89 Comanche "Country" LWB restomod project

[Airborne Janitor]

Hi everyone. I recently moved from Richmond, VA to Spokane, WA to start a new chapter on life and to open up a metal fab shop in my backyard. One of the things I'll need for the business is a decent, hardworking pickup truck to haul steel, scrap, and projects. I ended up buying an 89 Comanche a few weeks back that needs a lot of TLC, but I see a lot of potential in it.

 

http://i.imgur.com/mnfTnqd.jpg

 

Although this is my first MJ I am no stranger to XJs. My first car was a 92 XJ back in 1999, which I sold after purchasing a red 98 XJ in 2003 which I still drive to this day. I am new to Comanche Club, but have been active on Jeeps Unlimited, NAXJA, and even XJ Forum in the past.

 

Anyways, down to the details of the MJ: built in February 1989, 4.0L, column shift AW4, NP231, Dana 30 front, Dana 44 rear. 7 foot bed, maybe "metric ton package"? Rebuilt title. 198K miles on the odometer. Motor was rebuilt within the past couple years, runs ok. Transmission has issues: no reverse, and it feels like only 2nd gear works. No shifting occurs until 35-40MPH then it shifts into a non-functioning gear and coasts like neutral. There's no exhaust after the manifold/header so its loud as hell. Front end was involved in some type of collision: header panel and fenders are from an XJ. Every body panel is dented in some way, shape, or form. Previous owned plastered bondo on the door and rear cab corner. Interior is falling apart and the steering column is loosey goosey. It has a spring over lift in the rear and I'm guessing 6" coils in the front, its tall as hell riding on 31s. It looks like a pile of $#!& and my family thinks I'm crazy for buying it, but us Jeep guys know a diamond in the rough when we see one.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8sy7_X6bjc

 

It starts and stays running once started. Someone converted the cooling system over to the open-style with radiator cap. Frame looks decent from what I can tell with minimal rust. The worst of the body is the doors and fenders and header panel, so I plan to do a 97+ XJ parts swap. The bed has dents but I think I can smooth out the worst of it. It drives surprisingly well on the road provided you don't go over 40 or the tranny takes a dump. I've always wanted to restore and paint a vehicle and this will be my first undertaking.

 

http://i.imgur.com/FF3GsVc.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/MBi8daf.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/DwdEOsH.jpg

 

My plans are to get it completely running and street legal first. Drop the lift down to 3" and keep it on 31s. Other than a possible regear I will be trying to keep this rig pretty stock. My XJ is heavily modified, and although I love driving it that way I have a different vision for this MJ. I want it to be a clean daily driver and work rig that retains a classic MJ look but with a late model XJ feel...if that makes sense. Would also like better than 14MPG.

 

I wanted to start a thread dedicated to this rig and it's build in the next few months, as a reference for myself and others.

 

[madog7200]

Good looking "diamond in the rough" I was expecting the interior to be trashed but it's not so bad in my eyes... welcome!!

 

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

[Airborne Janitor]

Good looking "diamond in the rough" I was expecting the interior to be trashed but it's not so bad in my eyes... welcome!!

 

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

 

If I had to speculate I think this truck was most recently owned by a teenager/younger person who wanted to use it as a budget mud/wheeling truck who didn't clean up after playing with it. The carpet will be replaced along with the headliner, I'll have the bench seat and steering wheel reupholstered, and some 97+ XJ parts swapped over to make it pop.

 

The first official mod was a new battery since the one it came with didn't have a charge.

 

 

Sweet battery tray:

 

 

With an even sweeter tie down:

 

 

Finally pull out what remains of the stock tray to find:

 

 

 

If I had to guess it looks like the passenger tire threw something up into the fender well which blew a hole through the sheet metal and probably busted the stock plastic battery tray and shifted battery, hence the plywood tray fix. Some massaging with a body work hammer and I was able to flatten the metal out. A new Costco Interstate battery and tray from JCR fixed that and now it starts right up.

 

[Airborne Janitor]

Progress has been slow the past month. Temperatures have dropped a bit and I don't have heat in the shop yet, so its hard to work on the MJ for very long. Found out I have a loose freeze plug so I'll be pulling the intake and exhaust manifolds and tackling that job in the near future. Will probably install a new exhaust at the same time. Here's how she sits right now:

 

 

The parts pile has gotten much larger though! Lots of projects for the next few months.

 

 

And because I could, some motivation for the build:

 

 

 

Will try to keep this thread updated once a month with progress.

[Airborne Janitor]

January 2017 recap:

 

Still cold here, but finally got a torpedo heater in the shop, so that helps. Ended up having to thaw out the motor:

 

 

Look like the previous owner didn't have the coolant mixture correct. Water froze to ice and popped the freeze plug out. Another thing to replace soon.

 

Got the battery cables from Mean Lemons. Great quality, just wish they were a little shorter, but no big deal.

 

 

Pulled the front bumper off and found some unibody/crossmember damage:

 

 

Tried to use the winch on the XJ and liberal use of wheel chocks to try to pull the frame straight. Supervisor was present to make sure we were meeting safety standards.

 

 

Got the crossmember pretty straight but no luck on the side/frame rail/bumper mounting sections. Kept pulling the vehicles closer together when engaging the winch. Will try again with another vehicle behind the MJ anchoring it. Was also to put the hammer and dolly to use and straighten out the bent passenger inner fender.

 

 

Further tore down the interior and was pleasantly surprised to find floorboards with just surface rust, no holes. There does appear to be water leak on the passenger side, blower motor I suspect? All my XJs have leaked here too.

 

 

Also picked up a wrecked 97 XJ that runs great despite the obvious damage. Guy drove it to my house an hour from here haha! Will be transplanting the tranny, t-case, passenger door, and fenders to the MJ.

 

[btipsword1]

Brave soul to drive that XJ an hour to your house!

[Airborne Janitor]

February recap:

 

Started tearing apart the wrecked 97 XJ. Donor parts include: fenders, passenger door, D30 front axle, seat belts, electric fan, AW4 transmission & NP231 case, brake booster and pedal, and lots of wiring. I have no intention of doing the full 97+ interior swap since I'm not swapping the motor, and I want to keep the 89 dash, column shift & bench seat, but will be swapping to the 97+ doors/panels as well wiring the power locks, window, mirrors, and hopefully keyless entry.

 

 

I started with the door swap, but ran into issues with the 89 hinges after unbolting the door. They were starting to come loose from the A-pillar support panel and the holes for the 1/4" roll pins had wallowed out and the door was loosey goosey. First thing was to remove the hinge/roll/spring pins which was no easy task. I used a sawzall and wedged the blade into between the gaps of the hinges to cut them out.

 

Welded two small 3G beads to reinforce the hinges.

 

 

Then I drilled out the 1/4" holes to 5/16" and installed 5/16" roll pins from Grainger, a decent c-clamp and grease help here.

 

 

Then I bolted the 97 door on. Having a friend helps a lot in regards to getting the proper alignment. Also having the fenders off helps because you can tighten/loosen the torx hinge bolt with the door closed. Once I was satisfied with the position I tightened the hinge bolts then tackled the striker. The 97+ striker is different but can work with some stock modification. I ended up having to enlarge and elongate the top hole so that it could be used with the stock nut strip inside the B-pillar.

 

 

I found the proper size metric bolt in my box of misc hardware. I ground the head down approx 50% so it wouldn't interfere with the door when it was closed. Once I was satisfied with the position of the closed engaged door, I ground down paint and plug welded the bottom hole of the striker.

 

 

Other small modifications were to enlarge the oval hole in the kick panel to fit the 97 door wiring through with the stock grommet. Also switched over the antenna grommet from the 89 since the hole is a different size on the 97.

 

Swapped over the fenders and then began working on the headlamp wiring. Here's a diagram I drew up that proved helpful.

 

 

Soldered all the connections together.

 

 

Then installed an H4 harness I picked up off of eBay for $15. Turned on the headlight switch and tested the turn signals, hazards, hi and low beams, everything works great!

 

 

Now my tip for anyone wanting to swap fenders and doors: have a friend for the door, and don't tighten down any of the torx bolts until everything is lined up and you're happy with it! It took hours of micro adjustments to get everything lined up to where I was satisfied, and it's still not 100%. Patience is key.

 

I also did the full gauge cluster swap, which I have a writeup for here.

 

 

Last project of the month: swapped over the 97 electric fan, which is a direct drop in other than changing the pigtail. Nothing the soldering gun couldn't handle:

 

 

Here's how she sits now. Will be swapping the 97 hood since the 89 hood has some light damage and there are some gaps which are triggering my OCD! Hope to get her mobile by the end of March....

 

[Airborne Janitor]

Well it's been a busy month. Unfortunately I did not meet my goal of having my MJ mobile, but now I'm shooting for the end of April so fingers crossed.

 

Since the freeze plug went to crap I decided to take the plunge and replace all the junk steel Chinese plugs. Pulled off the manifolds, popped out the old plugs, then flushed about 25 gallons of hose water through the water jacket to flush out all junk and rust. Since the jacket was so contaminated I decided to go ahead and replace all parts of the cooling system.

 

I drove in new brass plugs (MPE-256BR) with the OTC frost plug driver kit and some aviation gasket. These plugs were a total b*@$£ to install. The OTC kit has a nice remover that requires you to drill a hole in each plug, but I still had to use a seal puller to pop them all the way out. The only part of the driver kit that was useful was the actual cup/driver part, the punch/shaft portion proved useless and I had to beat the crap out of them with a mini sledge to get them seated. Was surprised at the difficulty of this job, not looking forward to replacing the rear plug on the block. If the manifolds weren't removed I don't know how anyone could get this job done.

 

Also replaced the water pump (Gates 42004) and inlet tube (Dorman 56398), thermostat (Stant 45358) and housing (4 Seasons 84802), heater hoses (Napa 11038 & 11039), block coolant sensor (Mopar 33002383) which was toast, and knock sensor (Mopar 4886382AA) which was hanging on by a thread. Since there was a lot of room to work with the manifolds removed I decided to install some Brown Dog motor mounts and an IRO steering box spacer.

 

 

Picked up a new open-style radiator from Performance Radiator that has the electric fan bung, and the fan switch (Duralast SW594) fit perfectly.

 

 

Pulled apart the heater box and cleaned out 20 years of dirt and dust. Installed a new heater core (ProSource 98732) with a factory seal (Mopar 56001322).

 

 

When I ordered the heater core seal from moparpartsgiant.com I noticed they had the passenger side drip rail molding (Mopar 55015915) in stock. Since mine was missing I decided to replace it. Now just need a driver side.

 

 

I stripped quite a few parts from the wrecked 97 XJ, and swapped over the hood, cowl, and door seals/weather stripping.

 

 

Next step is to swap the transmission and transfer case!

 

 

Oh, and I almost forget the most important mod, a new shifter handle for the column shift (Dorman 76935)

 

 

[Airborne Janitor]

Well it's been a busy two months for sure. I won't provide a detailed update but here's what got done:

 

Idler pulley - bought 3 brand new Gates replacements, each one was out of round from the factory. Napa 409155 did the trick

Fan clutch - Hayden 2625

Rear freeze plug - MPE-256BR

Exhaust manifold - ATP 101111

Intake manifold - cleaned and reinstalled

EGR tube - Mopar P4529680

EGR - swapped in a Mopar junkyard unit

O2 sensor - Bosch 12009

Radiator hoses - Gates 21615 & 21821

Starter relay - swapped in a junkyard unit

Wiper arms - replaced with 97 arms with J hooks

Fuel injectors - Bosch 746 (0280155746)

Fuel line o-rings - Napa 730-501

Vacuum harness and CCV - Dorman 46003, 46004 & 46005

Throttle body - cleaned and TPS replaced with a better working junkyard unit

Fan belt - Gates K061025

Distributor cap and rotor - Standard FD169T, FD308

Valve cover - had a newer, maybe HO cover that did not accept the round grommets, so replaced with a Renix cover

Air box replaced. Had to relocate it about an inch because it was hitting the radiator filler neck.

Spark plugs and wires - NGK FR5 7373, Denso 671-6127

Exhaust system replaced: Front pipe - Walker 44320, Tailpipe - Walker 47605, Catalytic converter - Walker 15634, Muffler - Walker 18387, and I welded in a flex pipe into the downpipe

Tailgate replaced

 

 

And of course swapped in the 97 AW4 and NP231. I swapped the wiring harness from the 89 AW4 into the 97 AW4. Although the solenoids are slightly different the harness was plug and play. Hindsight 20/20 I would not have removed the output speed sensor from the transmission, as I broke it on both transmissions upon removal. The OSS can be unplugged from the main transmission harness. Also had to swap the shift levers as the column shift and floor shift levers are different. Swapped over the 89 NSS which happened to be missing a contact, so I rebuilt it. The 89 CPS was also swapped over, and so was the 89 throttle valve/kickdown cable which is slightly shorter than the 97 cable. The mechanical speedo plugged right in and works, and the stock rear driveshaft fit even with the deletion of a previously installed t-case drop. I did replace the transmission line connectors (Dorman 800-714, 800-750) and used the OEM tranny cooler. And replaced the transmission mount.

 

 

I also rust-proofed the interior and replaced the dash with a junkyard one that was in much better shape.

 

 

While I had the interior pulled apart I found the source of a passenger side water leak, where the blower motor seal wasn't fully sealing. My 98 XJ leaks in the same spot, you can see the traces of muddy water. I ground down the seam sealer with a dremel, then resealed it with some Right-Stuff silicone that wouldn't interfere with the blower motor seal.

 

 

And I was finally able to back it out of the shop and drive it to the car wash for a much needed bath.

 

 

Although she runs and drives she still needs some work. The brakes are abysmal, the alternator roars, the rear axle is full of mud and leaking, the tilt steering is still super loose, and the tires need to be balanced (or replaced). There was coolant dripping from the bellhousing, leading me to believe the rear freeze plug I replaced was leaking, but it seems to have stopped now? Hope to have a new carpet installed and the interior put back together soon. Have a 97 dana30 and brake booster to swap in soon as well....

 

A poser shot of my Jeep family

 

[DirtyComanche]

 

 

If I had to guess it looks like the passenger tire threw something up into the fender well which blew a hole through the sheet metal and probably busted the stock plastic battery tray and shifted battery, hence the plywood tray fix. Some massaging with a body work hammer and I was able to flatten the metal out. A new Costco Interstate battery and tray from JCR fixed that and now it starts right up.

 

It's most likely from the stud end of the sway bar link punching through it.  The truck was not bumpstopped correctly and had extended swaybar links, or was jumped.

 

 

You're making a ton of progress on this.  Lots of a new parts.  Couple questions.  What is the coolant overflow bottle from?  And what are you painting on for rust proofing in the cab?

[Minuit]

You're a lucky dog for finding a NOS heater core seal. I've been looking for years! If you don't mind me asking, what product did you use on the floors? Looks great, just weighing my options for when I do my truck in about a month.

[Airborne Janitor]

 

 

 

 

It's most likely from the stud end of the sway bar link punching through it.  The truck was not bumpstopped correctly and had extended swaybar links, or was jumped.

 

 

You're making a ton of progress on this.  Lots of a new parts.  Couple questions.  What is the coolant overflow bottle from?  And what are you painting on for rust proofing in the cab?

 

 

Yeah that make sense. She was involved in a front end collision and I bet it pushed the swap bar up/back into the fender.

 

The coolant overflow bottle is from Napa #7304514, I think it's MFGd by Dorman. I made a couple of small brackets out of sheet metal to mount it to the engine firewall.

 

 

 

As for the rust proofing, I used spray can POR15 with a long tube attachment that I could fish down into the channels in the floorboard and where the roof meets the rear cab, lots of rust in there. For the floors and roof I used a brush-on rust product which I can't remember the name, very much like POR15, came in a small paint can. I wanted to use brush-on since I wanted to minimize the overspray. There's a PPG autobody paint supply store a few minutes from my place where I got everything. Next time I stop in I'll get the name of the brush-on stuff.

[Airborne Janitor]

You're a lucky dog for finding a NOS heater core seal. I've been looking for years! If you don't mind me asking, what product did you use on the floors? Looks great, just weighing my options for when I do my truck in about a month.

 

I know, that's why I posted the part number and the source. The one I got did not fit 100%, but a few seconds with a box cutter fixed that. Forgot the name of the stuff I used on the floors, will get it next time I go to the auto paint store.

[DirtyComanche]

The coolant overflow bottle is from Napa #7304514, I think it's MFGd by Dorman. I made a couple of small brackets out of sheet metal to mount it to the engine firewall.

 

Found it.  Dorman 603-001.  Looks like it works perfect.  I'm going to order one (or a couple) since I hate the bottle I have and my early 2.5L XJ bottle has been backordered for months.

[Airborne Janitor]

 

The coolant overflow bottle is from Napa #7304514, I think it's MFGd by Dorman. I made a couple of small brackets out of sheet metal to mount it to the engine firewall.

 

Found it.  Dorman 603-001.  Looks like it works perfect.  I'm going to order one (or a couple) since I hate the bottle I have and my early 2.5L XJ bottle has been backordered for months.

 

 

Cool, mine sits right on top of the blower motor and fit perfect with those brackets. I think I paid like $10 at Napa.

[Airborne Janitor]

Well it's been awhile since I last updated. I got a few projects done but not as much as I would have liked. I've had to direct my efforts to my business lately but I'm hoping to devote more time to the MJ in the next few months. Ended up replacing the alternator because it was squealing like a pig, I installed a new ACDelco (335-1008) 100 amp unit which has been doing great.

 

 

Next was to rebuild the tilt steering column. I already had a steering wheel puller, but I did buy a pivot pin and lock plate puller off amazon for the job. I followed the directions from this forum on an El Camino, but it's the same column that's in the MJ so everything applies:

 

http://www.elcaminocentral.com/showthread.php?t=27192

 

 

I also made sure to install a new gear selector stalk spring (GM 07812853) while I had it apart since mine was broken. I had never done this job before, but I took my time and followed the El Camino directions and it's now 1000% better. There are 4 bolts that secure the tilt mechanism, and only two of mine were attached and they were finger loose!

 

Then I "rebuilt" the front bench seat, which I am planning on keeping. I really like the column shift bench seat combo in this truck, I got my XJ for buckets and a stick shift.

 

 

 

Also got the ACC carpet from stockinteriors.com installed. Accidentally cut too much for the 4WD floor shifter, so I busted out the hot glue gun and stitched in more carpet. I should have measured better but I guess I got overzealous even when I used the old carpet as a template. If I were to do it again I would cut a cross "+" where the shift lever cover goes, put the carpet in then cut around the actual 4WD lever.

 

 

I also installed the Azzy Design Works transfer case linkage, which is a better nicer set up than that stock crap.

 

 

Next project is to get these 97 XJ Country doors installed.

 

 

 

 

[coolwind57]

7 hours ago, Airborne Janitor said:

I also installed the Azzy Design Works transfer case linkage, which is a better nicer set up than that stock crap.

 

 

Whoa!  I need this!  I didn't know such a thing existed.   I'm on this (just as soon as I can budget for it).

[thecodemonk]

The truck is looking good!  Let me know how the XJ doors fit with the old-style interior.  I'll be looking to do the same at some point with the doors off of my wrecked XJ :)

[Airborne Janitor]

Well it's been awhile since my last update. Lots of things happened between now and then, including going back to school, changing careers, and an addition to the family...

 

 

 

Not that I had forgotten about the MJ, but it did sit for awhile. Months. The bed came off in order to powerwash all the mud and hornet nests inside the frame, with future plans to put some type of undercoating on the bed frame, POR15 maybe. When I finally got around to putting on the 97 Country doors I found an XJ at the local pick-n-pull that had matching navy blue fenders, so I pulled those. So of course everything had to come apart again.

 

 

Figured while the fenders were off I'd install the 97+ XJ windshield washer reservoir. I used this thread for reference: 

 

 

 

Now I have some space to get that 96 XJ brake booster in there.

 

Got the 97 Country doors on which required quite a bit of shimming and test fitting to get on to match the body lines. I purchased some XJ door shims from ebay which were almost 3/16" thick, compared to the 1/16" shims I had. They worked perfectly on the driver side. The passenger side required me to double up on 1/16" shims on the bottom hinge with a single 1/16" shim up top. From there I was able to reinstall the fenders and the header panel. Eventually I want to paint the entire truck navy blue with chrome accents, so I decided to swap out the black grill with a chrome aftermarket one from ebay. 

 

 

It's actually starting to look like a complete truck again! I'm glad even though it's 4 different colors, they're blue/black/green so it doesn't look too ghetto, right?

 

Back to the interior. I'm not doing a full 97+ XJ swap. I am keeping the MJ dash, column shift, and bench seat. But wanted a "luxury" package including power windows and locks with wood interior trim. I literally spent years trying to get these pewter & wood trim door panels. I actually ended up needing additional door panels with the map pockets in order to repair a set into good working order. Although the grey is not a perfect color match with the dash and upholstery, it doesn't really bother me. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Airborne Janitor]

In anticipation of wiring up the power doors and an overhead console in the near future, I decided to install a Painless 70107 fuse block. I liked that it has a mix of circuits both ignition and constant hot. I installed one of these inside my XJ years ago and was really pleased with it, but I could not find a space inside the MJ where I was happy installing the fuse block itself. I decided to install it on the interior firewall above the blower motor. 

 

 

Then ran the circuit wires through the firewall near the floor. There was a plug I removed and drilled a hole through to create a grommet essentially.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pete M]

35 minutes ago, Airborne Janitor said:

and an addition to the family...

 

 

 

 

congrats!   

[Airborne Janitor]

3 minutes ago, Pete M said:

 

congrats!   

 

Thank you! I'm doing this build with her in mind, thinking one day maybe she will be the one driving it.

[Pete M]

I've seen plenty of guys that adapted in a child seat too.  

[JMO413]

Congratulations on the addition to the family. Truck is looking good!

[Airborne Janitor]

Got the power doors completely wired up and functional. I used this thread as a reference and added some details and images as well:

 

 

I also installed the overhead console wiring harness, and I am currently documenting my OHC install and build in this thread:

 

 

 

And one of my favorite mods, the Rubbermaid cupholder for bench seats:

 

 

Short term goals are to wrap up all the interior projects, including rebuild and reupholster of the OHC, reupholster headliner, repaint all plastic trim and reinstall. Still working on finding the right shade of gray to use...