CactusComanche

i took the broken mirrors off and swapped them for the fixed manual style so no more broken clips. Gave them a fresh coat of paint before install. the fog light covers were going to need refurbished, one was punctured and cracked so that needed repaired, I posted a picture earlier reference. Here is the before. And after.

new windshield day, the chrome trim around the windshield was not in the best shape so I decided to go for the newer style rubber trim. Notice all the dirt from cleaning out behind the trim. Gives it a nice updated look. Replaced the leaking pinion seal and added some lowering blocks in the rear to get the ride height down. new shocks new tires mounted and balanced, decided on 235/60/15 for a lower profile look and to keep the truck lower. mounted the center caps

just going row by row, one at a time, staying organized, and keeping everything clean and tight. i also took the time to clean the c101 connection and the other large harness connection behind the fuse panel during all this to ensure good electrical connections anywhere possible. here is all the shiny new gold. Excited to get this all back together to see if this fixes the issues. success! Well almost, everything works now but the turn signals were still not functioning properly, after investigating the driver side turn signal socket had some corrosion. After replacing the socket all the signals work. I also replaced all the fuses with new as well as the signal, marker, tail, brake and reverse light bulbs.

so I still don’t have turn signals, hazards, and instrument or dash lights and the blower motor does not turn on, need to sort these things out before putting the interior together. I replaced the turn signal switch, it was pretty burned and melted so I thought that would fix my turn signals. It did not, but it still needed to be replaced, so more work to do. checking the fuses I notice this melted guy, some of the fuses were very loose and almost wanted to fall out to the touch Pulled out all the fuses to find the leak that had rusted the driver floor had corroded all the fuses. ordered some new terminals to rebuild the whole thing.

The paint was in poor condition so I started doing some paint correction and it’s been shining up really good! It has a lot of dings and scratches and imperfections up close but it will shine up to be a really nice looking driver. Also got the side skirts installed on the cab. Carpet is here! clean and prep the headliner for new fabric. front end is done and reinstalled. I decided to install some amber marker lenses and went with sylvania headlamps from a 2000xj. Nothing special at all but with the headlight harness and the engine ground kit the headlights are pretty bright, I was pleasantly surprised and don’t feel the need for LED. Covered the headliner, turned out really nice. I then had a friend that does upholstery on the side redo the visors. I wish I took a before picture, they were ripped and falling apart to the touch. He cut a new board and stitched them up to look new again.

the kit pieces are super thick plastic and have amc part numbers stamped on the backs.

I’d like to try eventually, ideally where I want to take the truck, new carpet will be my best option. For now I’m just going to set the carpet off to the side somewhere.

I tried a couple smaller shops, they couldn’t find the material and it’s pretty costly to have seats reupholstered so I thought I would try my luck searching for some good seat covers to replace these since they’re just so ripped up.

The header panel was removed for cleaning, painting, and installing new headlights and the headlight harness upgrade. The front bumper had taken a small impact on the passenger side so I needed to remove the front spoiler to straighten the bumper back out. while that was off I decided to add a set of bumperettes. I think they give the front end a tough look. I had to shave the bottom edge slightly for clearance of the front spoiler. lots of elbow grease here, sanding and paint prep, the metal trim was painted black at some point, but was blistered and flaking off. Fresh paint and they look good as new. Time to dig deeper and remove the body kit for cleaning. Some pieces are secured by double sided molding tape and metal brackets, while others are double sided tape and screws through the sheet metal. The double sided tape was failing from old age in a lot of places so it all needed to come off, cleaned and reinstalled. i also cleaned the fender liners, you can see before/after, they were pretty dirty from age. I want to clean everything that I remove before it gets reinstalled. Just a lot of elbow grease and hoping for an overall clean final outcome.

These should make a big difference Additionally with the turn signals not working, the wand to turn the signals on was loose and floppy so I went ahead and got a turn signal switch cause I am sure that will be needed. Another thing that seems to be missing on every renix is that fuse panel cover, so I tracked down some plastic clips and a cover and got those installed it really gives everything a clean look, fluids are all in and it is running pretty smooth, the idle is still up and down so I’ll need to sort that out. Still needs some work but it’s sort of starting to come together .

Here’s a couple pictures of the centerline wheels that come with the package With the floor coated I want to give that adequate time to cure so I decided to move on to something outside of the interior and decided to go in the engine bay. the valve cover gasket was leaking, oil filter adapter was leaking, thermostat housing was cracked, it was just really neglected and dirty so lots of taking things apart and cleaning. I filled a bucket with dirty rags from degreasing the motor and the engine bay. I wanted to get everything clean so it would be a fresh start to maintain and also easily spot and leaks going forward. The valve cover was oxidized so that got cleaned up, new o rings for the oil filter adapter, new valve cover gasket, new vacuum harness, new battery cables and terminals, new water pump, tstat housing and thermostat, new coolant overflow reservoir, new belt, battery, and you know how it goes......

So since the truck is missing the unique front street grille I decided to give it something with some style, I think it would fit the front of the truck very well. Now the carpet is out I have discovered my next project. I was not looking forward to it at all, but I figured I might as well jump in and get it over with so I can get back to something more fun sooner than later. I ordered a Sherman floor pan from rock auto, I was very pleased with the thickness of the metal, it was actually a little thicker than the factory sheet metal. The overall shape of the pan was quite close also so I would recommended them if you’re looking. I spent several weeks repairing the floor. It was something I was not very motivated to do but I just chipped away at it day by day until it was finally done. I wanted to preserve the floor braces best I could, and try and make this a nice clean repair overall. The rust ended up not being too bad on the floor brackets after I removed them, they were actually fairly solid still. I used several spot weld drill bits from HF, lots of wire wheel and I coated with POR-15 when I was done. The passenger side floor had some slight surface rust from a leak from a failed radio antenna grommet. The driver side had a leak from failed seam sealer up where the driver fender met the hood and cowl area. Water was getting in a hole and making its way to the driver floor and it just rusted it straight through over time from sitting. No rust anywhere else on the truck, super clean everywhere so I would have never suspected having to do this.

Alright so the seats are crispy and toast, those will not be easy to locate so I’ll need to start looking for those now. The carpet is beyond what I would want to clean, it’s still going to show stains, who knows what it was or why you would treat your truck like that. So new carpet will be on the list also. Some grossness if the center console. Oh and I found some hidden treasure under the passenger seat! And a classic compass, we had one just like this in a Toyota Tercel when I was growing up.

Time to get the interior out to start the cleaning. One of the previous owners was a smoker so there was ash all over the console, the dash, and inside the instrument gauges. The carpet was filthy. I just wanted to gut everything and put it back together clean. Also at some point there was an old school cell phone installed in this truck, I didn’t get pictures but there was an antenna stuck to the back window, some box wired behind the seat, a microphone on the A-pillar (I am guessing for speaker phone), but the hand device phone itself was missing. So I had to undo all that in the mix. You can see where the box was mounted behind the driver seat based on how dirty the rear carpet board is.

Got the window regulators replaced, working on the doors and noticed I will be needing To replace all the window seals, they were all brittle and would fall apart to the touch

Knowing the majority of the truck is going to need to be taken apart to be cleaned, and refurbished, I decided replacing the window regulators to keep the windows up, and the elements out would be a good place to start. After taking both door cards off, the protective plastic on the doors had been tampered with so someone had been in there already. Not surprising with the mileage on the truck. Lucky enough I know several locals that like to part out jeeps so I took a drive and picked up a couple window regulators. The factory ones were riveted in so I made sure to snag some from a later year xj where jeep used all the 10mm bolts.

Alright so I made the trip there and back safe with no issues. So now that it’s home I have more time to look it all over, take it all in, and see what’s going on with it. I quickly found out both windows rolled down but wouldn’t roll up, both side view mirrors were broken, the driver door would not close, the turn signals didn’t work, no flashers, no instrument or dash lights, the blower motor didn’t turn on, the battery cables were frayed, battery tray was broken, broken fan shroud, several oil leaks, several coolant leaks, bad vacuum harness, it ran but it needed help, the fuel pump was very loud, the rear pinion seal was leaking, the list was quite long and seemed like it needed one of everything really. Luckily the truck is super complete and the only specific thing that is missing is the front grille. Honestly, I am not too upset as the horizontal street insert is not my favorite look, but, it is unfortunate to be missing. The dash lights and turn signals not working are probably my biggest concern zooming out on the project, deep down I’m hoping it’s nothing crazy I have to chase wires everywhere to figure out the issues. So I started simple with a wash, the truck was sitting in a dirt lot and it was covered in spider webs and spiders. If you look under the truck on the side profile picture, you can see what looks like a loose hanging wire, its actually a bunch of spider webs wadded up to a rope from being trailered home. I spent a lot of time with the shop vac trying to get all that out from everywhere.

The more the better, and thank you 🙏🏻 We might be able to get a decent amount of mjs together here

Thank you 🙏🏻 I am glad you like it and hope people get to see it and enjoy it

1987 Street Comanche #20 black paint, tan interior, 2wd, 5spd, 4.0, d35, no AC,

Cool, well we should get together sometime

Well not the entire time, I had to drive to California to go get it.

Thanks, yeah this one definitely came black with the tan interior so I don’t think it is safe to say they were all red with black interior. At this point I’m not sure what their methods were for selecting trucks to be a street comanche.

Thank you, yeah I am actually over in Scottsdale. I just got it registered this morning so I’m sure we can work something out