damianriel Posted August 25, 2018 Posted August 25, 2018 Decided to start a build log, but wasn't sure what to call it. So here we are. This 1988 Comanche came into my life after my 96 2 Door XJ was totaled. I was rewarded pretty handsomely for my dear Jeep so I became the new owner this 1988 Comanche and a 1998 Honda Prelude, to use as a daily.
damianriel Posted August 25, 2018 Author Posted August 25, 2018 Now, the next step in the build was easy, tear down the jeep and the 2.5 Ax4 2wd combo it came with. The first things to go were the front fenders and hood. The bed was the next. After these items were removed, I started really tearing into it.
damianriel Posted August 25, 2018 Author Posted August 25, 2018 After I tracked down this piece, the project got it's name. After I started tearing into the interior, I test fit my SMS headliners replacement and I would definitely recommend one. Then, I started weighing my engine swap options. The 4.0 out of my xj with some boost? A 4.7 stroker? An OM617 swap? TDI swap? LS? The answer came in the form of a 6.0 Vortec out of a 2004 Chevy 2500HD. For $357 for the fully dressed engine, I couldn't complain.
MeanLemons Posted August 25, 2018 Posted August 25, 2018 good progress! what trans & t case combo are you gonna use with that engine?
damianriel Posted August 25, 2018 Author Posted August 25, 2018 9 minutes ago, MeanLemons said: good progress! what trans & t case combo are you gonna use with that engine? Quite possibly the worst decision of this build. I plan on using my AX15 231 combo out of the crashed XJ. If (when) the AX15 goes i'll either get the AX15 HD, or hopefully it's in the budget to get the RSG 4x4 TR6060.
Pete M Posted August 28, 2018 Posted August 28, 2018 if you don't power shift it or anything crazy, it might last for a while. or maybe not
damianriel Posted August 28, 2018 Author Posted August 28, 2018 3 hours ago, Pete M said: if you don't power shift it or anything crazy, it might last for a while. or maybe not Basically that's the plan. The motor will be stock so hopefully it lasts a bit.
damianriel Posted September 6, 2018 Author Posted September 6, 2018 This update is a bit late, as this work got done this past weekend, which is basically the only time of the week I can work on this project. Anyways, I got the LQ4 on our engine stand, and was able to extract the 4 broken exhaust bolts in the heads. And drill out a flywheel bolt that snapped. After this, my attention shifted to the Novak motor mounts and exhaust headers that arrived on Saturday. Sure this could have been done differently and cheaper, but the engineering was already done so I figured I'd go for the Novak stuff. They arrived within a week, however Novak only supplies a tracking number upon request. So by the time my 2 emails had been responded to I already had the items in hand. I coated the headers in a few layers of the high temp header enamel, but haven't done the baking process, so we'll see how they hold up. While painting these, my friends and I started pulling some items off the engine. Such as the clutch fan, alternator, and oil pan. We were also doing some work on a pals SR20 swapped 240sx.
bad_idea Posted September 13, 2018 Posted September 13, 2018 Interesting looking build. I would like to see the Waggy nose on it (fully assembled from 20' or so back). Can't say I've seen a Waggy nose on a MJ.
damianriel Posted October 18, 2018 Author Posted October 18, 2018 On 9/15/2018 at 12:14 PM, dasbulliwagen said: here's mine with waggy front end. I somehow went an entire month without seeing this, looks sweet man! I've got some big plans for mine, but am hitting a wall with winter coming (New England winters suck) and we need to store my friend's vehicles (s14 and foxbody) in the shared garage space.
dasbulliwagen Posted October 18, 2018 Posted October 18, 2018 I used to live in Michigan and would put my nice car away every winter to drive a $300 winter beater. I don't miss that at all living in North Carolina
damianriel Posted December 29, 2018 Author Posted December 29, 2018 It's been a while since the last update, and not much progress has been made with the obstacles of the weather, the holidays, and my personal schedule. However, I did have a chance to get my hands on Frankspeed420's reproduction lund visor when he had a deal going on for black Friday. I've only test fitted with tape as I don't want to just self tap this to the Jeep and I'm looking for a more clean approach. You can find his sale post here. Happy Holidays!
damianriel Posted February 17, 2019 Author Posted February 17, 2019 Finally, Progress! First time pulling a dash, after owning 2 XJs and a ZJ. Was a learning experience that saw my windshield crack, good thing I was already planning on replacing it. Found the build sheet in the passenger door.
damianriel Posted February 18, 2019 Author Posted February 18, 2019 3 hours ago, Pete M said: neat! pics of said sheet? Next time I'm at the shop I'll get some pictures of it.
damianriel Posted March 12, 2019 Author Posted March 12, 2019 On 2/18/2019 at 10:27 AM, Pete M said: neat! pics of said sheet? Picked up the sheet when I was at the shop over the weekend. Just spent some time today with some scotch tape repairing some damage to it.
strictlyxjs Posted March 22, 2019 Posted March 22, 2019 Are you swapping in a new carpet?...if so is thay vinyl flooring for sale
damianriel Posted March 22, 2019 Author Posted March 22, 2019 14 hours ago, strictlyxjs said: Are you swapping in a new carpet?...if so is thay vinyl flooring for sale I am swapping in carpet but the vinyl flooring was butchered by a previous owner on the driver's side.
damianriel Posted March 25, 2019 Author Posted March 25, 2019 Spent some of my hectic day drilling and drilling spotwelds to gain some more clearance in the fenders. TNT customs high clearance inner fenders for XJ & MJ. Gonna clean up the surrounding area before welding and painting the engine bay. The project got pushed outside for the time being while some quicker projects are inhabiting the garage.
damianriel Posted June 24, 2019 Author Posted June 24, 2019 Long time no see, engine bay got some primer yesterday.
Drahcir495 Posted June 26, 2019 Posted June 26, 2019 I was sooo hoping that the name of this project meant a wagoner front end!
damianriel Posted August 2, 2019 Author Posted August 2, 2019 Things got out of hand very quickly when it came to the motor. Was planning on modifying the truck accessories and shaving the intake/getting a cowl hood to not smash the motor into the hood. Well here's how that went. So what did this refresh bring? Well, it started with gaskets for the oil pan, valve covers, and intake, but I also needed to clean or change the oil pickup. So that became new, and if i was changing that I might as well installed a pickup tube brace. I also needed a new dipstick tube, and dipstick, so I ordered those. After going through all this trouble, we might as well just make the accessories easy, so I ordered high mount brackets from LSXInnovations. Which also changed the game when it came to intakes. It took me a while to settle on an intake, but I landed on an LS6 intake I got a pretty decent deal on. The reason I went this direction was to keep the DBW throttle body. So after ordering all these parts, it became time to install them, but while we have the block apart we might as well needle scale it and put some engine enamel down, and while we have the valve covers off, we can do some wrinkle black on those. and while the water pump is off we can shine up that timing cover and clear coat it.
damianriel Posted August 21, 2019 Author Posted August 21, 2019 I feel like the image is self explanatory. Send help.
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