87' Expedition build/project

[comanchekidz]

Hi everyone I am new to the club and would love your help with this comanche. Some background info... This comanche was purchased about a year ago by my brother and I. It is a 1987 and the body and frame look to be in great shape in terms of rust and age related issues. Unfortunately that can not be said about the rest of the truck. My brother and  I have done some work to it, but no major projects.

Sorry in advance for poor picture quality and the snow

 

Here is a list of things that previous owners have done.

 

1. ~4-5 inch lift not sure which. Large coils in the front and shackles in the rear.

2.  Those bulky tube bumpers front and rear, shell over the bed, and ransacked the interior for the speakers and radio deck

3.  My personal least favorite, the sun roof (see picture below). I understand it could have been a dealer option or aftermarket? Any thoughts? All I know is that it leaks really bad and needs to be either removed and patched or re-done/sealed.

 

 

Things my brother and I have done since purchasing.

1. New wheels and tires. 16" wheels with 32.5"x 9.5" tires

2. Water pump and thermostat

3. Replaced both key lock cylinders (what a pain that was)

4. Repainted grill (black), new passenger side headlight, new tail light bulbs, new fuse for hazard lights, new wing window on passenger side.

Sorry I don't have pictures or write ups of any of those things, I didn't know about Comanche club until recently.

 

tires and wheels

 

body from passenger side

 

Now lets take a look at the interior. High on my priority list is to inspect underneath the carpet. Cross your fingers for minimal rust.

Not a huge fan of the steering wheel especially because the PO had to route the horn to the dash. It used to sit in the hole you can see kinda where your left knee would be when driving. I had to move it cause every time I put in the clutch I would honk the horn. It now lives next to the aux fan switch (not ideal).

 

Bench seat is dirty but will do for now. I would love to replace with two seats out of an xj. I used to own a 2dr 96' xj that would have been the perfect parts xj, it had the ax-15 and everything I need now for this truck but unfortunately it was sold.

 

sorry for the blur. Big tangle of wires I'm guessing from when the PO ripped out the speakers and the interior trim?

 

additional oil pressure gage that does not work. Probably ought to trash that one and do a cluster swap on the dash.

 

the leaky sun roof

 

Interior lights missing

 

behind the bench actually looks fairly clean just needs some tlc

 

Now is where I get lost. Under the hood. I've never been completely knowledgeable about everything in here even after owning the 96 xj. But I am very eager to learn! Your input is much appreciated.

Anyone know what is connected to the underside of the hood there?

 

another unknown connection that is not connected....

 

another one. Possibly goes to the A/C? help

 

new thermo and water pump

 

the last of the mystery connections. This one comes straight out of the radiator and only has a length of about 5 inches. I cannot see anywhere that it could be plugged into.

Oh! I almost forgot we had a death wobble. This is the new adjustable track bar that we installed. The stock one was noticeably bent and you could tell it was pulling/pushing one tire out from under the truck. Hard to think that the PO was oblivious to it being totally off center. Anyway new track bar, tires( old tires were terribly worn and were probably contributing a large part to the wobble), and an alignment, just waiting for the roads to dry up and I will be able to test for wobble again.

 

Last thing for today. My comanche will not start. The battery has juice but I think the starter is shot. When I try to turn it over I hear a really rachetty sound( I'm guessing from the starter) and get no response. Any ideas? 

[88whitemanche]

Under the hood is the engine bay light....

2nd pic is the oil pressure sender connector

3rd is one of the hoses for the a/c

4th goes to the electric fan if you had a/c equipped truck....

[Wiggilez]

thought I have never in person seen electric window controls for an MJ. I feel like yours are on the wrong doors.

[comanchekidz]

That makes sense except the connector from the radiator, I'll need to look at it again. Thank you 88whitemanche. Yes I was very surprised by the power windows. 

[shelbyluvv]

I think you are missing the dryer and the binary switch for the AC. That first plug looks like the one for the binary switch.

 

The second plug is the temp sender for the fan. The other wiring is there some where and should go to a relay down to the motor of the electric fan.

[JENSSEN]

Anyone else notice the AVIS car mats,...Ex-rental?

[comanchekidz]

The a/c looks to be a problem child. I will look for the wiring for the temperature sender in the morning. Good call on the floor mats I never thought of that. I did find out why I've got power windows, looks like the doors are off of an xj, I will post some pictures in the morning as well.

 

I threw the battery on the charger just to make sure its got the juice to start before I look more into the starter being bad. The truck has been sitting for a while this winter so hopefully its just the battery. While that was on the charger I took some time to look into why the passenger side door handle was acting up. You can't even open the door without pressing the button inside the door. I will post the findings along with the pictures.

[comanchekidz]

Button on door handle would push into the door so far you thought you might loose it inside the door and it still wouldnt open.

doors are off a 4 door xj looks like

door with both the windows removed

the gold metal piece there is supposed to sit flat across and inside the black plastic housing

blurry picture sorry. Where the screw attaches on the other side the plastic is all broken allowing that gold piece to slip out of its housing. I guess the initial break popped that out and the handle was unusable afterwards. 

crappy temporary fix. Super glue around the screw where the plastic is broken and zip tied some washers to the housing where the metal piece sits so that if it pops out again hopefully it won't come all the way out. Ordering a new handle

 

http://www.1aauto.com/jeep-exterior-door-handle/i/1adhe00101?f=283414&y=1988&utm_campaign=gb_csv_br&utm_content=DHE&gclid=CIi0jYTr_cQCFQGUaQodC08Avw

 

Still not seeing the connection for the temp sender. Am I missing something?

 

Going to the junkyard tomorrow, they just got a 87 comanche in so Ill be looking for my missing parts to the a/c system. Any essentials I should be looking for while I'm there? Thanks

[shelbyluvv]

You are missing a few things for the fan circuit. That yellow wire running into the cab is not correct. The other end of the missing plug has been cut off the fan and ghetto rigged to run when the key is on.

 

Read this article and correct it the way the factory has it run.

 

http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Cooling/Electric_Fan_Diagnosis.htm

[comanchekidz]

Thank you!

[comanchekidz]

Decided to get under the carpet this weekend. I also picked up some cool stuff from the JY such as two nice bucket seats (only one from a 2-door xj unfortunately), a center console (floor and overhead), a radio, speakers, and an instrument cluster.

out comes the bench

 

and up comes the carpet

passenger side floor board

Drivers side rust. Not pretty, but it could be worse right?

passenger side after some rust removal

time to die rust

insulation for behind the seats and over head

nasty old carpet will definitely be going straight in the trash

 removing rust on the drivers side

turns out the steering wheel I don't like is actually a nice wheel, maybe this one?    http://www.grantproducts.com/products/view/12/

 

rust reformer going to work on anything I missed

[comanchekidz]

While the paint is drying I got the odometer set on the new cluster using this write up I found http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/how-gauge-cluster-swap-odometer-recalibration-lots-pics-424209/

 

 

 

 

I am trying to figure out what I want to do with the floor of the comanche. I have seen a lot of people do bed liner, wouldnt the cab get really hot?

 

Has anyone had any experience with a vinyl liner like one of these? http://www.accmats.com/Products/Flooring/Vinyl.aspx

 

I would like it to be easy to clean, not hold moisture, insulate, and help deaden sound. I would love to hear what you have done. Thanks.

[comanchekidz]

fiberglassed the floorboards just to reinforce them. Drivers side had some tiny pinholes. Got the idea from here http://www.ifsja.org/tech/interior/fb101.html

 

old cluster with cracked plastic cover

 

new cluster glass from the jy

 

new oil pressure sensor

 

new coolant temp sensor

 

new cluster 

 

laying down the fiberglass

 

got this idea from here http://comancheclub.com/topic/30671-97-swap-how-to/  

 

the stuff I used was called u-seal I bought 2 25ft rolls at home depot

 

brackets from the bench seat being painted 

 

and installed on the passenger seat

 

all custom carpet vinyl flooring ordered from rockauto

 

some more pictures of the truck and a bonus pic of my dads rubicon

 

test fit of the bucket seats. The passenger seat was from a 2-door xj and the drivers seat from a 4-door so it doesnt fold forward but ill keep my eyes open for another 2-door seat. The drivers seat is the curved style which helps because you can adjust up and down (kinda) as well as forward and backward. I'm short so it helps me reach the clutch all the way in.

 

Some things I'm trying to clear up

 

first of all the amount of lift, I measured from the center of the wheel to the bottom of the fender flare and it measured 19.5 inches so that would put my lift at 2 inches correct? Or could that be explained by the 16inch wheels and oversized tires?

 

second thing, I have a np231 transfer case. I thought that the np231 wasn't available for the 87'?

 

I found out I'm only about a 40 minute drive from novak-adapters which is good because the peugeot has been acting up. Driving in 1-3 gear sound like I've got gravel in the transmission and last weekend I lost all of my gears and couldn't get back into gear for some time.

 

Has anyone got a ax-15 through novak? How was your experience with them?

 

Thanks, 

 

Jake

[comanchekidz]

It has been a while since I have posted. I have been busy with college courses and work. I finished the interior a while ago but have not posted the pictures so here they are, also I figured out how to resize the photos so hopefully it will look better.

 

 

The interior is done for now. The seat covers are just some cheep ones I had laying around and I'm not sure how much I like the vinyl floor just yet we will have to see.

 

Here are some pics from our latest camping trip that you might find interesting.

 

Pintle hitch saves the day! It spun 180 degrees, if we would have had a ball hitch we would have been in serious trouble.

[Colbito]

Awesome....I have an '88 Comanche and this is giving me some great ideas

[Wiggilez]

how did the trailer flip?  

[Jackrabbit41]

I'm really interested in your vinyl and sound proofing. I want to do that, but then i want bed liner, or dynamite and just put my carpet back in. anyway, looks good. 

[comanchekidz]

Trailer flipped by sliding down into those ruts in the road and bouncing back up onto the road. We were heading home and had emptied excess water and stuff out of the tub so it was top heavy. Thanks jackrabbit, I like how it turned out the noise and heat are significantly reduced.

 

Also . FOR SALE.

[comanchekidz]

Sold. thank you all for your help. Did not have the time to devote to this truck with my college courses. Anyway, thanks all for your input, I had lots of fun working on this comanche. Happy jeeping everyone!

[DirtyComanche]

Damn.  Did you tell the new owner about this site?