Hello!
Picked up a 1989 Comanche on Thanksgiving day, made it back in time for supper too! The PO was an old fart who was basically living out of the truck with about a million roaches, so the first thing we did was power wash & soap/degrease the entire truck (inside and out). And it now lives in the backyard waiting for the engine and transmission to sell.
The plans are:
Tackle the light rust in the floor pans.
Remove hood, radiator support, cowl, doors, etc (all damaged body components)
Replace parts for anything that is damaged from donor XJs in JY
Pull JY Ford 8.8 with 4.10 LSD & D30 4x4 axle with 4.10s
Pull JY 8.25, SOA conversion, also pull front D30. Rear ARB and front Aussie Locker.
Sandblast exterior completely or 10 gallons of aircraft paint remover
Bodywork & prep work <- (this is a little easier said than done :/ )
Paint factory colour if possible, if not something cool?
Finish interior including fabricating mounts for new seats (Still can't find blue bucket seats)
Lift kit parts 3.5"-4" lift, OME front and Rustys rear springs.
Fab new engine mounts
Mate AX15 to engine and slap it in. (already done in other jeep)
Mated no problem. Need to machine a new pilot bushing before finalizing the conversion.
Complete the quest for the ever elusive Drivers-side brake light.
Done, thanks Chris!
So, I know some will say "Damn, what a $#!&ty looking comanche to do all that work to" and you are correct. I am sure for another $3k I could get a nice looking comanche that didn't need a ton of bodywork.
But thats not the point of this build!
My goal is to build this truck for use! Not clean enough to baby or garage, but not dirty enough to look like... well how it looks now.
I should note the diesel swap stuff is fairly easy, my main hindrance is finding parts and completing the bodywork & paint decently enough.
Already looking through a bunch of posts, you guys seem like an awesome group of folks and its awesome to learn from you guys!