neohic

^ Another ancient thread to the top.

Tons of upgrades!!!… terrible console. https://cosprings.craigslist.org/cto/d/colorado-springs-1988-jeep-comanche/7419115800.html

Very sharp! Kind of feels like a throw back for those of us with lifted red Eliminators. Looking forward to seeing more!

Only one more post from the OP and we can actually move this to the For Sale section.

What about exhaust manifold clearance? Those heads look WIDE. Super in for this project as well. Tip of the cap for trying something new.

Rad! Welcome aboard.

Are there any vehicles with this engine that had a rear sump? Curious why you couldn’t move the whole works towards the firewall.

Oof… hoping everything is as well as can be.

Find yourself an 8.25 from an XJ to put under it. That 35 you’ve got with the big nut at the hub is a two piece axle and needs to be put out of its misery.

RAD!!

Been a rough few weeks with some other things going on but today I finally got some more electrical done. The remainder of the conduit was run along with wire, and then I hung lights. There’s a couple more things to wrap up for the ceiling. The two exterior lights need to be mounted yet too. Then there’s this… … which looks way worse than it is. Otherwise the extension cord from the house should no longer needed soon and I can turn the rest of the lights on for real. Gonna be bright!

Son of a b*@ch!

Small update… finally got the exterior of the shop where it should’ve been before last winter. The first was the carport roof needing a few trim pieces to cover some bare wood. The other was to wrap up the carriage doors. They still had steel siding screws keeping the hinges in place so when I open and close they would creek and slightly move around. The carriage bolts go all the way through the wall. They’re 10” long for the wall side of the hinge with about an inch of thread left to cut off. Next was the gasket at the bottom of the doors. I originally put a typical garage door gasket under them but after moving then for a year it started to tear in places. Not crazy that I couldn’t find the right color but I like that I can easily change it should I need to. I started to pick at the wiring but quickly ran out of interest so that was that.

I’ll second that!

I really liked the 5.2 I put in my old ‘86. It was an early model before the changes to the firewall so a 4.0 wouldn’t fit without some massaging. A 5.9 would be more fun and the packaging would be exactly the same so there’s no issue fitting under the hood. ZJ or Dodge donors are cheap too! Start a build thread for everyone to follow along.

Did the biannual yard haircut yesterday. Definitely makes the property look bigger but very bland. Wrapped up the planters for winter also. It already snowed a couple times here. Getting to be that time of year again! … then went out for a treat.

I’ve considered replacing a whole roof on an XJ before. My plan was to pull the drip rail covers off abs split the factory seam. Good on ya for keeping a sentimental rig on the road. Unfortunately mine is probably pots and pans by now.

Very nice. Such a rad truck!

Today I got all of the conduit run for the 110v outlets. My parents came out for a visit a few weeks ago and my dad had 60’ of leftovers from when he was finishing their basement. That made a huge dent in the project as I used about 50’. All that’s left is about 30’ to run for the lighting. There’s two runs of outlets. One that runs the north wall. The other runs the west and south walls. Hoping to have electrical done before things really start getting cold here.

Done and done. So… you’re purchasing another truck?

Thanks, all! The OSB is the finished product. I’ve got a big bin of things labeled “Garage Art” that hasn’t made it on to walls since before my first shop. My intent was to tie together the walls to the cabinets with a common material and OSB is what I decided on. The cabinets are a stained/glazed cherry but the panels in the doors and drawer fronts are OSB. I like the idea of treating a relatively cheap material with the same respect that we do at work as a high end kitchen. Right now the walls are a big much… hang in there though.

… it’s tomorrow. I keep going back to prior shops for inspiration. Even PRIOR to being a prior shop was the thought behind the new countertop. See, our last house was built in the early ‘60s and the crappy single garage stall that eventually got turned into a good work space was nearly graffitied with little notes and measurements written all over the place by the original owner. When we first moved in, there was a work bench made of a rows of 2x4s and that’s where I started finding his handwriting. I have no idea what the measurements and notes were referring to, but it really stuck with me since then. I wanted to bring back the feel of that old work bench. To get that old, nostalgic feel I started with nine ten foot 2x4s, trimmed off the rounded edges, and made some random cuts. I wanted to give the impression that it was put together with leftovers from framing the shop but I’ve since used up all of the real leftovers in the trim. This was after a fair amount of sanding and a bit of bondo to fill the gaps. Then came some sealer… … and then a coat of dark glaze to give it that old timey feel I wanted. I love it! I didn’t get carried away with a bunch of clear coats, nor did I even bother to get all of the sanding or cutting marks out. Honestly, pine 2x4s probably aren’t the best decision for using as a countertop as they’re somewhat soft, but future scratches and gouges are only going to add to the charm. Yes, I have my truck home. No, I haven’t dropped the trans to fix the input seal. Out with the temporary counter!… is it temporary if I’ve been using these for the past couple years? Might as well finally finish my cabinets too. It goes without saying, but I’m a sucker for old things. When I either can’t find the right thing or I do and I can’t bring myself to pay for it, I like to try and fool the next guy into thinking it’s the real deal. My nosey neighbor from next door walked over to see what I’ve been up to and asked, “Did you get this from the reclaimed architectural store up north?” Ha!… nailed it. The reason I spent my time working on a countertop as opposed to wiring this weekend was because I wanted it in place for locating some outlets along the back wall. This turned into locating some other things. The next step will be connecting the dots with conduit and then pushing wire through. I’m excited to have a ceiling fan in a shop! Never had one and I figured that it’d be nice for mostly moving warm air down in the winter time. The lights I decided on are simple hanging shades but with modern LED panel bulbs. On to the next step!

Good to hear that you’re kicking @$$! Can’t agree more with the near stress less environment of structural welding. I miss the days of working in a bridge shop before moving from Minnesota to Colorado. Nobody bothers you when your helmet is down. Nobody questions your decisions as long as the parts match the print. You go home and whatever isn’t done can wait until the next day. Congratulations!

Countertop things happening. … more on that tomorrow.

So great to see an update!