oleskool

Final piece of the interior just showed up. Core short throw shifter with hurst gear shift. Someone cut my ax15 handle down low and by the time I rebuilt mine and bought a new lever arm I figured I might as well splurge. Also picked up a set of rugged ridge floor liners for a Cherokee. Figured I would see if I can make them fit right. If not I can send them back I guess lol. I run husky or weather tech floor liners in all my jeeps and would really like to have a set in this one too. I guess this weekend I get the interior in!

1989 Jeep Comanche Pioneer 4.0 / AX15 / 231 / D30 / D35 / LWB Build date unknown Southeast (SC) Back in the road after several years being stored. Dark Blue exterior, navy interior, bucket seats, AC, non tilt wheel I am the 2nd owner of this truck. Bought from original owners son.

Looking for a tilt wheel column for my 89' comanche.

Ahhh, the joys of working on old jeeps and what their past owners have attempted to fix cheaper / quickly lol. I've been going through the brakes on my newly acquired truck and that turned into a $#!& show real quick. Needless to say I have re flared almost every hard brake line on that truck at this point haha. I think I am up to $2k in my $500 truck haha. That's ok though, they sure do bring a smile to your face when you are driving them through town! Glad to see this thing back up and moving!

Finally got a little time yesterday to get the insulation in. Waiting for the core shifter to arrive and I’ll get the carpet and interior back in.

1989 Pioneer Longbed Fort Mill SC

Good to hear. I’ll let this one go then. I’ve verified with a infrared thermometer but I wanted to make sure it seems normal. Thanks for the reassurance.

Goodluck. That stuff worked great for me. I left it in for a week and let it run at least an hour a day even if it was just idling while I worked in the shop.

Drain the coolant and run thermocure to treat the rust properly. I just replaced the entire cooling system and ran that through before I swapped water pump, thermostat etc. my coolant looked like that when it can out and after a week of running the truck the block is scaled black and the coolant after flushing is running nice and clean.

I guess I should add the plan for this truck. The car enthusiast in me really wants to lift it and throw 35’s on it but I already have two heavily modified jeeps so I think for this guy it will be more practical and nostalgic to keep it as close to bone stock as I can. I wanted to do an updated interior swap but the blue interior kinda takes me back to when I was a kid in this era. I learned to drive in a 83’ Datsun King Cab Truck with blue interior. So I think it will stay bone stock with some minor performance upgrades that add reliability and etc. I will keep the 235/75/15 tire size though. I really love the look at stock ride height. Oh and I will put the flares back on when I’m finished cleaning her up.

Thank you. Not sure about young. I guess it’s all relative haha. I’m 38 and this is the first MJ I’ve messed with. I love old jeeps and have several CJs including the first one I bought when I was 16 many moons ago. The next project is a 46 Willys I bought from a local guy that actually purchased it from my dad when he was 20. One thing at a time though lol. Some of the other toys. We can’t just have one right!?!?!

Yeah kinda what I figured but thought I would ask. I confirm it gets 195 at the goose neck so I know everything is working. The thermostat opens correctly and the electric fan will kick on when the gauge hits 210. I’ll let this one go and focus on all the other small issues lol.

I'm excited to get it back on the road full time. The paint would be pristine but they let one of their grandsons drive it for a bit before it was parked. He sprayed undercoating on the dark blue paint trying to black it out for some reason. It’s slowly coming off with mineral spirits.

It’s a very clean truck. I still have a layer of insulation to put over the mat and the roof to knock out. Hopefully it makes difference.

Factory temp. I believe that’s 195.

So I’ve replaced the cooling system on my 89 4.0 5 speed because it was running cold as if the thermostat was stuck. It was in fact stuck open and judging by the coolant color and how long this truck was sitting. Now with updated cooling components besides the radiator I’m still seeing it run lower than I remember any of my XJs run. The truck seems to run fine but any ideas as to what this might be related to?

Now with the interior stripped I needed to see what kind of rust we are dealing with. The underside of the body is immaculate. This truck was well cared for but like most jeeps it does leak. I pulled the carpet and found some superficial rust in the pan. Then I got the insulation on the fire wall out of the way. Sadly I found one small 1” diameter hole where the foam holds water. Not a big deal as long as it’s treated properly. I use POR15 on my CJs and with good success as long as you are very careful in prep. I wore wheeled the floors, vacuumed up the mess, degreased the floor and added their metal prep to neutralize the remaining cancer. After that I went over it with their rust coat and finally a black top coat. Since I’m stripping the cab I might as well add sound proof and insulation. I’ve gotten the sound proofing in and hopefully this weekend it will buttoned up. I washed the carpet while I was at it so it smells better lol.

After this we now had to turn to the brakes. The goal was to drop the booster and MC. Then go around and replace the brake pads / shoes and put in new soft brake lines. So that went about as expected. Brake Booster are a pain to pull for something with just 4 bolts lol. Since I had to pull the driver seat to lay in the cab I went ahead and started the interior strip project at the same time. With the new MC and BB installed I went to knock out the rear brakes first. The rear wheel cylinders were leaking as expected which lead to a wild ride re flaring brake lines. I’m accustomed to old jeeps but this thing has every brake fitting locked in place like no other. I scrapped the hard lines on the rear axle and ran -3AN SS flex lines like I do on my offroad rigs. So after a couple days of reworking hard lines and bleeding air we finally have solid brakes again. The front brakes are next but my back needs a rest after this.

At this point the truck runs but doesn’t move because the clutch is stuck. My dad cranks it up and let’s it run every couple days for a few minutes got impatient and started working the clutch pedal (their may have been a rubber mallet involved) and magically I get this from my mom while I was at work. So at least it runs and drives haha.

Next up was the cooling system. The coolant looked like rust water so I drained and flushed the block. Added Thermocure to the block with pure water, burped the system and let it idle for a hour or so everyday for a week to circulate / treat the block. Meanwhile I ordered a new thermostat, water pump, fan clutch, idle pulley, serpentine belt, radiator hoses etc. after a week the system was flushed throughly and a new cooling system besides the sealed radiator was installed. I held off installing a new radiator because it was holding coolant fine. I plan to convert to an open system soon but for now I’ll focus money to other areas. Everything buttoned up and it seems to be cooling properly.

Since that day I dropped the tank to find what I expected, gas tank was rusted beyond repair and the fuel sending unit was in the same shape. I purchased a new tank and MTS sending unit and cleaned the fuel lines while I was at it. Slapped the tank and a new fuel filter in and boom she cranked up. Unfortunately that led to a complete fuel rail geyser of gas. Leaks from all the connections and fuel pressure regulator. But hey at least it cranked. with a new fuel system in place and upgraded 4 hole injectors it finally cranked and idled for the first time in years. After that it was time to upgrade all the connections and power / ground wires. I grabbed cables from Jeepcables and went to work. Upgraded and cleaned everything all the way to the fuse box (nothing really worked like the blower motor, dash lights, etc). Found the fuse box is corroded like many others but I salvaged it for now. I have a good used one sitting in the shop waiting.

Here is the 89’ Pioneer I picked up for $500 in July. I’ve known about this truck for years but it has taken this long for the family to agree to sell it. I bought it from the original owners son. This truck has been parked for several years (inside a barn). It was parked because it was running rough lol. After it got parked a family of rats decided to move in judging by the nest I found behind the radio. Here it is after I pulled it out of the barn with my dad and the day it was brought home. The truck would start up on starter fluid but that’s it. this is a late 89’ truck 4wd 5 speed AX15 4.0. clutch was stuck, didn’t run off gas tank and the brake had rusted up so it didn’t roll well lol.

I need to check that to. Thanks for the reminder. Hopefully I can get back on it this weekend. I’m in the process of reworking the cab and I need to get the interior back in.

All plugs and wires etc have been replaced. Had the coil go bad and swapped it all out while I was in there. The IAC looks newish but I know that doesn’t mean anything. I’ll see what the TB does and go from there.

I just picked mine up and its sitting at 114k. Hoping to refurb it and make it my new DD.