WeezyBlue Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 I bought an 87 Comanche about 3 weeks ago as an intended unique daily driver year round to keep the salt off my TJ. It's too good, and I fell in love immediately. I'll give a brief history of myself, as uninteresting as it may be. I was born in 89. I was driving my dad's 95 Dakota around the yard right after he got it. Once I had that down, my mom taught me to drive stick in her 94 Geo Prizm. I bought my grandma's car, a 90 Pontiac Sunbird auto, in 2004 for $500. After that, it was, in order: 1992 Celica GTS 5 spd 1990 4Runner SR5 V6 auto (which I rolled offroad, and burned to the ground) 1988 Corolla GTS 5 spd 2006 TJ SE 2.4 6 spd 1989 MR2 NA 5 spd 2011 Mini Cooper S 6 spd (new off the lot) 2005 TJ Rubicon 6 spd (still have as my daily, replaced the Mini cause I missed the Jeep so bad) 1995 Ranger V6 5 spd 1991 Celica Alltrac 5 spd (still have) 1982 Wagoneer Limited (still have, not running, in storage) 2014 Ford SVT Raptor 1987 Jeep Comanche, 2wd, 5 speed, 2.5 liter. And I guess you can count the 86 Comanche donor sitting beside me in the garage as I type this. I never made a build thread anywhere for my TJ, because I never intended it to get to that point. As of writing it has $35k into it in parts alone, all labor me aside from the regear. And I'm waiting on the supercharger kit to show up. So with that, I'm starting a thread on the MJ. I've had it for 3 weeks and it's already taken over my garage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeezyBlue Posted August 2, 2019 Author Share Posted August 2, 2019 The Jeep is an 87, 2.5, 2wd, 5 speed. According to carfax it's been in two fender benders, one in front, one in back. There is still evidence of the front impact. No evidence of the rear impact although the bumper is missing. It's got some minimal rust but it seems very much to be surface rust. I'm in Minnesota but the truck is from Georgia. PO put a 3" lift on it. The floor on the driver side is gone. Passenger side is bad. Interior needs some parts. So as I said, had it about 3 weeks now. So far... I replaced some burned out bulbs, but have an issue with the front left. Bulb is not burned out, will not light. Need to check the wiring. Replaced rear view mirror that was gunked up under the glass. Replaced driver side wing mirror that was sagging, and chrome. Passenger side is black. Now they match. Fixed grinding terrible driver side window "regulator?" Lots of grease. Sheath (?) had come off and was rusty. Replaced simple gauge cluster with full cluster, calibrated tach using laser handheld. Replaced oil pressure and coolant temp sensors. Bought driver side floor pan. Ordered both front fenders. Replaced glasspack muffler with Borla Wired clock to actually work. Rebuilt shift tower bushings/centering pins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeezyBlue Posted August 2, 2019 Author Share Posted August 2, 2019 Drove 3 hours to pick up an 86 donor MJ. 2.5 missing, but np207, ax5, and d30 present. We goin 4wd! I have the trans and tcase out, axle is half out and will be finished tomorrow. Snagged a few small trim parts and whatnot off an 89 at the junkyard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeezyBlue Posted August 2, 2019 Author Share Posted August 2, 2019 Now the following is info I couldn't find specifically, it seems to be a grey area. I saw a lot of good posts by a user name Eagle and some other old links but pictures just don't work anymore. So I'll try to use a lot of key words so this is searchable. I might type some of the following oddly, because I know how important this is to people and most don't post after they figure it out. 86 87 88 89 cluster swap conversion First I will outline what I gathered as the general community consensus. 84 - 86 has metal connector on speedo speedometer cable. 87 - 90 has plastic connector on speedometer cable. 88 - 90 tach tachometer has an adjustable pot on the back for cylinder count 84 - 87 old style one notch per mph on speedometer tachometer in double (2) digits Bought an "87-90" cluster off ebay. It was a gamble, had the old style gauges. My intent was to swap from no gauges and dummy lights to a full dash. My gauge as stock in my 87 is at the bottom. Unspecified "87-90" on the top Took the cluster out of the 89 XJ sport 4.0 5 spd 2 door at the junkyard (what a rare beast itself) Here they are beside each other, "87-90" on top, 89 on bottom Here they are with the surrounds replaced, they are swappable, just to answer that question. I'm keeping the old style 100%. There's question if the 87 has an adjustable tach. Again, the one I got off ebay has what looks like an 87 and earlier style, but it does indeed have the pot on the back of the tach. Check the following photos, and I tried to tip the photos at an angle so you can see the style between the two without confusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeezyBlue Posted August 2, 2019 Author Share Posted August 2, 2019 So I also read that the pot was only adjustable from 6 cylinder to 4 cylinder. I was trying to adjust a 4.0 tach for a 2.5. I tried adjusting both. All the way left counter clockwise made my tach so low it wouldn't read at idle. It definitely seems as if there would be ample adjustment for a v8 because... All the way to the right was too high. It read 1k rpm when the engine was idling at 850 rpm on the laser tach. This may need adjusting and I will update Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 Just went through this with the blue cluster. It’s a finicky thing to get adjusted just right. I’ve had mine for almost a year now and I finally got the tach in the sweet spot for the 2.5L. The REM helped me a lot both times I adjusted it. Course, i don't know how it was off the first time I adjusted it as I used the REM. You'll get it adjusted where it needs to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeezyBlue Posted August 2, 2019 Author Share Posted August 2, 2019 21 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said: Just went through this with the blue cluster. It’s a finicky thing to get adjusted just right. I’ve had mine for almost a year now and I finally got the tach in the sweet spot for the 2.5L. The REM helped me a lot both times I adjusted it. Course, i don't know how it was off the first time I adjusted it as I used the REM. You'll get it adjusted where it needs to be. Yeah I got it within ~15 at idle but when revving it seems to read waaay high. I gassed it off my street and it ran to 6k on the tach and sounded like 4kish to my untrained ears. I'll have the girlfriend hold the throttle while I adjust Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89 MJ Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 Where in Minnesota are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeezyBlue Posted August 2, 2019 Author Share Posted August 2, 2019 3 hours ago, 89 MJ said: Where in Minnesota are you? Lakeville, south metro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeezyBlue Posted August 8, 2019 Author Share Posted August 8, 2019 So if anybody tells you all manual trans 2.5 MJs are 4.10s, like I was told, they're wrong. The axles I got out of the 86 are very much 3.54s. That's not ideal since I want to go to 31s when all the bodywork is done. I'm torn between what to do, but I think for now it will just get both 3.54 axles and I'll keep my eye out for an xj at the scrap yard. If I end up regearing anything, then I'm just going to go 4.88 and run 33s. Anyway, I'm punching this in while I'm waiting for the front axle to dry after a good pressure wash. The trans and tcase are out. I got a new transmission mount, too cheap to not just replace even though it looks decent. New front fenders are here. Again, too cheap to not justify. Got some new window seals. Boy are those overpriced. Won an 80s Alpine cassette deck off ebay, so I'm in the market for some tapes. Speakers are missing, and I don't know if there's even wiring to the doors, so that's something to do. It came with a few interior door panels of different style. Now it's got the same on both sides, I read that they may be off a laredo? Got a set of arm rests here too but they're grey, so I need to paint/dye them either tan to match or black. Any advice for that would be awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted August 9, 2019 Share Posted August 9, 2019 yeah, 1986 was a weird year in which they hadn't yet standardized the ratios yet. bummer man looks like a great project regardless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeezyBlue Posted August 10, 2019 Author Share Posted August 10, 2019 Score! Somebody saw my truck in town and left a note yesterday. Today I got to open a brand new Mopar bumper from 1993 for $50 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rylee144 Posted August 10, 2019 Share Posted August 10, 2019 That's a lucky day!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted August 10, 2019 Share Posted August 10, 2019 Damn. Well they are accessories after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kansashogan Posted August 10, 2019 Share Posted August 10, 2019 You should have played the lottery that day also. You don't get much luckier than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeezyBlue Posted August 26, 2019 Author Share Posted August 26, 2019 First of all, settled on a name for this project. My first ever Jeep was named Darwin for Charles Darwin, theory being he was always evolving. Current TJ is named Wallace after Alfred Russel Wallace. This Jeep is continuing the historical figure theme with Lincoln. It looks like a Lincoln to me. Got that 3.54 geared D30 under the Jeep. Forgot how hard it is to get coils in and out of these d30s without disconnecting control arms or cutting some steel off the axles. I've been tossing around the idea of grabbing an 8.25 and a non CAD HP d30 and gearing 4.88 so I can run some 33s or 35s but I think I've decided I'm just going to buy a set of 4.10s and give regearing a shot for the first time. Figure if I don't mess it up and it holds up I can offload a matching set of 4.10s pretty easily and regear some junkyard axles. Took it for it's first, although little, hardware run Snagged a visor for what I think was a very fair price Got that brand new Mopar bumper installed, complete with the plug and play wiring harness for the plate lights. Stopped for a couple days to install a lift on a coworker's Jeep. 3.5" Metalcloak game changer. Pretty nice lift. The previous owner of the MJ stopped by with his new project to grab a beer and see what we were up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeezyBlue Posted August 26, 2019 Author Share Posted August 26, 2019 Got the front tore down a bit. Damage is evident in the front right. Just need to figure out how to straighten it out enough so the new fenders line up decently. eBay stereo showed up. Not in as great of shape as I was hoping but wired it up on the bench and she plays cassettes and sounds great. If anybody could tell me what the hell is going on here I'd appreciate it. I'm very tempted just to run entirely new wiring. Scored some missing parts from 88mjsally on the forum. Super fast shipper A+++++ I think they say on eBay. Seems everything I find is grey. I was planning to dye the grey parts black and keeping the black and honey interior theme that has been growing on me but part of me wants to dye everything black and do a sort of silly tartan lined interior ala Matt Farah. Yet to decide. Some overpriced window seals showed up More seals and some 3 point handles. Still need to figure out if I even have the provision in the doors for the upper mounting point but I can figure something out. Little off topic here but the girlfriend traded in her BRZ for a super rare 5 speed Forester XT. This thing is a sick sleeper. Can't wait to do some exhaust work, coilovers, sti ecu, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89 MJ Posted August 26, 2019 Share Posted August 26, 2019 38 minutes ago, WeezyBlue said: I've been tossing around the idea of grabbing an 8.25 I have an 8.25. I’m just north of La Crosse, WI. PM me if interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeezyBlue Posted August 26, 2019 Author Share Posted August 26, 2019 19 minutes ago, 89 MJ said: I have an 8.25. I’m just north of La Crosse, WI. PM me if interested. I was looking at your listing earlier today, facebook marketplace I think. Tempting. I have a bit of a space issue at the moment. I'm off thursdays and fridays, I might get ahold of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeezyBlue Posted August 27, 2019 Author Share Posted August 27, 2019 This finally showed up. For the TJ unfortunately. I do have an old Toyota turbo laying around that would be fun on the MJ though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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