Jake - Daily Driver / Road-tripper 1988/ resto-mode I6 4WD

[Far McKon]

This is a thread covering upgrades, fixes, notes about getting my '88 Comache up to snuff as a daily driver and a road-trip wagon. About 1/2 is just going to be notes to self as I work on things.

 

Starting Condition:

- Running fine i6, it has very low body rust, and a lot of dents and dings.

- The VIN on the door does NOT match the VIN in the windows.

- No AC, fans barely work. Hell to drive in summer.

- Paint on the bodywork is fine to great, but has a lot of DIY patched paint.  Some patches done well, some rather badly.

- No bedliner, bed

- Passanger window regular busted 1/2 way down

- Window/door seals are in crap condition

- Bench seat, rugs, all in great shape.

- Headliner missing, looks like a rat or mouse lived up there and someone took it out, from the shreads of crap

- 4 WD works fine, tested it in both hi and low.

- Hella noisy, like 90DB at 55/65 on the highway. Needs

- No exhaust

- Last inspection sticket is an '02 PA Inspection sticker (bought summer 2021)

- Tends to death-wobbble in some potholes curves around 55.  Doesn't do it over 55, or much over 55

[MiNi Beast]

Great place to keep notes and get feedback or ideas right here. Glad to see you utilizing this opportunity. Welcome to the club. Great rig you have there. Ive always been partial to these trucks in white. 

 

[neohic]

Looks like a good honest truck. Welcome!

[Far McKon]

Ordered:

- map-light (in the forums)

- molding for door, windows (to reduce sound) (online cloud)

- visors visor mounting (in the forums)

- new windshield washer tank & pump  (in the forums)

- Just lucked into a LWB topper / cap (facebook marketplace)

 

Needs:

- dynamat

- Headliner

- ?

[Pete M]

I love a white MJ.    only the best designs still look good in white. 

 

as you go, remember that you don't have to cover every inch in dynamat, it's really just the big expanses of sheetmetal (doors, roof, rear wall, inside the b-pillars etc ) that could really use some deadening material slapped on them to control the vibrations.   

[Far McKon]

Had a good haul on Sunday.  I managed to find a LWB topper for $200 out near Reading PA. Someone sold the Comanche to get a Gladiator , but the dealership didn't want the bed liner or topper.   He had forgotten there was a bed-liner too, so he threw that in since the topper was covered in tree-snot.

 

Topper is good shape, fiberglass and windows are all in looking good shape. Some of the rubber is shot, but that is fixable. It also has bad canopy hydraulic struts. Fixable too.  

 

It is a Leer, and sadly it took a couple of pilot holes to bolt it down to the bed.  I hope drilling out those holes that was the right thing to do .

 

[Pete M]

are you saying you bolted the topper directly to the bed? 

[jdog]

that's one way of doing it, the other would be using c clamps for toppers

[Far McKon]

I ended up drilling 4 x a  5/8 sized bolt holes* in the top of the bed-walls to bolt the topper down. I just put the topper on, marked the spots, and drilled there. 

 

I was tempted to C-Clamp it just for the drive home, but the guy selling it was a mechanic, and was on that being the way to do it.

 

- Far

 

*I only drove in 4 bolt holes at the front/middle. Best I can tell, the butt end of the topper splayed out a bit over the 6 to 12 months it was sitting on the ground. it doesn't line up great the the bed  near the tailgate, and there are gaps in the  I'm going to C-clamp & ratchet strap it together, and tighten it every few days for a while (a week?) to get it back into shape before drilling in those last holes.

[Pete M]

not regular C-clamps, topper C-clamps   

 

 

[Swampy]

That's a solid base to build off of