johnj92131

A-man, interested in that switch...Any more specific information about what year/model VW it came from?

Hey, flatslug87, I am with you on the California bashing. I see it all over the internet from people in other parts of the country who use all kind of pejoritive words. You have to remember that long before the Gold Rush, California has been a place a huge number of people all over the world have aspired to get to... My parents followed the California dream in the very early 1950's from Scotland. A long time friend traces her family dream back to a Pio Pico land grant in the 1820's. (Pio Pico was the last Spanish Govenor of California). My kids can trance their ancestory on their mothers side directly back to a man who arrived in New France in 1691. His decentants are all over the U.S. and Canada. How many of us have ever been been able to attend a 300th wedding anniversary celebration? Even the first maps of California in the 16th century (yes, the 1500's) were of a paradise off the west coast of the new world. This brings out envy in some people. California is the Golden State for so many more reasons that just the 1849 Gold Rush. California is the the place many people all over the world want to be. When was the last time you heard somebody who wants to go to Cleveland, Pennsylvania or North Dakaota? soI just got back from 5 week in southern europe and the Mediteranian. When people heard I was from California there was a much different reaction than when they heard Anita was from Montreal and Cleveland. It was "Wow, California, I have a cousin there, I wish I coud be there. California is both economically and culturally the richest, most vibrant state in the country. It simply brings out the envy in some people. Even the Austraiian we met undrstood the Californa dream. They compared Australia to California. Not better, but very much the same.

Cruiser, Sorry to hear of your friend's passing. The amazing thing is that when these life events happen, we as people come together to remember all the good times we had, rather than the small problems life brings us. Events like this remind me to TRY be kinder to the other people in my life.

I actually forgot my truck has a tilt steering column. I had to fix it 7 or 8 years ago, since then I have never changed the position. So, for me, it is useless.

Nice truck, but it is still a work in progress. The spray in bedliner takes it out of the collector class for me. If the owner has not bothered to put emblems back on, I have to wonder what other short cuts have been taken. For us Americans, we need to remember $12500 Canadian is about $9700 U.S. The seller is a Fisherman and he is looking to catch "The Big One".

Airspeed, I am with you on garage/DIY paint jobs. Never again. I did a couple with my dad more than 40 years ago (dad was a professional commercial painter, Including painting wings on F4 Phantom aircraft for McDonald-Douglas). You really need all the professional equipment, including a proper paint booth. Way too much work and MESS for me. The final results look good and only you know about the filler on the roof. As for the emblems, check with 3M for a glue remover. As other have said, let the paint cure properly, then use the remover 3M sells. After that you should be be great.

Well my truck is still not out of the shop. They had a couple of hot jobs that needed to get out and since I don't use the truck as my daily driver, I told them it was fine to let the Comanche sit and take care of their other customers. Did stop by the shop this morning and look at the old thermostat. It looked nice and clean but have not tested it's operation. Did count the blades on both fans: The mechanical fan has 7 blades and measure 15 inches in diameter. The electric fan has 8 blades and looks like the original unit. The radiator cap is 13 lbs and only a few months old. Is that the correct pressure rating for the 91 H.O. engine? The shops guess is that the water pump weeping/leaking caused the over flow tank problem because the leaking water pump provided a means for air to get into the cooling system. So there was no suction to suck the coolant in the overflow tank back into the radiator. So I will just have to watch and see what happens as I use the truck over the next month or so. Lastly, the shop tells me that the cooling system seems to be very much stock, meaning all the hoses and equipment seem to be as the factory intended. Again, thanks to all who have helped.

ZJ fan clutch??? I understand about the 10 blade aux fan. But not how the ZJ fan clutch is different from the MJ/XJ fan clutch. Please explain.

Appreciate the comments so far. One more link to a dual electric fan set up below. This one uses a BMW temp switch to turn the primary electric fan on and off. Installation seems very simple (even I might be able to do it). But it is a bit of a kluge fitting the temp switch. Lastly, BMW parts are never inexpensive. Same goes for any German parts. Still could be much less expensive than the Spal controller. http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1035194

Replacing water pump and T-stat today! Yes water pump was shot. Will see what that does for me over the weekend. Overflow bottle will have to be checked. It is the same one in the truck for the near 10 years I have had the truck. But who knows what previous owners did or did not do? Agree that a proper, stock cooling system works great. Thanks for the pointers! JJ

I have been having a small cooling system issue for the last 6 to 8 months. After a good freeway run to bring the truck up to normal operating, when I park the car, I notice a small loss of coolant coming out of the radiator overflow bottle. Over time, this loss of coolant leads to a low coolant level in the radiator and I have to top it off. What I think is going on: After the engine stops the coolant continues to get warmer from the heat soaked engine. That leads to the coolant boiling off into the overflow tank and from there onto the ground. The radiator is good quality and just over 18 months old. Radiator cap is 4 months old. My truck has A/C which means I have a second radiator fan that is supposed to come on with the a/c AND/OR when the coolant temperature hits 220. The electric fan turns off at 200. My VW Passat uses 2 electric fans to keep the engine cool. But, when the engine is turned off, one of the fans continues to run until the coolant temperature stays below 200 and this means I don't loose coolant to an over flowing recovery tank. This got me thinking about dual electric fans for the Comanche and an old article by Dino Savva (aka Cheromaniac on the JeepStrokers site): http://www.angelfire.com/my/fan/electric.html Is anyone here using dual electric radiator fans? Think Don still might be, but is anyone else? Link to Don's post on XJtalk: http://www.xjtalk.com/showthread.php?t=13188 And Link to Don's article here in the DIY section: http://comancheclub.com/topic/7895-dual-oem-aux-fan-installation/ Looking for input on this or similar modifications. Edit: Yes, I have also read the dual fan article on Go-Jeep's site. He uses 2 Ford Taurus fans. Thanks,

Cheaper is not always better in the longer term. Frankly, even if it is cheaper - you are being penny wise and Pound foolish (IMHO). EFI is such a huge performance improvement over carbs - you will spend way more trying to get carbs to run well than you ever will to get an EFI system installed and running correctly. Case in point: My son- in- law still has his first car - a 1964 Chevy SS. During the complete restoration, he and his dad put in a rebuilt 350 with all new parts from the carb to the exhaust. After a couple of years trying to get the 4 bbl carb properly set up and the car still running poorly, he took it to a dyno shop for a proper tune. Results, needed a different carb, new intake and several hours of dyno tuning and rejetting. His final cost was over $1100. But the car now idles properly and runs properly at sea level, Unfortunately when he takes it to the local mountains for a car show, the car will not be running as well at 4000 feet. He could have saved that $1100 to do the engine properly with a later EFI engine. For him, it was important to use the period correct carb for 64 Chevelle and to use the 327 block he had for the car. I have no problem with that at all. But he did take my suggestion to use a 4 speed automatic in place of the original 2 speed Powerglide. It makes for a much quieter running car on the freeway. For your 4 cylinder truck - consider getting a full aluminum block Chevy truck engine and a set of factory aluminum heads. That will cut the weight of the engine way down - to the point you will be able to retain most of the front suspension from your 4 cylinder Jeep. Consider that if you go with a cheaper, all iron Chevy engine you will have to spend a bunch of money to upgrade the front end of your Comanche. So when you consider total cost - it is the same to use the all aluminum engine - even if the engine costs more up front. Same logic to buying an EFI engine. Yes up front it may cost more. But then you have to spend the $1100 (or more) to correctly set up the carb. See why it is cheaper in the long run to go with the EFI aluminum V8?

There are Americans that don't know how our system works. This is frightening. What's more frightening is they vote! Yes, that is frightening. And this time they elected a disgrace, but seem happy to do it. Guess there was a reason why Alexander Hamilton believed government should be by the "Rich, the Able, and the Well Born".

So where do you pick one of these up and how much? Never sold in the U.S. as a direct injection diesel. Not much support in the U.S. for the engine? That is why I have chosen the VW TDI engine to put in my original 86 MJ diesel. Lots of support for the VW TDI engine. Considerable number of Jeep Cherokee/TDI swaps have been done and a number of suppliers for the conversion parts needed. Not to mention a great pathway for more power in the VW TDI. All in all, the Chevrolet V8 conversion path is the easiest and least expensive out there. It might be interesting to use the Chevy V6 engine, just to be a little different, but the aluminum block, aluminum heads version of the Chevy V8 is just SO attractive. Only long term issue is keeping the temperatures under control.

You might want to check Amazon for the LuK clutch kit as well as Rock Auto. I find by the time you add freight at Rock Auto, it is sometimes just easier to buy from Amazon. Especially if you have an Amazon Prime membership. Another thing to look for at Amazon is their "used" or open box items. With auto parts, these are just simply returned items that are in damaged packages for a really great marked down price.

I am with gogmorgo on this, Find something for the 7' S10 bed. The only issue with the S10 shell/topper is cab height. The S-10 cab height is a bit shorter than the Comanche, but otherwise fits fine. There is a much bigger market for the S-10 stuff than there is for the Comanche.

Pat's dads truck. Pat said the frame was rusted very badly among other issues. Forget what they sold the truck for. Now where close to this asking price - I know that. Anyone looking for a Diesel MJ should be looking in Canada for one. I picked up my Diesel MJ for $350 Canadian. That was under $300 U.S. dollars this summer. And it is in much better condition than this rust bucket. Once we get the VW TDI engine in it, it will run for another 300,000 miles.

Tex06, I did see your post about using the GPS. BUT you did not explain why use the GPS. Hence my comment nobody has mentioned speedometer being properly calibrated. Guess I should have been more clear with my post!! The other thing to use the GPS for is to accurately calibrate your odometer error for what ever tires you are running. That way you will be able to get accurate distance measurements with your Odometer, no matter what tires/gears you are running. I used my phone GPS program to calibrate my speedometer error and a correction factor for my odometer several years ago. Rechecked the calibration last year and adjusted correction factors for tire wear! You can get a GPS/Speedometer/Odometer App for you Apple or Android phone for a couple of dollars at the most that works really great. Read my first post, down at the bottom. :D Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

Surprised nobody has mentioned the fact that the speedometer is also not properly calibrated. Checking your actual speed at 60 mph is the very first thing you should do. Then note you transmission gear at 60 mph. Look at your tach at the same speed. Now, along with your tire brand and size, you can accurately tell what rpm you should be running with any given final drive.

I am not a fan of WalMart, so take what I say with that in mind. I am OK with WalMart for car batteries because I am basically buying amp hours. Likewise I am OK buying a national brand of something like motor oil that I can get at any other store in the country. But, with WalMart specific items from a national company, WalMart sets a target retail price, then shops suppliers to meet that price. Compromise specifications frequently what happens to meet the WalMart price target. I saw this when I was looking for a computer a few years ago. I have seen it with other WalMart products all too often. I am OK buying stuff from WalMart as long as I understand that I am not getting a top quality produce - rather a product who's most important thing is a price point. WalMart sells a bunch of stuff at a price point and people are sometimes happy with what they buy at a low price point. Personally, I have purchased cheap tires because I did not expect to keep the car very long or anyone of a number of other reasons. When I want GOOD tires, I buy at Costco - Usually Michelin tires and I just pay for the good product., BTW, my Comanche has cheap Kumho tires and they work just fine, I just don't expect to get 90K miles out of them. The Passat has the Michelin tires and they work GREAT.

I have tried to remove windshields from cars at the Pick N Pull about 4 times. Each time it ended with a cracked or broken windshield. The last time I paid a glass shop $50 or $60 to come out to the junk yard and remove the windshield. They got the glass out with no damage. Just took 2 guys about half an hour. But they had done it a hundred times. My suggestion is to just pay and get it done correctly when you find a good, NLA factory windshield. It is really the only way you are going to get a factory original windshield.

The old Wranglers had a 15 gallon gas tank rating from the factor. The trick was that the gas filler tube was extra long inside the tank. Some owners reported cutting the filler tube inside the tank shorter and filling the tank up to 20 gallons with no other modifications. Just what I have read. Now this trick and the one Go-Jeep uses to get and extra 5 gallons in the Cherokee XJ tank actually removes gasoline expansion volume area from the tank and replace it with liquid gasoline storage. Result, in hot days and when fuel is heat soaked it expands and flows out of the tank - IF the tank is full of gas at the time. If you are down 5 gallons, then you have the stock expansion area/volume in you fuel tank and gas does not over flow the tank. Don is quite correct in what the baffles do inside the tank. They simply control the fuel sloshing in the tank and have nothing to do with how much fuel goes in the tank.

My 91 BigTon package truck came with 225/75 x 15 tires. I have run 235/75 x 15 on all 4 wheels with no issues at all. I have no lift or anything else special to fit the 235/75 x 15 tires. Never have tried larger 245/75 x 15 tires, so can not say they will or will not fit. Rims on the truck are factory aluminum, if that makes a difference. Really don't know the width of the rims.

There is an old Dodge R/T running around San Diego with a Viper V10 in it. The engine is very tight, even in a space made for a 440 V8. Lots of work to make it fight properly. Looks GREAT. Seem to recall there is a shop in the Pacific North West that does MB diesel conversions on the XJ/MJ. Normally they use the 5 cylinder 3.0 MB 617(?) engine. But their web site had a picture of one conversion they did with the longer 6 cylinder MB Diesel. Think they added some space at the front of the engine compartment for the engine length. Think they quote $10K for the complete conversion, including a rebuilt 5 cylinder MB Diesel. But the MB diesel should run for 500-600K miles easily. As for the Chevy I5 "Atlas" engine family: Peter with the Worlds Fastest Comanche was an advocate of that engine in the Comanche. Only issue was that the Atlas Family of engines is a couple of inches taller than the 4.0 If you want the OBD II engine management features in your MJ, why not just use a 96 OBD II engine wiring harness and the correct ECM from a Cherokee? That will give you all the tuning options you want of the OBD II system and still have the original MoPar engine. Know this has been done by more than a couple of XJ owners. Should be a low bucks solution also. Right now, I am paying for a VW TDI engine conversion for the 86 Diesel MJ I purchased in June of this year. Will not be cheap, but will be dead reliable and can match the torque of a 4.7 stroker with out too much trouble. For example, my 96 Passat TDI puts out 313 lb/ft and 173 hp with just a turbocharger upgrade and a fresh chip tune. One fellow I know has modified his TDI engine and turbo up to 380 lb/ft and 228 hp. The car still drives fine on the street (driven to Las Vegas with him) and actually watch the dyno tuning of the engine when it was tuned to that power level.

Find a V-10 and use that for your conversion. Check engine width, should be very close to the 318/360. Length should not be an issue.