neohic

:ack: ... not exactly my favorite thing to be doing. Sure wish I had more time during the week to work on things. I've been getting the itch to be daily driving an MJ again.

Here we go into another month, all! This month is... well, this month is really something special. I dig it, anyhow! Here is one of those trucks where it looks somewhat of the norm... and then you start to take a closer look. Big knobby tires? Check. Heavy offroad bumpers? Check. Well weathered Comanche body? Check. LS power under the hood? What?!?! This month, be sure to take a close look at... YEAR/MODEL ● 1989 Jeep Comanche Pioneer. Originally 2wd, 4.0L, AX-15, with a Dana 35 ENGINE/PERFORMANCE ● 2006 Trailblazer SS LS2 400hp/400lbft - stock internals, Corvette accessories Novak Ceramic Coated swap headers, 2.5” header outlet pipes, merging to a single 3.5” pipe. Reduces to a single 3” over the axle with a Magnaflow High flow cat and straight through muffler 4” intake to AEM cone filter DRIVETRAIN ● 2007 Tralblazer SS 4L70 - TransGo shift kit, some upgraded internals, Novak tailhousing and 300M output shaft NP242 from a Grand Cherokee Dana 30 Front axle - 4.10, TrueTrac, Truss/sleeve, c-gussets Ford 8.8 rear axle - 4.10, Trac-lok, Mustang Cobra Carbon Fiber friction discs, restacked and no friction modifier for more locking, RuffStuff diff cover COOLING ● All metal CSM 3-row HD radiator (for now, needs upgrade to Novak super thick aluminum unit in the spring). stock XJ E-fan and 2 Spal Slimlines B&M transmission cooler Needs an oil cooler ELECTRICAL/IGNITION ● Custom wiring harness from the driver's seat forward, everything is rated to IP67 for water protection Engine bay connectors are either stock GM, Deutsch, or a few metripack 280 Deutsch DRB12-48 bulkhead connector in stock location Cooper Bussmann RFRM engine bay fuse box Littelfuse 868-163 HWB60 interior fusebox, mounted to old ECU mount Cooper Bussman Power Relay Modules to switch and control the big loads SUSPENSION/STEERING ● WJ Grand Cherokee knuckles with crossover steering Custom 1.5” OD 0.25” wall track bar using JKS OTK bracket, RuffStuff ¾” heims, and a modified Iron Rock Offroad Double shear chassis side bracket Durango Steering box with removed internal stops Custom power steering hoses to meet up with Corvette PS pump SPC 1.5” travel JounceShock front airbumps MetalCloak 4.5” Dual-Rate springs 0.75” Spacers Garbage 12” travel white-body shocks to get it on the road (soon to be replaced with Fox/Kings) Single Y-link radius long arm suspension - RuffStuff DIY Long arms kit with 1.25” heims Rusty’s Offroad 4.5” lift springs (5-leaf) SummitRacing extended XJ shackles in relocated pivot (7” long c-c I think?) RuffStuff high-clearance Deaver-style leaf spring brackets and u-bolt plates Garbage 10” travel black-body shocks to get it on the road (Soon to replaced with Fox/Kings) Extended progressive poly bumpstops on 1” aluminum drop spacers RuffStuff Specialties DIY Traction Bar INTERIOR ● 2007 Subaru WRX Seats Rostra Seat Heaters 2002 Subaru WRX Underseat subwoofer mounted to back wall Streamlight 75712 flashlight/cradle mounted to back wall - charges from vehicle 12V Jensen JHD3630BT head unit with weatherband and bluetooth Infinity Reference Speakers with DEI Speaker baffles Cobra 19DX CB Radio B&M Pro Stick shifter - modified with BillaVista tutorial for offroad use Novak Cable TC shifter - modified to work with NP242 and 4L70 Modified XJ Center console to remove e-brake handle area, add cupholders, and clear B&M shifter (needs more work) LED B-pillar and footwell lighting 1992 GMC Jimmy rear-view mirror with LED map-lights 1990 Eliminator tilt steering column, with working cruise control BRAKES ● WJ Grand Cherokee knuckles with 13” rotors Akebono Calipers with a small shave to clear wheels Stock Explorer rear disc brakes WJ grand cherokee booster and MC Deleted rear proportioning valve LIGHTING ● IPF H4 headlight housings with 65/75w bulbs LED White/Amber turn signal bulbs with switchback Hella 90mm foglights with PIAA amber bulbs Zeus Pro Single 20” LED bar - spot beam Hardwired flood work light on a magnet mount EXTERIOR ● Custom dents Cut hood for intake manifold clearance TrackSpec large hood louvers Custom 3/16” plate front bumper with integrated LED and fog light mounts and protection with hidden winch (between front frame rails) Custom bent stock rear bumper (for now), custom plate bumper to match the front coming soon WHEELS/TIRES ● 33x12.5 R15 BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain KM2 - siped Cragar Soft-8 steel wheels 15x8, 4” backspacing 1” spacers on the rear, 0.25” spacers on the front Winter (just put them on, no pics yet): 2009 Ford Ranger Sport 16” wheels 285/75 R16 Yokohama Geolandar I/T G072 1/2” spacers in the front, 1/4” spacers in the rear, extended lug studs MISCELLANEOUS ● T&M Metal Fabrication frame stiffeners Hi-lift extreme Maxtrax Warn M8000 with synthetic rope, custom tool to turn clutch lever through a hole in the front bumper Remember That One Time?... Tell Us Your Best MJ Story ● The company I work for built a prototype vehicle, and we were taking it up to Houghton, MI, in the Upper Peninsula for testing. I thrashed on my Comanche for several months every night after work to complete the 4.0 HO and 4WD swap, along with the 3” lift, D30 build, and Ford 8.8 installation, to get the truck ready to take up there, often working into the night in the garage after a 10-12hr day getting the work vehicle together. I went to school in Houghton at Michigan Tech, so I was really excited to get my truck up there for some after-work shenanigans, especially because one of my coworkers was bringing his Land Rover Discovery up as well. I ended up finishing putting the MJ together at 1am Monday morning, had it all packed up by 4am, and left at 7am to drive 600 miles up to the UP. The MJ ran almost perfectly for 4 weeks of wheeling and exploring. Everything was great until the last weekend. I volunteered to stay over the last weekend as my co-workers all had families to get back to, and we needed someone to stick around until Monday to load the vehicle back onto the trailer for the trip back. I was doing some exploring by myself and unfortunately ended up almost getting stuck in a mudhole (thanks MaxTrax!) and cutting an electrical harness in the front of the truck. Some of the magic electrical smoke escaped and I hustled back to civilization as fast as I could, but the Comanche died on a remote dirt road, and I had to get it towed back to town. I couldn’t find the cut in the last day up there (luckily I also brought my motorcycle so I still had transportation) so I had to rent a u-haul to get it back to Detroit. Even after splicing the harness back together the truck never seemed to run very well again, I don’t know if something somewhere got shorted or what, but this eventually led to me having enough of the 4.0L and deciding it was time for an upgrade. And now it’s got an LS2 :) CC is Awesome!... Why Do You Think So? ● There’s a huge knowledge base here and some pretty incredible build threads. I love browsing the tech and build thread sections learning new things about Comanches, and seeing what other people are doing with the platform. My favorite part is when I find some part or solution that is really well done, so I can take and use for my own build! :) FULL BUILD THREAD HERE Holy picture dump, Steve! Totally worth it though! A big, BIG tip of the cap on this build. I really appreciate the way you've documented everything in your build thread. Almost like a "how-to" on an LS swap. Very cool! It's your month so be sure to enjoy all of it. Congratulations! -Ben This post has been promoted to an article

I've followed this thread for a while now too while planning MY 5.2 SWAP. I ended up making my own mounts, using the stock exhaust manifolds, and notching the frame a bit on the passenger side. This left me being able to keep my hood lines stock. I have about 3/4" between the top of the air intake hat and about 1/2" between the top of the alternator bracket and the underhood supports. Granted, my engine doesn't sit perfectly centered in the engine bay, but raising the engine high enough to clear the steering shaft would've been silly. As for the blue '86 build thread years ago, HERE it is. He must've used Dodge pickup motor mounts though. They hang a little wider than the ZJ mounts, but they do sit higher.

:doh:

Still watching. Still enjoying. :popcorn:

Still very cool, BJ. Look forward to more updates!... sooner than later.

:banana: ... and then?!

Had another busy day working on it, but I didn't take any pictures. Before anyone posts the "useless without pics" smiley, hear me out. :smart: Today's progress was ugly progress. The dash came out of the truck along with the pedal assembly, column, interior wiring, brake booster, and master cylinder. In their place went in the ZJ column (almost a bolt in... had to drill a couple holes for the lower support on the firewall), the ZJ dual diaphragm booster and master (direct bolt in), the entire dash harness from the ZJ, and an automatic XJ brake pedal assembly. Before harvesting any of the wiring from the donor, everything was labeled... otherwise it'd be a real soup sandwich trying to decipher everything! There's going to be a ton of useless wiring to remove from the entire harness, and it'll sure be a fun process. Next on the list is going to be changing out the truck's heater core... because one does not remove a dash without replacing the heater core... ever. While the heater box is out, I need to remove the donor ZJ's heater box as well to see if I can move all of the heater box controls over so I can retain the ZJ dash heater switches. See? I told you so... ugly progress, but progress none the less. :shake:

^This... all of it. My wife's daily driver is an '07 Focus SES four door hatchback. Her's has the DOHC four cylinder, it's got plenty of pep, and it's good on gas. Plenty of creature comforts too! It's a fun little car and it's been very good to us.

What a day! What a day! WHAT A DAY!!! :banana: This little '86 is officially a V8 truck! Everything started off just fine with the engine just about dropping into place on the first try. Technically, it was in there. It was sitting on stands, but in there. Things came out really tight in some spots so the engine is favoring the passenger side a bit. Time for mounts! The tight space above the passenger side frame rail just wasn't jivin' with me. So... Then a quick... hack?... transmission crossmember was made up. My plan is to wait on really tearing into the truck suspension wise until after I've got a few miles on the drivetrain. Being that I'll probably be doing something special for control arms, I just couldn't see myself doing something permanent here. That is the bastard love-child of the stock crossmember along with the cut up remains of the ZJ transmission bushing hanger. Ugly? ABSOLUTELY! Functional? For now. Didn't even bother to get all the dirt off. :D So then that brings us to here... Oh, yes... today was a good day.

... RED '86 models? :D

I work at D&C Extreme in Colorado Springs. We're known for being a Scoit shop... but we're branching out.

... it's now later. Pushed the truck back into the shop this morning for some extraction, wiring removal, and cleaning. From what I remember, Jim stabbed in the 2.8 from a '91 S10, backed by an AX-5 from a '96 XJ, and then finished up with the original 207 transfer case a while back. That's where things stopped for this little red '86. Everything came out really well and I appreciate Jim leaving everything dry. Not a single drop of fluids of any kind dripped on the floor! Out came the drivetrain... ... and out the door it went... Felt a little bad about undoing Jim's work, but I like to think that he'll appreciate the future mismatch of drivetrain components that will be taking their place. I took the rest of my time today removing all of the underhood wiring and giving everything a well-enough cleaning. Quite literally a clean slate to work with. Funny thing about this truck is that it seems like everyone who has seen it recently has the same reaction of "wow... that's a solid truck". It happened again today at the shop and then it was revealed to me some original grease marker codes left over from the production line still in place. Kinda cool, I guess. Really shows how the truck has fared since it left the factory. This week I'll take care of a few maintenance items on the 5.2 and hopefully mate it up to the transmission from the ZJ. Until then...

I am planning an exo cage as well since the interior cage was only for mock up. Expect to see something H3RESQ inspired. :drool: Spent a little time on this truck today. More on that later.

D&C is very much still in business!... however Damien has had nothing to do with it for a number of years now. He sorta drove things into the ground and then sold the company to the current owner. As for the cage, we've got tons of options for just about everything we offer! The suggestions you mentioned are already in the works. The dash bar... oh, the dash bar... It's based off of the current XJ dash bar which is pretty much set in stone as far as I know. Ideal? Probably not. You nailed it though that these are not designed to be race cages and keeping things as user friendly is definitely a must. I moved the a-pillar tubes out towards the doors to free up some space and to make getting to the headlight switch just as easy as if the cage wasn't even there. The glove box door is another one of those deals where interior space and creature comforts were kept in mind. Can you open the door all the way? Nope. But you can get it open enough to still use it and the bend in the dash bar aids in that. Overall, I'm really excited about it! It's the first step in what I'm hoping to be a complete product line for MJs out of the D&C doors.

I'll keep everyone posted! There's a bunch more pictures I took of everything showing all the fine tuning details with the fit and finish. Hopefully I'll be able to get something finalized and put together something real in the Vendors section. :thumbsup:

Time to spend some time on this thing... Got it into the shop at work to finally have a good look at it and to mock up a new production interior cage. The good? It's probably the most rust free MJ I've ever had... The bad? Hail damage... lots of it... I also finally had a chance to look over the mighty 2.8. Not that I'm rethinking things and now planning on keeping it, but it was more just to see what the condition of the wiring is in. I think what I'm going to do is use as much of the donor wiring as I can and get rid of all the breakable stuff like power windows and locks, cruise control, and whatnot. As for the donor(s)... ... the green ZJ is the main source. The red one will be giving up a few interior bits that are broken/missing in the green one. Not totally sure what the dash setup will be, but I'm hoping to keep as much of the MJ dash but also use as much of the ZJ switches and cluster. We shall see. The wiring, transmission, steering column... ... and 5.2 V8... ... should fit just fine with some creative finessing. This really has nothing to do with the build, but the cage fabrication went well. I work at D&C Extreme in Colorado Springs and we currently offer 4 door and 2 door Cherokee cages in a few different variations. In the past when customers ask about Comanche cages, we've made up some creation of 2 door stuff... and I can't imagine they fit very well without some cutting. That's all about to change! I took the time to make up some numbers based off of the XJ cages. Not sure on pricing, but stay tuned to our company website. Who knows... maybe I'll put together a Comanche Club discount? What I'd like to see is a full MJ line of components. Cages... sliders... bumpers... I've got plans. We're mostly known for being an International Scout shop but we're branching out. Fingers crossed we'll have some time to put some time into new products this year. As for the actual build of this truck, I'm sure I'll be pushing hard on this soon. Seems like the Ape finds a new way of disappointing me every week lately. Very much looking forward to throwing some effort at this one!

:cheers: Since this is your thread after all, anything new with Betty?

What are your thoughts on a three core XJ/MJ radiator? I've got a nearly new copper three core in my XJ and I'm overly tempted to use it. Found an old build thread on another thread and the guy used a two core with his 5.2 swap... claimed it cooled it fine with a couple electric fans. I can't help but doubt.

Happy 2017! We're a little late, but we made it all the same. So what's new for this year? Got any plans for that new build? Maybe that big upgrade? How about just keep on with the keepin' on? It might be too soon for some of us, but for others who already have their year planned out there's always something new to look for, eh? How about another year of Comanche of the Month?! Let's start it off, shall we? YEAR/MODEL ● '89 base ENGINE/PERFORMANCE ● Renix 4.0 with Volvo injectors and an HO oil filter nipple to run a bigger filter. Near future goals is a 58mm TB and custom cowl intake. DRIVETRAIN ● 2WD AW4 column shift powering a stock d35. Soon to be replaced with a 98 XJ's 29 spline 8.25 regeared to 4.10 gears. Front axle is the same 98 XJ's front beam almost completely rebuilt with new parts. COOLING ● Spectre premium open system radiator with a deleted heater valve and "custom" Jolly Rancher soda bottle overflow canister :D ELECTRICAL/IGNITION ● I have a set of Mean Lemons 2awg cables ready to go on once I have the time to clean the grounding point as well as install the cables... busy season. 100AMP Carquest rebuilt alternator to get me by until I have my stock unit rebuilt to 140 AMPs. SUSPENSION/STEERING ● Steering is Moog brand V8 ZJ tie rods with an XJ/MJ drag link and trac-bar. Stock sway bar (28mm ones are tough to find...) suspension is mostly stock other than adding a 1.75" puck to the front coils without the rubber isolator so that it would level the truck out. Oh and completely rebuilt WJ upper and lower control arms! Next is a ZJ 12.7 ratio steering box. INTERIOR ● Mostly just stock blue with a bench seat other than my ported 10" sub and upgraded door speakers. And a Pioneer headunit, of course. The interior is fixing to get some upgrades when I find a good set of ZJ or XJ buckets. I will be redoing the sound system again, as well. Adding Alpine component 6.5's to the doors running off an amp instead of the Kicker Coaxial 5"1/4's that I already have running off the headunit. Trying to fix a ported Alpine Type-R 12" sub in a bass tube box as the center console but not sure if it will fit. We'll see! BRAKES ● Fronts are the 98 XJ's usual stuff. Rears will eventually be disks and I have a WJ MC/booster to go in along with messing with the proportioning valve to make the rear brakes work better. LIGHTING ● Headlights are Rampage (I think?) H4 casings with regular H4 55/60w bulbs powered off of an Ebay 10 gauge wire harness. Hella bright... my brother was jealous of how bright my headlights are. I replaced the side markers with clear ones. The rear is stock until I get a LED bar as an extra backup light. Interior I have LED Eram-tec(or however you spell it...) dome lights and soon the entire interior will be LED. I'm considering going 100% LED with this build. EXTERIOR ● Pretty much stock. The whole front clip and drivers fender are from an XJ because I wrecked the Jeep (story later!) WHEELS/TIRES ● Offbrand 235/75/15 street tires on TJ Canyon wheels which I have painted black and added chrome lug nuts and center caps. The rear has Trail Sport 1.25" spacers to pop the tires a little bit. MISCELLANEOUS ● Reese front hitch, Krustyballer rear hitch, FEY black diamond plate step bumper, diamond plate tool box, flowmaster super 44 muffler with no cat. FULL BUILD THREAD Remember That One Time?... Tell Us Your Best MJ Story ● Just about the only story I have had with this Jeep was a long period of time before and after I became owner of it. My other MJ has plenty of stories behind it because it was always breaking down! This one has been quite a reliable piece of gorgeous machinery, though... Story time! It all started when I began working at the local Winn Dixie at 17 years old. I would drive by this bread factory and out front sat a gorgeous blue MJ... best looking one in town. After about a year the MJ stopped showing up at the factory and I figured the man sold it. I always hated that I never got to stop by and talk to the owner. Every day my brother rode with me to work (we both worked at Winn Dixie. Now we're both at Publix) I would tell him about how I wish I could own an MJ that nice and how I wanted to drive it and ect ect... fast forward to about 6 months ago I see an MJ pop up on Facebook. 108k, low miles, automatic... has an overheating problem. I message the guy and set up a time to come look at it (ya'll should remember all of this!) After I pull up and talk with the guy I realize that this MJ looks EXACTLY like the one from the breas factory! So I ask him if he worked there. He said no, but that his father used to work at the factory and he always borrowed the MJ because he had to pull a trailer sometimes. So this MJ was the beautiful one I always was drooling over! I couldn't believe it. After a month he gets in the title for the MJ and I fixed the overheating problem in his front yard, paid him 1k and drove it home (he was very upset that I was able to fix it so easily). Fast forward 3 more weeks and I hit that deer on my way to work... totaled the Jeep. I was so upset until my insurance company contacted me. They gave me 1800$ and left the title un-salvaged on the MJ. WHAT?! I made 600$ after the price of the Jeep and fixing the deer damage myself. I love to tell that story because it's unbelievable to me! And I still can not believe I own the MJ that I truly never believed I would own CC is Awesome!... Why Do You Think So? ● The people here are truly amazing. I'm the member of many forums and this is the only one that has such kind-hearted, knowledgeable, down to earth people who are always willing to help. We all share a similar love for an amazing type of vehicle and it really shows in how we help each other with keeping them on the road. I frequent this forum almost as much as I do my social media accounts. I've learned so much from Comancheclub that some friends now call me "Comanche" or "The Jeep Guy" because of my knowledge behind MJ's and XJ's. I owe it all to ya'll! Way to go, buddy! This is one of those "slow and steady wins the race" kind of builds that I really dig. It's simple and to the point. Crap happens (as you've found with with the fancy new red fender), but we just keep plugging along. I kinda like it!... but I'm also a sucker for mismatched body panels. Looks great! Congratulations on being our first MJOTM for 2017! -Ben This post has been promoted to an article

I had some major rot in my XJ when I started working on it. Ended up cutting templates and making up my own patches.

Might've missed it, Bo... what are you plans for a radiator? Looks like there would be interference with the steering box should you plan to be using the ZJ unit, yes? I'll be starting a 5.2 swap on my '86 soon as well.

Seems as though whoever bought everything is starting to sell them off. https://pueblo.craigslist.org/cto/5942631754.html

Curious to see what you have in mind for a dash. I'll be doing a 5.2 swap with a ZJ soon and plan on using much of the wiring like you did.

... 5.2 donor locked down.