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1991 4.0L daily driver/weekend wheeler build


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I went to see how my truck was progressing this morning.

 

Bed is painted and very BLUE.

 

I was pretty impressed with the finish, but the body guy said he's not even started cutting it yet. They were sanding the primer on the rest of the truck this morning. The body is straighter than when it left Toledo. With any luck, I will be able to pick it up by the end of the week.

 

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I was trying to see if the camera would pick up the amount of metallic in the paint. Pictures just don't do it justice. If it had any more metallic, it would start looking like a bass boat! jamminz.gif

 

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Thanks guys.

 

I'm getting pretty excited. It has been almost a year since I bought the truck. It's funny, but at that time my intention was to rattle can the whole thing. I was having a hard time deciding between OD green and flat gray. Along the way it took on a whole new life of its own.

 

The cost to paint the truck has been reasonable, but it's definitely not cheap either. I have grown so attached to the dang thing that I wanted something really nice. Even with flat black paint and a full length key mark down the side, people would stop me at the gas station and grocery, compliment the truck and say how you just don't see them on the road much anymore.

 

My buddies are all giving me a hard time saying that there is no way I'll wheel it. The painter said not to worry about tree limb scratches and such. He said they applied three heavy coats of clear and that if I mark it all up, just to bring it in and they would cut it again and it should be good as new. Rock damage...well that's another story all together.

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Make, year and name of the paint?

 

I sprayed 2003 Chrysler Electric Blue Pearlcoat and it looks VERY close!

 

It does look close. Mine is 2002-2003 Corvette Electron Blue. It too is a pearl and has tons of metallic. My front bumper also looks a lot like yours. It's a JCR that is almost exactly the same except it has driving lights made into the bumper just inboard of the shackles.

 

Your truck looks great. It gives me additional motivation to get mine back on the road!

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Wow, just wow. It makes me wish I had spent more on my paint job :drool:

 

What??? You probably have one of the most drooled over trucks here.

 

Actually...there's a lot of really nice trucks on this forum. I've borrowed tons of ideas from all of the different builds here.

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Wow, just wow. It makes me wish I had spent more on my paint job :drool:

 

What??? You probably have one of the most drooled over trucks here.

 

Actually...there's a lot of really nice trucks on this forum. I've borrowed tons of ideas from all of the different builds here.

I agree, some awesome trucks here :wrench:

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:banana: :cheers: :banana:

 

...sorry...had to start this post with cold beer flaked by a couple of dancing bananas. It ssemed appropriate considering my mood!

 

Was hoping to have truck back by end of week, but that just wasn't in the cards. My body shop does good work, but they seem to work at my pace...every promise of one hour wrenching to the wife seems to take three. So be it. I stopped by tonight to see the progress. They finished buffing the paint on the cab today.

 

It wasn't the best spot for a photo shoot, but you get the idea. The pics don't really do justice to the quality of their work.

 

Here she is at the moment:

 

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They still have to attach the bed (obviously) and respray bedliner on top of the bed rails. They have a bit of overspray to correct and clean it all up. The owner seemed to think I could get it Tuesday...I'm hoping for next Friday.

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How did the 4wd conversion go? I plan on doing that to mine too and was wondering how extensive the work was.

 

It wasn't a big deal at all. I just had to track down all of the necessary pieces. You'll need the following:

 

Front Axle. Dana 30 is easiest swap. Get one from a '96-'99 XJ. They are still high pinion ('00-'01 are low pinion) and they got the better 297 u-joints beginning '96.

Front Drive Shaft. I pulled a junkyard XJ shaft.

Transfer Case. NP231 easiest swap and plentiful in XJ's.

4wd Transmission. A 2wd trans has a longer tail shaft & it's easier just to pick up another trans than to tear into the original.

Rear Drive Shaft. You can have yours cut down. I had a new double cardan one made by Tom Woods and installed a slip yoke eliminator in the transfer case.

Transfer Case Shifter. You can pull one from a junkyard XJ. I bought a cable style shifter from Novak.

 

If you plan to lift it, doing so at the time of the swap would be the best time to do it. The whole front end will be out anyway.

 

The parts are a simple bolt in deal. Another thing I did at the same time was to replace the old style hydraulic throw-out bearing to the newer style external slave cylinder. To do this you'll need the later style bell housing as well. Again, take one from an XJ.

 

I think that's about it. With all of the pieces there and a buddy to help wrench and hand you tools (and help get the tranny in place) it's an easy weekend swap. It took me a lot longer working an hour or two at a time. I also replaced all of the u-joints, bearings, ball joints, brakes, regeared the axles, etc at the same time so it added a lot of time to my project.

 

Send me a message if you have any questions, but it was really pretty straight forward.

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YEP nice very nice, what are ya gana do about flears? jamminz.gif

 

The stock flares will be going back on.

 

I plan to make all of the trim semi-flat black. I will be using a black grill in place of the stock chrome one. My drip rails will be black, as well as the J E E P letters on the tailgate, door handles, mirrors, etc. I will reuse the stock chrome emblems for the fenders and the 4.0L on the tailgate.

 

I plan to install a new slider with dark tinted glass. I'll have the windows tinted after the fact to match the color of the slider.

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HOLY GUACAMOLEEEE! I love that color dude! Truck looks so awesome!

 

Thanks. I dig guacamole!

 

Anyone know a source for new old stock emblems? Mine look pretty good, but I would love to find a new set.

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Got my truck back yesterday!!

 

Last night I put the front grill and lights back in place. Easy 10 minute job, right? Once together, I tested the lights. The left blinker blinked twice as fast as it should and wouldn't blink at all if the headlights were on. I thought maybe they didn't get a good ground when they put the rear harness back in place...no dice. Maybe there was a pinched wire or short in the rear harness...no such luck. Oh, I know..,maybe there was a problem with the front harness I installed along with the junkyard front header panel, so I removed the harness and swapped my old harness back in...nada.

 

In sheer frustration I went back and checked what I should have done first..the bulbs. It turns out that they swapped two of the bulbs on the driver's side rear. They had a tail lamp bulb in the back-up socket and the back-up bulb in place of one of the tail lamps. Any, all is well now and I did get the grill and front end put back together before heading home.

 

*Note to self* Always start with easiest and cheapest fix and work you way up.

 

I brought my family by my office on our way out to eat to show off the Comanche. While not a truck lover, the wife actually complimented the Comanche, but in my heart I think she just wanted to make me feel good. The first pic is the younger of two reasons that I only play with the Comanche a little here and a little there. My daughter is four and was having too much fun running through the aisles of my warehouse to bother with a pic inside of dad's truck.

 

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