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My 88 Comanche Restoration and Modification


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That's a good idea with the wooden block to form them over.  Looks like they came out pretty good, especially for using that thick of metal.

 

yeah it bends pretty easily. I'm trying to use up all the extra metal i have piled up. The thicker stuff is also easier to weld. Helps prevent me from burning through so much. not going to use any bondo on this thing, so the thicker metals also giving my some grinding room to smooth things out. 

 

I envy u. I have 4 mjs to build parts galore and no time. One day I hope to build my dream rig mj and your doing great.

 

 

If I actually worked on this thing diligently It would have been done a year ago. I put in a couple hours a weekend now if that and then like recently a whole weekend opened up. But the work is easyier now, no more creative process all finishing stuff. So the progress is definitely more visual now.

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So In continuation of my goal to get the truck top down dried in, I welded up the back cab edge and a few sections of the floor that attach to it.  My next step, basically the final step, in reaching top down dried in heaven (no tarps required to prevent rusting(but damn i forgot i broke a window)) will be the door sill area where the door attaches. To do this ill have to take the door off. I have the sill welded up to where the door starts getting in my way. That will be a rather easy job.  Then the next step will be welding the floors in fully. I need a welding blanket to toss over my legs for the rest of the under truck welding. I want to weld it all on the outside and then just do some spread out welds on the inside and seam seal from the inside. 

 

I tossed on some lovely rust preventative spray paint, this week was blue. My plan is to sand blast, then POR15 the entire truck, then POR15 topcoat the entire truck. Then I'm going to lay seam sealer over areas like this. A nice FAT bead. Unlike your standard auto paints where they spray over the seal sealer POR needs to bond to the metal. Not many seams on the outside of the jeep will get it, but this back edge seems like a place that would collect water. Its nice that its in a spot that will never be seen.  

 

 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

I have been working I swear. The only real welding tasks left include a rust hole on the firewall and the door sill areas behind the front fenders and doors. So when i pull off the cage, doors, and fenders I can do that. and the bed mount tabs and some other various tabs for fuel lines and gas tank mounting and  break lines and e brakes Then its like sandblast and paint time. 

 

Bottom of doors where trimmed. F'ed up and need to be modded but done kinda. They are too close and rub in one spot on each side. 

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Inner floor

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the mini boat side floors 

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Front outer floor areas, rocker panel/slider 

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Rear bumper acquired and I cut a hole for a reciever

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Hidden style hitch in the welded on slab bumper. Support piece for 6th cage points. Front couple bed mounts.  On the rearmost mounts I'm using the bed's stock bed side bolt, that hangs down from the bed, so Ill measure and those will be the next thing that get added when the bed is popped off.  The bed mount tabs I welded on will get some steel plates bolted to it and weld those straight to the bed. 

 

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Rear bed mount. 

FcRhYEK.jpg

 

 

Some gusseting. A few of the notches weren't as clean as I would like. The gaps were filled with a piece metal and then welded over.  The gussets make me feel better about not scrapping the whole tube and starting over. Theirs definitely a learning curve to cage building. the back half is way better then the front as i built front to back. 

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Got all the gussets done and tossed it on to make sure it all still fit.

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Bought this procar sportsman seats. I'm not hating the quality. Mounting these will also be way easier then stock seats.

 

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going to be nice when it's done.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Its gonna be a cozy in the cab. If I wasn't 6'2" everything would be a lot easier. The seats are in the same location as stock, but the way my cage was designed its going to prevent a more relaxed, laid back driving. Fine for anything offroad, not great for any long drives. But I really won't be able to tell until its finished at this point. 

 

seats mounted

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dash tossed in to check space

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middle tube of the main hoop spider thingy. The V thats going to extend from the middle of this tube to the corners will likely be the most limiting for seat adjustability and comfort. 

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Here is some strapping I did between the outer and inner frame stiffeners in the front. I didn't like the weak point left between the two. 

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Patching up the rusty firewall. this will also fill the gap left when using the 97+ Hvac unit

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used rivets here cause the thin metal, this covers some holes made when removing <97 dash brackets.

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here's an example of what that covers

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also cut away the old rear bottom cab metal. wile its still a uni-body. the cage and frame are the protection. the cabs extra bracing is just useless now. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

blasted. 

 

Before 

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After

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Draining the frame

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The beds cooked,  nothing good lies under that bondo, but ill probably chip off what remains , por15 underneath, bondo it up again, and then top coat it.

Not really looking to spend a billion hours on it. 

Does anyone sell replacement bed sides anymore? 

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I was in the process of cutting off the terribly rusted gas filler when the blasters arrived. 

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Today was crappy weather but I redid the doors in the garage. Nothings comes out as good as I want it too these days, but no way they're going to rub the rocker panels now. Cut like a 1/2 inch off the bottoms. I started out with a better piece of metal to cap the bottom, but it takes soo F-ing long if you want to shape it perfectly. A patients I have lost at this point in the build. 

 

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