88 Comanche Mild Restoration - Comanchurian Candidate

[fmess63]

Hey guys,

 

New to the forums here - Glad to find a club specifically dedicated to these diamonds.

 

For my 22nd birthday my dad bought me a 1988 Comanche 4x4 4.0 5 speed for $140 and some old rock sliders off of my XJ (Pavement Princess doesn't need them.)

 

THE FUN STARTS HERE.

 

Let's break down first impressions. She's missing the whole header panel and passenger side fender. The windshield is cracked. The seat is out of a Grand Caravan, and is secured to the floor with... nothing. It's resting on a piece of wood thats deck screwed into the pan. There is some god-awful form of makeshift wiring harness in the front... I mean nightmareish. The fuel pump is powered by a toggle switch thats mounted in the dash, and it's wired backwards. The Steering column looks like it's out of a 90's model XJ and the dash is spray painted black and red. She doesn't have a tailgate, passenger window, or taillights... I WAS IN LOVE.

 

 

The Speedometer (Which I later found to be 100% accurate) reads 379,000 miles... Wow. That's a lot even for the venerable 4.0. The young man I was purchasing it from did not have the title but had purchased it from a friend of mine, who apparently had the title. The reason my friend originally bought the MJ was my original XJ that he loved. Interesting how all of the people can be connected in a small town.

 

5 Speed - I hope it's not the peugot, but I haven't had any better luck with my AX-15's either.

 

We go to pick up a U-haul car trailer from town to tow it home. By now with all of the project Jeeps and Volkswagens we've paid them to tow, we could've bought two cheap car haulers. They refuse to rent it to us, because my mom's 2000 Grand Cherokee V8 4x4 apparently isn't strong enough to haul a Comanche (Which was complete BULLSH*%, as they had rented me a trailer a year prior to haul an XJ with the same vehicle and trailer type...) We went across town to a more Redneck-Friendly U-haul yard. The woman has also rented me a trailer for ANOTHER XJ with the same configuration and never given me a hard time. She followed suit in this case as well, bless her little heart.

 

We go to pick it up - The kid wants the battery and tires back. I told him I would bring them back that night, and he reluctantly let me pull it up on to the trailer. While driving it, I noticed the brakes are done, Which I expected from the get -go. I got it home, and immediately swapped the tires with my superior spare set, pulled his battery, loaded them into my Grand Cherokee and brought them promptly back to his house 6 hours after picking up the truck, in the pitch black, in the middle of tweaker-ville. He later texted me to say that I had restored his faith in humanity for keeping my word, and as a reward he would track down the original bench seat on his property. Still haven't heard back on that one, going on three weeks now...

The good list is short. The body that's still there is not in bad shape. The frame is straight. I pulled the horrendous seat and mount, and inspected the interior for rust- Nothing but some slight surface rust. Easily stoppable with some sanding and rust reformer (My primer of choice). She runs, and has a very good amount of power. The transfer case is flawless, and my god can this old girl climb. Now, I do NOT plan on wheeling her, but making her able to if needs be. There weren't enough of these things made to justify that - I'd buy another XJ first... But even in her neutered and stock form I was able to climb a rock face by my pond that not even my beefiest XJ could ever climb... The love grows.

 

The bad list, including the above initial things I noticed, runs deep. I discovered it was being prepared and stripped to become a pre-runner or tough truck. The front suspension looks to have been stripped down a tad. The wiring harnesses are messy as hell. The Fuse block is damaged in the footwell, and definitely Needs to be replaced.

 

So here's my plan:

 

Full, ground up tear down and wiring replacement. 

Body, paint, and interior. Going either black or silver.

Front end 97+ XJ upgrade.

Customized bed- Possible removable camping setup- this will be in the future but I really want to experiment.

POSSIBLE High output conversion. If I go this route, i'm going to try to find a 91-96 XJ and rip all of the wiring and drivetrain out of it and swap it. 

She's getting the works in regards to Power and accessories- roof console with temp gauge, power doors and locks, 2 door XJ Bucket seats.

While I'm fixing the suspension and such I will be lifting her anywhere from 2 to 4.5 inches. This all depends on pricing and such. I may leave it stock height and focus on tanking it out. I'd like experiment with body armor.

Various other odds and ends. 

 

The fun part so far has been tracking down the title. The DMV understandably believes that anyone trying to find the last registered owner of a vehicle is a stalker and cannot be trusted. I was able to find out that there is a lien on the title from a dealership that no longer exists. after spending a solid few hours on the phone with the Secretary of State I was able to receive a signed and notarized form stating that they no longer exist, which in effect makes this null and void and should no longer cause an issue with the titling process. After many days of hunting I was able to find the last Gentleman that owned the MJ - Turns out I got lucky. He is incredibly friendly, glad to see that she hasn't been destroyed completely by tweakers and is doing everything he can to find the title. The truck was originally purchased Brand-New off the lot in Grants Pass, OR by his grandmother. Finding this out is incredibly cool... I've never owned a vehicle that I can trace the full lines of ownership with. This is how I found out it really has 380k miles, and still runs as well as it does. He also says he has some parts laying around, and only asked that he could keep the glove box lock he stole from it in his s-10 ad to receive updates on the progress of the MJ as I bring it back (He almost invited me to his wedding, though we had never met.. I was more than happy to oblige, considering the possible hell he is willing to go through to help me track down the title.

 

So there it is! Much more to share and update later, but for now the fun begins. I live in Eugene, and travel back to Grants Pass (2.25 hour drive) at least 4 times a month, where the MJ is located. For now, I'm going to start collecting parts and research all of my options. If you folks have any input to offer, or helpful advice, feel free to shoot me a message. Hope you enjoyed the abridged version of my adventure so far - Cheers!

[kansashogan]

_{That is some dandy headlight wiring. Good luck with the build.}

[buxmj]

That is already a cool story!   Good luck and welcome to the mj madness.  

Buck.

[Mattwheels]

Good to see you're here Farren, Now get that new front clip in and installed.

[neohic]

Hell of a story!  :thumbsup:

[fmess63]

Thanks guys! Picked up the bench seat today. Piece by piece.

[fmess63]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t31.0-8/10903975_10152601409497503_3042053863938165275_o.jpg?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9

[88whitemanche]

That's how mine looked...except at least you have the covers...

[COFFMAN]

Yep... cool story, God bless your little cotton socks   :thumbsup: Go hard man and bring this one back.. Should be a good build :thumbsup:

[fmess63]

Just an update guys:

 

This previous weekend I received my fenders and header panel 97+ and mocked them up. The passenger side that is missing the stock fender is pretty buggered in the fender well, so I plan on reshaping that down the road once I figure out the final wiring.

 

The belt that was on the engine fell apart finally, leaving me to uunt for a replacement, which means 25 mile round trip to the nearest partsa hut. Unfortunately they gave the the wrong belt twice, and I'm still on the hunt for the correct belt.

 

I was able to extract the mounting brackets off of the old bench and transfered them onto a set of worn out XJ buckets I had sitting around. I'll post pictures later on.

 

I was able to get a better look at the fuse block, and it's well done... the only thing i was able to successfully fuse was the guages, which miraculously still work.

 

I've reached the point now where I'm stuck in a waiting game. Until I find an XJ to use for parts, or another Comanche, she has to chill. This will also be the determining factor in my renix or high output decision. Go figure the one time a need a wrecked XJ that runs and drives out of southern Oregon, I can't find a single one for less than $1200, or an MJ.

[fmess63]

Sorry for the typos, my note 4 isn't very kind.

[BlackBeast]

Can't wait to see progress!I'm doing a header panel swap on my 89 very soon .. 140 bucks is a steal in my book..the cheapest I pad was 500! Lol...Good Luck!

[fmess63]

 

Another month, another update.

 

The parts I received for my front end conversion were so/so. The fenders are awesome, but the header panel was scratched and scuffed in a couple places. at this point, it's not only too late to file a claim, but also pointless. I'm going to be sanding and filling them for paint when the time comes.

 

I converted a couple of my older 92 XJ buckets to be used as seats for the time being while I decide which route to go. I really want to do leather, as I'm kind of weird like that, but it's going to take some time to track them down.

 

I also was able to get my hands on a parts XJ for $500. Not in the worst shape, and I feel kind of bad about destroying it for parts, but XJ's are legion, and Comanches are NOT.

 

I've also decided to leave it Renix, but I'm going to make some changes in regards to the Vacuum system and radiator. All in due time, of course.

 

I'm headed up to Portland tomorrow morning to pick up the 97+ Front bumper and Fender flares. $140, which I feel is pretty fair considering the price for NOS parts... Jeez.

 

Now it's just going to be a matter of stripping down the other XJ. I'm also debating keeping my MJ manual for switching it over to Auto. With the poor experience I had with the trans in my 95, I'm leaning towards auto. Either way the motor in it is getting yanked and I'm going to have one of my now 2 Renixs rebuilt. I also have a complete 92 ho motor to swap parts from. Any suggestions? Swap intakes? Swap heads during the rebuild? I'm now aiming for a completion date of December 2017. 

 

Keep on keepin' on!

[fmess63]

[Kickinmule]