WranglerMangler

Hello everyone, first post on the Comanche Club. Long time looker. I’m not even sure this is where I’m supposed to do this. 
“Project CommuteChe”
This week I decided to drag my junk yard find 1991 2wd HO Comanche out of the bushes at my house and finally show her the love she deserves. I’ve tried in the past to get her going again but never really put any effort into it. I am not an electrical person at all and it seemed to be an electrical problem. I did give her a very thorough pressure washing and she cleaned up a little bit but still looks like a junkyard find. Can’t complain about that mileage though! 

The Ignition switch and headlight dimmer  switch were unbolted and hanging down by the brake pedal. The Ignition lock tumbler was obviously screwed with by someone who didn’t know what they were doing and needed replacement. I also found that the fuel pump ballast was cracked and inoperable. 
First thing, let’s make her crank. So I  threw a known good battery in it and tried to crank her over, nothing. This is using the old ignition switch hanging down by the brake pedal not knowing that It grounds to the column. 
I needed a new ignition lock cylinder anyway so I went down to the local Napa and got the fuel pump ballast, ignition switch and lock cylinder. Installed the lock cylinder with new keys and bolted the Ignition switch and Headlight dimmer to the column. Still no crank.
Ok, jump the starter. It Cranks! But with no spark. Pulled the #1 plug just to see. Something else is going on, must be that pesky Neutral Safety Switch I’ve been hearing so much about. So I remove the NSS and disassemble to inspect internal components. Doesn’t look too bad but wasn’t great either. Cleaned up and reassembled the NSS. Still won’t crank even with jiggling the shift lever. 

Well, let’s bypass the NSS with a jumper wire. Cram a piece of safety wire into the appropriate hole in the connector and... nothing. Still won’t crank. Must be something else. Checked all fuses again and all were in good shape.
I was watching different YouTube videos of people diagnosing no crank symptoms and one guy opened his under hood fuse box where the relays are at and I remembered I had a few extra relays out in the shop from visiting the junk yard. 
First I swapped the “Starter” relay with the “auto shutdown” relay and nothing happened. So I replaced both the starter and auto shutdown relay with the junkyard relays. She fired right up. Burning the at least 8 year old fuel that was in the lines and having not run in god knows how long she started up pretty rough. Had to keep my foot on the pedal because she wouldn’t idle but eventually she came around. I had already siphoned  the junk fuel out and put in a couple gallons of fresh gas. As soon as the fuel line was clear of junk gas she was purring like a kitten. The oil filter has a date of Manufacture from 2014 so I’m assuming that it’s been sitting since late 2014 or 2015. The engine oil is very clean like it’s just been changed.   I still need to reassemble the steering column and put the steering wheel back on then start to address all the other interesting “modifications” the previous owner had made. I’ve found multiple wires stripped of the insulation. Some 1/2” long, some up to 2” long for whatever reasons. Hopefully with some time and money, I’ll be able to get her back to her former glory. Or at least kinda close. I am looking to make this my commuter vehicle (CommuteChe) to try and keep the miles off of my other vehicles. I drive 50 miles to work each way and it racks up the miles fast. Would way rather be doing it in style with an awesome older truck that you rarely see on the roads. I’ll keep posting my progress as it happens. Thank you for your time.