Automan2164

The radio will need the constant for memory storage, and the ignition to come alive and shut off with the key. A good ground is also crucial. From there it should actually turn on. Make sure the ign wire is actually hot with the key. Rob

I was at 8-900 until I re-read it and found salvage title. In Illinois, that is like the black plague. $500 tops. I'd never be able to resell it in this state. Rob

I'm with you to a certain extent. I am tired of these shows with the "Manufactured problems". Let's generalize it with a few key notes: Any Real housewives show Real world / "The Challenge" Teen pregnancy shows Jersey Shore The Hills Orange County Choppers Any dating show Any pawn show Any storage auction show Storm Chasers Ice Road truckers Gold mining You can pretty much tie any show that is similar in structure to that or could be compared to also. The reality shows I do like are the somewhat unfiltered ones. Real people, not "Fake Celebs". Reality shows I'll tune to: Intervention MTV's "True Life" Hoarders Amish: Out of order (New one, interesting) I will on occasion watch some of those contest shows, like America's got talent, or Top shot, just to see some people do some impressive stuff now and again. Rob

Check behind the bezel where the radio sits... I bet you will find a radio harness there. I thought radio deletes ran wires to the kick panels for the door speakers, not sure about the back. Rob

IIRC, even if it came radio delete (Like an '87 I had) under where the radio should be, there is a harness that's plugged into itself. This is the factory radio wiring. The only thing that needs to be added is a fuse to the box, and pick up the dead ends of the speaker wires in the kickpanels. Rob

I wholeheartedly plan on getting a copy of that laser disc from 1986 when I go back to that other AMC guy's place. Rob :brows:

We have the Genesys (?) EVO at work. For how much we use it, and what we ask of it, it's a nice tool. I was pushing for PC based, but my coworker is so computer-illiterate that my boss just couldn't do it to him. We are talking so bad that if you change the size of the window and the folders re-arrange themselves he can't find the folder and he starts punching the keyboard. Rob

Holy crap. Where did I leave off? Well... I have been nipping away at this thing for a few weeks now in my free time, but just never thought that there was anything really worth posting. I finally have a chance to sit down and toss up pics and info. Grab a beer, this might be a long one. I believe I left off just after installing the belt. Let's continue. With the belt in loose, I figured it was time to start wrapping up the rest. The manual called for some gasket maker between the crank pulley and the timing gear on the crank, so I did as instructed. Put the bolt in, and torqued it down to spec (70 Lb ft IIRC). I also tensioned and put the final guesstimate on the timing belt tension... I just used the tension between the cam and the IP that were locked in place as a sort of guide. Seeing as I don't have the sonic belt tension gauge that gates specifies. :roll: In order to keep the whole works set, since I'm not a huge fan of the new style, I employed some screw strength threadlocker. With the belt situated for the most part, I moved on. O-ring after o-ring I tried on the vacuum pump just wouldn't work. It was a really thin, odd ball size that I couldn't track down in any assortment. So... I put the old one back on, and out came the RTV. Annnnnddd... Back in it went. Next it was time to get rid of all the old coolant in the system. I dropped the thermostat, took the heater hoses off, and got to spraying. Green coolant? Ack... Thermostat gasket was roached, and I had no idea when the last time it got some love was. Quick call to the local CarQuest (Thanks guys!), and they actually had the correct 178 degree stat and gasket in stock. I had the GF run to pick up the parts since she was in town, but she came back less one part. The gasket they listed as in stock, but they were out. Good luck anyway, as the picture later revealed their listed gasket was an o-ring, rather than the lip seal that goes around the edge. Moving on, I started putting the radiator and such back in. Belts anyone? Happy belted alternator. Yeah... Something like that... Eesh. Time to take loose that thermostatic capsule to put the new one in. A few days had passed, and with a trip to CarQuest, I found the correct gasket I was after for the thermostat. With most of the rif-raf out of the way still the temp sensor got changed also. I was a little unsure as to whether it was a sensor or a switch like the box says, so I got out the DVOM, and stuck it in my mouth to get an ohm reading. Dropped with the heat of my mouth, which told me it was a sensor. With all that back in, it was time to finish out my coolant swap with the new stuff. I decided to go with the Ford/Chrysler Gold coolant, as from what I read, it does well with soft metals, and passes the specs of a few heavy engine manufacturers. With the green flushed out the best I could, it got filled up and topped off with the gold. It was easy to flush, as the green/gold didn't get along, and the gold would push out the green from any loose hose. Finally got back to that thermostatic capsule... What a pain to get the lock ring out. New v old. Empty bore. Had a bit of mineral (Or I hope it's a mineral) buildup left behind in the capsule. Belts back in and tight. Capsule going back in. Overall, it all went back in smooth for the most part. I decided to leave off the timing belt cover to let me keep an eye on it. I don't plan on driving it without the cover, but wanted to make sure it was kosher. I will have to take off the accessory belts again when I go to put it back on though, so I'll deal with that at a later time. I rechecked everything multiple times, and it all came down to this... r2AbK43mLdQ uBVgLslvzsg Still a bunch of issues to work out, like what that groan is now, the tach, the temp gauge... the list goes on... But, at least it's not a step back. It starts, it hasn't exploded, and I'm no worse than when I started... Eh? Not bad right? :D Rob

This month we honor a longtime member and MJ nut. Enjoy. :cheers: --- MANCHEKID86's '88 JEEP COMANCHE LAREDO --- MODEL AND YEAR 1988 Comanche laredo build date 08/27/87 ENGINE & PERFORMANCE: 6 cyl 4.0L, stock no add on's DRIVETRAIN: 6 cyl standard which I did the 1999 ax-15 conversion too Mated to a Np-231 transfercase, stock sye, Dana 30 high pinion front and for the rear Dana 44 locked COOLING: Stock cooling fan ELECTRICAL & IGNITION: All bone stock STEERING: Front end steering is all stock, in the future I will upgrade SUSPENSION: I have a 4.5" zone offroad lift in the front, short arm setup, For the rear I have 6" lift from SOA swap, welded rear perches back on rather than ubolts, less things in the u-bolt "sandwich" INTERIOR: Charcol grey interior, plad door panels Matched with bucket seats and a center consol, Whole interior light package and even a vanity mirror. BRAKES: Big brake upgrade in front end, 10" drums on d44 rear. Extended front and rear brakelines. LIGHTING: Full interior light package, Vanity mirror and stock setup for foglights WHEELS/TIRES: 30" toyo a/t's on 15" gambler rims MISCELLANEOUS: Best MJ story well theres lots of story's like how i rolled my first manche, how i bent a tie rod backing out of my driveway, how i ripped my bumper off + wiring harness to my $500 DD, but none of those compare i think to when i was driving down the highway, doing the speed limit, driving straight doing nothing wrong and i got pulled over, cop asked me if i had any idea on why i was pulled over, i didnt, so i reply'ed no sir i don't, he told me he ran my plates, and they came up registered to a jeep, which he found very odd. this was at night time with my jeep having a reflective tailgate stickers, so he proceeded to ask me if my truck was a jeep or not, well he got a history lesson and a half about comanches and so on, he let me go, walked back up and told me he noticed the jeep on my tailgate :rotf: What owner loves best about CC what i love best about comanche club, hmm first off, there is a never ending database or how-to's people are willing to give support and not afraid to give input, CC won't steer you the wrong direction, they look out for you, its like one big family :D ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Manchekid86, in the face of despair after you wrecked your first MJ, you knew what the game plan was... Buy more MJ's! You, among all of us, have the disease there is no cure for. It's members like you that keep the craze going. You always share your progress, builds, and stories with the rest of the group. You spread the word of the Jeep truck, even if it requires enlightening local law enforcement. Through it all though, you still have an MJ, and still putter along with all the passion that you started with. Congrats on your MJOTM! Rob :cheers:

People need to learn that just because it's "Rare" doesn't mean it's valuable. Rob

$180 total. Rob :cheers:

Based on what I've read here, I believe we have the T5's. Here is a shot of the old lights in a dark corner we didn't swap fixtures in. Excuse the brightness near the front, I am standing in the shop where it's bright as all get out. Dark-ish light standing directly under the back lights: View into our shop with the T5's. Super bright. Brighter, more crisp light: View down the garage, the exposure of the camera makes it look brighter than it actually is... We have a couple of T5 fixtures down the way... You can notice that they are more of a pure white than a yellow. Rob

Today was the annual Spring Jefferson swap meet up in Wisconsin. I always go to check it out, and find some random stuff. I usually go just for the cool stuff, knowing that there isn't a whole lot of Jeep Comanche stuff in a whole lot of car-guys garages. You get lucky every once and awhile, last year I picked up a near mint MJ tailgate and a set of tails. This year I just went planning to pick up some POR 15, and do my usual rounds. They had all the neat rat-rods, barn finds, and knick-nacs. I ended up finding some manuals of interest, as well as some other stuff. This was my haul: I ended up getting a gallon of POR 15, Metal prep, and Marine Clean for The Farmer, a few manuals that mentioned a Turbo diesel Cherokee and some MJ's, a Cherokee Renault pin, a metallic Jeep decal ($5!), and... One of my cooler purchases... A real deal Cuckoo clock made in Germany. I had been looking for one for awhile, and the cheapest one I could find was $85. This one had a sticker on it for $65, and looked to be in good shape. The bellows were whole, all looked intact, and it was in the box it was shipped over in. The lady said she thought she wanted $25 for it, and I kept my mouth shut. She came over, inspected it, looked at the sticker, and said, eh, I'll take $25. Being as cheap as I am, I parted ways with a $20, and left with the cuckoo. It's on the wall now, in perfect working condition. Pumped to have a piece of the motherland on the wall. Buuuuttt.... That isn't the best part. When we were standing around a literature table, I asked about some AMC/Jeep brochures, and the seller advised us that if we were into AMC, we'd better stop at a campground in town. We went about our day, and stopped back after we were through to get more details before heading out... He told us the general direction, and that it would be hard to miss. We set out, keep our eyes peeled, then we caught a glimpse of this from the road: :brows: We walked up to find a few guys milling around the open doors. I waited for a gap in the conversation to introduce myself, and that one of the guys over at the swap meet told us we needed to come there. He just looked back and said "Well let's start the tour." :brows: Dealer promotions Even fired it up for us. It had cassettes that were part slide show, part 8-track, and would list highlights as it was flipping through pics... Neat. The only surviving AMC limo. 1 of 2, the other was destroyed. He's the original owner of this beauty, bought it when he was 16. We also got to see, touch and fondle his crown jewel. A one off AMX prototype with quite the story... Here's the story from Hemmings > http://www.hemmings.com/mus/stories/200 ... ture5.html And here is the car: Oh, and he has a few XJ/MJ related items... :D What's this? A poster? WITH the Land Speed Record truck!? He has the original laser disc display from the dealer, complete with all training discs, and one of special interest to us... The laser disc wasn't hooked up, but he told us that they have a AMC meet there at his place in June, and that we should stop by. He said he'd have all his stuff going, and he would toss in the Comanche Laser Disc just for us. Needless to say, my cheeks still hurt from smiling so much... Rob :drool:

So... What you doing with the 20, and is that a Metric Ton badge I see? Rob :brows:

Well guys, as you know we are currently experiencing some technical difficulties. It's finally starting to come to a bottle neck here, and it's getting pretty noticeable. Bottom line is that we are so far behind on updates, that it's going to take some major surgery. I would compare it to either rebuilding a 4.0L into a stroker yourself, or just going out and getting a new one. There are a few options on the table. Currently, our hosts aren't very experienced with our version of forum software which is phpbb. Phpbb is the most widely used free open source forum software. They can play with it to try and figure out what we need to do, or fix it, but it's going to run us $60 an hour until they get it fixed, which might not even happen. Another option is to just get entirely new forum software. We have a member willing to set us up with a different style program, called IP.board. This software I am not as familiar with. He would be willing to do the work for free, as well as get us rolling. Basically, Pete and I are sort of fishing for some input from you guys. What would you guys like to do? Do we want to pour money into our existing stuff and hope that we can get it right? Are any of you good with phpbb forums and could help get the bugs fixed and us updated? Do any of you know anyone who is good with the phpbb forums who could help? Do we want to try the new software? So... What do you think? Rob :dunno:

My roommate has AT&T, and doesn't like it all that much. He's an over the road truck driver, and he uses his phone for pretty much everything. Even though he has the unlimited plan, they throttle him down. IIRC, he said that if you are in the top 5 percent of data in your area, you get throttled. So when he's out in the Boonies he's in the top 5 because there is no one around, and when he's near a big city he's unthrottled. He's got a Sprint data card for his laptop, and loves that. He talks on and off about switching the phone to Sprint. I have Sprint, and love them. I have an EVO, and other than speaker problems (Metal shavings blow them from work) it's been a rock solid phone. First major problem I had with it was because of me trying to dig out the USB and shorting some contacts. I ended up fixing it, but they were already going to replace it... So why not. I could have upgraded, but I don't buy into that 3D stuff, and no other phone had a camera with an 8 Megapixel resolution. Being that my phone is what I use for the forum, I like the nice camera. Rob

That was basically what I was worried about, whether or not I had to worry about it turning once I opened it up. I just kind of wondered if I would be chancing it getting a gallon over 4 single quarts. Sounds like I am getting the gallon, as well as all their recommended pretreatment products at the same time. Many thanks. :cheers: Rob

You mean draping a bag across the surface of the paint and then closing the lid on it? As for the trade... I would be interested, but I honestly can't rely on myself to ship anything right now. I still have a package for Ben and Jim to ship out in my ZJ that have yet to make it to the post office. Plus, I don't think the discount would be enough to negate shipping, just a hair less, and I don't have to get it shipped. Rob

Speak for yourself, I have my non-existent Jeep. Rob 8)

Just wanted to ask a quick question of those whom have used the stuff. This weekend is a big swap meet by me, and I will have the opportunity to pick up some POR-15 straight from the vendor. Should be as cheap as I can get it, and no shipping. My only concern is the amount. I have been told that a little goes a long way. I have also been told that once you open up the can, it's like a ticking clock. Something about how when you introduce it to air when you open it up, it sort of starts to turn, even after you put the lid back on. I have plans to do the frame, underbody, engine compartment, floors, inner fenders, bed underside... Etc on the Farmer, and will most likely need a good amount of it. I also imagine that I won't be able to sit down all in one shot with it either, probably do it in stages. So... For those of you whom have used it, what do you think? I know it's cheaper to get by the gallon, but if might end up with a gallon of bad news, maybe it would be better to get the quarts, and work out of them for each stage? Just looking online, I can see that from Summit at least, a quart is about $50, and a gallon about $150. So you save $50 using the gallon. I also wanted to ask about how far a quart or gallon of the stuff goes... What have you guys been able to cover with a quart or gallon? Many thanks. Rob :cheers:

I'd have to double check what we have at work, but holy hell. I used to work in a dungeon. We had overhead lights, but I don't know if they cast shadows so much as lit anything up. I don't know what they were, but I would akin them to the lights you always see in a gym. Single bulb, huge bastards. Have to warm up before they fully come on. The new lights that we had installed are a fluorescent type. They replaced the fixtures over the winter, and it was almost literally a night and day difference. The owner of the electrical co we had put them in said they are the closest thing you can get to natural light. Super bright and crisp. We had people from the back of our shop walking past thinking we had the doors open in the middle of December because the light being cast from our area was so pure. The new lights look like really skinny tube fluorescents... I will grab a pic of them tomorrow if I am thinking about it. They only cost about $150 a unit, and are low E also. Rob

Already ask them? Rob

Just want to confirm who would be in for this. The sheet needs to be in by the 18th, and I will most likely go in and confirm what we want to do is legit. Rob

Sorry for the lack of updates fellas... Been busy lately, and when I get the chance to do something, it's crappy outside. Hope to be back on it in a day or two. Rob :(

Guess I should have been more clear... I know your site isn't setup like CC, but do you know of one similarly setup? One of the biggest hurdles will be to ease everyone in, and not shell shock the forum with an all new shebang. Rob