89 MJ

I suppose skateboard look, wheels are easier to change than a lift Air fryer or pan frying?

When it comes to drilling spot welds, we have found that if you go through both layers of metal with a 1/8th inch drill bit, then go through just the layer you are wanting to replace with a 5/16th inch drill bit, it will actually work out better than using a spot weld drill bit. After drilling through it, the metal will just about pop off.

Muscle car. No replacement for displacement. Trackhawk or TRX?

Looks like it was a great time! It was a IH Scout II that you pulled out though, not a Bronco.

For simplicity, gotta go MIG, for the best looks, gotta go TIG. Personally, I would do MIG more than TIG, even if I had the equipment to do both. LED Light bars or old school Halogen off road lights?

Looks like it will be a great truck!

I will be using various pictures from my build thread on my blue truck to give a little tutorial on how to properly do rust repair. Even if you are familiar with rust repair, I have picked up on a few tips from my dad (restores cars professionally) that may make your life a little bit easier. Now, I have access to a lot of higher end restoration tools, but I recommend that you purchase some of these as well, lots of these can be picked up at Harbor Freight or second hand for relatively cheap. We will start this with a list of tools that you will want: 1. Sandblaster 2. Drill with 1/8th inch and 5/16th inch drill bits-You do NOT need spot weld drilling bits 3. Cut off wheel (1/8th inch disc) (pneumatic) 4. Cut off wheel (1/4th inch disc) (pneumatic) 5. 90 degree grinder with 36 grit (pneumatic) 6. Air saw (pneumatic) 9. Blow gun (obviously pneumatic) 10. Various body hammers 11. C-clamps 12. sheet metal brake (not necessary, but very helpful when making 1 off patches, otherwise you could use a bench vise and freehand bend) 13. Welder (duh) 14. Vice grips 15. Weld through primer Your first step is to identify your rust/metal that is going to get replaced. Next up you will want to cut out your rust. It is a good rule of thumb to go 1" to 1.5" greater than your rust holes-the rust is always worse on the inside. Once you get that cut out, sandblast and use the weld through primer on the parts that you will keep. 3rd, you will want to trim your patch panel close to shape-leave it a little on the larger side, you don't want to make a patch twice Once you get your patches made, start trimming out the metal (not the patch metal, the original truck metal) with the air saw. Only go an inch or two at a time and use tack welds to hold it after you cut it out. Try to make the corners of your patches round to distribute the heat and prevent warpage. Once you get your new patch tacked in, continue using small tacks when welding in sheetmetal. If you lay a solid bead, you will warp your panel. Move around on the panel when you are tacking it together and use your blowgun to cool the metal after welding it. Use your wider cut off wheel to knock down your welds, don't make them flush, just take 80% off of the weld. Smooth them out with your 90 degree grinder. When you are happy with how smooth your welds are, sandblast where you have welded. Be sure to be careful with your blaster, it is easy to warp the metal. Sandblasting the metal will find any pinholes in your welding, you will need to make sure there are no pinholes. Then you are ready for primer and body work.

I think I have come up with a plan for the Ugly Trucking. My plan is to make it run and drive, then it will probably be sold as is. As much as I would love to do another Comanche, my next MJ restoration is going to be a Metric Ton and the one after that will probably be a 2wd. We did get the truck to run, usually, we will need to do some troubleshooting there, figure out why the clutch won't disengage, and make the brakes work. It really doesn't need a ton at this point, so hopefully when I finish the partout on my other red truck, I will be able to get back to this truck. This truck would be a really good one to restore though, considering the only rust is in the floors.

Robin Williams Stroked 4.0 or LS?

The silver dash bezel looks great!

Very nice, very nice!

It's not a huge deal if the seats don't fold forward if you aren't going to drive the truck much, but that space is very valuable in my truck as I do drive my truck every day in the summer and I use just about all of the cab space that there is.

Looks like it would be a great work truck for someone, make it run and drive and use it. I don't know if I would consider it cheap or not, but I think that it is a fair price, considering it will need a fair bit of work to make reliable.

Honestly, just about. The spray a liquid salt brine solution on the roads, so yeah, kinda.

What are you talking about, she's a beaut! I thought about adding it to this thread, just hadn't had a chance yet. Even the tops of the fenders and around the door handles have rust holes. RUST HOLES-AT THE DOOR HANDLES!!!!! I'll try to grab a pic tomorrow.

Buy a 2 low kit... not cheap, but probably the easiest.

Bring back the FC! Bring back the FC! Bring back the FC! And make it affordable. That helps too.

OOOOOOOO, BIG BLOCK, BABYYYYYYYYYY!!!!

OK. But what's it look like?

Pardon my idiocracy. I meant 2021 or 2022

If what we have in the registry is an accurate representation (thanks @fiatslug87!), 1988 MJs accounted for nearly 25% of MJ production (286/1166=.245 or 24.5%). 1986s account for approximately 25% of MJ production (293/1166=.251 or 25.1%). That said, we do not know if the registry actually shows the ratio or not. It looks like 88s and 86s are equally common though.

Seeing as though it is an X model, its not very rare. But it could be fairly valuable based on its condition.

MJ #3 has 234,000 on it.

Its an addiction, don't let anyone tell you otherwise, they are wrong. Ask me how I know.

That one seems like a fair deal. The main complaints are that the motor isn't the strongest from what I gathered.