Alexia's 1987 To 1997 Comanche

[Alexia]

Undercoated the frame with Duplicolor Undercoating - This frame is insanely clean even on the inside and outside. RockinMJ really was entirely honest when he said this MJ is very solid.

 

 

 

Ran the fuel pump wires using the XJ wiring boot. I drilled a 1 1/8" hole and filed it open to the 1 3/16" size required. I opted to reuse the factory MJ fuel pump wires as extra light and trailer wires to the rear.

 

Wired straight into the Dakota fuel pump plug that I snagged from the junk yard truck.

 

Painted the hood striker latches and finalized installing the hood.

 

[RockinMJ]

Getting close to the maiden voyage.

[Alexia]

Getting close to the maiden voyage.

Bwa, how did I missed this message?! Very close! Especially after the little bit and pieces I did today. I had a half day off work as a present due to a screw up last week.

 

Installed rivet nuts to use a newer style hood prop. Odd that the holes were always there!

 

 

Yet another brand new wiring harness I made! This time for the rear lights.

 

 

Grounded directly to the frame with two 16 gauge wires, one per side, instead of the original one wire for both sides. No voltage drop or dim bulbs.

 

Taped up in my new favorite electrical tape is a power lead for factory trailer tow. All that is needed to add trailer wiring is a factory XJ tow harness or an aftermarket harness then wiring a power lead from the engine bay to the hidden wire.

 

The red wire is for the license plate lights. It is loose for now until I know how and where those will be.

[ftpiercecracker1]

 I have noticed that all of your grounds are up against paint and not bare metal. Is this ok to do? I always thought that for it to make a good connection the mating surfaces had to be ground to shiny metal. When I painted my engine bay i cried a little when i ground down a spot for my body grounds.

 

case in point

 

[Alexia]

 I have noticed that all of your grounds are up against paint and not bare metal. Is this ok to do? I always thought that for it to make a good connection the mating surfaces had to be ground to shiny metal. When I painted my engine bay i cried a little when i ground down a spot for my body grounds.

 

case in point

 

I run a serrated flange bolt all the way in tight to scrape the paint off under the bolt and where the ground terminal ring will rest. Then I install the ground wire. This helps to prevent exposed metal that would rust and possibly spread. There is nice shiny metal under there. I really am that picky about little details like that.

 

The other acceptable way for the ground to be against paint is to make sure the flange of the bolt is shiny.  The ground terminal ring will ground through the bolt and into the threads in the metal.

[ftpiercecracker1]

The ground terminal ring will ground through the bolt and into the threads in the metal.

 

 

That is exactly what i was thinking,

 

Definately a nice touch using the serrated flange bolt. :thumbsup:

[92tanMJ]

Looking great dude!

[Alexia]

Did you install the Dakota tank yet? You gonna do a right up on it?

After getting frustrated trying to make the Dakota tank fit under my MJ I ordered a Genright fuel cell at a huge discount from 4WP. I can take care of some interior trim while waiting for it to arrive.

http://www.genright.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=BST2100-1

[92tanMJ]

Where are you going to mount it?

[Biotex]

 

Did you install the Dakota tank yet? You gonna do a right up on it?

After getting frustrated trying to make the Dakota tank fit under my MJ I ordered a Genright fuel cell at a huge discount from 4WP. I can take care of some interior trim while waiting for it to arrive.

http://www.genright.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=BST2100-1

 

Nice!  I need one of those for my buggy project.

 

You need to sell me that one real cheap, and get you one of those old school tanks that mount behind the rear seat in pickups. :rotf:  :rotf:  :rotf:

[Alexia]

Where are you going to mount it?

Right in the corner of the bed where I did not want to put it! It will fit neatly between the wheel hump, the front of the bed, and just right at the center line.

Nice!  I need one of those for my buggy project.

 

You need to sell me that one real cheap, and get you one of those old school tanks that mount behind the rear seat in pickups. :rotf:  :rotf:  :rotf:

$570 on 4 Wheel Parts with free shipping today and CC5OFF discount code.

[92tanMJ]

 

Where are you going to mount it?

Right in the corner of the bed where I did not want to put it! It will fit neatly between the wheel hump, the front of the bed, and just right at the center line

 

 

(this is just an idea) but...If youre going to take up that bed space, why not fab it into part of a tool box and make the tool box permanent?

[Tylerzap]

why not mount the cell in the factory location?

[Alexia]

(this is just an idea) but...If youre going to take up that bed space, why not fab it into part of a tool box and make the tool box permanent?

I have considered that! Take a truck tool box, remove the low hanging portion that would be over the fuel cell, and enclose the rest of it leaving a tool box with one deep side and one shallow side. 

 

why not mount the cell in the factory location?

The same problems I am having with the Dakota tank made worse by the fully boxed corners.

[92tanMJ]

 

(this is just an idea) but...If youre going to take up that bed space, why not fab it into part of a tool box and make the tool box permanent?

I have considered that! Take a truck tool box, remove the low hanging portion that would be over the fuel cell, and enclose the rest of it leaving a tool box with one deep side and one shallow side. 

How about this:

Make the one side when the fuel tank is, that way its always lockable. And the other side you could have the box all the way down to the bottom, and half way weld it some 1x1 tube make a shelf. Then you could put larger or heavier stuff or stuff you hardly use,  and have just encase on the bottom with tray halfway so you don't have to reach down to the bottom to get to the stuff you would use more often. :dunno: 

[Alexia]

I am waiting on the fuel cell to be shipped still and it looks like it may come directly drop shipped from Genright. Mean while I am working on a few other items.

 

The 1997+ door striker sits much further in that I expected so I had to fill the exposed hole with a washer.

 

Cleaned up, painted, and installed. I applied black RTV around the striker to keep water out. This is not done from the factory on 1997+ XJs, but their rocker channels have drain holes that I have not found on the MJ.

 

The door closes nicely and lines up well. I still need to install the thicker 1997+ door seals.

 

New dark tint on the windows. The over exposed garage door around the vehicle door helps illustrate the effectiveness of the tint.

[Alexia]

The headlight loom WAS perfect until one of the tabs from the bulb broke off in the socket. I destroyed the socket trying to separate the tab from it.

 

 

It has a face!

 

[HOrnbrod]

:drool:  Mmmmmm, chrome  :drool:

[Alexia]

:drool:  Mmmmmm, chrome  :drool:

This is bad, I have invoked the chrome freak! D:

 

I plan on cleaning up the chrome windshield trim and putting the chrome drip rail covers back on. It would be nice if I could find a decent pair of chrome trimmed tail lights. Though, I believe those were just chrome paint so I could easily replicate that.

[HOrnbrod]

Not really Alex. They had the plastic chrome "plating" between the segments and silver paint between the plating. Just paint would not look good. Here's a pic of a NOS pair I sold awhile ago. You can see it if you blow it up a bit.

 

The chrome windshield trim and drip rail covers will look nice..............

 

You have me thinking about the 97 front end clip swap. That's going to be super nice.

 

[RockMJ]

 

RockMJ, on 19 Apr 2013 - 19:06, said:

Been a LONG time since I checked your build last. Fantastic work my friend! I don't like those wheels on the JK's but they look proper on the MJ! I need another MJ soon!

 

RockMJ

Thanks! You should stop selling the Jeeps you build. :P Though they are fun to build.

Haha touche! I seriously think I enjoy building them more than having them finished. I have told friends of mine if I talk of selling the Eliminator to hit me really hard. I should point out I'm not fond of being hit so with that said I plan on keeping the MJ 

 

RockMJ

[RockMJ]

Not really Alex. They had the plastic chrome "plating" between the segments and silver paint between the plating. Just paint would not look good. Here's a pic of a NOS pair I sold awhile ago. You can see it if you blow it up a bit.

 

The chrome windshield trim and drip rail covers will look nice..............

 

You have me thinking about the 97 front end clip swap. That's going to be super nice.

 

 

Just curious, but how many NOS sets of tailights have you seen around Don? I think yours are the only set ive ever come across in all these years

 

RockMJ

[Alexia]

Not really Alex. They had the plastic chrome "plating" between the segments and silver paint between the plating. Just paint would not look good. Here's a pic of a NOS pair I sold awhile ago. You can see it if you blow it up a bit.

 

The chrome windshield trim and drip rail covers will look nice..............

 

You have me thinking about the 97 front end clip swap. That's going to be super nice.

Your truck is too perfectly 1980s to do that to it! :(

 

Guess I will have to find those tail lights some where then.

[Alexia]

The fuel cell is in, but I forgot to take pictures of it. The Dakota fuel pump works great though!

 

[H3RESQ]

Haha, start it and rev to 4500 immediatly...rough.

I really like the chrome grill. I keep wanting to do a flat charcoal metallic wrap on mine and do a chrome grill.

Like the '13 JK wheels too!

Gonna be nice!

 

EDIT...how and were did you get a 000000 speedo? More specific can you actually get in it and set the exact milage? I really want to have exact milage on mine as to equal restoration/4.7 install.