pizzaman09

This is a main reason I have normal everyday insurance on my 62 Austin Healey Sprite, it is registered and plated as and Antique. According to PA it can't be used as a daily driver, though I've done it for 6 months straight. Because it's registered as an Antique, my insurance is very cheap as they don't expect me to put many miles on it, and the data agrees with it as I only put 1500-2000 miles a year on the Sprite. It sure seems based on this discussion, every state is different with their rules. PA for instance is back and forth in proving originality and showing the vehicle is generally unmodified. However if it's 25 years old, it can be registered as an antique and 15 years old it can be a classic. The only thing that's odd to me is that antique trucks still are required to pay the payload capability fee that PA charges. Even my friend with a 28 Ford Model A truck had to pay the extra money for payload during antique registration just because it's a truck. The cool thing in PA is once it is registered as an antique, it is registered for life with no yearly registration.

I was thinking this too. I can just hear my pump prime before starting, when driving with the rear window open, even at idle I don't hear the pump.

That is one fine looking engine in that box. Quite exciting.

Sharp! What is the rear bumper from? I'm guessing not a Jeep based on the lights.

What are the symptoms? Does it make noise when you hit the key? Do you hear the motor free spinning but it isn't engaging the flywheel?

Awesome! I had run into the same issue when I pulled mine to do the external slave conversion.

Are you confident you have the bolts out near the top? There are a couple sheet metal screws near the top that can allow you to pull the transmission 1/2 inch out but then no further.

Ignore my brother also taking a photo of the sunset.

No but it looks intriguing. Judging by the connector size it might be just a two pin connection.

Thanks! The trouble I've found is just knowing what a trail has, I had purchased a trail book for Moab and used that to research the trails I went on with some success and some not. Even knowing what trails are maintained was a complete unknown, last time I was out there we ended up an a very scary place because 7 mile rim had been blocked off and we didn't know it until we were on a ledge looking a 1000ft down. Generally staying to the popular trails helps. A more local person like you is so awesome to be able to talk to to get the scoop on trails that are passable for stock vehicles. I'm looking forward to scouting out sand hollow area this year and seeing what we think will be stock Comanche capable.

Pulling fence posts out at the property. Low range 4x4 is fantastic.

I am so excited to see build is going well! You are going to have some serious torque. Out of curiosity what displacement is this engine? Is it a cast iron block?

Like many of us, my high mileage Comanche has a very saggy driver door. This repair method uses JB-weld to fill the hinge holes that are worn out and redrill them to the original 1/4" diameter instead of drilling out larger and using a larger bolt. My hinges had the center section hole worn out, initially I figured the role pins were worn but they weren't. That said the roll pins were completely rusted in place. First step was to remove the door, make sure to remove the door card, speaker and wires. Then door detent device. The 3 bolts on each hinge are T40 torx, and are extremely tight since they are deformed thread and loctited in place. I chose to spray the inside of the threads with PB blaster prior to removal. Due to limited space, a 1/4" drive T40 bit and a 1/4" ratcheting box end wrench were needed. With the door removed my door had two spacers between the door and the hinge. The first a body shim, the second a thick steel formed plate that cups around the hinge. As stated my roll pins were rusted in place, no reasonable amount of hammering with a punch would move them. To get around this, I got a Dremel with a cutoff wheel in between joints on each end of the hinge. I originally used the standard Dremel cutoff fiber reinforced wheels with the little screw on mandrel. Apparently those are fragile when the disc gets pinched and I broke two screws. A friend recommended the much more robust quick change cutoff arrangement made by Dremel. This did take some patience, do the bottom gap first then left the hinge and do the top gap. My goal was to abraded away as little of the load bearing surface of the hinge as possible. The stub pieces of roll pin on the C part of the hinge, I had to push out with an arbor press. Next I used brake clean and Q-tips to make sure the hinge pin holes were super clean. Once cleaned, I mixed up some 6 minute JB Weld and used a tooth pick to spread it around the bore and on the top and bottom faces where the Dremel had abraded the hinge. After the glue is cured, use a file on the JB Weld to make a flat surface for the hinge to sit on, I did top and bottom. The goal was to make the hinge fit snuggly so there was no up it down sliding play. After filling, I drilled out the holes first with a small drill bit, 3/16" or so, be careful the glue really grabs and pulls the bit. Then very carefully one drill size right below 1/"4 and a final pass at 1/4". I decided to use 1/4" bolts instead of the replacement roll pins as they were far easier to install. Those bolts were slightly tight in the glue, even though they measured 0.247" in diameter. I finished the hole with an oiled 1/4" ream spun in carefully by finger. Assembled with a copious amount of grease and painted. The bolts were roughly a 3" bolt with just the end inch threaded and the rest solid shank. Door alignment was a fun and challenging process, my tips are have a friend to help move the door up and down, and also note that the door striker hex is 18mm. Even though the hinges were now tight, the door was still slightly saggy, so I removed the body shim from the upper hinge, this allowed for excellent alignment.

Will do!

Fixed up the driver's door hinges to get the sagging door righted. It was a challenge. The roll pins were predictably stuck in the hinges. A Dremel with a cut off disc at each end of the pin got it apart. After disassembly I found that the roll pins were not worn out but actually the hinge holes were on the part welded to the body. To fix that I filled the holes with JB weld and the areas that were cut on the top and bottom by the Dremel. Filled the top and bottom of the hinge center section to height. And drill out the holes, carefully stepping up and finally using a ream by hand to finish them. Everything got a coat of black paint too, none of this I took photos of. Replaced the broken door holder opener thing. With a new bumper style one The threaded studs on the new one were a bit closer together but it just fit putting it in the door. After about an hour of alignment exercises I did get it aligned well enough. It still takes a good slam to overcome the seal. So far the results are awesome, less wind noise and I expect less water seeping in making the floor wet.

I've looked at this a couple times. If the right MJ came along, I'd try and do a BMW S52 or S54 swap, which are the engines from the 96-99 M3 or 01-06 M3 respectively. The later being an 8000+ rpm screamer with great torque across the rev range. The adapter plate to an AX-15 is available in Europe. Those BMW engines are pretty easy to swap due to the electronics packages being well self contained, maybe a speed sensor would be the challenging part. The Supra engine is also tempting as if I remember correctly the transmission used in those cars are closely related to the AX-15. In general the challenging part to most exotic engine swaps are the ECU and controls. Swapping the ECU is easiest if you can get all inputs satisfied. Doing a custom stand alone ECU is a science project all it's own.

I'm curious on your opinion on taking a stock 4x4 short bed Comanche to Moab or St. George. I've been to Moab twice and rented two door JKs both times that were mega built, however I have an itch to make the 3000 mile drive in my MJ to run it somewhere not muddy. I feel like it could easily handle the first half of Hells Revenge and probably a lot of Fins and Things but am worried about dragging the rear bumper. I'm confident it wouldn't get far in Poison Spider Mesa. I plan to scout out the St. George area this year when I head out and rent some side by sides for a day.

I take the little bites approach and sometimes just force myself to do things. Like I've been putting off changing my door pins until today. I dug in today, took the door off, couldn't get the rusty pins out, now need to buy a new Dremel disc mandel as I broke it trying to cut the pin out. I started the project today as I had nothing going on this evening, and knew it would rain in the coming days so I was unlikely to drive the truck. So for now the door sits in the garage until I get to the hardware store tomorrow to buy a new Dremel mandrel. This is how many projects go, once it's taken apart, I make it a point to get it back together as soon as I can so it's useable again. Also I find that daily driving it gives me the motivation to fix stuff as the not perfect stuff bugs me. The trick is to have another vehicle one can drive if you screw up enough to need to let it sit for a day or three while you get more parts or tools.

If you smoked it, you probably blew the diode. Change the diode with another and all will work correctly. If you don't then when you turn on that light individually it will back feed and run all of the interior lights. It's not a big deal but just something to note.

New My old piece was toast. The new one from crown appears to be nice. I did find that the bolts were a bit too close together but it just fit in the holes so it technically bolted right up. Once I get my door pins replaced I'll let you know how it works.

I rented this tool from Advance Auto, it worked amazingly for removing and installing the harmonic balancer.... After I removed the thick washer. https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/powerbuilt-tools-kit-45-harmonic-puller-pulley-installer-kit-648616/9150003-p?product_channel=local&store=5323&adtype=pla_with_promotion&product_channel=local&store_code=5323&&&&&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlZixBhCoARIsAIC745D2t9WM-jfkHw63cgsLpmyUM37Q8C9D_cHC_seOqzkAN9P5oF8DkHIaAlorEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

No need to pull the radiator, at least the harmonic balancer tool I rented managed to fit. I do recommend a ratcheting box end wrench to drive the tool due to limited space. When you get the crank bolt out, don't forget to take off the 1/4" thick washer that's under the crank bolt head. Mine was so stuck on from grime that it stayed in place causing me to spend considerable time trying to pull against that washer.

Are you calculating MPG based on the odometer or off of say a GPS distance? Since you have larger tires the odometer distance will be less unless you changed the speedometer gears. That would account for about 1 mpg. 13.8mpg does sound low to me, I'd expect 18-19mpg. Spark plugs and O2 are likely decent places to start looking. Also checking to see if your manifold bolts are tight. Do the basics of a tune up.

Had a good sunset this evening.

I really like what you did adding the graphics. This is wonderful useful truck with the long bed and metric ton package.