TheBearken Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 Picked up my 88' MJ while on the hunt for a responsibly sized truck, and it's been an adventure. My previous auto experience peaked at rotors and pad replacement, so the truck has definitely been a learning experience that continues to increase in scope. This forum has been crucial to my progress and the knowledge here is invaluable! Here is a few pics of where it's been so far: First day About 8 different electrical issues to hunt down and fix Front end conversion Pre-Paint surface prep Cooling system overhaul Present Day: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 that's one heck of a transformation there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Mohler Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 looks great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW155 Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 Joh!!!(Which is South African for ‘wowzers’ / speechless) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buxmj Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 Wow, very impressive that you didn't have a lot of experience wrenching and you jumped in head first with a Comanche! Great work, keep the pics coming. Yes this is a great place to be for info and help! Buck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMO413 Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 Good work! I absolutely love that color! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBearken Posted November 13, 2019 Author Share Posted November 13, 2019 21 hours ago, buxmj said: Wow, very impressive that you didn't have a lot of experience wrenching and you jumped in head first with a Comanche! Great work, keep the pics coming. Yes this is a great place to be for info and help! Buck. Thanks! My criteria for a truck was that it not be huge, and be a little on the older side to keep things simpler under the hood. I was looking at import 4-banger trucks when I came across the Comanche for sale just up the road and did a bit of research. I was immediately sold on the reliability and parts compatibility, nothing like being able to go to the local scrap yard and get a replacement anything near 100% of the time. I bought a 93 Cherokee originally for the OEM wheels and power interior components, but after taking it to a Gambler weekend I've fallen in love with the peppier engine, so I may rebuild and do a HO swap after the winter if my luck holds up. On the hunt for 4x4 components for an eventual conversion, but it's not a priority Currently struggling to catch up to the weather, I had wanted to get the fender liners and flares replaced before snow hit, along with some additional rust preventative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBearken Posted November 25, 2019 Author Share Posted November 25, 2019 We had our first snowfall in MI and it gave me cold feet (pun intended) about the state of my trucks weather resistance. So back into the garage to replace the old cracked fender liners, hit the frame with some POR-15 where I could get at it, and clean up the calipers and replace rotors/pads and hoses. Ironically the first auto DIY job I did, replacing rotors and brakes, ended up catching me by surprise on the truck. I was not prepared for the rotor/hub combination, so I had to hit the books, order new bearings and oil seals, and become intimate with bearing grease. All in all a fun experience, just took longer than I anticipated. The red paint adds about 5 hp at the wheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBearken Posted December 16, 2019 Author Share Posted December 16, 2019 So the truck has been back in the garage. A while after finishing the rotors and fender liners/frontal frame paint, I went to leave work and the engine was pegged at 3k and would not go down. It snapped out of it after hitting the highway on my way home, and since then it's been barely idling on startup and until I leave my neighborhood, afterwards it's business as usual. Looking into TPS adjustments and so far have dissembled and cleaned the throttle body. The AIC was just replaced a few months ago, so hopefully it's just TPS foolery. While that's resting, I've been working on installing the interior and power features from my 93 Cherokee. Hit the door panels with vinyl paint and they came out fantastic! (still looking for a gloss black suitable for the faux wood bits) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeanLemons Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 You are doing a great job so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drahcir495 Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 Nice work . I am looking forward to seeing the transformation of the interior. Keep posting up your progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBearken Posted December 23, 2019 Author Share Posted December 23, 2019 After having fun with Rivets (seriously, now that I've used them I'm a fan) I removed the manual window crank and installed the power rail and power lock gear from the donor Cherokee. I also swapped out the plastic exterior door handle and side mirrors for some lunky chrome ones from a junkyard Laredo. I'll need to find an alternative for the factory plastic door lining, and I'm holding off on any wiring shenanigans until I get the rough starting issue resolved. I am very pleased with how the color turned out! Getting the dash and rest of the interior painted is going to be a much larger task. I'll probably hold off until I can find some grey buckets and seat brackets first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fernando87mj Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 Wow That looks fantastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 keep in mind that just because a part is new, doesn't mean it hasn't failed. Especially the chinesium parts available these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBearken Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 On 12/24/2019 at 1:56 PM, Pete M said: keep in mind that just because a part is new, doesn't mean it hasn't failed. Especially the chinesium parts available these days. You know, after doing the TPS adjustment and not seeing a difference after getting it spot on, I threw the old IAC and the thing fired right up! I guess it serves me right for replacing something that wasn't broke in the first place, definitely lesson learned. Thanks for the hint! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBearken Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 It's been a slow time due to weather, but I have managed to get a few things updated and the truck is back to being my daily. Fixed the rough starting issues thanks to Pete's suggestion by swapping in the old IAC, so that's been a relief. I bit the bullet and took it to Ziebart to have a full rustproofing and undercoating job done, and they did a fantastic job. I have much more confidence driving around in the saltslush now. I managed to track down a guy about an hour away that had some interior pieces available and picked up a beautiful black bench seat. My original plan was for buckets but I could not turn this thing down. Got it installed with FAR less issues than I expected, as my old bench seemed fused in place. Driver side power locks and window rail installed along with the 2nd painted door panel. Nothing is wired yet but that is definitely going to be a spring-summer task. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeep Driver Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 13 minutes ago, TheBearken said: I bit the bullet and took it to Ziebart to have a full rustproofing and undercoating job done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBearken Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 11 minutes ago, Jeep Driver said: Good to be aware of! That definitely looks pretty bad, but whatever service is on that truck looks way different than mine. They also did a full pre-treatment of the existing surface, and an internal treatment for the frame and all panels, engine bay. I'm happy with it currently, but I'll definitely run through a follow-up inspection after the winter to see how everything managed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBearken Posted July 16, 2020 Author Share Posted July 16, 2020 It's been a minute, hope everyone is safe and dealing with the various lockdowns well. I've put interior work on pause now that my garage is reorganized and I have the space to dig into the engine. I have about half and inch of sludge around just about every nook and cranny, so my goal is to clean as I go and check for any unseen issues. Also hoping to locate a persistent oil drip that started developing after I took it on the highway a few times back in spring. With everything being coated in grime it wasn't apparent were it was coming from so hopefully a cleanup will help in the future. I picked up a head gasket, new fuel injectors, oil pan gasket, rear main seal, and I'll be reconditioning all the brackets and fittings I can get to. Touching the distributor and having to redo the timing scares me, so I think that'll stay put and I'll work around it. Anyone have suggestions on other things to do while I have it in pieces? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billyblankss Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 58 minutes ago, TheBearken said: It's been a minute, hope everyone is safe and dealing with the various lockdowns well. I've put interior work on pause now that my garage is reorganized and I have the space to dig into the engine. I have about half and inch of sludge around just about every nook and cranny, so my goal is to clean as I go and check for any unseen issues. Also hoping to locate a persistent oil drip that started developing after I took it on the highway a few times back in spring. With everything being coated in grime it wasn't apparent were it was coming from so hopefully a cleanup will help in the future. I picked up a head gasket, new fuel injectors, oil pan gasket, rear main seal, and I'll be reconditioning all the brackets and fittings I can get to. Touching the distributor and having to redo the timing scares me, so I think that'll stay put and I'll work around it. Anyone have suggestions on other things to do while I have it in pieces? Let me know if you find that oil leak. I got a new valve cover gasket but it's a nasty mess underneath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBearken Posted August 7, 2020 Author Share Posted August 7, 2020 Not too many pictures from the process, but I touched up some of the accessory wheels while I had them out. So much sludge!!! I cleaned as much off as I could and still there are nooks completely full of the gunk, but at least the block is clear. Getting everything back together was a pain, I ended up cutting through the EGR tube because the fittings were not going to come off at this point. On reassembly they still line up perfectly so I hit it with some exhaust patch/wrap. A bit of a demoralizing moment was when I first let the fuel rail prime, the regulator wasn't sealed 100% and sprayed fuel all over my manifolds. Not too bad, but I had painted the exhaust shield and header with hi temp paint that still needed to cure, and the gas basically stripped it off where it landed. I'll have to revisit it next time because I don't have the heart to disassemble everything again to get them out. other events were getting it to turn over the first time after sealing the fuel rail, it ran terribly and I thought I majorly screwed something up/ ruined my truck. Turns out I put the vacuum tube for the MAP in the wrong grommet on the throttle body, and it responded immediately when I fixed it. Oil rained down from the pan and it turned out I never did a round of tightening past finger on any of the bolts, so that was a facepalm moment. definitely had a sinking feeling for a moment there but so far so good! I'm going to get it on the road a bit and see if any further leaking develops anywhere. Next on the agenda if nothing critical comes up, is getting a sport truck graphic applied, and digging back into the interior overhaul! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 making progress! you painted your exhaust manifold? how high of a temperature is that paint good for? how hot does your header get? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBearken Posted August 9, 2020 Author Share Posted August 9, 2020 2 hours ago, Pete M said: making progress! you painted your exhaust manifold? how high of a temperature is that paint good for? how hot does your header get? I believe it's rated up to 2000F, I used the VHT Flameproof header paint, I'll definitely report back how it holds up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 oh good. I had to ask since I've seen guys use "hi temp paint" that's not rated for anywhere near enough and makes for a most unpleasant first drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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