neohic

Gentlemen! I recently took a look through the entire massive list of past MJOTM recipients and I noticed something kind of alarming... where's all the four cylinders?! Personally, I think they're awesome! There's just something that a 2.5 Comanche has for charm that that a 4.0 will never have. Sure they might be a little slower, and they might not have all the power that their bigger engine brothers have, but they'll sure do everything a 4.0 MJ can do even if it's kicking and screaming and making all sorts of racket doing it! This month let's have a look at... YEAR/MODEL ●1988 jeep Comanche Sport Truck ENGINE/PERFORMANCE ● Stock 2.5l 4 cyl DRIVETRAIN ● Ax15 is external slave swap using a 96-98 Dakota bell housing, 96 np231 out of a grand Cherokee Dana 30 from a 98 Cherokee currently 3.07 gears Amc 20 with 4.10 gears.... COOLING ● Good ole stock cooling and mechanical fan ELECTRICAL/IGNITION ● Stock ignition Yellow top optima battery C101 delete... SUSPENSION/STEERING ● Stock steering Front- Rubicon express 3" coils, Rubicon express fixed lower control arms, stock upper, Sky jacker track bar drop bracket... Rear- 2" rear add a leaf from an xj... Zone off-road shocks INTERIOR ● Originally had a bench seat...swapped in black XJ bucket seats Repainted some of the interior black Pioneer radio and speakers front and rear BRAKES ● Rebuilt stock brakes Chevy brake lines up front and Dakota rear brake line LIGHTING ● Stock headlights with upgraded no name headlight harness EXTERIOR ● Bought this truck primer grey as the PO wanted to repaint it all white like I did. Jegs 15x8 d-window rims, 31" bfg all terrains, fresh Chevy white paint job, Nates 4x4 front winch bumper, custom built heavy duty rear bumper, smittybilt xrc8 winch, 4" pod led lights, 4pane rear sliding window FULL BUILD THREAD HERE Remember That One Time?... Tell Us Your Best MJ Story ●I was in the market for a jeep never thought I'd get a Comanche until a buddy of mine picked up one stock... He came over my place built with a lift and tires and I was hooked! I'll never forget the day he rolled into my yard and I had to have one! So I searched for months until my diamond in a rough. Of course it was a project but I've learned a lot being its my first jeep and I caught the craze... CC is Awesome!... Why Do You Think So? ● The wealth of information and the guys who help to get these wonderful trucks back on the road in no time drives me back to this website first before any other site. I love seeing guys build these trucks back to their formal glory! I really like this little truck. Tip of the cap, sir! Really too bad you mentioned that you're looking to sell it though. Had we been closer and I had the time to deal with another vehicle, I'd be all over this thing. You've really done a great job with it thus far. Enjoy your month! -Ben Click here to view the article

... still at it. The wiring is going pretty good. A bit slow, but it's still going. Things were getting to the point where the dash needed to be finished so I can make sure I've got all these colorful strings going to the right place. :roll: Mock up... New gauges and all wrapped up... ... and mounted... Logically, what's the next thing to set in the car before hooking things up? Seat belts and at least one seat to make sure everything feels right. New driver's seat view (not that the hanging wires will stay)... My oil pressure and temperature gauges are admittedly kind of cheap. I found them on Amazon, but the reviews both there and from outside suppliers were pretty good. I was having a tough time finding something that I really liked. What I was hoping to do was to either match the speedometer or the tach. Unfortunately, Sunpro gauges are now hard to find as the name was bought out by Bosch and they really cut back on their gauge lines, and VDO gauges really don't look like anything special for their prices. These were inexpensive, came with senders, have LED back lighting, and I think they look at least on par with the simple looks of the VDO gauges. As for the switches, they are a nice quality and I was able to get them in the colors that I wanted. They're only triggers for the relay bank. The blue one farthest to the right will put power to a USB socket that tucks away nicely. Next on the list is to finish up the front wiring. It's nice to have the hood on it again (fingers crossed I've got everything right so I don't have to pull it off again), and it's also nice to give this little guy its face again. I found a neat set of marker lights that are intended for motorcycles that look close enough to the headlight buckets that I'm happy with them. The problem with them is that they're only a single filament bulb and there's no room for adding another socket in them. What I get to do now is gut the housings and turn them into a double filament housing to I can use them as parking and turn signal lights. I've got a plan... just need to do it. Until then, I added a couple tabs on the front bumper so they'll hang on either side of the license plate. Don't see them? That's the idea. :chillin:

He's got a XJ he drives and wheels the snot out of. Yessir! Current daily driver: http://comancheclub.com/topic/45776-the-pirate-baboon/ Unfortunately, it feels a little more tired with every turn of the key. :( Can't imagine what it'll feel like at a higher altitude. Really wish I had time for an engine swap.

Hmm... perhaps you'll beat ME to it. :D I sent him a PM asking what he's wants for it, but if you want it I'll step aside. :thumbsup:

... beat you to it, Bo. :peek:

Best of luck with everything! I'm a sucker for a reckless road trip with questionable equipment. I mean, it's already written in the cards what's going to happen anyhow, right? To hell with what makes the most sense... enjoy that truck!

Got an official job offer from 4 Wheel Parts in Colorado Springs. :banana:

Little by little, I'm getting there. I only got to spend a few hours on it this weekend which was kind of a bummer. Things started where I left off with the wipers. The wiper motor works just fine when power it put directly to it. The switch is kind of wonky when testing that. Pretty sure the switch is bad which I find odd as there really isn't all that much to go wrong with them. As for what I accomplished?... well, not much. I found out that my brake light switches are bad, so I moved on to the horn and that went well. I'm waiting to finish the wiring up front until I get the indicators I ordered last week. They're little motorcycle units that mimic the headlights and they'll get mounted somewhere on the front bumper. Everything forward of the front bulk head under the hood is finished though... which is kind of a nice thought. The footwell side of the front bulkhead has a little more to go before I can drop the hood on. The headlight circuit is mostly figured minus the dimmer. Next on the list is figuring out the hazard circuit. Things really would've been so much easier if I would've been okay with using factory switches. "Only eight circuits," I thought. "Should go pretty easy," I thought. :roll:

Just about wore out my shovel digging up this old thread! Not really news, but this little car is still all sorts of awesome. While it hasn't been in my shop for a long time, I did manage to get half of its parts car cousin dropped into my lap. Half? Yup... half. Can't say I've ever though of this as a "tow rig". What better way to haul some racing slicks, jack, and all your other track day gear? Soon to be finished? I dunno... not up to me. It'll be going back to its home soon for finish work. Probably a vinyl wrapped treated plywood front and a similar treatment as a tonneau cover in the same color as the top on the Cabby. Anyhow... perhaps I'll chime in again once my brother finishes it.

I was half expecting you to say something along the lines of "keeping them for a mild build". :laughin:

Nice! Any plans for your old axles?

Got a little further with eating my whale today. I went as far as running the front wires to the front, the rear to the rear, and the dash and column wiring sorted. But of course I ran into a problem. I was using the late model wiring instructions with the Rebel harness as my column came from a '74. I put everything where (as far as I knew) it needed to be and with turning the key the wiper motor started turning... and turning... and turning. Didn't matter where the switch was positioned either. I turned the key off, checked everything over, and tried it again... same result, and then it stopped... and then nothing. Now I'm hoping that I didn't just cook my switch or the wiper motor. Granted, nothing let its "magical electrical smoke" out and nothing smells burned, but I'm still not getting my hopes up.

Hmm... progress. :D I've really liked how every buggy has this goofy gap between the hood and the front bulkhead. Here's my fix... ... I'm using it threefold. It's a mount for my fuse block, a filler panel, and it'll be grounded to the chassis so it can be used as a ground bus as well. I put a couple coats of paint on it and in the meantime I finished my windshield assembly. New glass was cut locally. The headlight buckets got put back together too. More black with a touch of chrome... recurring theme? The fuel tank got a coat of the same black paint and things really started getting real! Makes for a nice, cozy spot for the things. It'll get a gasket along the top of the filler panel too. More tomorrow.

Very cool! I am admittedly a sucker for odd looking vintage vehicles. That face... ... only a mother could love. :laughin:

They look good a lined up together, Bo. I'll be doing the same (hopefully) soon enough. Makes me nervous thinking about all my vehicles on one trailer though. Safe travels to your "children"!

:cheers: , all!

This month, lets take a look back at old friends. We've had a few members that have left us sooner than we would've hoped. Peter Lechtanski recently passed away and he had nothing short of an amazing MJ, an outstanding knowledge of Jeeps, and that itch to keep going faster. Peter went by the user name of World's Fastest Comanche and he will be missed. Rob started a thread for him found HERE. If you haven't had a read through his build thread... quite simply, you are missing out. Here's to you, sir. "I want the worlds fastest Comanche to be parked in my driveway, and the second fastest Comanche to be in Auburn Hills, MI." Peter Lechtanski 1952-2016 Click here to view the article

Something like that. It's right in the middle of town.

Ugh... I think that felt more like work than it did a quick getaway. :grrrr: We just got back home (or current home?) a couple hours ago and the wife and I are exhausted. Sure would've been nice to be able to relax a little more than we did, but I think we made the most of the time we had available. Here's how the last few days went down... Tuesday: We both worked our usual hours. I got off at 4:30, got cleaned up, loaded up the car, and we were out of city limits by 5:30. Things started off fine until we hit about hour number two of our seven hours or driving. By the time we got to Sioux Falls, the rain was already getting overwhelming. 10:00 hit as did fatigue of being up since 4:30. Slightly before 12:30 FINALLY came and the Omaha exit was in sight. Checked in to the hotel... hit the pillow. Wednesday: Wednesday started off as a carbon copy of of Tuesday night... pouring rain. Another eight or so hours of seat time was made very much easier immediately at the Colorado border. The clouds broke up, the sun came out, and velvet ropes appeared to have parted. Colorado was beautiful! It didn't take much to get a couple of "flat landers" excited about a faint gray line way out on the horizon... mountains! Denver traffic was busy, but was totally worth it for out destination. Jim was expecting us and I was hoping to have gotten down to Pueblo by 2:00. 4:00 rolled around just as we were making our way up his driveway. Visiting was had... met his wife Katie (she's amazing!)... dinner at a neat little mountain diner... and we had to get back on the road back for Denver. Another late night of checking in to a hotel. Thursday/Friday: I made plans for stopping at the Commerce City location for the company I currently work for. They process drainage pipe there which isn't anything close to the bridge building that I do now... which was expected. I wasn't quite excited about what I saw, but I was kind of expecting that. I ran over to the 4 Wheel Parts in Westminster as they were expecting me, and met the whole gang there. Very cool store! We don't have anything close to that in MN! Unfortunately, they really didn't have anything to offer me at the moment or withing at least the next few months. Fortunately after doing some more looking around, we abandoned the idea of pursuing the Denver area. The store manager at the 4WP put in a good word for me at the Colorado Springs location... and that went over great!!! Sounds like I have a position waiting for me! We took most of Friday looking around the Springs at apartments. Found some nice places. We already heard back from the one place we really liked enough to consider for a temporary solution that they'll have something available when we want to get out there. Fingers crossed it's still available when we're ready to go. Saturday: Troy and I made plans to meet up in the morning followed up with some lunch. Great guy! I always enjoy breaking bread with fellow CC members! It was another day of cold blowing snow, but I did get out to his storage place to see some of his inventory. Good parts... good trucks. We then ran back to his place to pick up his wife (she's also amazing!) for some lunch. Had a real nice time with the both of them. It's interesting seeing similarities between CC members and their other halves and this was no different. Definitely going to have to make more time for them once we get out there. After lunch... more snowy driving. Another-er late night getting into a hotel. This trip was good, but I wish it could've been longer. It's an odd thought thinking that the next time we'll be out there is probably when we'll be moving there. Timing didn't work out in my wife's favor for any interviews, but the feelers are still out. Today was another long day of driving and by the time we got back to Alexandria we already had that feeling of just wanting to turn around and go back. The atmosphere of the town feels off... the land is flat again... and the cars are all rusty. I've got plenty of work to do before we go back and selling the house is the biggest hurdle. We did get excited along the way back when we got word that there was an offer on the table. Albeit an awful offer, but an offer none the less. Fuel for other interested parties to make offers of their own, I hope. Anyhow... this post doesn't have any pictures yet... Bridge that came from my plant manufactured that everybody nerds out over in the middle of Denver: Average scenery... ... Colorado... here I come?

Ugh... Hit some nasty rain last night. Got to Omaha really late. Regardless... here I come, Jim!

Sioux Falls!! Still going...

We be rollin'!!

I had one in my '91. I think I remember pulling the bulb out though because it would glow through the little crack at the top opening of the ashtray. Kind of an annoyance. :roll:

Yessir, Jim! Hoping to be in your neighborhood early afternoon.