Canadianche 1992 Eliminator

[BenjTess]

Quick intro: 150K miles 1992 Eliminator (which includes the usual HO 4.0l, 4x4, short bed, bucket seats) BUT with a factory floor automatic. I’ve been told this combo is rare, and that it might be one of the rarest Comanche combos out there. I am not enough of a Comanche historian myself to pronounce anything on its rarity, but I would like to know more about what you guys think!

 

I know a lot of you out there are truly for preserving those rare Comanches in their absolute stock form, and I totally respect that. Spoiler alert: this build won’t be about a stock Comanche. It will be modified thoughtfully with upgrades. I know exactly what I’m doing and the budget is there; I will not cheap out nor butcher this truck.

 

So, why am I not keeping it stock?

 

This Jeep has been abused by the road salts. That said, it is far from being mint. Although the interior has been taken good care of, it has been repainted already twice and will need a third paint job. The rear frame is completely shot and needs extreme repairs. The rockers are also shot. The floors have been repaired twice, and the second time the wrong way (with stupid sheet metal screws, and not even attached to the frame). That said, since I’ll be doing all this work and a lot of things will have to be fabricated, I intend to go beyond factory specs.

 

Why am I not building my dream truck out of a less rare MJ instead?

 

The answer is simple: the other less rare MJs just don’t have the options I wanted. I ABSOLUTELY wanted an HO 4.0L, bucket sets, short bed, 4x4 and the floor Automatic. For the price I paid for this 1992 Eliminator, I would’ve spent way much more time and money into converting a less rare MJ to fit those exact options. Rarity has nothing to do here, it was a purely logical choice for me.

 

What is planned for this build?

 

- Custom stiffeners designed and plasma cut by CNC to save & stiffen up that dying rear frame.

- Complete floor replacement. Not only that but I will reverse-engineer and reproduce those floor stiffeners that everyone keeps pulling out and never putting back. I’d like to see if someone has done this before.

- Complete bodywork and paint job.

- Full LED Swap

- Sequential mod on the AW4 automatic transmission (I’ll install paddle shifters on that baby)

- Full suspension upgrade (rear and front, with Fox shocks. 4.5 inches)

- Full steering upgrade (long arms, HD steering, etc... Basically, the whole deal)

- 4.6L HO Stroker (because why not)

- Overhauling and building a Super 35 axle (I’ve got a good deal on the parts and a Super 35 totally works for me. I want to run All-Terrain 33s, and I don’t intend to rock crawl. Only an MJ Dana 44 will win my heart)

- T-Case Overhaul and swap from an NP 231 to NP 242 (Again, I live in Canada, roads are slippery, but not consistently. I want that Full-Time 4x4 for convinience)

 

The stuff I forgot to include will get included as I remember them.

 

So far, still in the stripping phase as you can see!

 

[fiatslug87]

Welcome to CC. Hey, it's your truck, you can do what you want with it, no (or little) judging here, it's great to see you're tackling all that rust.

Post the VIN in the '92 registry and someone will get you a build sheet.

[MiNi Beast]

  welcome. 

 

 

 

[Pete M]

anything 92 is rare.  anything Eliminator is rare.  anything beyond that is just icing on the cake   I'm glad to see this one in the hands of someone who will give her some TLC.

 

be sure to get her in the registry so we can see her birthday.  

[Minuit]

I almost feel like the disclaimer was directed right at me for some reason

 

Hey, I'm one of the most vocal purists on this forum, but look - where I live, most people would say that thing's ready for the crusher as-is. Anything you do to restore it from its current sad state is a win in my book. One thing I really don't want to see in this community is a culture of "you must build your truck this way or you can't be friends with us" - and I hope that isn't the impression you got. This place is called Comanche Club, not "The Association of Snobby Jeep Truck Purists" and I'd really rather not have this place seem like a bunch of snobs with nothing better to do tut-tutting everyone else.

 

Also, finally someone else thinks about the poor floor bracing in a floor pan repair! Yeah, you're not one of the hackjobbers. You'll fit in just fine here.

 

As for rarity, that truck is probably near the top of the list as far as rarity goes. 92 (even more if it was built in 1992), 4x4, Eliminator, color might even be the pretty rare Silver Star Metallic (which I'm a fan of because my 91 is that same color) - all of those are worth a few rarity points. Oddly enough, I think the 2.5L engine might have been worth rarity points over the 4.0L by 92, but you definitely weren't getting that in an Eliminator or with an automatic. Also, I don't think I've seen color matched silver flares on an MJ before and I like how they look...

[JMO413]

Welcome to the club! Can't wait to see what you do with it. I definitely like the plan!

[89 MJ]

Kudos to you for fixing this truck! This is by far one of the rustiest trucks that I have seen and I look forward to seeing the transformation.

[ghetdjc320]

Looking forward to the build. For some reason I think we have all the 91 eliminators ever made in the club lol. Glad to see a fellow HO

[BeatCJ]

I agree, pretty much anything you do to this truck is OK. If it was rust free, then I might have preservationist feelings. I really like that color, I hope you go back to it.

[Torq_Shep]

54 minutes ago, ghetdjc320 said:

Looking forward to the build. For some reason I think we have all the 91 eliminators ever made in the club lol. Glad to see a fellow HO

Mine is =P

[BenjTess]

Bonjour! It’s been a while but things are progressing! I’ve put hundreds of hours since these last pictures and looking back at them, I can’t believe how far it has come.

 

I would like to add from my previous post that I’ve taken as a challenge to make this build road salt proof. Yes. You heard right, I’ll be driving this restored truck in the winter salts. To achieve this, I’ve decided to invest heavily in modern 2 part industrial epoxy coatings to weather proof my truck’s frame and body inside and out from any rust, in the most corrosive environments possible. This intense approach, frequent cleaning + good quality rust proofing will make this vehicle ready for the worst!

 

Now, there are the repairs I’ve done so far, purely by myself. They will be shown in the following order :

 

- Rear frame

- Floors

- Cab sheet metal

- Bed sheet metal

 

Leave any questions you might have, I will be more than happy to answer

 

REAR FRAME:

Let’s remember again how shot it was.

 

First step, cleaning it up.

 

Second step, designing and making stiffners specific to my needs.

 

Third step, welding and painting with a 2 part Epoxy industrial coating.

 

Before and after.

 

FLOORS:

First step, cleaning up and painting the inside of the frame rails.

 

Second step, welding floors, patches and my custom stiffners in.

 

Final step, painting.

 

CAB SHEET METAL:

 

First step, cleaning up the rockers and the cab corners.

 

Second step, welding and grinding.

 

BED SHEET METAL:

 

First step, cleaning up the bed, the 4 corners and the 2 wheel arcs.

 

Second step, fabricating custom bed corners and wheel arcs for the bushwacker flat fenders

 

Third step, welding the repairs and fitting the fenders.

 

Final step, cleaning the underside and painting.

 

Thank you for following, much more to come! 

 

 

 

 

 

[boxyjeep]

I'm insanely impressed that you were able to recover that frame.  I think there was probably more metal missing than still there!

[Pete M]

better than new!    like, waaaaaayyyyy better!