johnj92131

Have you checked local pick a part yards for this in a 91+ Cherokee?

I use what ever I have on hand. Most of the time that is a diesel specific oil for my diesel Passat. 10-30 weight. The Comanche is not a daily driver and I tend to change the oil about 1 time per year, due mostly to few miles driven.

Well, then go for it. It is your truck. Most of all, it is your toy. What ever you choose to do, you will learn something by doing it with your own hands. Because your current truck is a 4 cylinder, I would suggest that you look for an all aluminum Chevy/GM engine. That will help your front end and will help your cooling issues. It will also give you a bit better mpg in the real world. I would even suggest you look at the 4.8 version of the Chevy/GM engine. Lots of power there and a lower purchase price with more choices for you as the buyer (EVERYBODY wants the 5.3/6.0 version 400+ horsepower). 285 horsepower and a very wide, flat torque curve will do wonders for a light weight truck. Consider buying the engine and an automatic transmission together. Yes, an automatic transmission! It will save you money and effort to mate a different trans to the V8. More important it will save you headaches when you do the electronics and the wiring.

Taking the XJ fuel filler door? And the ZJ gas tank for under the bed? Bobbing the long bed? Does that mean removing the big X brace and placing the tank behind the rear axel? Is this going to be a 2nd gas tank? If not, what is wrong with the factory 23 gallon tank and fuel pump? Looking forward to the answers unfolding. Nice progress.

READ POST #19 from shardein 5 times a day for a month straight. You will then be a little wiser man.

After owning and playing with several "hobby" cars over a long time, One thing I can tell you is that you do this for the pure fun of doing it and you will not regret it. But, if you try to make a business of "hobby" cars, you will spend a whole lot of money on your education, trial and errors, (lots of errors) before you ever get close to making any money. With a Chevy engine conversion, parts are so cheap relative to the cost of good labor that everybody "thinks" they can do a great job way cheaper than most other people.

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You're right, it doesn't. It doesn't have a lot of things. Like power, or a clock or even a passanger side mirror but worst of all.... no cup holders. If you drive an automatic, just hold it between ya legs!!! Nope!! You don't want to hold hot coffee that way. Mc Donalds got sued by some woman who did that with here hot coffee and got burned! So now McDonalds coffee cups have a warning printed on the coffee cup. Next time you are there, check out the warning.

If I remember correctly, Cruser54 has posted the "restriction" is there for emission reasons on the Renix era Comanche. Think it is to warm things up a bit quicker. Check out Cruser54 comments on H.O. vs Renix.

Just ordered 2 sets for $39.90 Keyav8r, My to do list is even longer. Seems each time I scratch something off the list, I buy 3 or 4 more things that go on the list...and the stuff in the garage piles higher. Then there is the Honey Do list..

Good idea to use the clock panel for one of those. For the second one, you might look at using the ash tray location. Take a look at this DIY Section thread -See post #7 for the idea: http://comancheclub.com/topic/31348-convert-ashtray-into-extra-cigarette-lighter-sockets/

buxmj, What brand is that shell? Any picture from the rear showing the tailgate?

You back up and hit someone/thing...You are the one who is in the wrong. Backup lights or no backup lights, it doesn't matter. But for us old farts, more light is a good thing!

Tweeter? Any Pre 1997 XJ I have seen has them under the lower dash cover. 1997 and later had tweeters near the inside door handle. Never seen this set up before

What was that you put on the floor, under the carpet? Know it is sound insulation, but what brand? And you will like the power window/door locks. Actually very nice in a daily driver. Or maybe I am just getting old...

Check out redpepperracing.com on Facebook, there's lots of older ones listed that aren't "riced" out. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk nice! Thanks! I've been researching a BUNCH lately. And while I'm on the track of keeping the Contour and saving money, I have decided on my next car. A Ford Escort ZX2. I looked into them a bunch and they are apparently very reliable (ends up the 2.0 isn't as crappy as I thought...) and also great little project cars. I love how they look, as well. Upon looking around C-list they can be had for 1500-2000 for a clean low mileage one. Much better pricing than the Miata, and more room. Only downside is it is FWD. But I will survive. Plans for it would be a daily, of course. With as many slight performance mods as possible within budget and ect. Just gotta add my own little touch to it, ya know? We had a new ZX 2 in 1998. Good little run about car. Even took it on some long trips. Good MPG, remember 38 mpg on a run to Vegas. Low 30's were easy on a trip. High 20's was the worst we ever got. Gave it to sister-in-law in 2003, who drove it for another 10 years till it lost a head gasket at around 180K. Would likely still be running fine if her hubby was not a total mechanical fool.

I would have the paint done first and let it properly age before putting the bed liner on it. Also, I would use the bed liner exactly what it is for: To line the bed of the truck and protect the inside of the bed. Your new paint job should protect the bed rails just fine. Also, doing it this way, you keep the paint and the bedliner in different, clearly defined areas. My Comanche has a plastic bed liner that goes over the bed rails. I don't think it looks all that great over the bed rails without the SnugTop on it. I do like a metal/chrome edge guard on the top of the tailgate for protection along with a heavy rubber tailgate mat.

How old is she? Maybe 4 or 5? Glad to see the bench get used.

Could somebody expand on this? If my understanding is correct, your using a resistor with a set known value to check against the output value of the sender, to more or less calibrate the sender? Where and how is the resistor wired to test? And once satisfied with the results, does a person ever need to bend the float arm or otherwise change the orientation level of the float in the tank to read more or less true readings? You can bend the arm to change the low fuel point on the fuel gauge. But it is a whole lot of work to try and get right. I did that with my Passat, but found it much more work than I gained in accuracy. With the last 4 to 6 gallons in the tank, fuel sloshed all over the place, a small incline would change the gauge reading. With the Comanche, I took a different approach. Every time I saw the low fuel light go on, I wrote down how many miles I had on that tank right then. When I filled the tank, I computed the MPG for the entire tank. With a little math, I was able to calculate how many gallons of gas was left in the tank when the low fuel light went on. For my truck, I usually have 6.5 to 7 gallons left when my low fuel light goes on. I have done the same excercise with half full, quarter full and right on the "empty" line. So I have a good idea of how much fuel is left most of the time. I have put as much as 24.2 gallons of fuel in the Comanche with out running out of gas. But, I do not suggest anyone try this unless your are willing to get stuck on the side of the road. Here is an example of the math I used. At 340 miles, the low fuel light goes on. I fill the truck up at 420 miles with 21.00 gallons of gas. (420/21= 20 mpg), then 330/20mpg = 17 gallons when the low fuel light goes on. Full tank = 23.5 gallons, subtract 17 gallons when low fuel light goes on = 6.5 gallons left when low fuel light goes on. I worked this out last summer over the course of two Pacific Ocean to Atlantic Ocean back to Pacific Ocean trips and it worked out very well.

Here is my towing MPG experience. Last September I towed an 86 MJ on a Uhaul tow dolly with my 91 Comanche 4.0, AW4, stock 3.55 gears, 225/75 x 15 tires from Victoria, B.C. to Michigan. I averaged 14 to 15 mpg for the trip towing. The 86 MJ and the tow dolly likely weighted about 4000 lbs. Compared to my trip home with nothing in tow - it cost me 5 to 6 mpg over "normal". And I was in a hurry to get home - so my speed was up there at 70+ (or more when I could). Here is a link to my posts last September: http://comancheclub.com/topic/51141-86-diesel-mj-on-its-way-to-new-home/?hl=johnj92131 In June/July 2016, I took the Comanche from San Diego to Boston and back to San Diego. My best MPG was 26+ when I kept the speed to 60 mph. 65 mph would net me 23-24. Higher speeds dropped the MPG a bit more to the 19-21 range.

Well, found he is still posting on theamcforum.com

Question for the moderators. Like many others here, I buy parts from a number of sources and am always happy to use a coupon code to save a couple of bucks. SO, Rock Auto sends out discount codes to a number of different places, including emails to past customers (like me). Do we have a policy on sharing these codes? Meaning where do we want to post them? Or do we want to post them at all? Rock Auto has no problem with anyone sharing the codes - Hey, it is free advertising for them. And that "free advertising" is why i am asking the question. I am asking now because I just got a fresh Rock Auto code that is good till April 3, 2017. John

Frank was doing an AMC subscription newsletter a few years ago. A good information resource. I got it for a couple of years, then dropped it when I joined jeepstrokers. Pete, I assume you are aware of the manual shift AW4 options that are out there.

I never noticed which way the little pump sign points. Always thought it was just a graphic way of showing the word "fuel". Now on the Ford picture above, I see an arrow pointing to the right side next to the word "fuel". That arrow may indicate what side the fuel goes in. But except for this conversation, I would never have paid any attention to it.

Yes, excellent idea on cutting the fuel gauge! Good pictures also. Reminds me I need to get back to fitting the 87 tach in to my 94 police cluster, because the 87 tach face matches the 120 mph police cluster speedometer. Excellent documentations. Thank YOU.