89 MJ

My brother has been dialing in his 3D printer lately. He printed a couple of MJs for me while messing with the settings. Pretty neat!

A lot of times, the product will say the country that it was made in. If you go to a local parts store, I would look for parts that are made in the USA.

January 2026 - The Mississippi Turbo Diesel (Last Diesel MJ) Owned by @ThreeComanches Build Thread- Year/Model - 1987 Jeep Comanche Base Drivetrain- 2.1L Turbo Diesel (Renault J8S) / AX5 5 Spd Manual / Dana 35 (Stock) Cooling- Stock with the exception of an added pressure cap. Electrical/Ignition- Stock Suspension/Steering- Stock Interior- Baby Blue w/ Bench seat (Stock) Brakes- Stock Lighting- Stock Exterior- Medium Blue Metallic w/ Black trim Wheel & Tires- Stock Jeep Steel wheels w/ Cooper tires Misc- OEM Jeep dealership bed liner, Camper shell, had rear air shocks when I first got it. Best MJ story- I got too many so I'll tell the story on how I got this one. It was February 2024 and when I opened Facebook, this one popped up in my feed. I immediately messaged the seller and he agreed to hold it for me until that upcoming weekend. When the weekend came, my dad and I hooked up the trailer and headed over to MS. It was relatively uneventful, we paid the seller and drug the Comanche onto the trailer. After a year of having it, that's when I finally got to work on it and got it back on the road, CC is Awesome! Why? Very helpful folks in this community with vast amounts of info.

Thank you for your work Mark!

Looks fantastic!

Eagles are great, as long as you love being tortured.

It not warming up shouldn’t depend on the clutch fan. Sounds more like the thermostat is stuck open if that’s the problem you’re having.

In the nearly 8 years that I’ve had my MJ, I think I’ve only had it dialed in three times. And two of those times, it let me down (blocked up radiator and then needed a water pump replacement). I haven’t driven it enough since getting the water pump replaced to tell if it’s truly fixed yet or not, but I’m cautiously optimistic. I know exactly how you feel.

Could be the pump dying too, but I’d start with looking for air in the system.

I think it makes a good bit of sense. You know the CRV and really like it, from what I’ve gathered. The Jeeps would be semi-uncharted territory for you. They might not be as pleasant to live with. The other plus of the Honda is that it isn’t a Jeep, so it’s not an expensive vehicle to start out with.

Nice meeting you too! Definitely a highlight of the trip here. Like fiatslug87 said, please drop the VIN in the registry when you get a chance ace for your build date and build sheet

That ZJ seems much better than the XJ. If you like your CRV though, why not look for one of those with low mileage?

Saw this super nice, 90k mile, 4.0, 5 speed, 4x4 91 Eliminator on Maui today. I even saw it had the transfer case skid plate. I even had a chance to talk to the owner—a super nice younger guy.

TurboLamik also sells one and it seems to be the more common option.

Compression is fairly even, that’s a good sign. Numbers seem a little low, but these weren’t a high compression engine from the factory and none seem too low to run. I agree with the spark plug assessment. Ticking sound could be an exhaust leak or something with the valvetrain.

A lot of drifters use them too. I’ll have to do more research about those off roaders. Makes me wonder if it’s off roading where the tires are spinning a lot of time or if it’s under traction. They seem like a great trans so long as it is controlled with the same computer as the engine and the engine is detuned for shifts. Chrysler uses these in Hellcats, Demons, and 3/4 ton trucks after all, but they take a ton of power out of them for shifts, which couldn’t really be done with a separate engine and transmission computer from my research.

My vote is to keep it. You’d be hard pressed to find another if you decided you want another down the road.

I saw they said it was only for 96+ Jeeps. It would make it so much quicker and so much better on fuel. I did go through a bunch of research with this the other day in regards to putting one of these transmissions behind an LS. A lot of this information will be relevant though. You need a lot of parts. 1. transmission 2. transfer case/transfer case adapter 3. Bellhousing adapter 4. flexplate/torque converter adapter 5. Driveshafts 6. transmission computer Just the transmission, TCU, and adapter will run about $5k from my recent research. For that kind of money, I’d be looking at an LS swap. The other problem is with the shifts. The Chrysler computer detunes the engine when the trans is going to shift. The aftermarket trans computers don’t have the capability to do that because it is just for the transmission. Probably not a huge deal with our low powered Jeeps, but still something to be aware of when you’re in a high traction situation. To me, something that is very important is parts being able to be found. Let’s say the ring gear on this custom flexplate goes bad. How long will it take and how much will it cost to get a new one? What happens if he decides to stop making them in a couple of years? Ultimately, possible parts availability in the future and the risk of blowing through the clutches in a high throttle high traction situation were why my dad and I decided not to go that route in his truck.

Happy new year!

Another parts truck for this project acquired

Merry Christmas!

I looked into them a little bit. They're a smaller diameter than a stock one and they seem really expensive for what they are. For antidisestablishmentarianism I use my truck for (primarily daily driving and hauling stuff), it doesn't really make much sense for me to run a more off road style sway bar.

I've heard that about the older CRVs before. I think 87MJTim has or had an early 2000s one as well and really likes it. It seems that Honda made them more of a car though in the more recent years and made them less like what yours is. Mine is also AWD, but I don't think it is selectable. I will say, mine does have the optional aluminum 17" wheels instead of the basic steelies and it has leather, so maybe they put firmer foam in them so that the leather wouldn't break down. When you take mine out of eco mode, it does pretty darn good on fuel. 28 on the highway and 24-25 in the city. In eco mode, it does worse. 22 city and 26 highway if you baby it. The acceleration is ok. I think its somewhere near 180 hp, so it is probably a little quicker than an MJ. It is very much lacking in the low end torque department and the throttle response is pretty poor. You step on the gas, wait, and then it goes. I also doesn't seem to want to kick down ever. Probably fuel economy stuff. Considering how stiff the suspension is, you'd think it would hand well. It does not though. When you going around a corner, it feels like you turn the wheel, the weight transfers to the side opposite of the direction you're turning, and then it starts to go. You don't get much steering feel from the steering wheel either. These are all problems because I like taking corners quickly. If you don't every really take any corners at speed, you probably wouldn't notice these issues, but for me, its not confidence inspiring.

I didn't have to and I am not sure why your manual thinks that you would have to.

I wouldn't replace them unless there is something wrong with them. Repacked originals will likely outlive new ones. If you do need new ones, look at Timken. Most of those are made in the USA.