neohic

Yeah... something like that. :idea: Speaking of building trucks... you know what this is about. :D It's sad to see any MJ off to the scrapper. Nice knowing that it'll live on in some form or another... probably in one of your trucks or mine!

Any thoughts on a tire carrier off the rear? :dunno:

Few more pictures here too: http://comancheclub.com/topic/15047-ho-fuel-sending-unit/

I figured it's staying in a cold garage. At the very least, their last drink can be something sweet! See?... what a nice guy I am.

I've been thinking about this more and more from wanting to go HO on my '88. Couldn't one also use a trailer wiring adapter and use that for sending power to the taillights on the truck to keep things looking factory when the lights are working?

Ha! The wife and I went away for the weekend... come back to look in the bucket. Already got two of them!

Did you sell the ZJ?

Maybe some white in the engine bay?... :roll:

The cat's name is Autumn... and she's no mouser. Spoiled would be the best way to describe her. Why, yes... that is a heating pad that she sits on! Not only that, but she has a bucket of toys. Seems as though she never plays with them, but if you stay up late enough you can hear her thumping around. It's actually the slowest game of fetch that we seem to play. Every morning I wake up and there's this plush squirrel waiting for me to step on. I toss it back in the bucket... wait until the next morning... step on it... rinse and repeat as necessary.

I'm finding that having a bigger garage opens the door for more spaces for mice to hide. Now, I say that I just barely live in a rural are... not to mention the open field right across the street. With my construction now coming to a close and I'm just about done moving boxes around, I'm finding evidence that it's not just the wife (and her cat) and I living here. Last winter I caught a couple of mice red handed in the basement but after putting some traps down there I also took care of two. With the siding done and everything sealed up very tight, I'm confident that shouldn't be a problem anymore. Then there's the garage. While cleaning the TPS on the ZJ this morning, I found a small clump of carpet insulation right next to the throttle body. I'd really rather not think about where the insulation came from, but I've got a pretty good idea of who put it there. Every winter, I always put plenty of smelly dryer sheets all over my vehicles and under the hoods. I try to start them from time to time also, but I've also made up steel wool plugs for the exhaust tips. So now I wouldn't think I'd have to do this on the daily driver but now I get insulted with this package of misplaced insulation like some kind of gang tag. Granted, it's better than the mice throwing a pair of shoes over some power lines or spray painting my walls, but now it's an invasion on my turf! After a quick search through the interweb picture machine, I found a simple mouse trap that I know I had stuff sitting around to throw together. Behold: Bucket, coolant, wire, a pill bottle, peanut butter, a piece of wood with a bolt through it to keep it upright. Done. The idea is that the board is a nice, inviting ramp for the victims to go up after smelling the sweet aroma of the peanut butter. They climb up, jump down to the pill bottle with the tasty treat on it, the bottle spins, and the little rodent falls to a green pool of death. Okay... your move. Anyone else have any tricks of their own for keeping mice at bay?

Edit... okay nevermind.

That's exactly what I was thinking!

http://comancheclub.com/topic/23624-grand-wagoneer-rear-spring-soa-swap-done-more-pics-added/

Easy to make you own too:

Yeah... everyone wants more lighting and running enough power can be an issue. ... always know where your switches are.

Okay... it's later. There was the big story on what I've been up to over the past five months, but there wasn't much for pictures. Sorry for passing this back and forth between threads, so I think I'll try and keep all the information on this truck over here from here on out. It started with a road trip. I had a friend getting married this past weekend that was at one end of the state from me, then on Sunday I went from there to another edge of the state, just to go clear back to where I started afterwards (hey, it was a school night after all). We got up to Archer Racing at around 2:00. I was flagged around to the back of the building to a large garage door where John Archer was waiting. I walked in and was instantly surrounded by quarter million dollar racing Dodge Vipers in different stages of repair, fabrication, and storage. There was a quick walk around the facility and then it was on to business. We loaded up the parts that I was after all the while carrying on conversation about the old MJ racing days that was filled with plenty of questions. I think John got the impression that I was after more than just parts... he was right. He comes up to me and says, "I think there's some other stuff that you'd like to see." He was right! There was the hood that I didn't get. There's just the one and molds don't exist. I think it could've come home with me if the offer was right, but at the same time he knows what his parts are worth. What makes sense in my head is that John told me that they only raced the trucks with the fiberglass hoods for three races before the officials told them that wasn't cool. Shouldn't be on a tribute truck... right? Then there was the posters and pictures: This poster sparked a story of how Walker Evens' and Mike Lesle's and the Archer guys met up once and swapped trucks just to play around. I thought that was kinda neat! The picture was cool also: Anybody know what bump drafting is? Well, it's pretty much when you've got another driver behind you helping you out by pushing you through a corner so you can almost sling-shot around. This picture was of Tommy and Bobby Archer along with R.K. Smith all in a row to push Tommy into an undoubted win. This picture was of the first time Tommy's 33 truck was on a track in '87. Note the lack of the Rugged Liner bedliner. Anyone know why they ran bedliners? Everyone did because everyone had to! Rugged Liner was a circuit sponsor. Another thing this picture lead to was a great story about one way the Archer brothers would move weight around the trucks for transfer and stability. He painted a great picture! Just imagine the brothers sitting in a hotel room in the middle of the night pouring lead shot into a tailgate then following it up with fiberglass resin to keep the gate from being a big maraca. Anyone know what happens to fiberglass resin when it's setting up? It gets hot! Really hot!!! So there they were pouring tubs of resin into an 800 pound tailgate that's now getting so hot that the paint starts cooking off causing fire alarms and sprinklers to go off. Think of what kind of explanation that would be at the front desk! He was saying that it was all said and done then it dawned on them that they had an 800 pound tailgate up in their room that needed to get to the truck... did I mention that they were on the second floor? Ha!!! Trophies: I turned to my wife with John in clear earshot, "Hu... I guess I didn't wear pants with big enough pockets today!" We had an amazing time and it was quite the experience. John is a great guy and I'm super glad that he made enough time for some Jeep nerd who was after some knowledge and parts to try and see what it was like to enjoy the track in a Comanche. Once back home, the joy of going through the parts picked up again. The addition of some of the other stuff that John threw in was fun as well! A couple old Archer parts catalogs and couple other neat things: This was the beloved XJ of John's. He spoke fondly of it what with its Tremec six speed and supercharger. Then that all ended when a little old lady decided that he didn't need it anymore with a swift t-bone. The shop truck on the cover that still runs around Duluth: Back cover: Yes! Woody with a body kit: Other stuff: Parts! Obviously, the crooked bumper isn't going to stay. Honestly, who can get parts like these and not throw them on at the first opportunity they get? Looking forward to this build.

Paint is a little ways out yet... but probably. I'm not thinking of going to exactly what was used on the trucks, but maybe more like a combination of what was on the trucks over the '87-'89 competition series.

Way ahead of you on that one.

Or even without a stroker and going from 3.07s to 3.55s with a limited slip and 225/55s? I know... 4.10s would be nicer, but an axle that was just about free is nice too. :brows:

Okay... okay... since the cat is out of the bag, I might as well say that I'm not building a replica SCCA MJ... because those all ran four cylinders.

:peek:

The only mold that remains is for the front spoiler. He actually gets questioned about that more than anything else. A few years ago, he had the mold touched up and had bunch made up. It costs him slightly less to have them made up than what he sells them for. With all the interest lately, he told me that he's considering having some molded. As for getting parts, there is a laundry list of people who contact him weekly and have been waiting for me to either purchase or step aside. Thanks BJ! I got two of them but the wife claimed the other. That's fine though... she understands that it's more of a "special occasion" hat. :D It's not that he wouldn't sell the remainder of the parts, but if anyone is interested you just about need to take a number.

As Paul Harvey said many times... and here's the rest of the story: http://comancheclub....e/page__st__100 Again, more on that later. :D

In case anyone was wondering what has happened to this between then and now... besides being listed again... Yup, there was this: http://comancheclub....-ahhh-its-back/ ... and then there was some other stuff in the background. As the story goes, the truck was sold to Sterling during the good old days of racing. The truck indeed was given to his son to drive as long as the race engine was removed and the axles were swapped as well. That all happened. The truck went into disrepair and was parked at a repair shop where Robert Hoemke found and bought it. Then it sat... and sat... and sat until it found its way to ebay the first time around. He got tons of crap from people saying that it wasn't the genuine article. Then it was authenticated by the Archers and all was supposed to be well with a for sure sale. Then it didn't... and then it didn't again. Now, I'm not so sure what'll happen next. Background story... Two days after the truck went on ebay the first time, I got in touch with John Archer, the current Archer brother in charge of Archer Racing in Duluth MN. The questions were asked if there were any components left over from the trucks. At first I got a shady response because someone else beat me to the punch a day before... Robert Hoemke. The plan was to sell off everything to him and keep it all as a package. Fast forward four months. I kept after him calling twice a week trying to get any kind of information out of John as far as what he still had sitting around. Finally! Velvet ropes parted, trumpets sounded from the heavens, and a glimpse of what was hiding in a Duluth storage attic was given. Parts... lots of them. See, the Archers didn't just race, but they also sold parts. Working very closely with Chrysler, they created a body kit based off of the sexy lines of the then brand new SCCA MJs. This would later grow into the Street Comanche campaign. Body kits were made and the dealer in California was scheduled to produce 100 just to see how they sold. They did. Eventually. Not in time for Jeep to think that it would be a good idea to keep the name going. The idea was scrapped but the fiberglass molds were not and the Archers kept the idea alive. Special orders could be made to build you own! More body kits were produced and shipped all over the country. And all was well! Then the mid '90s hit and things started to dry up. Production stopped and some left overs were put on a shelf. Things sold from time to time... but everything just mostly sat on shelves. Need proof? Like I said, I called and asked about what may be sitting around. What I found out was eye-opening to say the least. Side skirts (MJ and XJ), fiberglass leaf springs, custom spun coils, a single front spoiler and fiberglass hood, and much more. I wanted a cut of things! Sadly, plenty of others do as well. I was reminded by John that I wasn't the only one calling and writing emails weekly. That's awesome though! My thoughts were to get enough parts to put together a truck and share the brief history of the SCCA Comanches. Did I get it all? No... the idea is to share the history. What better way than to have others get their chance at the parts too?! I came. I saw. I heard stories of the glorious old racing days of the mighty Comanche racing team. Today, I met with John Archer. Awesome guy holding the keys to so many questions of the technology of the time! I spent plenty of time at the Archer Racing facility being nosy and having the opportunity to see what the inner workings of a SCCA racing team. It was kinda cool! John was very accommodating and open to all questions I threw at him! I was ecstatic!!! Definitely the "kid in the candy store" type of situation! I got what I was after and we parted ways. The thought of knowing what hides in an attic is amazing! Hopefully, the next person on his list will be as grateful. ... got a few parting gifts too.