MJ-90 Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Here is my new project. Its a 1990 Comanche Pioneer 4.0L 4x4 with 144K nearly rust free and very clean interior. I just picked her up about a week ago. I was building my Cherokee up but got bored of it and a buddy of mine said he had a really clean MJ sitting around he would sell. So after a week of trying to sell the XJ, I sold it for $1400 and a motorcycle. and bought the MJ for $1000. So far the first thing I did was replace the head gasket, thermostat and water pump. Finished it all in one night and had her fired up in the morning. We were kinda surprised that she was running before we tore it down and found a good amount of coolant in the cylinders. After some thinking, I am not really sure where I want to go with this build. I was thinking of going with a 6-8" lift and 35s with d44 and ford 9in. Or the other route would be to keep it at this height and swap in a 350, new axles, and wider tires and kinda make it a sleeper. The build is most likely going to be a little slow because I am a college student and on a limited fund. The summer of 2014 is probably when all the action will be happening on this. Well here are some photos. More will be added as I get around to it. 2005 Honda Shadow Spirit 750 with 9951 miles My old Cherokee that I got rid of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AeroNautical Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 I misread that and thought you sold your XJ AND a bike for $1400, haha. That engine looks all too familiar, I rebuilt a 2.5 that had a cracked head, all 4 cylinders were full of coolant. One hell of a headache. Since you got rid of your XJ, I'd say go with the lift option you mentioned, MJs look stocky as hell with lifts and tires. Look forward to seeing your progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-90 Posted November 14, 2013 Author Share Posted November 14, 2013 Haha I did kind of word that weird, but I sold the xj and in return I got a bike and 1400. So I think I ended up with a great deal because that xj had a bunch of problems coming up. After the head gasket change we noticed a slight tick from the rear of the block but we were also thinking it could be some loose flywheel bolts. Just haven't had time to dig into it and check it out, probably this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earl*t Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Welcome aboard. Always good to see another project in the works. :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comanchepur Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 :doh: No matter how much time take to fix your MJ do it It's a American Icon Survivor and you receive back the money invested. MJ never loss value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-90 Posted November 15, 2013 Author Share Posted November 15, 2013 Just a small update today. A couple owners ago, they must have screwed up the ingintiion cylinder or something. So every time I wanted to start the jeep I would have to turn key to "ON" then open the hood and touch the green starter solenoid wire to the postivite terminal on the battery. Its only been a week and was starting to get old. So today I got a 20 amp push button start. I started by mounting the button next to the transmission mode switch. I ran a wire to an empty slot on the fuse panel, so that you can't crank it over without the key. After that I ran wiring from the other side of the button through a grommet in the firewall, along the firewall and to the green wire. I used an inline fuse right there since it was in an open spot. I tried it out with key off and doesn't crank and whenever you turn key either way it will crank up and works great. Also my exhaust is about to fall off from right behind the cat. Plus the exhaust ends right after the muffler and whenever I hit bump and what not, I can hear and feel the exhaust hitting something. I know its not the shocks because it rides great and I pushed the exhaust around a little bit and it made the same noise. Next week I will be taking the jeep on its first long voyage 180 miles and 3.5 hours from Iowa to north Chicagoland. I'm not feeling worried because I had ran my other jeep that far and it was in worse shape, but I will have a 500 pound motorcycle in the back so that could change haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-90 Posted November 19, 2013 Author Share Posted November 19, 2013 I ran into a problem today. I went to start the jeep and I got nothing, I tried to jump the starter with a screw driver and didn't get anything but some sparks. So I finally did get it started by hitting the starter a few times with a hammer and than jumped it. Looks like next week ill be getting a new starter and solenoid just to be safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-90 Posted November 21, 2013 Author Share Posted November 21, 2013 Well I found another thing wrong with the truck, I was loading my motorcycle into the truck and heard some rubbing. When I got it into my driveway I started pushing down on all corners. On the passenger rear I heard it when pushing down, so I looked under and found that the rear leaf spring shackle is completely broke in half. I have been driving it for couple weeks now without issues and never noticed anything unusual. But I do have to drive it from Iowa to north Chicagoland tonight or tomorrow. I think it should be fine until I get back there and able to fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-90 Posted December 29, 2013 Author Share Posted December 29, 2013 just a little update. Took this on a long cruise from Iowa to Chicago mid December and I knew that my muffler was about to fall off, well it finally fell off when I hit a really bumpy intersection. I am still waiting to get some time to go get it fixed since I'm to damn lazy to do it myself. Also I fixed my broken shackle issue. I didn't want to spend the big bucks on nice shackles that wouldn't give me any lift in the rear, instead I went to get the parts store lift shackles and they worked great and gave it about an inch or 2. which is fine with me because I'm planning on lifting it soon anyways. When replacing the shackles I couldn't get the top bolt out because it was rusted to the bushing sleeve, so I got adventurous and pulled out the torch and made a great big fire and made it come out. One thing that I found when lifting the jeep onto some jack stands was that the front leaf spring hanger on the passenger side was starting to rust off, so I pulled out the welder and put 2 nice beads on the back and on the outside of the frame. That should last through the winter till i can fix it a little better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-90 Posted January 9, 2014 Author Share Posted January 9, 2014 Did a little bit of work today in the 0* weather here in the Chicago area. At the start of the week my starter finally decided to give out. Well today has been the nicest day out in a few, even though it was 0* out it felt like 40* because its been in -20s all week and weekend. I think it took all of about 20 minutes to replace with a new one and wow, it starts so much faster than ever before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spectormj Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 pics man we here love photos! . :MJ 1: . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-90 Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 I know haha. I was going to have a lot of pictures but of coarse that didn't happen. My girlfriend was supposed to take some but I needed her help a few times and she couldn't take any pictures, plus I don't have a smartphone, so it kinda gets hard for me to take some. I will try tomorrow if I remember. I will be putting in new marine battery terminals since my others stripped and won't get tight anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spectormj Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 least your keeping us informed build on man and don't forget photos are worth their weight in gold here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-90 Posted January 15, 2014 Author Share Posted January 15, 2014 Monday i picked up a new back sliding window which is getting installed probably this weekend. also got a bed topper in pretty good shape, so I'm keeping that on to keep stuff dry when i move back to iowa in a week or so. i was going to get some new updated pictures of the outside today but i competetly forgot to when i found my old jeep that i just got rid of, for sale again. so i was trying to find out how much he wanted for it (i was having my girlfriend ask him) he wanted like 2500 for it and that would be the lowest as he doesnt want to take a big lose on it. i tried to change out the gauges but even with new senders they didnt work right, so i went back to the working ones. the new radio that i put in so that i could play my ipod and cds the usual mess that i have going on inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-90 Posted January 16, 2014 Author Share Posted January 16, 2014 you guys asked for some pictures and here are some more. I also have a new back window which is hopefully getting replaced saturday by a guy here in town for 100 bucks since i don't want to deal with all the problems of removing old and installing the new one. here is the new bed topper that i picked up from another member on here. some of the new bezels pieces since all of mine are broken. and my future tire size 35" this is my old spare from my other rig and I'm just using it as weight for the rear since we get a lot of snow here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-90 Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 not much to really update as i have been back at school in iowa and don't really have a garage to work on this thing in the freezing cold. but i have been haveing problems with my 4wd not engaging at the disconnect, it would engage every once an awhile. so today i went to investage it and found that the main vacuum line off the ball was broke so i went and got some plugs for the lines. after i plugged it up. i could hear and feel it engaging every time i switched to 4wd, i switched it in and out about 25 times without fail. now i just need to get my hvac controls back. i have only had the defrost setting, i now think the actuators are bad since i plugged the main line and it didnt do anything. but my problem is now, i can't find these little actuators anywhere in stores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-90 Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Nevermind, I just found them on moparpartsoverstock.com they have them for 11 bucks a piece. i should be ordering those soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-90 Posted October 9, 2014 Author Share Posted October 9, 2014 Not much for an update but this was from last spring, held a 4.0 with trans and tcase without problems and still got up accelerated quickish. and here we have a test fitting of a 35in tire on a stock lift. I really just wanted to see what it would look like so i have a image to build towards. Here you can see my biggest project yet on the ole manche, I redid the entire brake system. I did this because i had little to no pedal and when i took off my drums the shoes fell apart so i upgraded to rear disc brakes. I got the brackets off a 98 grand cherokee, I also put in a dual diaphragm booster from a 98. I bought all new parts for everything except for a proportioning valve and the caliper brackets. I replaced all the old line with brand new front to back. i had to custom make the proportioning valve since it only had to ports out, 1 for the front and 1 for the back. so i took some of the plugs out and made 2 out for the front and 1 to the rear. One thing i forgot to do was replace the rear studs with longer ones but they should be fine when i get new wheels since the mounting surface isnt as thick as the factory wheels. I did run into a problem when taking out the shafts. the cross pin shaft bolt broke in half. so i had to make some precision holes with the drill and out came the main pin. i did have a new bolt on hand so when i installed it i threw some quick steel in there and its has held up just fine for well over 3000 miles so far. so I'm not worried about it. plus if it does give out i have a non c-clip axle sitting in the bed that can go in. I did get my front clip fixed to look a bit more pleasing to the eye. i have since added some led light pods. I can't remember if i have mentioned it yet but i followed the bleepinjeep how to on an aux fuse and relay box. i used a factory one from a mid year cherokee and just took all the wires i needed from a few and made one good box. now its so easy to hook up all my accessories, all i have to do is attach the corrisponding wire from the cat5 to the swtich and connect the power from accessory to the box and done. makes for a clean install on everything. i picked up a light switch panel on ebay for 20 bucks and will be mounting it in one of the mini consoles that i have laying around and adding 5 swithces to it. i will have front bumper lights, cargo lights, backup lights, aux fan, and trans cooler fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-90 Posted October 9, 2014 Author Share Posted October 9, 2014 Buddy picked up a cherokee for 500 bucks so we took it on his property for some wheeling and got it stuck on a log pile. Here we have all the projects my buddy is working on besides my mj on the far right. from left to right we have an 81 cj-8 scrambler that was in a fire, 86 comanche x 2.5 2wd long bed with a 4 speed, 96 zj with a broken connecting rod in cylinder 6, his 92 cherokee that we got stuck. and my 90 mj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-90 Posted November 7, 2014 Author Share Posted November 7, 2014 Got bored over the past couple days and I was tired of my tools and jack sliding around, not being able to find them or just out of reach. so i got a little creative and built a no thrills tool and jack storage box. i didnt really measure everything like i should have because i have to redo the back board where the lid is going to hinge off of. right now the lid won't clear the jack where the handle goes into. instead of redoing it i thought about just adding a 2x2 on top of it then the lid and it will clear it then. it was all made of 2 2x8s. I stared by screwing the first board to the lip at the end of the bed to hold the entire thing down. I made all the short spacing boards fit right down into the ridges of the bed so it won't slide around. also made it spaced in from the sides to hold fluids or tool bags. I could have ran the back board all the way to he sides but wanted it to be fairly easy to take out. right now to take it out you have to unscrew the spacers and remove then unscrew the main board from the truck. this is because incase the screws holding the main board in fail the hold down loops with catch it and prevent it from sliding. Still need to make the lid. should be this weekend if the weather is nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now