boxyjeep

Welcome to the club! Start going through Cruiser54's list of electrical upgrades and make sure the cooling system is solid (I'd recommend upgrading to open personally).

Today I got the oil pan gasket replaced. As months go by, I continue to find more and more reasons why I should have installed the stroker engine myself instead of paying a shop to do it. So far, I've found a handful of loose/missing bolts on the engine and ended up also having an oil leak from what appears to be some of the oil pan bolts (presumably from not following the proper torque sequence). I had a new Fel-Pro blue gasket installed, so I would not have expected this. Nevertheless, I pulled the pan while I had the front suspension out and took a look. Surfaces were clean and the corners had the expected RTV, so it must have been due to not following the circular sequence or over-torqueing the bolts. Also took a peek at the camshaft and cylinder walls--they appear good with no notable issues. It has about 700 miles on it now, so I also changed the oil and put in another 5 quarts of Royal Purple break-in oil (planning to run this to about 1500 miles, then swap over to dino oil until 4k miles, then full synthetic).

Yep, really bad penetration. When I buy something from a fabricator, I gauge the quality on whether or not my own welds would be better. Considering my limited welding experience and 120v MIG, it's a pretty low bar that I expect

Nothing better than an engine that doesn’t overheat. What software are you using for the tuning?

Haha yep. I also had purchased their engine-side mounts which I ended up returning because the welds were terrible. I know the company has a great reputation, but I don’t understand the hype.

Honestly, looking back I probably would have just skipped this part. Sure, the wiring looks clean, but it took way too long and I have concerns that electrical gremlins may pop up in the future that are hard to diagnose. My advice would be to buy a new generic relay/fuse center and just use that to replace the stock relays and fusible links, and keep everything else intact.

I was running the rubber bushings (P/N "CU2572-0K2, Motor Mounts, Ultra-Flex Rubber"). I figured they would smooth out after a few hundred miles but they were still jarring to me. OEM mounts ended up being so much smoother, but now I'm hearing all the wind noise ;-)

Been making some additional progress--got the new axle painted, ball/joints and knuckles installed, and pulled the entirety of the existing front suspension out of the truck: Will be cleaning up the frame rails and wheel wells and hitting them with some flat black paint. Then will be installing a pile of parts that I've been accumulating for some time: HP Dana 30 w/ WJ knuckles/unit bearings/brakes CavFab OTA track bar and RE mount Rubicon Express 5.5" Coils and extended bump stops Core4x4 Adjustable Upper + Lower Control Arms (short arms) 1 Ton steering (using standard offset TRE's and likely solid aluminum links--need to measure once everything is installed). Rebuilt front driveshaft and axle shafts with new u-joints Quadratec 17" Hard Rock wheels (same style as I currently have, but wider with less backspacing) 33" BFG A/T's -- The 32" BFG M/Ts I'm running right now look aggressive but are way too loud on the street I don't have shocks picked out yet--still debating on what I want to do there. Need to measure once it's all put back together. I don't want something too stiff, but also would like good on-road manners. Also need to figure out sway bar mounts. I had to cut the existing ones off to fit the WJ steering. Once the front end is done, I'll be doing a "low SOA" on the rear to level it out with the front.

What is your radiator and fan setup? Also, how many other coolers (transmission/AC/etc.) do you have in front of the radiator? I would think the fiberglass hood would be better than the stock steel.

This is the kind of engineering I like :-)

Honestly, most of Rusty's stuff is junk. I'd say the time and money refinishing them/finding/buying new bushings and just get a new set elsewhere.

I thought we weren't allowed to touch that????

Great build so far. What made you decide to go with that engine choice?

You're lucky to have a 92--no EGR and there are AFPR's available. Hesco does advertise a Renix AFPR, but they don't actually make them. I placed an order and waited 3 weeks before calling for them to tell me it's not something they had. Let me know how it goes--very interested to see if you'll pass with the Edelbrock head and Borla header.

Been making some headway on the truck over the past few weeks. Finally found a good donor HP D30 non-disconnect axle locally and started building it. I'll be doing new ball-joints, WJ knuckles and brakes, and an OTA track-bar mount (CavFab). For steering, I'm planning to do 1-ton Chevy TRE's with custom aluminum tie rod and drag link. New axle: Huge mess pulling out the old ball joints (I believe they were original) and UCA bushings. I had to cut out a few of the ball joints. Not fun. Cleaned up: Stock trackbar mount removed and CavFab OTA track bar mount installed: Primer (don't worry, it will be gloss black when I'm done). I ended up using Rustoleum brush-on oil-based paint. I've heard this is much more resilient than spray paint on axles. Also a bit easier to apply--no fumes or overspray: I had initially purchased CavFab's WJ knuckle swap steering kit, but decided against running it as I'm not a huge fan of heim joints. Will be going with 1-ton TRE's instead. Also, started re-doing my headliner and visors. I installed an SMS headliner kit about 4 years ago right after I got the truck. It's a decent product but not the same fitment as stock (it is a bit too large and hangs down over the front and rear windshields a bit). I found an original headliner backer board and will be repairing and re-upholstering that instead. I also pulled down my visors and split them open to reupholster and quickly discovered why they smelled like dirt. Also did some painting of a few interior bits that didn't match or needed to be replaced (a-pillar trim, visor mounts, screw covers, etc.): I know everyone here suggests SEM plastic/vinyl dye, but I ended up using Dupli-Color Charcoal Gray to match the rest of the interior that I already painted. Remaining to-do's: Finish front axle build and get ready to install (w/ 5.5" RE coils and Core4x4 adjustable CA's. SOA swap rear D44 axle to match front. Reupholster headliner and visors, and install along with other freshly painted pieces. Swap in proper spark plugs (ran super cold plugs to pass smog--it's not starting/idling great right now). Swap out BrownDog motor mounts for OEM. They are great quality, but way too rough for me. After I have all this done, I'll likely be scheduling some time for a shop to do 4.56 gears, front locker, alignment, and mount up my new wheels and 33" tires. Then it should be "done"... for now.

Thanks! Still a work in progress, but it's getting there!

Yo quiero

How many miles do you have on it so far after the build? It's always the little things that come up...

Haha thanks, yes I believe they are quite a bit better. The embossed “Jeep” on the back is also a plus.

You'd be surprised. Cars survive a very long time out here with no rust, etc. I believe you can register vehicles over 25 years as a "classic" if it meets a few criteria, but it still needs to pass the sniff test (but can bypass the visual and emissions equipment checks). It also requires classic insurance, limited mileage, etc. I took the truck to South OC Cars and Coffee yesterday. It was a huge turnout with a lambo club showing up and at least 200 other cars. Got a ton of questions about the Comanche. Most folks were interested in the seat swap and the 4.6L stroker engine. Sadly I got there kinda late and got stuck between two Fords...

Lost track of this thread a bit, but finally got this project all done. I ended up re-doing each mount at least once. It's very difficult to properly center the seat with the proper height while also ensuring it can move forward/backward correctly. Completed drivers side brackets (notice the diagonal alignment for the rear mounting points): Final fitment--the power adjustment and heat is functional: Overall, I'm very happy with how they ended up, but in the future would just buy a set of Corbeau Trailcats with pre-fabbed brackets. I would estimate at least 20-30 hours into this swap.

I finally have some good news after a few weeks of toil--I was able to get the truck running well enough to pass CA smog (only took 3 tries!). The first test failed with super high NOx values. These are typically due to high combustion chamber temps (i.e., engine running lean). I also had some concerns about my catalytic converter. It was 3 years old but also had a bunch of oil/coolant passed through it with the prior engine that blew. Here's what I did to get it to pass: Colder plugs (ZFR6F-11 gapped to .030") 21 lb/hr Accel injectors (likely didn't need these, but these are well worth the $75/injector price tag) New O2 sensor (the old one was shot and wouldn't go below ~2.6v) New Catalytic converter (was able to get Advance Auto to honor a warranty replacement of the old one that I bought in 2019 for $250. If I had bought a new one it would be $1200 ). Tested EGR valve and found it was stuck halfway closed. This contributed to rough idle and other issues. Cleaned and replaced with an old OEM unit w/ transducer. Don't use "AIRTEX / WELLS 4F1899 (EGR4350)". It doesn't work. Blocked hot air mixer flap in the airbox to prevent any hot air from entering intake. Removed and cleaned IAT sensor and relocated to airbox. Temp readings decreased from ~150*F to ~90*F (massive improvement here). New MAP sensor and fixed discovered vacuum leak. Cranked up MAP voltage to 5.5v. Forced electric aux fan to run for the entirety of the test. Passed with flying colors (went from ~1500 NOx PPM to 0--yes, ZERO!): New Accel 21# injectors and FPR: Engine bay looking clean: Very happy to ditch the out-of-state registration... Front end looking good: As far as next things to do on the build: The engine runs great when cold, but after driving for 30+ minutes there is definitely some heat soak that contributes to diminished performance. I'd like to heat wrap the exhaust manifold, but don't want to pull the intake out to do so. I am also encountering a slowdown around 2800 RPM's. I don't know if the engine needs to break in a bit more (only about 450 miles on the stroker), or if that just the nature of a Renix stroker with stock intake/exhaust. Oil pan gasket has a few leaks. Not super happy about this as I had the shop that swapped the engine install a new Fel-Pro blue gasket (which is typically great). I'm going to pull it and replace when I change the oil for the first time. AC isn't working. Need to verify the electronics and ensure it has refrigerant. SOA and long-arms are in my future. I bought a set of 33" BFG A/T's to replace these tires and plan to lift it a bit more to fit them (likely only 2-3" higher than current height). HP D30 build -- will be grabbing a non-disconnect axle from the junkyard and building up with locker and WJ knuckles/brakes before installing the lift.

Thanks--it's been a long road! And it's still ongoing...

Wouldn't it be 25%? 4 sets of wheel locks, 100 / 4 = 25?

When you have 5 different locking lug nut sets and you can't find that one last keyed socket when your on the side of the road trying to change a flat...