jpnjim

Couple pics outside now that it's all one color: tailgate back on and working :D So, this past week we replaced: the oil filter (cool canister style) 4' of ft brake line both ft wheel cylinders (cleaned up & reused the decent looking ft shoes & drums that were already there) one ft brake hose & the radiator cap While pulling out some random rotted hard lines (from the original breather tube/water crossing sealed system) I tore the coil wire off the distributor, ended up pulling the distributor to repair & threw dwell, and/or point gap way off. The set of points I already bought were wrong, so I'll be replacing them + cap&rotor this week next. So it's running poorly now, but, it actually has BRAKES!!! Crappy brakes that have to be pumped a million times because the MC is under the floor, without residual pressure valves... but brakes just the same :D Ebay 10pound residual pressure valves should come this week, and hopefully will cure the last brake issue. (a previous owner replaced the original, sealed single master cylinder with what I believe is a 1980 C30 Chevy MC that did not originally come with RPV's)

Sh*t!!! Don't panic, do all the body numbers match each other? First thing I'd want to do is run the body numbers & make sure the car is legit/legal/etc. Any chance you can contact the seller? It 'could' be an honest mistake, maybe a previous owner changed the dash to swap interior colors & never gave a thought to the VIN (it's possible). Good luck!

lol! I'd find this hard to believe if ANYONE ELSE posted it, but you, Jim, I believe! :bowdown: When are we getting our "Ask Jim" forum here on CC? (totally serious)

Wow, I would grab that in a minute, but there's nothing 'mere' about $3,000 to me these days ;) He did cut the bed sides lower than the blue one you posted: The blue bed sides look nicer, but I'd guess the owner of that blue beauty would ask a bunch more than $3k for it. Either would make a sweet daily driver :D

I chopped up & bastardized a pre-fab front bumper kit: + with the mounts from the old bumper: and got this: build thread: http://comancheclub.com/topic/17857-new-rear-bumper-thread/

slight update, I did the underbrace last winter: Made a test piece in the shape I wanted: notched the real piece: fold, weld, grind & burn the whole thing on: & it's braced to the frame X member. I wanted it smooth to help drag the bumper up & over anything it might otherwise try to grab. (pay no attention to the Romex exhaust hanger bracket please :) )

I have this same sign Don, but mine doesn't look quite as nice :( I probably ruined whatever value it still had, but I stripped it, and am trying to repaint it, I think I'm on my third try masking the raised letters without making it looking like crap

Drool! :D thanks Don, that thing is beautiful!

All factory MJ M20 rears were 4.10 geared. ^according to the parts books anyway. The only options listed for Comanche M20's were: "with limited slip", or "without limited slip". So far, I haven't seen a factory MJ Model 20 rear that brakes that rule, no matter what engine, or transmission. (& Pete you are probably correct about the 4spd NOT being available on the MT, but I don't remember ever looking it up)

sad story, with or without the Comanche :(

Call me whatever you like, but I've always kinda liked the Pacer... x3 make mine a wagon, converted to an ElPacerino pickup I saw one at a show years back, and the lines work great.

I used a 2001 XJ Master cylinder/booster & pedal assemblies in my 88' Renix 4.0L 5spd. I had to use the 88' clutch pedal with the 2001 hanger bracket, since the 01' clutch pedal arm wanted to be right where the 88' fuse box is. Clutch pedal grabs a little low now (with the 01' clutch cylinder), probably end up fixing that before it drives me crazy :)

if you can find non ethanol gas you'll get a lot closer to the mileage it was originally designed to make.

I'd love one myself, but there's so many other vehicles on that list, that I'll probably never get past the 'A's I want (AMX3) to get to the 'B's (Bricklin) I knew someone who always wanted one... finally found one reasonably priced... bought it.... got it home... then found out he didn't fit in it :D But personally, I want a 74, for the AMC 360 engine, instead of the 351

Thanks Jim, I didn't know that. I guess that's the benefit of the old days when they didn't try to reinvent the wheel every couple years.

Poor things been mostly parked since last winter, trying to get it ready for this winter, so far: changed the oil a couple times (it did NOT like 10w30 lol, it's tolerating 15w40 Rottella with about 8lbs oil pressure at hot idle) added a working oil pressure & temp gauge rebent the passenger side mirror stem to fit the drivers side replaced the rear brake lines, and got the back brakes 'kinda' working, got some wheel cylinders & brake lines for the front, maybe do them this weekend need to get: thermostat (takes forever to get to 160* without one) oil filter (for the external canister filter) The spare wheel is rusted in two, the other four are probably not much better, still working on a solution for that.... I'd also like to patch a couple of the rust holes in the plow blade before it goes back on, & I never really noticed how low that plow frame is when the blade was on!:

Also looked into fitting 15" wheels over the big brakes, M37 drums are huge, but the shoes are offset inward: So a 15" 'could' fit if backspacing was shallow enough: Pic to show how far the shoes are in/hubs are out: Also found the ID numbers on the tailgate: Eventually I'll recreate the original style markings & numbers over the rattle can paint job

Slight update to this thread, cheapo paint job: now its all one color: Also replaced the rusted bottom of the tailgate: No pics of the gate installed yet, but its welded back in place & looks good considering :)

I can think of maybe a dozen or so wheeling friends who bought brand new TJs to Wheel in the early 2000's. Two of them even had the dealer slap on some goodies so they could be financed in & covered by the new vehicle warrentees. Maybe not typical, but there were dozens of TJ's on the trails as early as 1997-1998, when they were brand new. Lots of people bought new JK's when they first came out, just to wheel too. Not typical either, but the manufacturers know those Jeeps each spawn untold numbers of buyers who copy them for trips to the mall only.

Say you spend 1500 on a beater and gain 10 MPG. You get a beater with unknown issues that may not really be in better shape than your MJ and it would take a year at 12,000 miles of driving and $4 a gallon gas. Just a thought... I bought a beater Focus in April for $2500 27-30mpg vs 13-15 in the MJ or almost exactly double the mileage. At 100+ miles a day commute, just stopping for gas less times a week would have been worth the $2500 to me by itself. 300 miles per tank vs 220ish

Where you been Jim? How 'bout them Sox? :yes: Hi Don! just been (trying to) focus on other stuff for a bit, I don't know why I bother, haven't gotten crap done lately :) I thought of you when the Sox were closing in on #3 :) Life is good :D

The next Wrangler will probably be a Greyhound Bus with a 7 slot grille & a trail rated sticker ;) IFS? We'll see, if they were smart (and we know they are not) they would do a full on IFS Wrangler prerunner first, at least as a concept vehicle ala Ford Raptor and get some excitement going for the idea. Until then, it would receive as much acceptance as the KJ did.

Last post, you can't put a motorcycle engine in a tractor either, a 150 HP superbike engine will fail in place of a 60 horse tractor engine just as badly as the 60HP engine fails in the superbike. And you can't modify the mc engine to suit a tractor, just like modifying the tractor engine still = a crappy mc engine.

This phone sucks at posting, so I had to cut it short, but even adding a cross flow head, or forced induction, our tractor engines will never be as efficient as a little, simple 2.0l ohv made to rev. The old Iron Duke engines were slightly better at impersonating a mc engine, shorter stroke,, cross flow head, etc, but its still tough to untractor a tractor engine :)

Think of one end of the extreme being a tractor engine and the other being a motorcycle engine. Tractors have big slow moving engines with long strokes and a slow valve train (pushrods or even valve in block flathead) Motorcycles have short stroke fast moving engines with fast, efficient ohc valvetrain & very efficient combustion chambers, some with 12:1+ compression ratio stock. Our Jeep 2.5's are closer to the tractor side of things, the Hondas and Zetecs of the world are closer to the motorcycle end of the scale.