and just want to use it for it's glorious low mileage parts. I also don't really know how the title transfer will work with the salvage branded on it. In NJ, to get rid of the salvage brand on the title, I need to pay $200 to have a formal inspection done at certain motor vehicle facilities where they go through the car with a fine-tooth comb and verify it's ready to go back on the road (this is more for cars that were branded salvage due to an accident and someone repaired the body/frame damage). Unfortunately, there is a bunch of paperwork that needs to be provided at this formal inspection - including pictures of the vehicle BEFORE it was repaired, which I do not have. If I cannot provide said pictures, I need to get the original police report for the insurance claim - something I don't know how to do, nor want to. So, were those title issues enough to scare you away?

No! Stop it! This is my THIRD XJ (as you can see by my sig) that I had bought with the intention of gutting and using the parts for my MJ restoration. I'm too soft when it comes to cars and if I see they can be used for a good cause, I will fix them. This current XJ MUST be used as the donor! So, with that said, I would probably sell it for $1500.

Yea - he definitely wants more than he'll likely get for it, but I just did the same thing with one of my motorcycles. Listed it for $1750, but had a lowest price of $1000 in my head that I really expected to get for it. Had a couple offers of $1200 and $1400, but those guys flaked out at the last minute. Finally wound up selling it for $1000 - would have been nice to have gotten more, but I'm happy with what I got.

I know it's in NJ and you like to snatch them all up before I get a chance to look at them, but please don't take this one from me: http://cnj.craigslist.org/cto/1603284600.html I mean, it's a 2WD...and its got the pukegoat...and it has the cheesy steel wheels which probably means it's a base model and comes with NO goodies. And it's white. And the owner, Bob, said he hates you and wouldn't sell it to you anyway. Just kidding - it's fair game for all, but I do want to see how badly he really needs to sell it ;)

I pulled the seats, center console, and front carpet on the '98XJ donor last night. Other than some surface rust, this thing looks to be in pretty good shape. It's a shame I have to cannibalize the thing! Anyone want to buy it from me before I really tear into it next week?

The 2000 XJ came in the Freedom Edition Package. Sir Sam has one - he posted a picture a few posts up.

They were. :yes: Atleast one year Sahara came with them (maybe two), I forget the year right now, but have the brochure in my bedroom, I'll check when I get a chance. Also looked at Sam's recent retread tire thread (say that ten times fast) and a couple of posts regarding the XJ 'Freedom' Edition and it looks like those rims also came on those.

Some ABS systems work great and others are really lousy. I don't mind the system in my Dad's '98 Blazer, but the one in my old '91 3000GT was a joke and did more harm than good. But, to discredit all ABS systems because you had a bad experience with a poorly designed system isn't fair. In an emergency situation WITHOUT ABS - what do you guys do? If I lock the wheels up and I need to steer around something, I let off and pump the brakes - happened to me last night in my '01 XJ when a deer decided to stop in the middle of the road and play chicken with me. Yea, I got around it just fine without ABS, but I wouldn't have complained about having a ABS pump to pump the brakes 50 times/second.

Don't have any pictures of them, but I scored a set of four silverstars with brand new Michelin tires on them from CL for $300. Put them on my '01 XJ and they look great. Just recently found out they only came on the '98ZJ 5.9L Limited and the 60th anniversary edition XJ, although I swore they were an option on some TJ. Actually, now that I think about it, are you sure those rims are called Silverstars? I thought these were the Silverstars: http://www.quadratec.com/products/92700_00.htm?sgsc=QSHOPGBASE&utm_medium=compshop&utm_source=googlemerchant

The '88 MJ SporTruck got a new donor. It's a 1998 four door XJ with a 4.0L and the AW4. Has the 8.25 in the rear and I assume a D30 in the front. It has a little over 71K miles on it, but is a theft recovery with a salvage title. I've looked at the process of getting it recertified with the state for registration purposes and it kind of looks like a royal PITA - so I think I'll be using it for parts instead. I plan to take the entire drivetrain, interior and all wiring harnesses. I also want to take the fuel pump since I replaced it to get the XJ running. The interior is that the agate/grey two-tone pattern, which I'm not really a big fan of, but I'll worry about switching it over to all agate later. Here are some pics of the truck: I do have all of the interior pieces - the missing ones in the picture above aren't because of the theft, I just forgot to take pictures of it whole before I began ripping it apart.

I always have two cans of that stuff stocked in my shop at all times. It's messy, burns when you get it on your skin (and REALLY burns in open wounds), takes paint right off, but man does it work well. I usually need to use it in a two-step process. First step I let it sit for about 15-20 minutes eating away at the gasket and then use a gasket scraper to take off large chunks of gasket. Second step I let it sit again for another 15-20 minutes and can usually wipe the rest of the remaining gasket off with a rag. I've also found that the 'aircraft stripper' paint removal stuff works just as well, but I'm not sure if it's any cheaper - certainly comes in a bigger can, though.

Bumper tie-in brackets look to be very straightforward - definitely doable! I had to do a bit of research to figure out what rosette holes were, but I think I found my answer. Frame stiffeners were one of the first items I had thought of producing for myself since my '88 MJ looks like it may be in the beginning stages of frame rot. I do have a question, though. Why would you use the rosette holes and fill each in with weld as opposed to doing a perimeter fillet weld? That's essentially what I've been using the machine for now - plaques, cliparts, etc. It's been good for the learning process of taking items from CAD and importing them to CAM and altering the machine code. I'm still not quite 'there' yet with my plasma kerf offsets and my cutting speeds as I'm still getting a significant amount of dross. Once I dial it all in, I should be producing parts with up to 0.005" accuracy.

Thanks! A lot of the CNC (computer numerically controlled) nuts would say I kind of took the easy way out by purchasing a pre-made and pre-assembled machine. I didn't really see a feasible way for myself to build one without putting forth a fairly large expense for a mill and all of the necessary tooling I'd need. However, now this machine, building one of my own doesn't seem like such a daunting task anymore. I can use it to build all of the motor adapters and whatnot and the rest is standard box tube and angle iron that can be picked up at any local hardware store that sells these metal shapes. Part of me does want to build my own table to take care of all the shortcomings I've found with the unit I currently have. By the way - how did the radio and gauge cluster work out?