SteveW155 Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 Hi All ... Firstly I think an introduction may be in order, so here goes: Greetings from Cape Town South Africa ... I've been hanging around here for ages, lusting over your Comanches, and wishing I could own one because they were never sold here. Then a few years ago I hit the jackpot: I found one - on a farm on the other side of our country. The owner had bought it while working in the USA, and loved it enough to bring it over here. It had been standing for about 5 years, due to leaking injectors and a cracked windscreen. He said he'd consider selling it I should view it first. Which I did, and we came to an agreement but when I wanted to go collect it, he said he'd changed his mind. Which I respected and left him alone... and went back to thinking about building one. But not a cut off Cherokee. (I currently own a 93 XJ 4l Limited Auto, a 99 Country with stroker, RC long arms, 4.88 ratios on 33's ... quite special specs here in SA - bought to try and get my mind off the MJ, and a 98 Sport 4l, which I'm trying to resurrect between all my other projects) So I have the XJ virus almost as badly as the Alfa Romeo virus ... enough said... hehe Back on topic: so last Sunday a.m. I'm surprised and delighted to get a message asking if I'm still interested in the truck!!! YAY!!! So I've paid a deposit so he can't change his mind again, and to buy some time to get off crutches so I can actually load the truck myself, and get a spot ready for it on my side. Plan was to go fetch it with a low bed trailer, but I've since had another fun plan: instead of the trailer, I'm thinking of just taking an A-frame which we can bolt on and hitch if it breaks down, and do a Roadkill meets Dirt Every Day South Africa: go up with tools and spares, get it running and attempt to drive it 800km (500 miles) back home. BUT: it's an 89 4l - so it's a Renix, right? I can help myself fine on HO and later, but I've never touched or seen another Renix here. So I need your advice, please!!! Is this a viable scheme, or should I just go with the trailer? I already have my one man film crew lined up, so the adventure will be documented. If it's viable - what do I do about the leaky injectors? I'm guessing HO's aren't interchangeable? Any help and advice would be much appreciated . Oh it has about 85k miles on and is a 5speed Cheers, Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ωhm Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 Renix yes. Bring your baby home with a trailer. Vehicle may have other problems. Welcome to the CC forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 last time I put my 88 on a trailer I used only the starter motor to move it. bring a fresh battery and you might get lucky with its ability to move itself (very slowly). and welcome to the addiction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnj92131 Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 What a great story! Please do keep us posted. I say keep it Renix! But you have the H.O. and I "Assume" a supply/source of H.O. parts? If so then just go with what you can support. Oh Yes - Take a trailer so you can get it home with minimal effort and RISK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW155 Posted April 14, 2018 Author Share Posted April 14, 2018 Hi again - thanx for the welcome and positive words. I'm fairly keen to keep it Renix, just cos it's different ... Although there's a part of me that wants to do a 97+ conversion, because I want to put a camper on the back and tour with it ... BUT being the only one in the country I sorta feel obliged to keep it fairly standard ... although I suspect I'll do a right hand drive conversion cos ... we drive on the left hereBUT even if I trailer it home - what are the options on the injectors? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW155 Posted April 14, 2018 Author Share Posted April 14, 2018 Just out of interest sake: Chrysler was sold by Mercedes here from about 98 onwards so there are quite a few 'facelift' xjs as we call them. (FCA is now discontinuing Chrysler and Dodge, but continuing with Jeep ) Bottom line is I can get HO and OBDII from Jeep direct, there are a few Crown suppliers, but scary expensive... Maybe Jeep can get Renix bits too. Do Jeep still supply Renix bits in the USA? Oh, by the way ... a bunch of us have formed an XJ community in Cape Town. Our website hasn't been updated in prob 2 years, but u can take a look if you're interested. www.xjsociety.co.za My 93 is featured in the members section, called 'Brommer' ... loosely translated from Afrikaans it means 'grumbler' - due to its unique sound hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 tech questions from the original poster should really go in the tech forum because far more eyes will see them. upgraded or rebuilt injectors are readily available on the internet. I can't remember if we have a writeup on injectors, but there's lots of great info in the link in my signature. rockauto.com is a place to get a lot of the standard sensors and whatnot. first thing I would do once I got my hands on the truck is run through Cruiser's renix tips . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW155 Posted April 16, 2018 Author Share Posted April 16, 2018 Thanks Pete, I'll do that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crumbscomanche Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 Congrats on the truck! Awesome to see an MJ made it so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW155 Posted April 17, 2018 Author Share Posted April 17, 2018 On 4/16/2018 at 3:16 PM, crumbscomanche said: Congrats on the truck! Awesome to see an MJ made it so far! Thanks! Lucky for me the owner bought it when he was working in the USA many years ago and liked it enough to bring it home with him. One cannot register LHD vehicles in SA anymore that weren't already registered by a certain date, a few years back - so it would have been VERY difficult for me to import one - I would most certainly have needed to convert it to RHD before being able to road register it Either way ... here are some pics of the beastie - as you can see he"s pretty solid, having spent his time here in a very dry part of the country :-D And he only has 85k miles on the clock... I'll turn the grille right side up as soon as I get him home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy Posted April 17, 2018 Share Posted April 17, 2018 I have almost the same rear bumper, mine just has a few rust holes and an integrated hitch. It looks like you my friend have had the find of the century. I hope you enjoy it as it is probably 1 of 1 in south africa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW155 Posted January 17, 2019 Author Share Posted January 17, 2019 Update: So Operation Comanche is underway. It’s been delayed by personal stuff and a busy seller, plus the concern of safe transportation of over 800km (We don’t have full size pick-ups like you guys over there)The adventure starts 15 Feb - we’ll be trailering the MJ 300km closer to home to a friend’s fully equipped workshop. Once there, I’ll go up for a long weekend and prep it to drive it home, preferably offroad, down the coastal west coast route. Excited much!!Thanks for the support and enthusiasm, I’ll keep you posted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 you're going to love it MJs are a blast to drive around in the dirt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMO413 Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 If your still looking for injectors the Volvo 746 are a great upgrade. I had a leaking injector so I bought a set of the 746 off eBay. I would read through Cruisers tips before you ever start working on it. Believe me it will save you alot of time. The Renix set up is pretty easy to work with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW155 Posted January 18, 2019 Author Share Posted January 18, 2019 If your still looking for injectors the Volvo 746 are a great upgrade. I had a leaking injector so I bought a set of the 746 off eBay. I would read through Cruisers tips before you ever start working on it. Believe me it will save you alot of time. The Renix set up is pretty easy to work with. I am, and I will thanks! Also toying with doing the cooling conversion before bringing it down. It gets pretty hot here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW155 Posted February 21, 2019 Author Share Posted February 21, 2019 UPDATE!!! On 16/2/2019 my dream came true, and I became a fully fledged Comanche owner!!! Still feels unreal Thanks to a good friend in the Alfa Romeo club, it’s become possible to follow your sound advice AND do my Roadkill SA dream! A bunch of us travelled up north (a story on its own) as far as Springbok on Friday. On Saturday we did the next stint along with a Cruiser and trailer and collected the MJ from the previous owner and trailered it 300km south (and closer to home) to my friend’s place where we spent the last daylight of Saturday and all of Sunday working on the beastie. We have brakes and clutch, and the 4l runs sweetly with direct fuel injection - from a baked beans can! I got the fuel pump running, but it doesn’t pump... and injectors seem to be siezed. My friend has a radiator shop, so he will refurb the radiator, possibly we’ll upgrade to a thicker core. The Jeep has cleaned up beautifully, it really is a time machine - it was imported when it was about 2 years old to the semi desert area of the far Northern Cape. So ... after an EPIC weekend up North with buddies, I’m back in Cape Town, the Comanche is safely stored with my friend in Springbok, while I get the injectors refurbished/replaced and source a fuel pump and lower rad hose (interesting in our RHD country) and recover from a small surgical procedure which has outlawed physical activity for 4-6 weeks. Then I’ll load the Alfa with spares and tools again and go get the MJ running under its own power. Hopefully! Then I’ll need to find the cause of the death wobble the seller warned me of. I may leave the MJ with my friend for a month or two to use and test before taking the long road back to Cape Town ... the jury is still out on that one...Thank you for all the encouragement, support and advice from the other side of the world, I really appreciate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeep Driver Posted February 21, 2019 Share Posted February 21, 2019 Don't know how you guys manage to drive on the wrong side of the road but.............:P Enjoy, nice truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW155 Posted February 21, 2019 Author Share Posted February 21, 2019 Don't know how you guys manage to drive on the wrong side of the road but............. Enjoy, nice truck. Years of practice!!! LOLThanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SatiricalHen Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 I see you mentioned converting it to RHD. Personally I think it adds to the novelty of it to leave it LHD. Over here in the US I’ve been wanting a RHD Cherokee just because it’s different and I think it would be fun once you get used to getting in on the other side and driving on the other side. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW155 Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 I see you mentioned converting it to RHD. Personally I think it adds to the novelty of it to leave it LHD. Over here in the US I’ve been wanting a RHD Cherokee just because it’s different and I think it would be fun once you get used to getting in on the other side and driving on the other side. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Well, there are many nice RHD XJ’s over here for you to choose from...You’ll be happy to hear that I’ve actually canned the RHD conversion idea. The beastie is just simply too nice and original to mess with it. I feel it would be wrong and stupid. If it was in need of a full restoration, it would have been a different matter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earl*t Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 Very nice truck Steve. As Pete stated, enjoy the addiction. I know it's already been thrown out a couple of times but Crusier's Tips are most helpful. Enjoy my friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW155 Posted February 27, 2019 Author Share Posted February 27, 2019 Thanks Tom, your magnificent beastie is one of the reasons I wanted one so badly!Spot-on regarding Cruiser’s tips!! I’ve been working through them, and I’m pretty sure I’ve identified the causes of several of my MJ’s issues. I can’t wait to get back to it and try them out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW155 Posted May 3, 2019 Author Share Posted May 3, 2019 Update time! So although my Comanche is still 600+km away from home, progress is being made, thanks to some good friends. The injectors have been in and out of ultrasound ever since I got back, and were over the weekend pronounced serviceable enough to drive it home . Pic of the muck oozing out earlier in the process: It was decided prudent to get the fuel tank chemically cleaned, so my friend who is storing it for me kindly pulled the tank and cleaned it for me at his radiator shop ... while building me an upgraded radiator. Apparently the tank looks like new now, and he got one of his workers to paint the skidplate for good measure. I don’t have pics of the radiator or tank ... yet! Seeing as my friend’s ex runs an upholstery shop, and their work is of the best I’ve ever seen, what better time than to sort out the torn seat? And finally for now, the nasty plexi screen was replaced yesterday by a brand new tinted glass screen and facelift seal So now I need to source a replacement exhaust manifold, and get myself up there to get her running. A bit of a challenge, as I fired my boss the other day ... so no leave in my notice month ... and I’ve bought a share in a panel shop (excited much!!!) , so goodness knows when I’ll be able to get away there. Very chuffed to be taking my life back though! Question: Are HO & Renix exhaust manifolds interchangeable? Thanks for following! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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