1stDeuce

I got a custom slip cover for ours... Pretty sure it was from seat covers unlimited... It fit well and has held up. Not as cheap as a Walmart cover but it looks nice enough I've never bothered to look into re-covering the seat... Sent from my E6910 using Tapatalk

The '84-86 master cylinder has horizontal bolts, with a bracket (rod, actually) that goes from the outboard bolt over to the kick panel to stiffen things up, just as 87Warrior suggests above. Perhaps someone took that rod out at some point? I suppose it only helps on the outside bolt... If the firewall was REALLY rusty, the MC could flex to the side some, and that would probably eventually break the brace... The '87-96 MJ's and XJ's have vertical bolts, and the service manual image from Schardein shows that there is indeed a brace with that one too... Without it I can't see how it would live, as the lower bolt hole is on a thin strip of metal between the fuse box opening and the hole that the MC rod goes through... As I am trying to convert to the '94-96 MC and slave setup, I will have to try to find one of those brackets... No JY's near me will let me out into the yard. Totally sucks for stuff like this where I just need to have a look. This thread likely saved me from having a firewall strength issue down the road...

I run 50/50 Valvoline Maxlife atf and supertech 80w90 in all my chain t-cases. Synthetic 90wt is about the viscosity of 30wt oil (different scale) and seems to quiet loose cases a bit compared to using just ATF, which is 5 to 10wt. Sent from my E6910 using Tapatalk

Pretty sure I used the hoses for the 2.8l. Lower for sure. Back Fri. I can get you a p/n then... Throttle cable was from either a 3.4l camaro, or a 5.7l camaro, '94-95 vintage iirc... I got both from the jy and used the one that fit best...

I'm pretty sure the alt wiring was in the engine harness that came from the camaro... or I found a diagram online and wired it up... ?? No help, I know... and I'm away from it for the next two weeks or I could look...

Astro uses s10 stuff so no factory mounts... hopefully yours will clear... its pretty tight back by the motor mount.

I wonder if the 2.8L brackets off an astro van would be any better for mounting ac and alt... I've seen a pic of an XJ with this engine, but with the A/C high, and alt low, and supposedly he used factory stuff, but I've never figured out what vehicle had that config.

There's about 6" in plane with the bolt location, but you loose some as you move back from there because the frame bulges out for the motor mount...

An older couple at the church I went to as a kid had a small, light 5-er that they pulled with an S-10 extended cab. I doubt it was a 4.3L, since this would have been the mid-80's but it could have been. A Comanche with a 4.0L should be fine with that little scamp with little to no mods, though if it has a d35, the axle will run pretty hot if you're towing very far. Change the fluid often. :) If you mean to tow a large farm style gooseneck, please buy a bigger truck. :)

Use one of the dynamic compression ratio calculators to see what your DCR ends up at. As I understand it, 8.7 is about the limit for "pump gas", and at sea level, it can be tough to get it that low w/o custom forged pistons, or a fairly big cam. The alum head will help prevent spark knock, and should buy you a few points. Most aftermarket cams will lower DCR as well, though I've found a lot of people had issues with the narrow cam lobes of the aftermarket cams wearing quickly, and ended up back with a stock cam, or one of the two remaining Mopar cams, which use wider lobes. Note that none of them are a huge gain over the factory cams, which are pretty hot already. Many now suggest going to 1.7:1 roller rockers for a little extra valve lift, but that really only helps at higher RPM, and with a ported head, which isn't useful to me anyway. The more I read, the more it sounds like the 4.0L was fairly "tuned" right out of the box. Particularly the HO's, which have pretty aggressive cam profiles, comparable to that of the later "magnum" engines, and decent cyl head flow too for a non-cross flow head. At least in the middle years... Keep researching... My build has changed several times over the last six months, and I'm about to pull the trigger on the rest of the parts I need... I'll clean up the cyl head, polish the chambers, and run the stock cam. With 14cc dish pistons that have the wrist pin .010" higher than the stock pistons and not decking the block, quench will be a tad fat, but DCR at 5k' will be ~7.8, which should be fine on mid-grade, or possibly even regular. At sea level, it was 8.7, which would be premium only. Lucky for me I live at altitude. :) Have fun with your build!!

Thanks for the MM pic. That sucker hangs WAY out there. Hopefully you'll be able to bolt them into your comanche, and I'll just copy what you do... :) It's been 100F here the last few days, and my wife hasn't complained yet, but I'm sure she will eventually, so I need to get the A/C working. Keep up the good work!!

Oops, my bad... It turns out I was talking about CDBW, not HREW. CDBW is available in some sizes, and around here at least, is much cheaper than DOM. CDBW is ~50ksi yield, vs. DOM at ~70ksi, but that makes it easier to bend, and still plenty strong for most non-race applications. For comparison, HREW and CREW are ~40ksi, and pipe varies from 30ksi to 50ksi depending on the grade. Pipe is also the only one that's measured nominally by the ID. (IE 2" Sch40 pipe is 2" ID, and ~1/8 wall. For this reason, 1.5" pipe bending die works with 1.75" tubing...) Post up some pics when you get going, everyone loves to see projects!!! :)

I asked for the later rubber gasket glass in mine. Fit is fine. I didn't notice the tint being different, but I didn't drive it much with the old glass in. I cut off the little tabs that the trim mounted to, but you don't have to. My glass was for a '94, and has a wide rubber gasket. The '97+ windshields I've seen installed use a narrower gasket. If it is different, that windshield may require the little trim mount studs to be cut off... ?? Then again, the seal width may just depend on the windshield manufacturer.

If you do go from Renix to SBEC ('92 HO) you'll also need the HO crank sensor (it's different) and the distributor too. Since you have them on the engine already, that's good. The flexplate/flywheel from the '92 will also need to be used, as they crank trigger windows are different between the two. HO intake and throttle body also a must. IMO, all worth the work. I hate the Renix system, and putting in an HO engine and converting it back to Renix results in only a very small performance gain. Swap to the SBEC controller and you get the full HO improvement. :) I should add that I've not personally done this swap, just gathered info for a friend... I have converted to '97+ JTEC injection though. Performance similar to the SBEC system, but a little more wiring. You've got all you need, so I'd do the swap personally. :)

If your axle has a "growth" in the right axle tube with some vacuum lines, that's the axle disconnect, which is in lieu of locking hubs. In 2wd, see if you can turn the front driveshaft by hand. If you can, then it's likely that the axle u-joints are rusted, binding up, and need to be replaced. If you keep driving it like that, they'll loosen up, but they're toast if they're that rusted. If you can't turn the driveshaft by hand, and you have an axle with the disconnect in the right tube, then it's likely your truck is actually still in 4wd... You may need to adjust the shift linkage for the t-case, and possibly replace the vacuum switch in the top of the t-case that runs the CAD. (The switch gets rusty inside with age and will stick, leaving the disconnect... connected. :) If your axle doesn't have the growth, then you have a full time t-case. (Selec-trac) Hmm... I think the '86's were different than the selec-trac in '87-up... They may have even used a disconnect like the part time (Command Trac). I think they were vacuum shifted via a little flip lever, or something like that... Well, just for posterity, the later selec-trac t-cases often would "stick" in 4wd lock mode, which induces binding and steering feedback until it finally releases... Change the fluid for starters, as it's probably nasty. Turning slightly and going forward and reverse ~10' will usually get it to shift out of 4wd it in a few passes. Good luck!

If you're willing to mess with it a lot, you CAN use a HF bender to bend tubing (as opposed to pipe) but you need to keep the wall excessively thick, and it's not pretty. For really shallow bends, it works, but for 45° or more, you have to keep moving the tubing around,and the rollers make dents, and sometimes it kinks anyway. FWIW, instead of using DOM, I use HREW tube. Looks exactly like DOM on the outside, but has a seam on the inside. The tolerances for HREW are a little looser, but nothing you'd notice for a roll cage or structural stuff. The strength is comparable, and HREW is half (or less!) the cost of DOM. I put the seam on the neutral axis thinking it'll bend better, but I've forgotten, and it doesn't seem to matter. Good Luck!! Chris

They mount the same, the end caps just aren't interchangeable. But I'm sure if you wanted to put the time in it to hack up and/or mold them to fit then you could...But they're totally different body lines... Actually, the newer bumper itself mounts differently to the brackets, but if you get the brackets too, they'll bolt up to the frame at the same three holes. Just to be clear. :)

I got a black one from classic to current. I think it was $24. They had the end caps for cheap too

I used the Camaro harness and computer. There was lots of wire that came out of the Comanche harness, and a good bit that came out of the Camaro harness, but in the end, it all looks clean and works really well. Obviously that won't be the case for a turbo... I bolted the 2.8L motor mounts to the 3.4L. All the bosses are there and tapped. If you want to keep A/C, you need to figure out how to use the camaro mount on the pass side, but you should be able to use the Jeep mount on the driver's side. FWIW, the Camaro frame is actually quite a bit roomier than the Comanche, so it might not work anyway. Take a few pics of the Camaro pass side mount for me if you can! In '86, the 2.8 was externally balanced. By the late 80's, it was internally balanced, as were the 3.1 and 3.4L's. So you need a flywheel from an internally balanced engine. I believe the same applies to the flexplate if you're doing an auto. You can see the weights if you look a the original flywheel/flexplate. I suppose you could have a machine shop mill the bosses off, but I found it far cheaper to buy a flywheel for a '90 2.8L S-10. The Camaro flywheel has a deep dish to it for some reason, and doesn't work with the Jeep transmissions. Much of this is in my build thread, linked below... Good luck!!

If you're planning to run the '94-95 intake and throttle body, you might consider dropping the engine an inch or so in the mounts... I have the same 3.4L in my Comanche, and it's only got about 1" of clearance to the underside of the hood. With the Camaro oil pan, clearance to the axle is tight too on my truck, but with your lift, that's not a concern. :) The other issue is that the 2.8L engine mount on the pass side occupies the same space as the 3.4L's A/C pump. I didn't have the camaro mounts, so I just bolted on the 2.8 mounts and used an A/C delete idler bracket, but will probably try to use the Camaro motor mount on that side eventually so I can squeeze the pump back in. (It'll be VERY tight to the frame rail, I think...) You'll also need a flywheel for an '89+ (IIRC) 2.8L S-10 with the 5-speed. The 2.8L clutch bolts right up, and seems to hold at least a non-turbo'd 3.4L just fine. :) I'll be curious to see how this all works out for you. A turbo on the 3.4L would be awesome for pulling passes, and motoring down the road at highway speeds... Please keep up with the updates!! :)

Some good info here, and lots of speculation... my experience is this: I have a tj that has a resonator where the cat should be. It is also missing the evap canister and associated purge solenoid hoses, and also didn't have the downstream O2 sensor in the exhaust the first time it was tested. I knew that as long as I kept the trips short it wouldn't set a fault for the downstream sensor, so I cleared codes and did a handful of short drives. They checked underneath with a mirror, then looked all over under hood... then put it on the rolls, where it fast passed. (Way cleaner than required, so they don't run the complete test... I did weld a bung in the exhaust after that, but even with no cat it doesn't ever toss a CEL, and it fast passes every time. I think I wouldn't worry too much... as long as something looks like a cat and it doesn't look like you stripped off any emissions stuff, it'll probably pass... Or that's my experience, anyway. I used the test center at 52 and I25. :)

How hard was it for your 97+ door panels? I haven't searched yet, but I wonder if there's a build thread on them.. How hard to swap to newer door panels? Impossible... I swapped the whole doors, and the panels were a bonus. Painting the carpet on the original panels, and your seatbelts, will prove difficult if not impossible to make look good. There are door swap threads, and I covered some of it in my build thread. Basically, you have to change the door striker. Other than that, they bolt right on, and fit fine so long as you get manual window doors.

I used duplicolor plastic paint on my Comanche. (See build thread in sig.) The Charcoal is almost a perfect match for the Jeep charcoal interior. The panels you got look to be the lighter gray though. If the panel isn't literally coming apart, I would let it dry completely and install it. Once it's installed, you'll never know. :) If your current dash isn't cracked (badly) I would suggest just painting it. If you do all the recommended prep, and use duplicolor's adhesive promoter before painting, it'll be better looking than a factory gray dash. Plus, the colored part of the dash is part of the whole dash, with the VIN tag rivited to it... Swapping it is so much work that I'll never do it again unless I have to. I found a beautiful dash in the JY with no cracks, and painted it, and put it in, and six months later, it's split. I'm sure NM sun did it in. IMO, they're all going to split, and the only fix for that is an overlay of some kind. :( Good luck!

In that case, the info about needing a bellhousing from a 2.5 Dakota with the AX15 holds. Your 3.4L/2.8L and the 2.5L all use the same block bolt pattern. It is NOT common with the 4.0L, and the AX5 and AX15 bellhousings don't interchange on the trans, even though they look similar. You can spend a lot of money on adapters, or find the bellhousing from the aformentioned dakota with a 2.5 and AX15. I think the dakota setup uses the external slave setup found on later XJ/TJ's. The trans and t-case you have should be fine together. I believe they would both have the smaller 23 spline input/output, and the length should be similar. Issues arise when trying to use a t-case from an auto trans on the manual trans... FWIW, if driven responsibly, the AX5 will probably hold up fairly well behind the 3.4L. Mine is doing OK so far, and the ratios on the AX5 are better for offroad and "truck" stuff. If my AX5 starts making a fuss (It's got 225k on it already) I'll probably just rebuild it or replace with a JY unit, even though I have a 3550 sitting in storage... (3550 has a stupid high reverse ratio that ticks me off every time I back up... a NSG370 would be a better option than a AX5 or 3550, IMO...)

If I followed correctly, you're unhappy with the towing performance of a truck that isn't set up for towing at all. As pointed out above, the easiest thing to do is just use 3rd and 4th for the occasional trailer towing. 5th is certainly not for towing much at all with a Renix 4.0L. If you really plan on a diesel swap, then your current axle ratio is actually fairly ideal. Get going on it !! :) (Note: a 4BT is a HUGE engine for a Comanche, unless you're going to lift it ~6") The 8.8 out of an Explorer is a great swap if it has better gearing. It's a bit narrower than your current axle, but wheel spacers fix that. Pinion angle will not change when you swap it to 4wd, as you don't change the angle of the powertrain at all by adding a t-case. Even with some lift, the powertrain angle still stays the same, and so should the pinion angle. And I'll agree that improvement to the brakes would be a good idea if you plan to tow a lot without trailer brakes. (Or even if you don't, really!) I'll got out on a fairly thin limb though and say that the 10" drum brakes that came on the back of the early trucks are fairly capable when properly adjusted. Going to discs without changing the master and prop valve actually nets you LESS brake performance. This is because drum brakes "self energize" and therefore make more brake torque with less hydraulic pressure than discs require to get the same brake torque. Therefore, if you convert to discs, do a WJ master/booster/prop swap. If you keep drums, then the '96 master/booster/prop swap works out well. Good luck!!