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I'm sure many of you know about this website. I just wanted to give Spencer props. Great guy to work with, and an excellent product. Ordered 1st of the week, and got them today (not to mention the holiday yesterday). Had an email from him confirming my order in less than 5 hours. If any of you have debated buying from him, good product and a top notch business. Thanks again Spencer! :cheers:

Had a death in the family so I haven't been able to work on it as much as I'd like to this past week. Oh well I guess, family comes before playing. Got the grill back on. Got the hood vents on as well. I'm still trying to decide what I want to do about front flares. So I painted the pass. side one black to see if I liked it. We'll see after the lift how much room I have for the tires I plan on putting on and than decide what to do after that. Front bumper is also another debatable item. I'm trying to keep cost down, but really want a new front bumper. So I haven't waisted my time painting it yet until I decide what to do. Here are a few updated pics of the progress:

Yeah thats the plan. I have a few different sets of aftermarket shackles from the XJ's that I may play around with to get it right where I want it.

Some people would argue that if you are going to use only one locker you should put it up front. That way you won’t have to deal with the adverse on-road driving characteristics because you can unlock your hubs. I say that’s wrong. First of all, many Jeeps don’t have hubs to unlock up front. Secondly, if you are driving up a steep hill all of the vehicle’s weight is on the rear tires, while the fronts may be just scratching the surface instead of digging and pulling. A locker in the rear will dig and fight until you go up, tip over, and get stuck. Now if your going with a selectable locker upfront we are talking something totally different...

We got the majority of the trim painted black and back on today. The front grill is all done and looks awesome! I also got the 2nd hole cut for the hood vents. The paint on the vents themselves are drying as I type this and will be installed in a few days. Got an tracking info on the rear lift parts last night, won't be here until sometime next week. Oh well, I'll probably get the rear axle pulled this weekend and maybe even try to get the front lifted. Sorry no pics today, left camera at home. It's coming though and looks a TON different with all the red officially gone.

Golen? Have the 4.6L Golen version in my XJ and couldn't be happier! :brows:

Well I cut the rears. I think I'm going to just leave the front quarters as they are actually in fairly decent shape. Rock rails will protect them on the trail... I used some door trim molding to cover the cut. I know it dosn't got all the way to the fender well, but the TJ flares will cover that. My rear bumper build will consist of covering under the tail lights and than go somewhat with the lines of the cut quarters to help protect them.

A few updates; I was able to get the other side fully painted yesterday. I also cut the lower quarters out of the bed. I used some door trim molding to cover the cut. I know it dosn't got all the way to the fender well, but the TJ flares will cover that. Today I painted the tail gate. Rebecca painted the grill peices for me in flat black. Didn't have time to get those installed today as they were still wet when we quit. I started to cut the holes in the hood for the LaBarron vents. One side is cut, will do the other side later this week. Still a few trim peices to paint in black, but almost done with that stuff. Hopefully the rest of the lift parts will show up this week. I may try to get it lifted this coming weekend if time allows. Here are the pics from today;

Your best bet is to get a trailer wiring harness. The Draw-Tite unit works very well. I used this when I went to LED's on my XJ. It made the install very easy.

Well I found out today that the shocks I have for a 5" lifted XJ will not work on the MJ. I had assumed that they were very similar, I was wrong. Unless someone knows of a secret to make them work? I am now looking for a new set of rear shocks. The MJ will have a SO in the rear. I am also going to be running the TeraFlex revolvers. Anyone have any guess as to what length shocks I'm going to be needing? I really don't want the shocks to be the limiting factor for rear flex. It will be bump stopped correctly, but I don't want to bottom them out and create premature failure. Anyone have any recommendation on a cheap shock? I'll probably run the DT3000's. Rusty's sells a "Tenneco"; anyone have any experience with them? I ran them on my other MJ, but do not have any long term experience with them as I sold the Jeep about 4 months after I put those shocks on.

Spend the few extra bucks and get Electromotive Tec3. It's a TON better setup, and does quite a bit more. Yes I'm saying Megasquirt is junk.. 8)

I was able to work on it a bit more today. First thing done today was to remove both front doors. Plan is for them to perminatly be off. I may fab up some tube doors and/or half doors in the future. But for now I'll be going doorless. I worked a bit on the rockers today. They need some work, but for being an Indiana MJ they are fairly solid compared to the others I've seen. I took some measurements and will be doing some custom sliders. I'll probably cut some of the rockers out to fit them, so I'm not horiably worried about the condition of them. I also removed the rear flares today. I cleaned up the bad spots on the bed and primered them. The rust holes will be covered with TJ rear flares, so I'm not worried about the looks of that area at the moment. It's going to be a trail rig anyways, so who cares! I got the drivers side pretty much painted today as well with the base coat. I trimmed the rear fender well, and did the cut and fold method. Turned out pretty well for that area being rusted at the top portion of the well. I will also be cutting the back quarters of the bed off (see green tape line). Didn't get to that today as I've lent my saw out to someone. Ordered some parts last night to complete the lift. So once those show up it will be lifted 5". Labaron hood vents should be here today so I may get those installed over the weekend as well. Here are the few select pics from today.

Don't join NAXJA than if you think Jeepin's bad... However they are correct. The 4.0L will not fit into the '86 engine's bay. Well ok let me rephrase that... The 4.0L will not fit into the '86's engine bay without some cutting of the firewall. In my '86 I opted for the 3.4L conversion and the swap was pritty straight forward. On that note, the engine bay was changed in '87 and a 4.0L will drop in without problems, as I've done that swap in my '87 as well...

I know Bob... I thought about it, so it would match the rest of them. But white is a hard color to rattle can and make look good. Rebecca gave me a budget on this project to see if I can keep it under it. So I decided $30 worth of paint in can form is better than spending the $150-200 for "real" paint for me to spray it at the shop correctly.

Doors are coming off and will probably never be put back on...

Rustoleum

They will be removed and painted a semi-flat black. Why bother with removal, taping, etc when you can just remove later down the road and paint them the new color anyways? Plus doing what I did with the flares makes a good mark for a trim line... 8)

The biggest determing factor is going to be what head you put on it...

I was able to work on it a bit today. Got the rear bumper removed. I also started some of the body work on the front 1/2 of it. Also was able to shoot the 1st coat of the new color. I think I'm going to like it... Here are today's pics;

I think I'm just going to cut the rear most quarters out. I'm curious if anyone has done this and if they just cut them off, or did a cut and fold method like is common on the XJ's. I'd probably prefer to do a cut and fold method, but I'm not sure it's even possible on the MJ bed???

Do anyone have any photo's and/or advice of cutting the lower quarters out of the bed? Like such:

Well the search is finally over. After 3 months of looking, and 2 months of trying to get this specific comanche purchased, i finally brought it home. We've been looking for an MJ to build up specically to wheel on a budget. I think we picked up the right canidate! It's a 1988 Comanche Pioneer 4wd. Came with 31" tires already on it (will be replaced with at least 35's in the near future). I was looking for something specifcly with good lower rockers. This one dosn't have "mint" rockers, but they are not bad at all.. Imediate plans for it is to get it painted. Throw some lift parts I have around on it, and do a SO on the rear. Throw a winch bumper on it, and do some rack rails. Remove the doors, and do a few interior mods to make wheeling it a bit more comfortable. It will be a dedicated trail only rig. Plans later down the road are full widths, exo cage, and maybe tube the back with a 4 link setup. Yes the PO spray painted HJ on it, no clue what it even means... :roll:

http://www.motionoffroad.com/recovery.html I have thier tank with regulator and I'm sure they'd sell just a regulator. I've been very happy with their setup thus far!

Me and the girl might be able to make it that weekend... She'll have her XJ and I'll maybe take my MJ, if not I'll bring the XJ.... Consider us a "maybe"...

A few pics of the MJ's that showed up...