Brickmiata

Sorted and cleaned all the rough edges. Then sold it yesterday to another jeep family.

That's the cover for the ecu which was mounted in the passenger foot well. Its now mounted further up on the firewall out of reach of stray feet.

Got creative with a few areas and dropped another 3lbs this week. Still looking for a custom alternator pulley but the head may come off for a performance oriented rebuild along with water pump, seals and timing belt. What I really need is more seat time but lately I've been unable to squeeze in more than one autox a month.

Welded a new (way overkill) chain on the plow today. This enabled me to put a slightly longer chain on also. The old chain was just barely too short and would occasionally lift the blade off the ground as the truck created hills. Much better and much stronger now. I also spent the time to put the new dome lights in today. FYI PRICE DROP TO 4k OBO. I love this truck but it has to go.

Indeed they do sir. I bet you've never machined brake rotors to within a few thousandths of the limit. Next up on this car is a lightweight alternator pulley, some machining on the crank pulley and some seats. The minimum seat weight is 25lbs but the stockers weigh in around 34 each so there is weight to be had there in addition to the improvement in bolstering and position.

Spent last Saturday cleaning every inch of both the Miata and the comanche. Sunday was an autox and the nice shiny finish has a cone scuff or two already but here's what it looked like Saturday night.

Take a picture of the vac lines in that area and we'll be able to sort that out. For now plug it somehow and it will likely run a touch smoother

FOR SALE!!! House projects a thinning the heard down to just a few 4 seat vehicles in prep for a future mini-me I will soon turn to the for sale forum and list it for real but as a quick recap, this truck is a 87 4.0 with an ax15/np231 with around 200k on it. It passed inspection last week and I do have the title in hand. Subaru wrx seats brand new brake rotors, pads, calipers, drums, wheel cylinders, and a 96 booster/master cylinder upgraded to 100amp alternator Kelley's WIP upgraded battery cables (full kit with everything available) upgraded grp34 battery full cluster with tack, etc and all sensors swapped so everything works (shows 145k I believe) rebuilt shifter boostwerks transfer case shifter and boy does it work nicely New clutch 5k miles ago when the ax15 was put in new clutch master and slave cylinders All new fluids everywhere new plugs, wires, cap and rotor New ujoints front to back 7ft fischer plow wired in and works 100% of the time 2" lift BDS front coils to level out with the plow frame on there All new shocks Nates 4x4 rear bumper and license plate relocated to the tailgate for ground clearance Almost all of cruisers renix tips have been completed on this truck and almost every bulb on the truck is new along with half the wiring The tires have tons of life left in them and do great in the snow It has home made 1/8' steel boxes for wheel wells in the bed and it has had each rocker patched recently (they will be bedlined to match before sale) It currently has a rusty drivers side floor although it isn't a problem yet and has no mechanical problems whatsoever and is ready to drive/work. I'm asking $5k OBO as it sits with everything including the plow and everything jeep in the garage. In just a few short months, this truck went from something I didn't trust on the street to a fully functioning money making machine and I would not hesitate to drive it across the country

I took the day off Friday and dedicated about 14hrs to the MJ. It was a mad rush to get an inspection sticker and it worked out very well because Saturday, the 4yr old Virginia sticker was removed and a brand new MA sticker took its place. First on the list was all the electrical issues. Rewired the reverse light switch and those came back, replaced some of the front sockets, rear harness and fuse holders and the rest came back. The only thing that might still need doing is either adjusting or replacing the brake light switch as it engages about halfway down the pedal travel. Anyway, happy to be done with the electrical mayhem, I moved on to making some wheel wells for inside the bed and welding in some patches on the rockers/cab corners. Last but not least, it got a real alignment for the first time in god knows how many years. The thrust angle turns out to be wonky due to some contact in the past but the got everything to match front and rear, the steering wheel points straight ahead and it feels good going down the road so I'm happy. Coincidentally, I saw another Comanche in pretty good shape when I went to pick it up from the alignment shop in Clinton, MA (if you're on here, hit me up)

Technically the class is a Street Touring class which means mods are allowed but the spirit of the class is to have street cars racing on street tires. The rules have gotten a little odd and apply to different cars in slightly different ways.. for example, aftermarket steering wheels are allowed BUT if the car came with an airbag, it must always have an airbag which limits the selection severely for cars with airbags. Suspension and engine management are other topics that are frequently debated as megasquirt ecus are allowed (in the stock ecu casing) but they aren't "street legal" and yes, I have one. My coilovers alone cost more than I paid for the car which I would never do if it was "just a street car" but to be competitive in the "street class", that's what I've got :doh:

The rules have a lot of room for weight removal but are restrictive in what has to stay. All body panels must be original, All interior panels must be there including carpet, dash etc. Trunk carpet has to stay but radio, seats, spare, tools and battery can all change or be removed. Wheel and tire weight is unrestricted. Suspension components may me changed, as can exhaust from head to tail pipe. If there isn't a rule specifically saying it has to stay, it comes out of is changed/modified to save weight.

Well, the snow seems to be about done for the season and it's not yet warm enough to have the comanche off the road for its numerous repairs and upgrades for next winter so I have not had much of a chance to get any work done on it. I have been just generally messing around with it. And I've also been able to get quite a bit of work done on the autox car. The miata is getting corner balanced and a race alignment this coming week. And once it's on the road, the comanche will be put in the air for a post winter refresh and some light upgrades like lockers and a better rear axle (44 or 8.25, I don't really have a preference)

Is your garage carpeted? If so that is awesome/terrible. I usually have a ratty old piece of carpet or welcome mat to roll out and sit on especially when its cold out. I do go through them pretty quickly once I start working on with fluids though.

You can certainly take measurements for LWB on mine. I'm not quite close enough to come down there during the week (just north of Worcester) but we could work something out some weekend. I really like the clean simple look of the ROCKers

Put the tiny battery in Then I threw in the front coilovers Last I adjusted ride height close to what I'll be running this season. Tomorrow I'll take it out of the garage for the first time since October I think. Next week it will be corner balanced and realigned so I have until then to try to remove a little more weight.

Been looking at their "Happy Meal" clutch and flywheel kit lately. Wouldn't mind dropping 10-15lbs of rotational weight when I finally kill the little stock 1.6 clutch launching at the start of one of these autox. Their aluminum front calipers are drool worthy also but after buying the XIDA coilovers last fall, lightweight brake parts won't make it into the budget for a while yet.

Well I got a new race day battery yesterday. Weighs less than all those size D batteries we used to need for our stereos :thumbsup: The one on the right is the old daily battery. That one is a pig at 4.5lbs! Haha. The race battery is 1.6 lbs and the tape measure is there to show the laughable size. This battery weighs 1/30th the monster I put in the MJ for plowing. Hoping to get her back holding her weight up and rolling again by sunday. Lots to do and not a lot of time to do it in.

Hope you plate the front frame rails so you can practice before I come bug you to do mine! :rotfl2: Looks like it should be a fun build.

Well, I took an hour last night and tossed in the rear coilovers. The shocks, shock bushings and springs that came out are actually all the original 1991 parts! Last year I changed out the strut mounts for the aftermarket ones you see because the originals were in rough shape and making noise but I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of the suspension and wasn't quite there financially yet. Also removed the rear sway bar. I am using a higher rear spring rate to manage the body roll but with the goofy viscous limited slip (class restrictions prevent something better), removing the rear bar will help the inside rear tire achieve more droop travel and hook up better on corner exit. Once all the work is done, it will be off for corner balancing and a race alignment as well as some dyno tuning on the megasquirt.

The plow and snowblower are now out of the way and the car is up on stands in the center of the garage getting coilovers, endlinks, a 1.7lb battery!, some seam welding and some creatively unseen weight reductions (an obsession of mine that will include lighter fasteners where possible and even a lightweight horn).

Well, the snow has stopped falling in New England for now and we are getting above freezing temperatures for the first time in months this week. The MJ is currenlty serving as a simple daily driver and is getting pretty good mpgs without the plow hanging off of it all the time. That said, most of my wrenching is now focussed on getting the "race car" to where it needs to be for the start of the season. The plow and snowblower are now out of the way and the car is up on stands in the center of the garage getting coilovers, endlinks, a 1.7lb battery!, some seam welding and some creatively unseen weight reductions.

Potential to do some custom front frame rail plating? I have a plow on the front of my mj and would like to plate the front back to the firewall at least

Looks like what I was envisioning for mine. I'll likely do the outside of the front frame rails as well as the bottom. Then a steering box brace or something of that sort and I'll be plenty happy with the unibody strength... this is a stock height non-wheeled truck though. Most action it will see beyond plowing is a trek through a campground or something.

I actually like the size of the mj for residential. I fit in places no 250 could get to and the turning radius is excellent. I have a snowblower in the bed and a good set of snow tires. Even with 3.07 gears and open diffs, I haven't met snow I couldn't move yet. That includes the 3ft storm we had and 4-5ft snowbanks. With better gearing, some cheap lockers and some home made frame stiffeners, it will be the perfect, unstoppable driveway plow. The only thing that would worry me is all the added variables of adding a 5" lift.