Another Mj Newbie For The Ranks

[armyofchuckness]

Hello, everyone!

 

Just joint the Comanche Club and very stoked to be here. I've admired Comanches for a while, and a recent rebate from Uncle Sam allowed me to switch out of a 1982 Toyota Cressida and into an MJ of my own. I'm restoring my first car, a 1964 Plymouth Valiant, that I'm finally getting to fix up after 15 years of daily driving. I needed a truck that was a daily driver, got decent gas mileage, and was good for around town. As luck would have it, this bad boy from 1986 just happened to be for sale. After some serious stalking on this forum, I decided it was worth rolling the dice on it.

 

And here it is!

 

 

The body and interior are excellent. It's obviously been repainted, but the body is in incredible shape. I crawled all under this thing, and this looks like a five year old truck underneath, not a nearly 30 year old truck. The R12 A/C still blows ice cold and the 7 foot bed has a spray in liner.

 

Now the lame stuff: It's a 2x4 with a 2.5 liter and a 4 speed, so it's not climbing anything high or going anywhere fast. It has a few electrical gremlins and the right tail light assembly is only held on by the two outboard screws in very brittle plastic, so it could go any time.

 

I know it's not very exciting, but if it gives me half as much fun as it looks like most of you guys have with yours, I'm sure I'm in for a hell of a time.

 

Looking forward to getting to know you all better. Thanks for making this forum available!

[relyt120]

:drool: Visor

Welcome :waving:

Also AFIK in getting an 86 you were guaranteed either a 4cyl or an even worse 2.8l and also a long box. So its not so bad considering!

[armyofchuckness]

Thanks! The visor made it virtually impossible to turn down.  ;)  If Wikipedia is any gauge, you would be correct. I'm pretty sure the 2.8 V6 would be the only thing that would have soured me on the deal. I'd love to have gotten a 4.0 engine, but it probably would've been out of my price range. Plus, I do dig that it's an AMC Jeep. I'm a Mopar guy, but I have a special spot in my heart from the ill fated American Motors, so this guy gets two notches off my automobile bucket list. 

[High2by]

Nice truck. That color really looks good!

[armyofchuckness]

Thanks! It's metal flake, which makes me happy. Of course, right now it's pollen season in Florida, so it looks kind of greenish brown.  :laughin:

[Minuit]

:drool: Try not to mess it up too bad, okay? :P Beautiful. More pics?

[ComancheKid45]

Truck looks good! don't get 2 addicted now.....hahaha

[armyofchuckness]

Thanks! I'm not planning on doing anything to the body other than adding a tool box to the bed. I just found out that Comanches have the same bolt pattern as my Mopar wheels, so I may throw a set of American Racing Vectors I have on it after I use up these tires. I don't really have any expectations of grandeur with this truck. I just want to keep it clean and nice. I'll take more pictures of it when I have time to give it a good bath. It's a little grody now thanks to the rain/pollen. This picture is from the Craigslist ad. I'm afraid this is the only other snapshot I have right now with it not covered in green slime. Seriously, the pollen is out of control here.

 

[87Warrior]

Welcome! Nice ride.  :yes:

 

Not a darn thing wrong with a 2.5  :thumbsup:

[RubberDuck]

visor... split window... tailgate.... :drool:

[armyofchuckness]

I had no idea the visor was that special.  :eek: I just thought it looked cool. Is it common for them to be missing tailgates? Stupid newbie question. This isn't just my first Comanche, it's the first pickup truck to be owned by anyone in my family for three generations, so I'm still adapting to the culture. Custom vans and station wagons on the other hand...

 

Thanks for the welcome! Glad to see the 2.5 isn't a shunned power plant around here.  :thumbsup: I'll definitely be culling the archives here to get the most out of it that I can. For now, it does the job just fine. I'm not in any hurry to get anywhere.  :yes:

[88whitemanche]

A lot of aftermarket and oe parts for these trucks are rare so for someone to pop up with pcs already included is like a sight for sore eyes but good pick up there enjoy!

[armyofchuckness]

Good to know. I'm kind of surprised because I thought the popularity of the XJ would lend to lots of aftermarket gear. Apparently not so much. I'll be sure to take good care of my visor, then. :)

 

I'm kind of tempted to put a simple ram bar on the front, but I was surprised to see those are pretty hard to come by as well. All I can find are the full grill brush guards or the ones with winch and light mounts. 

 

I'd love to get something like this, but without the lights. We have a lot of college students in this town, and I'd like to protect my grille.  ;)

 

[Guest]

Hey; not a bad ride! One day the FL MJ'ers will number in the 100's.  :crossfingers:  :fs2:

 

Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.  :thwak:

 

Anyway, nice to see a fellow FL Jeeper. A very nice starting platform; if I do say-so myself.  :thumbsup:

[armyofchuckness]

Thanks! Tavares! That's not too far from here. Good to know there's some Floridians in the mix here. I just skimmed your build. Love the concept of a Honcho tribute. Big fan of the one in Twister too (including its disappearing visor). ;) Looks like our MJs are pretty alike, actually, or at least, they started out that way.

 

Thanks again for the welcome. Sorry to read about your mom.

[gogmorgo]

Ayy, wha'chu sayin 'bout college students?

 

Missing tailgate means missing tailgate. They're intended for easy removal (no bolts, just unhooking the straps and lifting it out) so likely it means someone just didn't bother putting it back... or it got stolen... tailgates are about as easy to come by as everything else that is MJ-specific that no one makes any more.

[armyofchuckness]

I speak from the experience of having been one. ;)

 

Plus, I commute past a 60,000 student strong party university every day. I can't think of a time when I haven't seen a car accident on my way to or from work. Gainesville is a drinking town with a football problem. :group beer:

 

Good to know about the tailgates. I would've thought they were at least bolted at the hinges. I'll keep an eye peeled for MJ vultures.

[Biotex]

Welcome!

64 Plymouth Valiant was the first car I ever drove. Dad handed me the keys one day and said take it out into the pasture and learn how to drive. When you think your ready, take it out on the street. That was it. I was maybe 14 at that time, and drove 'ol blue' all over the place. I ended up purchasing a 66 valiant. Had push buttons for a shifter, and a slant 6 225 engine.  I drove it for a long time, and finally passed it down to my younger brother. He started driving it at 14 also, until the cops shut him down.

Anyways, lots of fond memories...

[armyofchuckness]

It never ceases to amaze me how many people have a Valiant story. Mine's a blue pushbutton 225 as well. 

 

Here's what it looked like up until 2011. (I'm thinking these wheels will end up on the Comanche since they were a bit big for the Valiant.

 

Here's what it looks like now.

 

Looooong way to go. Thanks for the welcome!

[jeepsouth]

Nice truck,cool car ,and welcome to the madness.

[armyofchuckness]

Thanks! I think this new madness will go well with all my other mad pursuits.  :nuts:

[gogmorgo]

Tailgate comment was in response to "are missing tailgates common?", and I didn't really check for context on that one... or look back up at your pictures to see that it was still there, just assumed yours didn't have one.  :doh:

 They're not likely to go missing, or anything. It's just that it's not always easy to find one as mint as yours. Usually they're pretty dinged up from normal use, or the handle doesn't work quit right, or something. Yeah, he was just drooling over how nice your tailgate is.

 

Don't know that having a ram bar will help you much with avoiding accidents... and the back end is the part that you want to protect. Them rear bumpers are hard to come by in decent shape, and NOS tail lights can go for mid-three digits... But at any rate, everything in front of the doors is identical to what's on the XJ Cherokee, so you might have better luck looking there.

[armyofchuckness]

Ah. No worries. Thanks for checking the context. I was a little confused by your response. As you figured out, I was just curious as to why a tailgate was drool worthy when I assumed it was just an expected feature for a stock street truck to have. I do feel very fortunate about the overall condition on this truck. In replacing the burned out bulbs, i was very pleased to find absolutely no rust lurking in behind the tail light or headlight assemblies. Whoever had this truck before the guy I bought this truck from took good care of it. I'm hoping to keep the trend going.

 

As for the ram bar, I was mostly being facetious about the quality of drivers in this town. We live in a grid city with 90% straight and level elevation and seldom have a rain storm that lasts more than 10 minutes, and it still manages to be like Road Warrior most days. I doubt a ram bar will solve that. I just think the simple bull bars look cool. I'm definitely not planning on hitting anyone or anything with it, and I'm hoping against everything I never get rear ended. As you noted, the tailgate and the bumper are both in very nice shape, and I plan to keep them that way. I'm currently debating how to best install the tool box I bought in the bed, as it's completely undrilled and the truck is so nice, I feel bad putting holes in it. Those are easy to patch up if needed though. Thanks for the advice.

[jimoshel]

 I'm currently debating how to best install the tool box I bought in the bed, as it's completely undrilled and the truck is so nice, I feel bad putting holes in it. Those are easy to patch up if needed though. Thanks for the advice.

Ah, A fellow originality nut, for want of a better term. I thought I was the only one who hated to mar original sheet metal, no matter the purpose. I once thought thought about gluing some velcro strips to the top rails and bottom overhangs on the tool box so I wouldn't have to drill any holes in virgin sheet metal, . :MJ 1: .

Unfortunately you can't fry a egg without breaking the shell.

I hate fried eggs.

scrambled?

Jim

yes?

you're talking to yerself again.

Yes I know. Seems it's the only way I can hold a decent conversation, :rotfl2:

[Harley]

 

 I'm currently debating how to best install the tool box I bought in the bed, as it's completely undrilled and the truck is so nice, I feel bad putting holes in it. Those are easy to patch up if needed though. Thanks for the advice.

Ah, A fellow originality nut, for want of a better term. I thought I was the only one who hated to mar original sheet metal, no matter the purpose. I once thought thought about gluing some velcro strips to the top rails and bottom overhangs on the tool box so I wouldn't have to drill any holes in virgin sheet metal, . :MJ 1: .

Unfortunately you can't fry a egg without breaking the shell.

I hate fried eggs.

scrambled?

Jim

yes?

you're talking to yerself again.

Yes I know. Seems it's the only way I can hold a decent conversation, :rotfl2:

I know a guy who had the same issue about drilling for a toolbox. He ended up using J hook bolts and blocks of wood under the rails so the hooks dug into the wood instead of bending up the rails. He claimed he never had any issues and it held just like it was drilled and bolted.