1986 Comanche X 2.5 5 spd long box

[comancheel]

Hi everyone. I found this truck sitting in a back alley that I just moved to and talked the guy into selling it for 750. It sat for two years he said front end and clutch was done prior. He put new 235 75 15 and a battery after i talked to him. Not sure how crazy I'm gonna get but just wanted to post some pics and some ideas and get some feed back. I'm new to Comanche's. I'm pretty stoked about doing it up. I'm a thrifty builder so any cheap mods or custom lift ideas, 'get rid of the 2.5 and stroke a 4.0 liter' kind of ideas. Right now. I'm getting it rust free, mechanically sound. It'll be in a constant state of repairs and upgrades and I'm looking g forward to it. I'm going to paint it dark blue and grey. I'll show you what I've done and get some more pics up of some more recent stuff.

 

I've got about 30 hrs in getting rid of all the rust. Ive got rid of everything from the front to the back of the cab. Planning to remove the box turn it upside down and sandblast it and see what's left. The bed is good but the rear quarters bottoms and around the tail lights is pretty bad.

Drivers side floor pan was the worst. I split the top layer of the subframe off and saved the bottom . Cut out the tin from about just passed the pedals to the back of the cab. Replaced it with checker plate for the drivers floor. And rectangular tubing that fit perfectly inside the bottom subframe. A d slightly thicker tin in the back. Passengers side was much better shape but not perfect. Had to patch a few spots. Going to do the checker plate thing on this side too one day.

I needed to do something else other than grind, brush and weld for a break so I did a tune up- wires were good so just plugs, Cap and rotor, fuel oil filter and cleaned k and n air filter, pcv valve. Trans, tcase and engine oil, coolant, brake fluid. . Manifold gasket. Fixed a bunch of small stuff.

 

Problem I still haven't got to are- front right axle u joint, all three flex hoses and steel brake lines as they are pretty rusty. not to mention the wear items. Power steering leak somewhere behind the pump.

 

Found out i have no interior dash lights. And my oil pressure gauge is fluctuating with the throttle application but reads super high.