J.N.Pickles Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Hello everyone. My name is Joseph. I am new to this sight but reading through everyone's post I felt this was the place to come to for some questions. I have a 87 2wd comanche that was given to me. While it has no motor (but have disassembled, original owner told me it's needs to be rebuilt) at this moment it had a 4.0 originally, I believe the transmission is the ba10/5. I have a awesome running 96 cherokee that's 4wd. I want to do a engine swap along with the 4wd. I understand the transmission will need to be swapped to, it's a aw4, along with the transfer case. I understand I will have to shorten the drive shaft and all looks pretty straight forward except I guess for the fuel pump. Will the original pump cause me problems, and if so what can I do about this. And what about the electrical. Can I use the wiring harness from the 96 cherokee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87manche1 Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 As fuel goes it pumps ok. U can swap the whole harness just have to eliminate wiper lock etc from the rear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carnuck Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 welcome and where are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.N.Pickles Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 Thank you for the responses so far. I'm super excited to start on this project. I hail from Red Bluff in Northern California. Plans for this week intail stripping the cherokee down, bagging and labeling everything. I originaly planned on taking the manifold, exhaust, and injectors from Renix and putting them on the HO and using the wiring from the comanche, but further investigating showed that this will not succeed. The main reason is that I will need the cherokee computer and wiring for the aw4. I guess that that leaves me with a complete transplant. I have never tackled a project quite this large but I believe patience and motivation will carry me through. After all the reading I have manged thus far I guess what makes me the most nervous is the electronics, more specifically transplanting the gauge cluster. I'm also not quite sure if the OBDII system will cause me a head ache. Any help and advice those who succeeded in such a project will be much appreciated. Thank you for your time. Joseph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
64 Cheyenne Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Sounds like you got your head around what your doing, since its a total transplant gut one, replace with the other. Tail lights would be about your only wiring hurdle, but easily overcome, I think the data is in the "what is the most important tip you'd share with MJ owners" file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.N.Pickles Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 Thank you for the tip. Going to read the article now. Anything to help me from getting completely befuddled is much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
64 Cheyenne Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Lots of pictures. Probably have a couple hundred of the 95 XJ I dismantled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 if you swap the XJ over wholesale, I think the fuel tank level wires need to be switched. something in my brain says they flipped them along the line and so an early sender with a later gauge (or vice versa) would give you a backwards gauge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.N.Pickles Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 Thank you for the information Pete. I'll be sure to keep this in mind. Well today when I get off work I'm going to start stripping down the cherokee. I bought a few boxes of zip locks and a package of sticky labels at our local Wallmart so I can label everything as I disassemble. I'll be sure to take a zillion pictures as I progress. Since this will be my first project on this scale would any be willing to offer advice on the order they would take the cherokee apart. I have a general idea on how I might do it but would be much happier with a little advice from one much saltier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.N.Pickles Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 Also is this correct forum that I should be posting questions and progress too. I understand there are rules to abide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minuit Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 If you want to keep us updated with a journal of your progress, make a thread in "Your Project MJs" This forum is for tech questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
64 Cheyenne Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I'd start guttin the engine bay. Start with header panel and radiator, go from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimoshel Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Take lots of pics. Mark or label everything as you remove it, Baggies is a big help here. Memory is a funny thing, You start putting something back together again, it's amazing what you've forgotten. Why is everything I'm typing underlined? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.N.Pickles Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 Ugh terrible news, called into work for another shift so the dismantling will take place tomorrow, or at least some of it. A few questions though..... 1) Can I keep the same steering column? 2) Will the gauge cluster from a 96 Cherokee fit into a 87 comanche (the dash is inch better shape). 3) I have heard somewhere a little rhetoric about the cherokee haveing airbags and the comanche not, will this affect me, if so how to work around? Once again thank you for everyone's time. Joseph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.N.Pickles Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 P.s. Sorry about the iphone predictive txt. Inch is suppose to be in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
64 Cheyenne Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Best way, use the Cherokee column and dash. EVERYTHING from the Cherokee into the Comanche SHELL. You definitely need to use the cluster from the XJ (HO) dash and column because they are HO also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Best way, use the Cherokee column and dash. EVERYTHING from the Cherokee into the Comanche SHELL. You definitely need to use the cluster from the XJ (HO) dash and column because they are HO also. x2. the only things you should be reusing from the MJ are the MJ-specific things like the gas tank, rear lights, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 ... all looks pretty straight forward except I guess for the fuel pump. Will the original pump cause me problems, and if so what can I do about this... As fuel goes it pumps ok... ... I think the fuel tank level wires need to be switched. something in my brain says they flipped them along the line and so an early sender with a later gauge (or vice versa) would give you a backwards gauge. Really interested in what you find with this. I want to say that the '96 XJ fuel sender is a different animal from the '95 and down. Have a look at THIS BUILD. Pretty much the same story as you... '87 MJ + '96 XJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
64 Cheyenne Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Kind of like I said, 96 is sort of a bastard year, changin over from the end of 95 down, going to 97+ dash etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.N.Pickles Posted January 25, 2014 Author Share Posted January 25, 2014 Ok , started stripping the cherokee, everything pretty doable this far. Started thinking on what I should do about the lift. Issue is that I really don't have the xtra cash to put a lift that I would like at this time so I was going to leave it at at stock height while I drive it as my dd. but if I don't do soa in the rear now it means I will have to pay again in the future for another cut and balanced drive shaft. Hmm, what to do. I have photos I would like to share of the progress but have not figured out how to load them via iphone. As soon as I can do so I will start a build thread in projects for those interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 A few questions though..... 1) Can I keep the same steering column? You can (and IMHO should) keep the original steering column. Chrysler switched from a GM Saginaw column to their own in 1995. The Chrysler column and steering wheel have a driver's side air bag. If you want the air bag -- switch. If you don't feel the need for an air bag, there's no reason to change the steering column. 2) Will the gauge cluster from a 96 Cherokee fit into a 87 comanche (the dash is inch better shape). Yes. It will fit. But the '96 Cherokee cluster is all electronic, including the speedo. The MJ cluster for '87 used a mechanical speedometer. 3) I have heard somewhere a little rhetoric about the cherokee haveing airbags and the comanche not, will this affect me, if so how to work around? Cherokees did not have air bags until 1995. Comanches never did. The "work around" is to not change the steering column. Unless you want the air bag, there's no reason to change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.N.Pickles Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 Well Mr. Eagle, you just made my day. Thank you for answering my questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.N.Pickles Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 I started a post in the project forum to begin a documentation of the build for this interested 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