Skorpyo

You are doing this so right. Makes me feel like I did a half-a** job on mine! Great work! Love the color!

Great work so far! Nice to see younger generations driving stick and into older trucks too. Also great to see such a great way to spend time with your son. Great job, and the Jeep is looking good!

Wow, almost 7 years since my last update. My wife and father-in-law insisted I rename my Comanche from Belle to Betty since my Cherokee is named Wilma. Now I didn’t name her Wilma because of the Flintstones, I named her after Wilma Mankiller and Belle was named after Belle Star. Oh well so much for historical references (though partially fictional) over Cartoons. Betty had been running solid and is now over 100K miles, which happened in April of 2023. I managed to get a photo just afterwards at a red light. In mid 2024 Betty was starting to run a bit off and so I’ve invested in her a bit this year. It started with an overheating issue. I noticed the Aux fan wasn’t kicking on so I checked the relay (PO wiring job) and it was shot. It was a weird 6 pin Japanese relay that also ran the AC compressor. I decided it needed to be rewired correctly. I tried several CTSs trying to find one that fit in the radiator bung but as I was doing so I noticed the water pump was leaking. So I decided to replace the pump, and while I was at it I swapped in a 97+ XJ thermostat housing which has a CTS hole, where I installed a 210-195 sensor. I wired that up to the new relay for the Aux fan. I also rewired the AC relay. Through this I effectively drained and replaced the coolant and followed the FSM to refill it which want that bad just a time suck. The more electrical work I did I decided it was time for a battery cable upgrade. The stock cables were rough so I ordered the Big 7 set from K Suspension during a sale. As I installed them I came across the craziest thing… there was no negative to fender wire in my Comanche!! I guess the whole time it’s been grounded through the block. So that is now remedied and Lo and Behold my parasitic battery drain is fixed. I used wire brushes and new nuts and bolts on everything along with a coating of Oxguard. I’m working my way through the vacuum system and have reinstalled the air box and replaced the EGR side of the vacuum harness. The other side is still pending but I’ve got the part to do it now. I also rebuilt the injectors since I would occasionally smell a faint fuel leak odor after a longer drive but never found any fuel anywhere. I was guessing it must be a slow leak near an injector that was evaporating quickly. I was correct in that two of the injectors had bad o-rings. When I pulled these I also replaced the o-rings in the fuel connector for the rail and pressure regulator. I also installed new spark plugs, wires, cap and rotor. My last nagging issue is the oil pressure. It’s always stayed high. It usually is at 50 at idle and pretty much pegged the rest of the time. I’ve checked and changed the oil and it’s not overfilled. The jeep runs great so I figured the sending unit is bad. I ordered a Standard Motors PS155 but it was actually worse! The pressure at idle was past 80 and it would jump around. I think the item was mislabeled and was actually a PS155T so I’ve ordered the correct one for sure from Rock Auto. If the new one doesn’t work either I may have to get my hands on a manual oil pressure gauge and see if the Jeeps pressure really is too high. I’m dealing with a back injury right now so once I’m healed up I'm going to get the rest of this buttoned up. She’s back on the road for now but never finished.

Man I had googled the snot out of this and come up with nothing but searching again with “jeep eagle 88 96 harness” finally did the trick. Thank you for clarifying the years and applicability. for those finding this in the future look for Metra 71-1002 Reverse Wiring Harness. The mate for a radio install is Metra 70-1002. Thanks @eaglescout526!

When I first got my 89 eliminator it had a non functional aftermarket radio. I replaced it with a cheap unit that had a backup camera integration but when I did I was disappointed to find a PO had cut off the connectors on the radio wires. I ended up just googling the wire colors when I removed the old radio and hard wired in the new one. For Christmas I got a new radio that does CarPlay and I really REALLY prefer to use adapter harnesses when it comes to wiring in radios. So the question is can I even get replacement connectors? It’s certainly not necessary but if you end up having to cut the wires every time you replace the head unit you’re gonna run out of wire eventually. I know they don’t get replaced often but I’d prefer to do it right and restore the original style connectors. thoughts? Sources? Thanks!

Thank you, that was my suspicion just couldn’t make heads or tails of it from the diagrams I found!

I was installing a new water pump and decided to reinstall the air box. I maybe should have paid better attention but now that the air box is back in one line seems to be “sucking air”. When capped the idle returns to normal so I’m guessing I dorked something up. Can ya’ll tell me where this port should connect? Is it to the back of the airbox? Thank you!

Definitely clean / paint any hard to reach part when you make it easier to get to. I still regret not cleaning and undercoating the trans hump when I had my trans out... Nice progress on the paint! It'll probably be next year before I do mine, but I'm definitely not looking forward to taking the whole exterior apart to do it right... I thought about taking it to a paint shop, but the price tag of a pro job just isn't worth it to me on a truck that mostly is used to haul garbage to the dump and pickup builder supplies.

I wonder how hard it would be to use a toolbox or similar style lock by just drilling a hole in the handle and making a slot below. I figure if you do it right it could look pretty clean and would prevent the tailgate handle from being raised when engaged. Maybe I'll put this on the list of mods to try. Of course I'm gonna want a spare handle so if it won't work I can put the old one back on. Anyone know (off the top of their head since my MJs at home and I'm at work) how much clearance there is behind the handle?

Did anyone see the Wheeler Dealers episode on a few nights ago on velocity? they did an 88 grand wagoneer in about the same color. Pretty sweet when it was done. I was shocked though, all they did was put a 3" lift on it, new tires, repainted it and cleaned it up. Some dude bought it for $26.5K!

Awesome progress, keep up the good work!

I'd say a CC with two square headlights either through the Cs or below... Most times it will display at 16x16 so hard to fit too much in there.

Now that I'm bordering on curmudgeon I don't like loud exhaust on vehicles. They are deafening when I'm walking my dogs, annoying when I'm driving with my windows down to enjoy the weather and cannot hear my radio any more because the guy next to me has a loud exhaust. But that being said I did want something a little throatier when I was building my XJ and opted for a dynomax. I don't know if they even make them, but it's always had a nice little growl to it, but not so much that I can't hear my radio and I don't feel its obnoxious. To the OP, less is more, a little growl is sometimes far more interesting than an outright screaming exhaust. Just my .02 but hey, so long as it's legal in your state do what you want. Here in VA its actually illegal to modify your exhaust to make it louder. Of course they don't really enforce it as far as I can tell....

Sure thing. I should add that the PO of the box had a tacoma and the bed is slightly wider between the rails and so the mounting hooks he gave me for the box wouldn't line up with the rails. I've got one side locked in, but that leaves no room on the other side. I'm debating if I want to drill new holes in the box (from the angled section) and install hooks that way, or drill through the bed rails and mount straight down. I'm leaning toward the first option as that doesn't require me putting holes in my MJ.

Nothing new with the MJ lately, it's been working its tail off hauling stuff to the dump, helping family move and picking up supplies for my shed / garage rebuild. I did pick-up a truck box for it though. Found a guy locally selling a UWS box for a good price so I snatched it up. I'm stoked to finally get all the junk out from behind the seats. and have my tools where they belong.

Several years back, before I bought my MJ I used to walk my dogs past a house with a LWB in the driveway. Far as I could tell it never moved but eventually I stopped in to put a card on his windshield asking if he'd be interested in selling it. The guy saw me and came out and we chatted for quite a while. He loved the truck, but never drove it. Turned out it was a 4cyl (I was looking for a 4.0) and the floors were totally gone, I mean Fred Flinstone style gone but he wanted 4500 for it and wouldn't negotiate so I politely declined and told him to have a great day. Nice enough guy, just too much sentiment invested in the truck. I guess they moved a year or two ago, as its gone and the house has been remodeled.

Anyone else ever get random offers to buy their Comanche? This past weekend, in helping a family member move, I was driving down I-95 in Northern VA (which means stop and go on a Saturday) and a trucker honked at me and offered to buy my truck for 5K. I declined politely, since I literally have only had it back on the road for 2 months after a nearly 6K rebuild but I thanked him and he told me it was a "sweet truck". Its the first time I've had that happen, but I recall making random offers on MJs I saw before I bought mine. Anyone else have any fun stories of random purchase offers?

Man, that’s cool! I googled the PN and it came back with auto shift bezels... but I do believe that you’re right that the shifter throw is what broke the old bezel. Reverse is what did it. If you’re willing to part with your pink unicorn shoot me a PM and we can hash it out. Thanks for the G2 regardless!

I did check the mopar parts lists, diagrams and aftermarket vendors but it is a fantasy part that apparently was made but never listed. I know they had standard XJs from 97-01 so they must have made a plate to adapt to the console. That being said I’ll likely end up getting another automatic shifter plate at the JY and give it another go or try and fab one from metal. I’d love to find an official one but they certainly seem to be a pink unicorn... Thanks all!

I swapped in a 97+ XJ center console, which I was very happy with until a few days ago when my modified shift boot retainer plate broke into about 4 pieces. I was using the original plate, that had the PRND shifter for an automatic and had trimmed it to accept the shift boot retainer. Unfortunately doing so left very little in the way of structural integrity. I've not been able to locate any part numbers or even examples of how the 97+ XJs with manual transmissions had the boot and plate mounted. Finding a 97+ manual XJ (for parts or in a JY) seems to actually be harder than finding an MJ... Googling I found the attached image, which shows a 2001 manual XJ. The piece I'm looking for is the black plate under the boot that curves on the left (driver) side to match the console. IF by any chance you have, or know where one is, please let me know. Thanks!

Any chance there's a winch connection? Maybe using a heavy duty connector, the PO had a hitch mounted winch he would throw in there? Does the truck have a front hitch?

They're pretty cheap so buy two of them. I always keep my spare in the glove box.

Awesome! Well if you get around to getting yours done before mine share any tips you figure out. When I put the chrome trim on the front the PO of the donor had rattle canned the Jeep and there was a lot of overspray. I ended up using those magic erasers and that did a great job getting off the paint without marring the plastic chrome. I might try that for the windshield trim too.

Looks awesome! I'm hoping when I have the windshield replaced I can pull the trim pieces and clean them up. I think they were chrome originally and they've been painted lack It'd be nice if they cleaned up well. Keep up the updates!

1989 Eliminator Package Factory: -- Drive Train: 4.0L, BA10/15, 2WD, D35 3.07 -- Exterior: Dove Grey paint, factory step bumper, body matched flares, black front bumper -- Interior: Bucket seats, sun visors, manual windows and locks, full center console Currently: -- Drive Train: 4.0L, AX15e, 4WD, D30 & Ford 8.8 3.73 - 255/75R17 -- Exterior: Repainted by PO to near same color. Nates 4x4 rear bumper, front grill and bumper swapped for chrome -- Interior: No major changes, replaced center console with 97+ XJ center console Location: Woodbridge, VA, has registration history in VA and WV. Original manual located with card from salesman of dealership