Old Bessie - Swedish Workhorse Gets New Life

[lerpoel]

Hi!

Been reading the forum for about a month now, but just registered and I am very excited to participate in the community!

I just bought a 1988 Comanche 4.0 with unknown trim (see the weird decals on the pictures). It works though, has a solid frame but quite a lot of surface rust hidden under layers of paint.

I live and work in Stockholm, where cars are hardly welcome and where finding a truck sized parking spot is a nightmare. However, most of the work is going to happen on the family farm about 200 miles away where I've got access to plenty of space and tools.

Problems to fix:
* Emergency rust repair to take me through the winter (floor, doors, bedside)
* Weak power window motors
* Oil leak (head gasket I believe)
* Uneven on idle
* Dented left front
* Broken grill
* Hanging headliner
* Ripped drivers seat

Short term projects:
* Clean-up and re-paint frame
* Engine tune-up

Long term project:
* Design and fabrication of new bumpers
* Rust eradication
* 4.5-5.5" lift (EDIT: gonna have to go with a 3" lift for now)
* Electrical re-wiring

I want to keep the original interior since it is in such good shape and has bucket loads of charm, at least when coming from a 00's German hatchback...

Did I mention that I have absolutely no car experience? (but some simpler tractor repairs...)

[lerpoel]

Pictures


Weird camel decals


Orange rear turn signals are regulation in Sweden. Any ideas on how those can be better implemented? This looks horrible...

Dana 44?

Rusty engine compartment

I seriously love this interior...

Dashboard

Retrofitted light switches and cupholder


Video

[COFFMAN]

Welcome, a pretty clean truck you have, mine also had the red interior. never fell in love but it dose have a cool factor....lol

[yellaheep]

Cool!  Factory power windows and locks!  Don't see that often at all.

 

Neat truck.  I chuckled when you said "truck sized parking spaces are hard to find"........ a long bed MJ is hardly "truck sized" here in the States.

 

Try parking an '11 Dodge Ram 3500 Cummins Crew Cab long bed ...... dually.  :D

[johnr]

nice truck. I have never see that trim before, overall its pretty clean. maybe you could mount the turn signals on the rack behind the cab. do you guys use road salt in the winter? for the rust if you don't have the time to pull the bed and grind it all off you could spray it with used motor oil that would at least slow everything down. if you do have the time then I would suggest pulling the bed and going to town on rust prevention and eradication. my truck was in basically the same as yours when I got it, I spent 4 months after work  scraping and grinding the entire underside and the coated it with POR15.

[COFFMAN]

We to have the Amber turn signal issue, but I think we can use Orange globes in a clear lens. i.e reverse light. This is what I'll do  if I haven't found the right solution before registration time comes.

[Strokermjcomanche]

Nice truck .

 

If you need amber lenses I can think of two ways to do it . They both involve getting another set of comanche tail lights .

 

1. Drill a hole in the turn signal lens and put an amber led light that also has the 2057 bulb base .

 

2 . Get a amber repair lens at your local parts store (if locally available) use a dremel and graft it into the tail lens .

 

Post a question in the tech forum for more responses from other members . They are very helpful .

[Dillithium]

Hej!

 

It looks like you have a factory bed light switch, with the actual bed light too! Very cool, especially for a comanche in Europe. They're super rare here, so we have to treat them especially well.

I didn't like my red interior at first, but it sure does grow on you. I love it now and wouldn't trade it for a black interior. You also have some very unique graphics, I wonder of that was a dealer option. Did you import the comanche yourself? Do you know where it came from?

[lerpoel]

Woah! Thanks for the warm welcome and response  :bowdown:

 

First a short project update. Has been quite a lot of urgent family business to take care of so this is already taking lagging...

 

Got myself a scotch-brite pad and a drill and went to town on the body. It was as expected a bit worse than it looked, and I found these crappy bondo repairs in and by the doorsteps:

 

 

Looks like I gotta buy me some sheet metal and rebuild the doorsteps.

 

Doors are OK, but wearing a little thin at the bottom.

 

Next week I will be pulling the bed off and cleaning the frame with the sandblaster. I'm hoping to be able to assemble it all again by the end of the week to drive the car back to Stockholm.  :rotf:

 

 

By the way... Is there a way to limit image width here? 

[lerpoel]

Hej!

 

It looks like you have a factory bed light switch, with the actual bed light too! Very cool, especially for a comanche in Europe. They're super rare here, so we have to treat them especially well.

I didn't like my red interior at first, but it sure does grow on you. I love it now and wouldn't trade it for a black interior. You also have some very unique graphics, I wonder of that was a dealer option. Did you import the comanche yourself? Do you know where it came from?

 

Hej på dig! Another Swede? :)

 

My feelings exactly. I didn't like it at first but have come to love it! Too bad that the drivers seat is so worn... 

 

Yeah, and the bed light is actually working still - even though the bar is blocking most of the light. :)

 

I discovered three different layers of paint on the bed that are not present on the front. I suspect that the bed was replaced, the whole car repainted and the graphics then added to make it look "whole". They are very probably after market decals as there were "Trim Line" markings among them which I believe is a 3M pinstriping brand.

 

The car was imported in November 1987, according to the registration, most probably by the original dealer. According to the VIN it is a Metric Ton Laredo, as (I've come to understand) are most of the Swedish ones. The import taxes were so high in the 80's that the Laredo trim was the only one worth importing...

 

Nice truck .

 

If you need amber lenses I can think of two ways to do it . They both involve getting another set of comanche tail lights .

 

1. Drill a hole in the turn signal lens and put an amber led light that also has the 2057 bulb base .

 

2 . Get a amber repair lens at your local parts store (if locally available) use a dremel and graft it into the tail lens .

 

Post a question in the tech forum for more responses from other members . They are very helpful .

 

1 has been my thinking all along. Saw your post in the tech forum though about mounting an amber lens and that looks really cool! Will have to think a bit more about it...

 

Also need to look up what the legal requirements are. I know that I need a constant positioning light, brake lights and amber turn signals. However, I've read that reverse lights are optional on older vehicles, which could open up the possibility of replacing that bulb with an amber led light.

 

We to have the Amber turn signal issue, but I think we can use Orange globes in a clear lens. i.e reverse light. This is what I'll do  if I haven't found the right solution before registration time comes.

 

Just what I meant to Stroker above. Just gotta check the legality of that option...

 

nice truck. I have never see that trim before, overall its pretty clean. maybe you could mount the turn signals on the rack behind the cab. do you guys use road salt in the winter? for the rust if you don't have the time to pull the bed and grind it all off you could spray it with used motor oil that would at least slow everything down. if you do have the time then I would suggest pulling the bed and going to town on rust prevention and eradication. my truck was in basically the same as yours when I got it, I spent 4 months after work  scraping and grinding the entire underside and the coated it with POR15.

 

We got road salt in here southern Sweden, but the northern parts get so cold (Sweden is about the same height of continental USA so the climate varies a bit :)) that it is useless salting the roads. There is most often a premium on cars from northern Sweden because of them being less rusty...

 

I'll be pulling the bed on Monday. Hope that the sandblaster means that I'll be able to clean it up a lot faster than 4 months though! I got five days of vacation coming up and will be spending most of that working on the frame.  :crossfingers:

 

Cool!  Factory power windows and locks!  Don't see that often at all.

 

Neat truck.  I chuckled when you said "truck sized parking spaces are hard to find"........ a long bed MJ is hardly "truck sized" here in the States.

 

Try parking an '11 Dodge Ram 3500 Cummins Crew Cab long bed ...... dually.  :D

 

I actually had to google that setup. Those are brutal! And would probably cause a wave of heart attacks among our militant vegan hipsters... 

[shelbyluvv]

The options on that truck lead me to believe it is a Laredo. very nice platform to start on. I love that interior too.

[dasbulliwagen]

If you will PM your VIN to me I might be able to see where it was originally exported to through Chrysler records. That might shed a little light on your trucks history.

[Dillithium]

 

Hej!

 

It looks like you have a factory bed light switch, with the actual bed light too! Very cool, especially for a comanche in Europe. They're super rare here, so we have to treat them especially well.

I didn't like my red interior at first, but it sure does grow on you. I love it now and wouldn't trade it for a black interior. You also have some very unique graphics, I wonder of that was a dealer option. Did you import the comanche yourself? Do you know where it came from?

 

Hej på dig! Another Swede? :)

 

My feelings exactly. I didn't like it at first but have come to love it! Too bad that the drivers seat is so worn... 

 

Yeah, and the bed light is actually working still - even though the bar is blocking most of the light. :)

 

I discovered three different layers of paint on the bed that are not present on the front. I suspect that the bed was replaced, the whole car repainted and the graphics then added to make it look "whole". They are very probably after market decals as there were "Trim Line" markings among them which I believe is a 3M pinstriping brand.

 

The car was imported in November 1987, according to the registration, most probably by the original dealer. According to the VIN it is a Metric Ton Laredo, as (I've come to understand) are most of the Swedish ones. The import taxes were so high in the 80's that the Laredo trim was the only one worth importing...

 

 

 

 

Alas, not swedish. Just a victim employee at a swedish furniture store.

 

Cool to hear it was actually imported by a Jeep dealer in 87, we didn't get them at all in the Netherlands so they're pretty rare. Do you see them often in Sweden?

[lerpoel]

If you will PM your VIN to me I might be able to see where it was originally exported to through Chrysler records. That might shed a little light on your trucks history.

 

Greatly appreciated! Check you inbox.

[lerpoel]

 

 

Hej!

 

It looks like you have a factory bed light switch, with the actual bed light too! Very cool, especially for a comanche in Europe. They're super rare here, so we have to treat them especially well.

I didn't like my red interior at first, but it sure does grow on you. I love it now and wouldn't trade it for a black interior. You also have some very unique graphics, I wonder of that was a dealer option. Did you import the comanche yourself? Do you know where it came from?

 

Hej på dig! Another Swede? :)

 

My feelings exactly. I didn't like it at first but have come to love it! Too bad that the drivers seat is so worn... 

 

Yeah, and the bed light is actually working still - even though the bar is blocking most of the light. :)

 

I discovered three different layers of paint on the bed that are not present on the front. I suspect that the bed was replaced, the whole car repainted and the graphics then added to make it look "whole". They are very probably after market decals as there were "Trim Line" markings among them which I believe is a 3M pinstriping brand.

 

The car was imported in November 1987, according to the registration, most probably by the original dealer. According to the VIN it is a Metric Ton Laredo, as (I've come to understand) are most of the Swedish ones. The import taxes were so high in the 80's that the Laredo trim was the only one worth importing...

 

 

 

 

Alas, not swedish. Just a victim employee at a swedish furniture store.

 

Cool to hear it was actually imported by a Jeep dealer in 87, we didn't get them at all in the Netherlands so they're pretty rare. Do you see them often in Sweden?

 

 

Not often at all really. I've seen one other on the road since I bought mine, and one for sale on the Swedish version of craigslist.

 

Spare parts are sparse over here...

[lerpoel]

Put a week of full-time work into the truck now, but forgot to document it... mostly.

 

Pulled the bed over the course of two days. The Haynes book did not help at all with, so I am very grateful for the photos on here.

 

Discovered A LOT of surface rust but only one hole in the frame.

 

Left side is before my first pass with the sand blaster, and right side is after. Some craters left, but pretty much OK.

 

I then found a leak in the gas tank, where large "wet spots" formed on the outside of the tank. Not an outright leak, but doesn't feel right to put that back on there...

 

My old man helping out with pulling the gas tank.

 

Cut away the rust hole and put a new plate of 3mm steel on to cover the entire section. $#!&tiest weld I've ever done, but first time I've ever welded upside down - and it shouldn't be of much importance to anything...

 

Spent three days blasting, scraping and grinding the frame in order to get it completely rust and undercoating-free (that stuff is a nightmare to remove). Then painted it with three layers of rattle can paint.

 

End result!

 

I'm pretty pleased with the progress so far. Next steps:

1. Paint rear axle and leaf springs with hammerite
2. Get a new gas tank
3. New shocks all around, new coil springs in front and a add-a-leaf to add 3 inches of ride height (they don't seem to popular around here, but all other lift options seem to be costing me upwards of $1,000 including shipping... and that's just not an option this year)
4. Paint job
5. Re-assembly

Can someone confirm that this is the correct gas tank for a long-bed? 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Spectra-Premium-JP4B-Fuel-Tank/dp/B000C7S4O0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408307446&sr=8-1&keywords=spectra+jp4b

[lerpoel]

Slow progress since 2014 due to living far away from the project site, and other priorities (wedding, vacations) draining my funds. Now, I've gotten back on track:

 

Swapped out the old rotten shocks:

 

Wire brushed the rear axle, painted it with hammerite, cleaned the gears and changed oil. Got new u-joints:

 

 

Started the surgery on the cab:

 

[pigg]

Haha, jag har just också återupptagit renoveringen på min comanche som stått i många år och så hittar jag din tråd, kul! Borde väl skriva på engelska kanske i tråden egentligen

[lerpoel]

Kul med fler svenskar!

 

Dags att göra en egen tråd också då? Vill se fler svenska MJs ;)

 

Translation for curious americans:

 

Nice to see more Swedes here!

 

Might be time to make your own topic then? I want to see more Swedish MJs ;)

[pigg]

Kör engelska så alla fattar. I got an old thread on mine on jeepforum.com, but I'm gonna start a new one here instead soon.

[lerpoel]

Some more work done recently:

 

* New brake lines in the rear

* Cleaned and painted bottom of bed

* Cut away all the rot from the cab

* Put bed back on

* Installed new gas tank

* Replaced dented front fender with new

* Replaced broken front header and grille

 

It is all wired up and put together now, and *theoretically* it should run. I have some electrical issues to take care of first though.

 

This is how she stands right now (front not bolted on)

 

[lerpoel]

Does anyone know what the sensor/relay under the brake fluid reservoir is for? Seems to have a electrical connector as well as a vacuum hose.

 

Previous owner has hooked up some kind of weird electrical thingamajig from the ground connector there...

 

EDIT: This thing

 

[strictlyxjs]

thats the pump for the washer fluid

[lerpoel]

 

thats the pump for the washer fluid

 

 

Thanks strictlyxjs! PO added washer fluid nozzles aimed at the headlights, so this whole wiring mess is probably to run a separate pump for that.

 

 

On another note, I tried to get the car started yesterday, but fuel just poured out of the fuel rail after I ran the fuel pump for a while. Seems like I have to get new o-rings for both the fuel pressure regulator and the injectors before I try again.

 

Found 83502745 Fuel line repair kit 5/16 $8.99 Morris in another thread here, but it seems like it is unavailable in Sweden.

 

The local parts shop could find it in their system, but could not order it - they were instructed to tell me to buy a new fuel pressure regulator for $100 instead :( Tried ordering it from JC Whitney, but they quoted me $30 shipping. Still waiting for a shipping quote from Morris 4x4... Small things get terribly expensive here.

[Joop]

I used biltema's o ring kit to fix some leaking injectors once. It wasnt a perfect fit but it worked. I think you should be able to find a biltema in sweden....