The White Witch.... The start of the Comanche build....

[juustncase]

Hey all, not much of a poster, but definitely read a lot of posts on here. So I figured I would start my build page. A little background on myself... I am an avid auto enthusiast, specializing on the engineering side of things. Started into cars as a toddler, helping my grandfather restore his antiques (had a collection of ~16). He was into making them new, I was into making them better. Fast forward a bunch of years and I found myself specializing in Nissan and more particularly Z's. This is my 1988 300zx that will be getting a V8 put in her as soon as I am done with the Comanche:

 

 

Couple years back, I started dating my gf Sarah and she had a 1993 XJ that was in desperate need of attention. So I rebuilt the XJ, learned alot about rust and fabrication both in metal and fiberglass!

 

This is what she now looks like (I finished painting the front end and the roof is now black) :

 

 

You can find the build page here: http://www.cherokeeforum.com/f46/golden-nugget-41816/

 

 

So after I finished the XJ, I really caught the Jeep bug and started on the quest of finding my own Jeep. I found that having the XJ nice, I really needed a truck. So after searching craigslist for 6 months, I finally found the exact truck I wanted: Short bed, 4.0, Dana 44 rear and 5-speed

 

After some negotiating, I got the guy down to $900, including the whole 97+ front end conversion parts and an extra set of 30's, 2" lift, upgraded control arms, SS brake lines, intake, rock sliders.

 

Booya! The day I brought her home (August 2011):

 

 

Then I started taking care of all the rust:

 

Even got sarah into it:

 

Then she sat for a while on jack stands:

 

And got more snow dumped on her:

 

Then she got a new friend:

 

And a new home:

 

Well that's all for now.... I have some maintenance work to do to my Z, then its all hands on deck on the comanche!

 

The build will go as follows:

-Full resto-mod build, beef her up where I can, take care of all weaknesses.

-Make her badass and capable

 

More details to come!

[86customanche]

Nice start. Good luck with the resto. :thumbsup:

[ComancheKid45]

Sounds like a plan, You have a great platform to start with :wrench:

[juustncase]

Okay, so I am start with the build process goals and order:

 

Goals in Order:

-Remove all rust and repair areas (about 50% complete)

-Remove bed, cut up and discard (better condition one sourced)

-Strip entire vehicle for repaint

-Remove drivetrain & axles

-Sandblast

-Weld: frame stiffeners, steel diamond plate lowers, rear hitch to the solid bumper

-Fabricate safari rack (windshield to tail)

-Tons of bodywork & paint (staying with the white and black theme)

-Overhaul Engine:

-Hotter Cam, 99+ intake manifold, gasket match head and P&P, header, high flow water pump & t-sat housing, remove clutch fan (going electric), bigger alt

-Inspect trany, clutch, flywheel, transfer case

-Obtain new D30 for front (perches are gone), disc to disc D30's are $150 around here

-Refurbish axles

-Install LSD in D44

-Vanco front brake kit, ZJ rear disc conversion, booster upgrade

-Put everything back together

 

Things I still need to figure out:

-Interior

-Front bumper

-Lighting

-Fender Flares

 

I am going to go with the height and wheels/spacers (black xj 5 spokes w/30's) that I have now for it. Later on I'll probably give it another 2" and 32's, not the highest priority right now.

[87Warrior]

Sounds like you have a good direction in mind. Glad to see another fan of the Vanco brakes.

 

I would recommend you strip the truck then do the rust repairs. You will be amazed how much rust will appear once you really get at it. Plus it will make the repairs easier and more complete.

[juustncase]

Yeah, I had searched high and low for something bigger... Was looking at the WJ upgrade for the front as well as fabricating a Wilwood kit, but then read about the weakness in the knuckles, which I had seen first hand on the XJ. All things being equal, I don't mind the extra coin for added peace of mind.

 

She is already pretty stripped. The interior minus the dash is out, already cut out all the rust in the floor and fabricated some new pans out of nice thick 12ga steel AV rack shelves! haha

 

My biggest concern right now is removing the bed. The rearmost nuts are long gone, so I have started to cut the floor of the bed out to access the top portion. Time will tell if the rear frame is salvageable, if not, I am going to have swracecars.com fab up some new rails to be welded in.

 

 

Serviced the D44 and top end engine seals before I moved:

 

 

[89Patches]

Think the easiest way to remove the bed without cutting it up is to use a hole saw (7/8 I believe) and after your done weld some washers in to fill in the hole.

 

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So thats what I did, now just have to weld washers in to decrease the size of the hole

[juustncase]

Think the easiest way to remove the bed without cutting it up is to use a hole saw (7/8 I believe) and after your done weld some washers in to fill in the hole.

 

So thats what I did, now just have to weld washers in to decrease the size of the hole

 

Thanks for the idea! I think I'll run with it! :cheers:

[juustncase]

Great news! I am picking up a 4.2L for a whopping $50!!!! Looks like a stroker is in the works!!

[knever3]

Now the budget is out the window. Good luck, let me know if you need anything.

[juustncase]

Well, the 4.2 deal fell through.. got to love craiglist... (le sigh).

 

In other news, I think I figured out some things with the jeep. When I bought it, the front driveshaft was not connected and the spedo was off... I think the rear was upgraded to a 4.10 and the old owner had not put 4.10 gears in the front... thoughts?

 

Not really a project update, but to facilitate a faster build I worked on the garage, built a workbench and spent way too much at Harbor Freight this weekend:

 

Before (Sat morning):

 

Finished the bench:

 

After (Sunday afternoon):

[87Warrior]

Very nice! The only thing you need to finish it off is that fancy flecked floor paint.

 

Organization truly helps keep things moving quickly.

 

In regards to your gearing question, your best bet is to pull the diff covers and count teeth or look for the tooth count on the ring gears.

[juustncase]

Small update, havent posted in a while...

 

Been delayed on the Jeep build. Girlfriend's Sentra SER Spec-V's engine started smoking and misfiring... ended up being bad rings and one of the exhaust valves on cyl 3 was not closing. So I had to rebuild it and of course I had to upgrade it! It should have about +25hp over stock when I am done. Hopefully I will be getting it reinstalled this weekend.... Couple progress pics....

 

Ready to get started:

 

Parts to go on:

 

Engine out and degreased:

 

Head Cleaned:

 

Ready for reassembly: