jeff351

Early 1996 through 1998 B co

cool project! I recognize your unit crest...I was in 3/75. Assuming you were 2nd batt?

The OEM speakers still worked, but music sounds like its played with a kazoo. Upgraded to some basic Pyle speakers front and rear. The display on the radio doesn't work, so I'll get a new head unit eventually. Right now I only have 2 radio stations, one being a local mexican station. Dropped it back on all 4 wheels for the 1st time in a couple months, got excited to take it for the first test drive...then realized the steering wheel is somewhere in the garage and now its raining out. Bummer. Oh well. During the floorpan installation I hit my head on the turn signal stalk so much I broke it, so waiting on a new one to arrive anyways.

more progress Today I applied 2 coats of the Eastwoods Rust Encapsulator to the floorpan top and bottom; also swapped out the grille, bumper, and headlight surrounds with chrome stuff from Rockauto. Tomorrow I'll finish installing new door seals and put in the new inner fender wells.

thanks guys 👍

Under the drivers-side dash. 1 side has velcro on it. Mine is just hanging free.

I got a lot done today...I was expecting to get rained out, so I hauled @$$ for 8 hours. Finished cutting out any remaining rusty spots, which turned out to be higher up the firewall a few inches short of the fuse box. Using cardboard for a quick pattern I traced it to sheet metal, cut on the bandsaw, and welded them in. Then I tacked in the floorpan, beat it with a BFH to make it fit properly, and finished the welding. Had a few blowouts along the edge of the transmission tunnel so patched them up with some small 1"x2" pieces. From all the grinding and cutting, I figured it would be a good time to blow out the fuse box and surrounding area with an air hose; ended up finding the mother load of acorns and chipmunk belongings somewhere and got showered with them. Next I'll hit the edges with 3M seam sealer. For the internal parts, I used Eastwoods Internal Frame Coating. For anything else I used the Eastwoods Rust Converter. I'll give it a couple days to dry and coat it all in Eastwoods Rust Encapsulator, then maybe Raptor line the floor? Not sure yet, but will avoid carpet until i make sure it doesn't leak anymore. So happy this part of the project is almost done.

Just noticed yesterday my Comanche is missing the drip rail moulding. Need both sides + clips. 89 Comanche

My .03 cents opinion. I'm from Maine. I have 1 brother in the welding/machinist trade with Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in NH for years and loves it. Pay is very good and you have tons of nice areas within 2 hours of the ocean. Bath Iron Works (another Navy ship builder) is only an hour up the coast. The snowmobile trails in northern Maine are awesome. My other brother has lived in Portland Oregon for 20+ years and loves it. Recent riots/activities have pushed his political views to the right since he has 1st hand knowledge of whats going on vs what the media reports. But there is a lot to offer, and the coast is beautiful. I visited last year. Avoid the city, the homeless population is out of control. I felt safer walking around in Afghanistan than i did Portland. Walking back from a bar late at night was like doing a tactical exfil back to the hotel. Super sketchy. I live in S.Carolina. Very tax and business friendly. Economy is doing great. Nice beach on the coast. BMW plant is 20 mins from here and a ton of industry in the area revolves around it. On the coast you have the new Volvo plant near Charleston.

Scuzzy gets new shoes! A little elbow grease goes a long way. Also used a pressure washer, a wire brush, a foam sanding pad, and then an application of Eastwoods Rustconverter. My plan was just to drive it to the shop for new tires and alignment, but the old tires were really dry rotted and had some good cuts in them, so instead of risking it I got some new ones mounted to be safe. Found some center caps on ebay to finish them up. Really fun now that its like 95 degrees and humid for the last couple of weeks... Before and after pics....

-Suspension work Since Scuzzy shows 200k on the odometer and looks mostly original, I figure its a good time to replace anything worn out..which is a lot. I 'may' have found the reason why Scuzzy ended up in a junkyard, the ball-end of the track bar is completely worn and blown out, thinking the previous owner got the $#!& scared out of him from death wobble? So i replaced that, along with shocks, sway bar bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends, steering damper...thankfully MOST of it came right off without a hitch.

Part of my pre-drive prep is to make sure its safe and road worthy. So today I pulled the front brakes & old ball joints out, in the process discovered the drivers side steering knuckle/spindle is all goobered up. Luckily I found a replacement on eBay so that should be in this coming week. I also pulled the bench seat to confirm the rust situation. The carpet and insulation were a nice squishy mess. The whole floor is covered in moisture so tonight I left the windows rolled down to air it out. Time to cut in and replace the floor pan!

So the rear brake lines were resolved by just making new ones. But to replace both front brake hoses, the fittings were just as stuck. Before I started hacking into it, I figured I should try something else. What you need: MAP torch and a can of canned air like you use to clean computer parts. Also wear eyepro, gloves, and have a way to extinguish a fire just in case. Cut the hose if possible to drain out the brake fluid. Step 1: Heat the female end with the torch for about 30 seconds. This expands the female end. Step 2: Quickly grab the canned air, hold it upside down, and dowse the male end for a few seconds. Don't get it on your hands as it will cause frostbite. This shrinks the male end. Step 3: Immediately put the wrench on and turn. To my overwhelming excitement, both sides unscrewed so easy like they weren't even finger tight! Funny thing, once I froze the brake fitting, the rubber brake hose sounded like a firecracker (and about 2' from my face) and blew out of the metal fitting. The line was already cut, so i'm not sure why they did that. Hence my reminder to wear eyepro!

Is that a rat in front of the camera?

Update: When I first checked it out at the junkyard, it started up fine. Naturally the day I went to pick it up, it wouldnt start. After pushing it on the trailer and dragging it home, the simple fix was to replace the CPS. Once that was replaced along with a new distributor cap/rotor/plug wires, it runs like a champ. But...before I take it for a test drive, the brakes need some love. Todays task was to rebuild the rear drums with new hardware, wheel cylinders, and shoes. Judging from the old brake shoes, it was way past due. I also put in some new Monroe shocks since the old ones were completely blown out. While replacing the rear hose I discovered a couple of tube nuts that were seized up. No amount of torch heat or penetrating oil would budge them, so I ended up cutting and making new lines from Cunifer. One end goes from the distribution block to the drivers side drum, the other end goes from the hose to the distribution block up near the frame.

Questioning what I circled in green. Is that factory? 2 red wires merging into 1 connector, and then a lose red wire just hanging out on its own. Not sure what it goes to

Like most projects, this one started out completely unnecessary. I was hunting for some random parts for my 1970 Ford Torino GT at at local junkyard that specializes in older vehicles when I happened to notice this mostly intact Comanche sitting there and asked Vic (Vics Classic Cars) what the back story to it was. I already have a daily driver, and also a 4wd truck, and a muscle car, so I certainly didn't need this Jeep. A week later, its in my driveway. Scuzzy got his name since he so desperately needs a deep cleaning. Step 1 today, Scuzzy got a bath. Over a period of 4 hours, he got a soaking in Mean Green degreaser, then a pressure wash, then cleaning nooks and crannies with a toothbrush, then more scrubbing with a brush and carwash sponge. So much mildew and crud. And that doesn't include the interior. Phase 1 interior cleaning was to attack the glovebox(s) with Meguires foaming cleaner, scrub, shop vac, and repeat several times. The drivers door window got stuck all the way down, so I pulled the door panel off to fix that and in the process vacuumed out the acorns and funk inside there. Other than the drivers side floorboard, it blows my mind how rust free this thing is. Here's the 1st picture I took of Scuzzy at the junk yard, then a before and after of cleaning progress under the hood. I'm new to this whole Jeep thing so I'll be asking questions along the way.

I just brought this home yesterday. 1989 Comanche Pioneer 2.5l, 5sp, 2wd. 1J7FT36E2KL629859 white with a blueish-gray cloth bench interior, will probably change colors once i clean it. ~200k miles. Rescued from a local junkyard here in upstate S.Carolina. Runs and drives. Looks to be 99% original and unmodified. The windshield is cracked and the drivers taillight looks odd, like someone replaced it with a...different taillight? Crawled all over and under it, only rust issue is drivers floorboard. A couple of odd wires hanging around but I don't see anything modified or out of place. I'll start a project thread here once I start digging in to it. Step 1: This thing is dirty as heck.. I've nicknamed it Scuzzy. Will soak it in degreaser and begin the detox this weekend.