CaffeineTripp

Looking at building an intake for the Comanche to get much better flow than the stock airbox and pipe can offer. Going through www.SiliconeIntakes.com I'll be using a 3" to 2.5" reducer from the top hat to the 2.5" 17" long intake pipe, couple that with a cone filter with the 'velocity' stack on the end of it. I may or may not use some header wrap/duct heat shielding to keep the intake cool during cruising. However, keeping the intake hot, along with the intake charge itself, will give me some better gas mileage. Here's what I've got for the parts list 3" to 2.5" silicone reducer: 9.99 2.5" worm clamp: 1.49 3" worm clamp: 1.49 2' x 2.5" straight aluminum pipe: 14.99 2.5" inlet cone air filter: 14.99 Grand total would come to 44.44 including shipping to the boonies. I assume that this will improve the gas mileage/horsepower/torque of the engine, but how much is up to speculation. More than likely, it won't be too much. Maybe 1 MPG cruising, 1 HP and 1 ft/lb of torque. But in the end, it just might help overall when cleaning the intake manifold, port matching the throttle body, and a little P&P/gasket matching on the manifold itself.

Nuts. Well, there goes the plan to bolt on the 4.0 TB. Looks like I'll just be working on the port and polish for it along with swapping another fuel injector in sometime down the road; provided I'll be making enough N/A power to actually need to buy a new injector.

Digging through some spare car parts I have and came across a generation 1 A'Pexi SAFC (the one with the knobs, not the buttons). Anyone know if the Renix will be able to accept a different incoming signal from the MAP? Curious about this, because the Cavaliers, which I sadly owned before this, were not able to accept an outside tuning device. As a side note, I go to assume that the injector in the 4.0L throttle body pumps out more CCs/lbs/hour than the 2.5's, however, having a bit of trouble finding any information on the brand of the throttle body as I haven't gotten a chance to look underneath the hood for the past couple of days.

Though I don't do a lot of highway travel, wouldn't locking it into 4WD be a problem for the TC/front diff/rear diff? I'm not very fluent in the gear ratios for the Comanche (don't even know which rear end I have let alone which trans). Right now it wouldn't be the best idea since I doubt the fluid's ever been changed (getting to that, only owned the Jeep for three days now), but even when I change all the fluids; oil, coolant, trans, TC, front diff, rear diff, clutch/brake, the question still remains (given what the owner's manual says) wouldn't keeping it in 4WD put more wear on the TC/front diff than just keeping it in 2WD and only using the 4WD when applicable? This is my DD, so I need it to be quite reliable, at least through winter. On a side note, what do you all recommend for gear oil/ATF brands? I'm leaning more towards AMSOil/Valvoline, as any other brand where I live is quite hard to come by, good luck getting Redline/Royal Purple for anything as I doubt any shop/NAPA has ever heard of it (town's a bit of a "WTF is a turbo/sport compact/spool/BOV just getta 350/460/402/318/360" kinda town).

Most vehicles that I've come across have a definite vacuum removal diagram. Of course, the PCV, and related components to it that run to the air box, shouldn't be removed for blow-by reasons. In which case, I am thinking of removing all of the vacuum lines that run to the emissions system; EGR, the charcoal canister, and others. I'd like to keep the vacuum lines fort the 4WD actuator, fix it appropriately. Nice to have some 2WD. In any case, I did some searching but I couldn't find anything on the forum in terms of a diagram for removing the vacuum lines. Rather make it a bit simpler to diagnose any leaks by removing as many as possible then having to use some carb cleaner on all the lines to find a leak.

be extra careful with that pressure washer. there are some electronics in there that don't like getting wet (TPS, distributor, etc). Plastic bags 'n' duct tape. I intended to wrap the throttle body, and most, if not all, of the main wiring in plastic bags and seal it off with some duct tape.

Looking more along the lines of not completely doing a resto job on it, just getting some things cleaned up for decently cheap; rubber floor 'carpet', window roll-down knob, shifter console, and some other miscellaneous pieces. The maroon's getting to me, so I might just swap everything to black, or practice with some interior paint on some extra pieces of interior. Don't want it to look cheesy. Anyway, here's some pictures. It's not as big of a rust bucket as I thought it would be, especially for living its life in the midwest. Engine bay's dirty as hell of course, but nothing a little Simple Green and a pressure washer can't handle.

As of tomorrow, I'll have the Comanche. Ah, nothing like a small, light, 4WD 5-speed truck. Now, apparently, all I have to do is find out what transmission it has (which one's the more robust?), order in an alternator and battery (since that's what is supposedly wrong with it, but going to do a load test before getting anything), grab some oil and a filter and be on my way. Pretty sure that the transmission, differentials, and transfer case oils have never been changed so that's on a list of things to do. Same with the coolant. So much tuning up to take care of. Oh, and there's no radio or speakers. F.

I noticed when I type anything into Google about Jeep Comanche OE parts or restoration parts, I don't get so much as anything for the Comanche. Are there any websites out there that list OE interior/exterior parts? Took a quick glance at the Comanche tonight when I got done with work, it looks in decent condition, however, like many '87 vehicles, it does need a bit of work. Especially vehicles from Minnesota in the hands of a 17 year-old. Body is red, and the interior is burgundy (bleh). May think about doing a black interior swap or painting it...but I'm not so much with the paint.

There are Chev 350's all around up here. That's the primary truck of choice, that and Fords. Not too much Mopar save for the Jeeps. Tons of Subies too...boxer swap? Nah, too heathen. Bloody pancake engines. Anyway, I'd like to keep the drivetrain and the motor the same. Modify it for whatever it's purpose may be; rock crawling, mudding, DD, or something along those lines. Be nice to have a 300 WHP 350 with a blower on it though...but that'll be another project when/if I can afford it. I read online at, Import Tuners I believe, that when you gut the cat, you actually lose horsepower/torque given that when the air flows into the catalytic converter, it 'hits' the sides and bounces back towards the outlet, thus hampering the total amount of flow. Best bet would be to get a high flow cat or just test pipe it completely. The test that they did it on (including the stock cat, hollowed cat, and high-flow cat) was a B18, or was it K20?, Integra. Of course, all engines, exhaust systems, and scavenging in the same place isn't the exact same from car to car, so I would imagine a couple dyno runs would provide the information. http://www.importtuner.com/tech/impp_0904_hollowed_out_catalysts_make_power_fact_or_fiction/index.html I took a quick peak of the truck as it sat in the school parking lot. From the distance it looked in pretty decent condition. Red in color. Needs some Hella fog lights on bottom though. Maybe some Rustoleum paint and a Rhino lined bed. And a completely chromed out interior with custom paint and decals. No, just kidding. Stock and stock for the interior.

It's a good idea for a bolt-on kit, however, it's way too expensive. It's much easier to piece together a kit even including the fabrication process for the intercooler piping, turbo manifold, and so forth. Either way though, that certainly brights my day that there's one available. Only bad part, an MFI engine, not TBI. Also run into the problem of a bigger injector(s), higher flow fuel pump (though not that much higher, maybe a 190 LPH Walbro on a moderate 7-9 lbs of boost). Quite a bit to do, but I'm pretty sure it can be done for under $1,500.

lol I'm hoping so. Small trucks are hard to come by up here, especially a Comanche. It's the only one in my town. Sounds like I'll need to find myself a good metal fabricator. I haven't done a search yet, but has anyone gone the route of forced induction of any sort, whether turbo or super, on the 2.5? Or is something like that favored only on the 4.0? Too bad it's not the 2.1 turbo diesel, could have myself some fun with that!

I'm thinking about picking up a Comanche pretty soon here, Tuesday actually. Still have yet to take a look at it, but it has always been one of the trucks that I've wanted. Comes with everything I'd need; small wheel base, robust engine (2.5 liter, too bad it's not the straight 6 though), 5 speed, four wheel drive. Small truck, but can do a hell of a lot. There are some things I've been wondering though. I checked out some of the information on this forum and other forums on the Comanche, as well as Wikipedia. The engine that comes in this Jeep is the 2.5. Checked out Wiki for some information on the 2.5, apparently, it only comes in Jeep applications and some others. However, given that is an AMC engine, I'm wondering how many similarities, if any, it shares with the Dodge engines of the same day (Daytona's, Shadow's, Spirit's). I'm only linking the literage with the same literage as the K cars given Jeep/AMC's relationship with Chrysler. Also, the availability of aftermarket seems a bit low, engine wise that is. I can see from the user pictures that there are plenty of suspension components that are available, and I'm alright with that. Are there any common problems with the truck, transmission, drivetrain, brake, engine, electrical that I should be looking for? Something that's quite common with this truck that other vehicles may not experience?