neohic

Hi'ya, Jim! Getting closer on that old truck of yours. :waving:

Been a number of weeks now since an update... I'm probably due. The past few weeks have been busy. There has been some house buying situations, thrashing on customer vehicles before heading everyone out to Moab, and then Moab itself... which was awesome. Since the last post, the radiator has been mounted along with transmission coolers, front end, and a host of other small things that most wouldn't care about. With the stock front crossmember cut out, a tubular unit was bent up to replace it. ... and then cut out a whole bunch of material for better air flow to the auxiliary transmission cooler. The point of wanting to run two coolers is to keep trans temps down on the trail. The main cooler is cooled by the mechanical fan. The other with the mini fan will run off of a switch. Then... ... and... Had I any intentions of keeping the stock front bumper and lower valance, you'd never even know what was going on behind there. :D 'Cuz Racecar. Soon enough. . :MJ 1: .

I'll take a close look at them for a number. Don't think I've got any more. :dunno:

Confirmed. I've got a beautiful set of front and rear. PM sent.

I know there's a set at work that's gray. I'll get a closer look at them tomorrow and let you know condition. :thumbsup:

Hmm... I'll already be there this Saturday through Tuesday with my shop.

Happy May Day, everyone! Here's a good one for those who enjoy a good wheeler. For all the '97+ swaps going on lately, this one is just a little different. Stock body? Mild suspension? Leaving things alone? WHY?! Image Not Found Image Not Found

Some good stuff happening over here!! :thumbsup:

Howdy, folks! Had a nice morning working on the Oshel Edition today. Started off with finishing up the wiring to the front... I think. :crossfingers: All I had left to do was to splice in the sockets and pigtails from the old header panel into the ZJ harness. The plan is to continue running old sealed beam headlights and to keep the indicator housings uncut. Sure was nice to finally see it with an old familiar face. :) Really too bad the whole header panel is in terrible shape. Most of the mounting studs are either broken off or all stripped out. Same goes for the screws for the indicator light housings. Maybe I can find one in better shape that's the same color with similar patina? While it was on there I took some measurements for space for the future radiator. Then this happened... ... now you see me... ... now you don't! Now, before anyone starts freaking out, this has been the plan the entire time. There's a temporary crossmember tacked in there to keep everything happy, but I'll be patching up the front of the frame and then adding a tubular crossmember that'll go under the frame. Loosely hanging the radiator in there, it doesn't even look like it'll hang down any lower than the original did! We shall see. Then there's the dash. I've been picking at it a little bit through the week trying to figure out what pieces I'll be using. The dash is already in rough shape so I really had no concern for cutting it up. Really too bad the cluster from the ZJ is bigger than the original, but it is what it is. I'm sure I could've figured a way to use an HO XJ cluster, but I'm using what I have. Should I want to spruce things up in the future, I'll look into it more. Until then... ... I'm happy enough with how it's coming together. The steering wheel though... :ack: It really doesn't do it for me. I guess an older steering wheel will physically bolt on, but it'll screw up the clocking ring for cancelling the turn signal switch and the switch sits way too close to the wheel for the high beams to function properly. I have no cruise control, no wiring for the airbag, and therefore no reason to keep this ugly wheel. Maybe I can make up a spacer and run an older wheel? Suppose I'd have to live with the turn signals not cancelling on their own. Not a huge deal?... I already deal with this in the Ape, anyhow. :hmm:

No April Fool's joke here. You read that right, this month's spotlight member is a repeat Comanche enthusiast and even an original owner! Many of us have multiple trucks, but how many of us were even around during the MJ production years? This month is for one of our long time members, has been a wealth of helpful information, and easily has one of the most recognizable signature pictures. April 2017 is all about... My Comanche Tribe YEAR/MODEL ● 1990 Sportruck, SWB 1989 Pioneer, LWB 1988 Pioneer, SWB ENGINE/PERFORMANCE ● All are stock 4.0 L. The ‘88 has an ‘89 engine from a fellow CC member with Bosch 4-hole 19 lb fuel injectors and a Dynomax header. This was the condition of the transplant ’89 motor with ~100K miles and oil changed every 3,000 miles! You could eat off of it. And finally installed DRIVETRAIN ● 1990: Stock 2WD with a D35, 3.07 gears, AX15 1989: Stock 2WD with a D44, 3.56 gears, floor shift AW4 1988: Stock 4WD with D35/D30, 3.07 gears, now AX15/NP321 COOLING ● All have stock closed systems with Mac’s aluminum tank. ELECTRICAL/IGNITION ● All stock SUSPENSION/STEERING ● All stock with OME 60046/60032 shocks INTERIOR ● 1990: Tan with stock vinyl flooring, black leather Jeep steering wheel, bucket seats, full center console and door panels from donor XJs. 1989: Tan with stock carpet, tan leather Jeep steering wheel, full center console, bucket seats from a CC member with XJ seat covers, woodgrain instrument panel bezel and door panels from a ‘96 Country XJ. 1988: Burgundy with stock carpet, burgundy leather Jeep steering wheel, full center console, bucket seats and door panels from donor XJs, Laredo instrument panel bezel and custom sliver accents on center console, gauge cluster and side panels. BRAKES ● All stock LIGHTING ● Stock with Marchal 750 fog lights through stock fog light switches, the ‘88 has chrome Marchal 850GT fog lights with a pair of chrome 750s waiting in the wings and a stock roll bar light switch waiting for a roll bar. All have LED cluster, B-pillar and courtesy lights. EXTERIOR ● 1990: Spinnaker Blue Metallic (PB3), shell painted to match, 10 slot grill. 1989: Colorado Red (PE4), gold Pioneer stripes 1988: Pearl White (PWB), burgundy Pioneer stripes, Chrome bumpers/door handles/tailgate handle/mirrors/window trim/drip rails, ‘85 XJ 21 slot chrome grill. WHEELS/TIRES ● All have 235/75/15 tires on black powder coated stock aluminum Jeep wheels (10 Hole Eliminator, Turbine, Five Spoke) MISCELLANEOUS ● All have Jeep AM/FM cassette radios, dash clocks, sliding rear windows, Jeep/AMC bed mats, DrawTite hitches and factory tow hooks. The ’88 has stock full skid plates and I have OEM front/rear mud flaps awaiting installation. Remember That One Time?... Tell Us Your Best MJ Story ● My best MJ story is actually purchasing the ’90 new. It was July 1990, we were heading to my in-laws and stopped at all the Jeep dealers on the 100 mile route looking for a Comanche, this was before the days of on-line inventories. No dealers had any and one tried selling me a Shelby Dakota, so after we got to our destination we decided to keep driving and finally found a dealer, another 50 miles away, that had two on the lot, one was a white automatic 4x4 and the other a blue five-speed 4x2. I could not justify the extra cost of the 4x4 so I purchased the 4x2. Having only driven a manual transmission about twice before made the test drive interesting to say the least. I then had to drive it back home but I got the hang of it, even kept the original clutch for 195K miles! CC is Awesome!... Why Do You Think So? ● As everyone else has said, members on this site are always willing to help without drama (usually) and members have even offered parts for free just to get others going! It is also nice to know I am not the only one with this sickness. Thanks to everyone that has helped me along with my projects by providing parts, advise, knowledge and inspiration.

Thanks dude!

The Comansion ... and maybe I'll start using it. :shake:

Ran into a little bit of an issue in the form of a bigger puddle of trans fluid than I was comfortable with. Anyone ever done a 231 swap in place of a 249?... you need to swap out the input shaft. :idea: Oops! The 249 shaft is longer so it engages the output seal in the transmission. Pulled everything back apart today to I could take care of that. Not a huge deal. It gave me an excuse to have a look inside my mystery 231. Turns out it needed nothing! Definitely a nice surprise. So for a recap, my t-case is the abomination of a 231 case, 249 input shaft and planetary, with the front output yoke from the original 207 from the truck. After the mixing and matching, I wanted to get back on finishing up under the hood. All of the ABS and airbag wiring was removed. So much more room for activities!!! In the ABS module's place on the driver's side went the ZJ's washer fluid bottle, and an evap canister from an XJ. I really wanted to reuse the air box from the ZJ but I don't see that happening. Next on the list is a little bit more wiring clean up, and then a long list of several small projects. :wrench: ... and I apologize for the lack of pictures in this post. :roll:

Sorry for the delay in updates, folks. Been busy with other things and working on other such non-worthy of an update type of stuff. Between last weekend and today, there was some real head scratching that came down to some fairly simple solutions. The fuel pump was the first as I originally planned on using the plastic tank from the donor ZJ. Seeing how far back that was going to be and not being completely sure of where I'd be cutting once the bed gets bobbed, I decided that the best thing was to reuse the original MJ tank. So... how does one do such a thing being that the ZJ uses the giant drop in style module?... cut it up. Not a real big deal to look at being that it just looks like an MJ fuel sending unit. It's the original unit to the truck so it never had a fuel pump in the tank. Couple hose clamps... cut up the tab for the gauge sender... drill some holes for the near absurd amount of wires for a ZJ pump... and voila! Everything tucks neatly back inside the tank. Then the problem of what to do about those plastic lines which really didn't turn out to be that much of an issue at all. I made up some adapters since the 5.2 doesn't have all that much pressure to run anyhow. Then came the issue of the rear driveshaft being too long. Again, not a big deal. I've done dozens of these in the past with zero issues. Hang the cluster on the column, hook up the rest of the wires, and... ?!?!... nothing. My worst fear of a no start situation came true! I removed a healthy amount of wires out of the harnesses so my first thought was that I went too far with things. Then what about the old wires from the donor that lived their whole lives resting in the exact same place until I came along and moved it all around?! What about... ?!?! WHAT ABOUT... ?!?!?!?!... what about the simple stuff? Fuses?... good. Wires?... nothing looked broken. Relays?... bingo! Both the ignition and fuel pump relays were toast. A quick rearrange with the ABS and AC relays and... ... we have lift off!!! :banana: The brakes got a temporary fitting to the ZJ proportioning valve so I can move it around the yard, the trans got filled up enough to move, and then it was time to go for the day. So to recap: it starts, it moves, it kinda stops, and it now leaks fluids where ever its parked! :D

Can't believe our website guy wrote "model year 1984-1992". :doh:

^Right? :popcorn:

Road access is very good. My road isn't paved, but just down and around the corner is. I've already asked about road maintenance and I hear it's never been a problem. The neighborhood really isn't all that far out of the way at all, actually. Somewhat close to the downtown area which is great for us! We miss being able to walk or ride our bikes to go grocery shopping and the like that we could at our first house. Our second place was about eight miles north of town and it was kind of an annoyance when I'd be working on something and need this-or-that right now. This was a real find for us! The whole neighborhood has the same cute appeal to it. :yes:

Uh... yeah. Looking like at least 30'x40'. Need to clarify setbacks, but I'll have a third of an acre to work with. I would assume 25-35% of the property can be developed like most locations.

Time for an update! I'm still here in Colorado... and I think I'll stay for a while. We're in our apartment into August, but finding housing out here has turned out to be more difficult than expected. Just as soon as we found something that we liked it would sell. We happened to find one property that fit the bill just great! It's a bit of a project, but when am I ever happy with someone else's work anyhow?! :D Small? YES!!! That is a mighty 474 square feet! With each house that my wife and I have lived in there's always the question of, "why do we need so much space?" Granted, I definitely miss having my own shop, and I'll have it again once the house is done. The lot has room for it which is a rarity for where the house is located. Really what it lacks with interior space, it makes up for with charm and views. I'll have Pikes Peak staring right in the picture windows on the south side. Closing is set for the end of April. Then it's on to another project!

This is fun, isn't it? I really get a kick out of the monthly search for MJOTM. Sometimes it's difficult trying to sift through the masses of build threads. Sometimes a build thread seems to come to a beautiful finish line just in time to make it in for the following month. This is such month... and it's a shoe in! YEAR/MODEL ● 1989 Base 120k+ original miles ENGINE/PERFORMANCE ● Rebuilt Stock renix 4.0 with Bosch type3 injector upgrade Magnaflow exhaust DRIVETRAIN ● Aw4 Column shift, NP231 with Boostwerks Engineering HD Shift Linkage Axles- Dana 30 Front with Rugged Ridge Diff Cover..29 spline Chrysler 8.25 Rear Powertrax No-Slip traction system COOLING ● Closed system, volvo expansion bottle cover 97+ XJ Thermostat housing with Aftermarket coolant temperature sender Hayden Automotive High Performance Trans Fluid Cooler Inline transmission temperature sender ELECTRICAL/IGNITION ● Stock.. slightly modified fuel sending unit (fairly accurate fuel gauge readings except in reverse because of switched polarity) SUSPENSION/STEERING ● 4.5 inch lift HD track Bar, HD Tie rod HD Steering Stabilizer INTERIOR ● Heating and A/C Custom blue carpet Custom Headliner reupholstered Bench Seat BRAKES ● Rear ZJ Drum to Disc Conversion with XJ prop valve with zj internals and Rear Height sensing valve eliminate Drilled and Slotted rotors front/rear LIGHTING ● Custom Blue LED dash lights LED B-pillar lights Modified Isuzu Rodeo dome light LED H4 Headlight Bulbs 20 inch Bumper mounted LED light bar, 50 inch roof mounted LED light bar Auto Switching LED white DRL lights that switch to amber when using turn signal EXTERIOR ● Aqua Blue Metallic paint 97+ Xj facelift with doors manual window winders WHEELS/TIRES ● 15x8 Tuff T01 Wheels with 33x12.5 Mastercraft Courser MXT mud terrains MISCELLANEOUS ● A-Pillar Dual Gauge pod with Trans Temperature gauge and coolant temperature gauge Custom Ipad mini Magnetic In-Dash Mount Bushwacker fender flares Smittybilt xrc front winch bumper with bull bar 10,000 LB Smittybilt X20 winch with Synthetic rope Wolo Bad Boy air horn FULL BUILD THREAD HERE Remember That One Time?... Tell Us Your Best MJ Story ● Was looking for a beater truck, something cheap mainly to carry gear on spearfishing trips..A friend of mine told me he knew a guy who had something for cheap so asked a cousin of mine who knew more about trucks to accompany me so when we got to the place and saw the truck my first impression i knew there was no way i was going to buy that in such terrible shape There was no carpet on the floor and what looked like years of rat droppings by the amount that was there not to mention the smell.. it went from bad to worse when i popped the hood engine looked a mess not to mention an incomplete harness chewed up by the rodent colony..and lets not forget the rust, it was everywhere from the floor to the entire windshield frame..my cousin told me we were wasting our time and we had better just leave but what really sparked my attention was despite of the fact that it was in such terrible shape she started in one the engine sounded strong..the other thing was the fact that i saw "JEEP" embossed on the tailgate not only was it the first time i saw a comanche...i had no idea jeep even made a truck..knowing that jeeps are reputable vehicles just the idea of a jeep truck intrigued me so in spite of the discouragement from my cousin i went home that night and decided to do some research online about that truck and right after that first google search i caught the disease... So i ended up paying $500 for her the next day signed up at comancheclub.com and the rest is history... CC is Awesome!... Why Do You Think So? ● Comanche Club is awesome because not only are the members on here very knowledgeable about Jeeps but they are always willing to pass on the knowledge to guys like me who knew nothing about jeeps and even though as a newbie we tend to ask some silly questions sometimes, no one makes you feel dumb or belittle you like you see happening all the time on other forums but instead you are enlightened. CC has taught me so much not only about jeeps but ive acquired skills i never knew i would be able to acquire and has made me a more confident Do-It-Yourself er That is why CC is Awesome Wow! From its beginnings as a scruffy primed truck to what it is now is an amazing transformation. Quality time as gone into so many little details and everything came out just perfect! Thanks for putting together such a complete build thread and for keeping me completely glued to my computer waiting for more updates. A big congratulations on your month! -Ben This post has been promoted to an article

You forgot one, Pete...

Spent a long day working on this today... doesn't really look like it though. Started to get a little discouraged with things today as it seems like I haven't gotten much of anything done for a while. Lots of little things still getting done... lots still to do. The floor was today's big job. As usual, it's always worse once you start cutting. I've said it before that this is probably to most solid MJ I've started with, and yet this is definitely the biggest floor patch I've done in one of my own trucks. I under estimated the size of the patch I needed from a junk XJ, so rather than using new material (kind of the theme going thus far) I "borrowed" a patch from a junk Scout II. Glad to be done with this. Some other boring but essential projects that got done today was to clean up the vacuum lines, swap over the fuel lines that run down the top of the trans (ZJ stuff), harvest the plastic fuel lines from the donor, and I removed the factory tank from the truck. Seeing the ZJ fuel lines in the truck really got me rethinking how I want to approach the fuel tank solution. I'll do some research and do some thinking.

Looks tough. I dig it! :thumbsup:

I wouldn't hesitate with a four cylinder. For light trail duty, but mostly daily driver?... hell yeah.