CommaComanche

It is very cheap. Wasted time is a matter of perspective.

I just found a gem of a rusted out Comanche. The body is completely dead as is the frame. There is more rust than paint on it. But the motor, transmission, and interior are in fantastic condition with the last 35K miles or so of maintenance records in tact to show regular full service performed on it. The only issue I can see with it that is leaving me a little weary is the fact that the truck is 2wd. My truck is 4. The donor trucks motor is the 1988 straight six with a manual transmission mounted to it. Will this transmission work with 4x4? Would the transfer case from the powertrain I pulled out of my truck work with it? My truck is a 86 4cyl automatic 4x4. Thanks for the replies all :)

That is all the type of info I was looking for. Really appreciate the response. And, I think that manche just became my favorite so far.

I disagree entirely. Asking questions is how I get information about every project I am about to do. Every project is a learning project. Honestly the reason I want to do it is not because I can. It is because I want to see IF I can. That is my main draw to working on vehicles. When it is all done if it performs awesome on the trail, thats cool. If it performs like complete crap and gives me nothing but problems that is fine too. I am not out to build the best anything. I am out to challenge myself for the fun of it. I wouldn't mind finding a way to put rockwells on a Mazda Miata. Just to see if I can.

Last chance to let me know if ya want me to keep an eye out for you. Leaving the house shortly.

I would be interested in this but I would probably have to drive my Cummins instead of my Comanche since she isn't together at all right now. But seeing a bunch of these all in one place would be awesome and give me more ideas/motivation to work on my project.

Has anyone seen this done? I really want to do it to mine. I am trying to research how people achieve 4 wheel steering but have yet to find a build write up on one. Right now my comanche is basically a frame with a cab. I can turn it into whatever I want at this point. Just wondering if this has been done before to help along in the process.

This is awesome. I have a nephew on the way. At the rate I get projects done I think it is time for me to pick one of these up and start modding :) The hardest part is going to be convincing my sister that its "safe" :yes:

Looks good to me. What brand of bed liner did you use?

I am going to at least one pull apart tomorrow just to "window shop" so to speak. Not really looking for anything pressing but if I see something awesome I'll grab it. Wanted to put out the offer since I am going for anyone that might be looking for something specific I'd see if I could locate it and, if it isn't an insanely difficult part to remove I'd pick it up for them. Not looking to make any money here at all, that is why I am not putting this in the classifieds section. Just looking to help out my fellow comanche lovers. So, if ya want me to keep an eye out for something specific let me know. I would post my number here so that people could text me what they wanted to make it easier while I am in the yard but I am not sure if that is against the rules or not. Just lemme know guys :)

I have the 3 piece window installed in my project now. I was thinking about switching to the solid window. Not sure how much shipping would be on these though. Not to mention the likelihood of them getting there in one piece.

I am searching for a 3rd Gen AMC V8 for my project. If it had a trans attached that'd be a plus. I am willing to travel a bit for the right deal on the right motor.

I do plan on doing a full console for sure. Now that I am going the donor route I am not sure what color the interior will end up being. I am hoping to find a wrecked Cherokee with a good motor/trans and interior. Maybe I will have to get a couple donors to get what I want. If it ends up being tan and I need the console I will definitely contact you about it. Thanks for the offer.

I decided I had to drop back by and give a small update of sorts since I haven't been on here in a while. The Comanche project has been worked on a little bit over the past 6 months. Sadly I feel like it is falling into the worm hole that so many projects fall into in which they become storage shelves. I have been working long hours and spending more time working on my daily driver 95 ram cummins than on the Comanche. My buddy also turned his project into a donor when he found a 88 c10 with a near perfect body to match his 88 rust bucket. So we have been working on that quite a bit. The progress that has been made on my Comanche is more disassembly. The motor and transmission has been removed. The rear axle was also pulled out and cleaned to a beautiful shine. I am waiting for my buddy to finish his donor swap so we can get the donor out of my yard and I can bring in another donor for the Comanche. In the months that it has been sitting I have changed a few ideas in my head. While I am still going to make it a beauty of a truck I am also going to make it very off road capable. I decided it is a Jeep. Not a Cadillac. I will post some updated pictures of the progress this coming Monday. As long as my shipment of floor pans and POR-15 arrives this week I will be welding those in and rust proofing the interior and underbody on Monday. I really need to push myself to get out into my garage on my truck more. Seeing a few of you wanting to follow the progress gives me a bit of a push in the right direction. Updates and pictures to come very soon. PROMISE!

Sadly I didnt. It was in my view and gone in about 5 seconds. I have searched and searched to find a picture of a similar setup with no luck.

Idea update: Saw an old pickup with the spare tire stored in the bed at the passenger side front corner. It had a hard case / cover of sorts on it painted to match the body. My trucks gotta have that!

Yes! Rust proof it! I am glad I got my hands on this one. Seeing the state of the rust someone else may have used it as a donor vehicle or it may have ended up in the junk yard. One more saved.

Gotta give credit where it's due man. Thanks.. I'm striving to make this comanche show quality.

Got out into the garage a bit today. Got the gas tank out and gave it along with the gas in it away on craigslist. Worked on getting the box off as well 4 of the 8 nuts came off with a lot of pb blaster and elbow grease. 2 bolts on each side need to be cut off, the nuts are completely round from rust. I decided a bit more on what I am going to do with this project. Earl*t was a big chunk of inspiration. The truck will get a roll pan, a 3 inch lift, and cherokee buckets and console. I wanted to change the dash to either grey or black, but the brown has grown on me so I'll do brown leather seats. Going to send the visors, console lid, and steering wheel to an awesome leather tooling guy I've done business with before. If i can find a 4bt Cummins engine for a reasonable price I will do that swap, if not I will rebuild the 2.5 it has now. To wrap it all up it will get a coat of light cream pearlescent paint. Think coffee in your cream. Didn't take any pics today as there really isn't anything to see. Except the gas tank is gone and a few bolts are missing from the box. Slowly getting there.

Got scheduled to work today so nothing will be getting done on the comanche. But, I am ordering the new floor pans and POR-15. Lots of it. The entire cab interior, frame, inside the fenders, engine compartment, inside the doors, inside the tailgate, under the hood, and any other hidden metal surface is getting a good coating.

Can't wait to see this one come together. Your attention to detail amazes me.

This comanche has become my favorite build ever. Everything is perfect. I plan on stealing several ideas from you for my build. Amazing amazing amazing.

I started this thread over on the garage journal and started running into people from here so figured I should also post it here. This first post is a copy and paste of the project updates. I'll update this one along with the other from here on out. Enjoy. -------- Today I was out in my garage working on taking the transfer case and transmission out to diagnose a noise / shifting problem. I actually found a hole in my transmission and will be fixing that along with rebuilding whatever needs to be to make it road worthy again. While I had the transmission pan out I gave it a nice bath but that wasn't clean enough so I took a wire wheel to it. After seeing how pretty that looked I noticed how ugly the rest of the mechanicals of the truck are. Sooo.... I turned it into a full overhaul instead of a "make it run" repair. I didnt take many more pictures but here is one I took right after I removed the hood. I'll update this thread as I make progress on my extremely anal overhaul of this fine piece of Jeep history. This.... All because it was too dirty.... Right now I am spending a lot of time snapping off bolts. Lol. Should have attacked the truck with pb blaster. What i am actually working on is clearing the path for the engine / transmission removal. There is no way to get things looking the way I want without doing a full break down and reassembly. That will let me thoroughly inspect, clean, paint, and replace anything that is worn. There is also a rats nest of wires under this hood. I am going to reroute a whole lot of the wires, probably fabricating some type of conduit to run them through to hide and protect them. Project update: I've been awake for over 28 hours. Damn afternoon shift makes a normal sleep schedule impossible if you want to have any kind of life to go with it. So, since I'm so tired I decided to move to easier stuff. Getting access to the rusted floor pans. They are going to get replaced with new. Step one was getting the drivers side door out of the way. Success. Next step is to get the bench out. 3 of the 4 drivers side nuts came out suprisingly easy. This one is another story. Not really sure what I am going to do about it. I can't get anything I own to grip it. The carpet isn't bad and I might want to keep it. Got it! Had to use what I have to make it work. Used a harbor freight center drill bit, a regular drill bit, a cold chisel and a 3lb drilling hammer. Just beat the heck out of it till the nut broke. Figures the one bolt I actually want to break on this truck won't. When I weld in the new floor plan I'll take care of that stud. Onto the passenger side.... Status update... Seats out! The passenger side came out a lot easier Here's why: With that bracket destroyed I am now seriously considering installing buckets and a console. The center of the bench is useless anyways with the 4wd selector right there. I am thinking maybe going heated leather. Time will tell. Here is this masterpiece of a headliner repair. Not my fault. And notice built in surround sound. Now i am working on removing all of the garnishes so that I can pull the carpet, inspect for any other rust, and figure out which garnishes need to be replaced. Oh, I was anticipating doing a restoration on this truck for a while, just wasn't planning on doing it now. Somewhere in there is a NOS chrome tail light, another good condition used chrome tail light, new weather seals, a new chrome grill, and new amber marker lights. Back to work... Err... Poor word choice... Back to play I go. I'll let the pictures do the talking here. I obviously have a lot of cleaning, grinding, cutting and welding to do. The truck has been in my garage for more than a month. Under the carpet was soaking wet. The rubber backing on the carpet just held the water there against the metal. I'm amazed it didn't stink. The carpet was cut up and removed. Well that's gonna be it for today. Most likely I won't get back on it until Sunday. Hopefully Sunday I will be able to pull the engine and trans out.

Awesome. Thanks for all the replies and information guys. I have to put the Comanche project on hold for a little bit but this will help a lot when I get it into full swing.

X1000... Exactly!