Automan2164

Blood will be spilled. I would hide in the back and look for any vehicles passing with a white paint exchange at that level. Then jump out onto their hood ninja style, hang from their wipers as they made many dangerous maneuvers to shake me, reach around to the ignition to pull the keys to stop the vehicle, chase them down through a gritty alley jumping over the trash cans they knock over as they run, catch up to them as they reached a fence, tear them off it, toss them to the ground, wrestle myself on top of them, grab them by the neck, ask for identification and their insurance information, an explanation, and most importantly, an apology. For starters anyhow. Rob

Got to play with some body panels today. My boss (Bill) asked yesterday what I had going on, so I made plans to be over at 9. I knew I was going to do away with the towing mirrors, but that meant we had to do something with the holes left in their wake. That, and the inner door support for them... Waaaay back when I had talked to my boss about them, I remember him thinking we should pull them out because if we pulled out the hardware and just tacked it all in place, he didn't want the stress to end up cracking any filler if the door was stiff right there. We were still in the air as to what to do, so we were going to just cross that road when we got there. Well, we got there. A couple weeks ago after I dropped the doors off, he told me that he had made the executive decision to exnay the supports and just plate the holes. Done. He wanted me to be the one to weld up the holes, so today we did just that. After some messing around with an old fender and some holes to get the welder set where I wanted it, we made up some patch panels, and hit it with weld through primer. And got to work. Then ground off the excess. I didn't grab any shots of the finished product, but it didn't look half bad. Once we had it ground down and looking good, He started to work with the flat of the door and noticed that either from removing the support, or the heat of the welds, there was a decent low spot that would flex, right under the lower mirror mount and down to the first body line. Crap. Without the support, it would just rest in the low spot, and would move a ton. We had already welded up the holes too. We test fit the braces back in there to see if they would help... They did. With no holes to mount them to, we considered tack welding them on, but didn't want the couple or so tacks we could pull off inside the door skin to pull in over time and make a divot on the outside. We then thought of body adhesive. We could use some body adhesive to glue the support back in. After a quick run to the next town we had some stuff to work with. Pretty neat actually. A two parter with the mixing tip... Had glass beads impregnated into it so you couldn't over clamp it. Pretty slick idea. Not only would it not pull like a weld, but we could slather a nice amount on the back of the already welded in plates, and put the pressure right on the re-enforced area. Might help keep the skin from flapping like it was made of paper. With the adhesive and the supports back in place, there was really nothing more we could do for the rest of the day. We got the tailgate up, stripped off the decals, and removed the hardware. Sorry for the lack of pics guys, I didn't get a ton of opportunities to take the phone out. Bill's wife was out and she took a few pics for us. I'll post them up when I see them. Rob

I have seen this movie so many times it's ridiculous, but tonight I just happened to catch something as they came off a commercial on Comedy Central... It's on the part where they are setting up the roadblock. Check it out. Rob :cheers:

If it were me, I would record every VIN. Why? Because someday down the road, one of us may pick up a new to us MJ. How cool would it be to come onto our site to register it, ans already find it? You could see where it was, who owned it, and any mods at the time. Just like license plates, I view a VIN as open info. It's not like it's hidden. Rob

Feeling alright Don? Rob

Not really. While the 4wd Eliminators were only made from '90-'92, there are plenty of them out there. It's '91-'92 where things get weird... Like a factory longbed Eliminator, or odd colors. Rob

952 is the total number of MJ's from Jan 1st, 1992 to end date. All MJ's. Rob

My kit. Everything fits in there with exception of the jack, drill/bits, walking cane prybar, cables, and the hammer. Disregard the Cherokee badge. Rob

Huzzah! POR15-ing is done!!! Started on finishing up the rear of the frame today. A friend stopped by, and we had the rear of the frame knocked out in about 4 hours with 2 coats. It looks good, but I am getting some fisheyes in the paint because of something it doesn't like in a few spots. I'll wait until tomorrow to see how bad it really turns out. All I saw was on the top, so the bed would cover it anyway. Overall, I think to do as much as I did, I used about a half gallon of POR15. Pics! Tried getting a pic of what was left of the paint... About half. Some of the small fisheyes, the big ones are just spotwelds. Finished product. As soon as I get the chance, I am rolling this motha outside to get some overall shots. I can't wait to see it outside in the light. Rob :cheers:

I did the waxing thing once when I first started dating my girlfriend. For being as young as I am, I had back hair when I was 20. I used to shave it, but let it go once and tried the wax. It worked, but there was a lot of irritation from the process. It's not as bad as it's made out to be though. It was the weirdest feeling when your shirt can actually touch your skin if you aren't used to it. After that, I pretty much just gave up, and faced the fact that I will have a built in sweater vest. Go with what you feel. Rob

Your welcome. Someday I will update that site to here, and drop all the annoying pop ups for those not on FF. Rob

It was a Hunter Green Metallic Green Eliminator. Hunter Green was only available in the Eliminator package as a mid/late build '92 order. Seeing as there were only 952 MJ's made from Jan 1 to end production in '92... Not many got made. The green one I had was the only one known to exist. That, and for a short period of time, the latest build date on Comanche Club. Rob

1987 Comanche - 'The Farmer' Shortened from 'The Melon Farmer' because the PO bought it from a guy working on a watermelon farm. 1986 Comanche - 'The Diesel' For obvious reasons 1990 Comanche - 'The Rev' Because I bought it from a man of the cloth 1992 Comanche - 'The Unicorn' Only one in that package known to exist. Rob

Haha. My GF knows... The garage is off limits. She used to ask about parking her car in there during the winter, but after reminding her that the garage is for projects and stuff that doesn't move under it's own power. I feel you on the house projects... They take away from the 'fun' stuff. Rob

Thanks for the compliments fellas. I don't know how it turned out for you in person Terrawombat or 87 Warrior, but the pictures are deceiving. In person there is a lot of particulate in the paint that the camera doesn't grab, as well as runs around the brackets, mounts, and crannies. I guess for me, I got over the 'Nitpicky want it to look perfect' and accepted the fact that the product was just made to cover like a mother and protect. How did it turn out for you guys? Am I par for the course? Not an inhibitor, but more of a protector: www.por15.com Ugh. You say this now... Haha. No, seriously, the thought had crossed my mind, but to be honest I didn't want to because of the risk of loss. The POR15 was about $150 a gallon IIRC, and I didn't want to waste it. I had read about it's leveling characteristics, and the ease of application with a brush so I went that route. I still think that while it was tedious, and a pain in the arse... I would have ended up with a mess because of all the nooks, crannies, and intricate angles on the frame, supports, and mounts. To try and spray into some of those areas without overapplying would be a bear. Rob

Oooh... Hard to put a number on it... Maybe a little bit more than a quart so far? Rob

Whew. Had to call it a night. So far, everything to the back of the cab is done. My arms are covered and spotty, managed to get some on my shoulder, my side, and a ton on the garage floor. So much for the tarps on the floor, I just sort of dove into it and said the heck with the tarps. POR15 applies a lot like a heavy oil based paint. Ben, I want to keep the engine bay black. I started out by doing the inside of the cab to get me acclimated to the application process while I could still do it upright. I picked up a lot of the tricks from 87warrior, but still had a POR15 learning curve. I've never used it before. When I started applying it, I pretty much followed the directions to a t. Light coat to start, followed by another coat after it was dry, but still had a slight finger drag. It just didn't look right, the finish didn't look as good as I would have hoped. Keeping on, I finished up the interior, and moved onto the engine compartment. Once I got in there, same issue. Continuing forward, I finished up the rest of the engine bay. Now getting later at night, and running low on the paint in the cup I figured I would just call it a night when the cup was done. I started to get tired, and just started to try and hurry the end along. I was on the drivers fender well when I decided to just start slapping it on. That's when I noticed it. With a somewhat liberal application, other than the drips I would have had anyway, it smoothed out a lot better with a heavy coat. Almost slathering it on rather than painting. A quick message to 87warrior confirmed his method was similar. There may be some spotty places in the engine compartment that will really cry out in the sunlight that I can't see now I am sure. The lighting in my garage is less than desirable, so I can't get a good gauge on my coat in all the nooks and crannies. I hope I can get away with some touch ups if need be. The engine compartment will be what gets looked at a lot, so I want it to at least be presentable. Progress pics up to this point. I like pics, and I know you guys like pics, so I had the roomie and the GF take many. After hours and hours in a poorly ventilated garage, mainly because I wanted to maintain temp and humidity... You get a little nutty. Image Not Found I'll have to finish up the rest tomorrow after work. I can't tell you how happy I will be when this step is complete. It's not like I am mad I am doing it, or pissed off, but this is just one of those steps that is tedious and boring as all get out. I have to say that my main goal, which was not to end up with any POR15 on my money maker (face), was pretty successful. I did only have one scare, when I had a drop drip square on the middle of my forehead... but quick action and a cloth got rid of it. The rest of it on the rest of me... will be there until it wears off. Oh well. Rob

Break update. 6 hours in, and I have the cab floor done with 2 coats, the engine compartment done with 2 coats, and I am starting on the fender wells next. It's tough keeping runs out of the paint, and they are everywhere. The second coat is even worse, as it dries exactly like it's applied. It's tough making out where the second coat is on and where it's not. Basically just slapping another layer on in the open spots. All that is left is both wheel wells, underside of the cab, underside of the engine compartment, the rear frame, and any touch ups. All with 2 coats. I am going to assume another 12 hours. Back to the garage! Rob

Because of the higher standards of maintaining and operating with a Commercial Drivers License, CDL, the state says that you can be subject to a drug screening without notice. Also with a CDL, when operating a CDL vehicle, the DUI limit gets dropped to .04 from the normal .08 for standard drivers. I'm not complaining any or at all. I think in the 6 years I have worked for the city, I may have been tested 3-4 times. Just depends on who's name gets drawn at random. Rob

In Illinois, your employer has the right to a random drug test. Every month or so, they have to take you to the hospital for a whiz quiz. Rob

I'm in the same boat as most here as far as 'Never even tried it', but my curiosity has been spiked as it sounds like you may know the answer to a pondering of mine... Do any of those 'flush' products really work? I mean, they sell all these whiz quiz one uppers, but does any of that crap work? Rob

By all means, stop on by if you ever get down this way. Rob :cheers:

The weekend is almost upon us! Today I came home from work and got right back into work. I rolled the truck back outside, got my Marine Clean and Metal Ready out, and gloved up. Both products are said to work better with warmth and warm water, so I had to run the hose into the house down into the utility sink for the good stuff. The Marine Clean came with a 1:1 recommendation. I bought the POR15, MC, and MR all as a kit, and had a couple nice spray bottles tossed in. The MC is a water based cleaner, but boy was it ever strong. Cut with hot water, I started spraying just in time for my neighbor to wander over and take a few pics for me. Excuse some of the faces I had, I would catch a good whiff of it every once and awhile and go into a coughing fit. Resperator-shmesmerator. One of the biggest saving graces of this had been these sprayers. The spray off these things was unreal. So much coverage and a nice application with each pull. So glad he tossed them in. Marine Clean soaking in and working its magic. The Metal Ready is an etching chemical with a rust converter that leaves a zinc phosphate to stop rust and help the POR15 adhere better. It was a really cool blue, and was applied full strength. While the cut sheet recommended 65-90 degrees for optimal etching, I just went with what I could - 40-50 degrees, and a warm frame from the hot water. At a minimum, they want it soaking for 30 minutes. Away I went. At the end of my time limit, it was time to rinse it off thoroughly. Out came the hot water. Man it gets dark quick now. Before calling it a night, I vacuumed out the puddles in the cab, hit the frame with an air hose to get rid of the bulk of the moisture, and stuffed it back into the garage. I set up a couple fans, one facing the engine compartment, and one in the cab to get the air moving so that it will be dry for Saturday. Assuming all goes well, I'll be ready to go Saturday, and just have to do a quick wipe with a dry towel to make sure it's as ready to go as I am. I might end up putting a heater in there tomorrow after work to speed the process up. Rob

Yeah she is. Pacer is neat looking too. Rob