Project “Tomahawk”

[ghetdjc320]

Alright, time to finish this project. May need some input on some items along the way. Just dropped off the tailgate to finish up the body work on it as I ran out of time to do that myself and have 36 circuits plus and engine harness to wire in lol. Also dropped off my mini overhead XJ console and a pair of oem door panels. The shop is going to make me some new door panels and eliminate the window crank handle, square the speaker opening to un-shroud the door speaker and delete the carpet “pocket” on the panels. The new ones will be made out of 1/8” birch. They’ll probably be keeping the original stitching and foam insert designs but may take some style cues from my Corbeau seats. Will be updating this thread pretty fast moving forward now. 

[EUREKA]

Awesome. Looking forward to seeing more progress!

[ghetdjc320]

Worked on the passenger door today and getting it aligned before reassembling all the hardware. Also working on all the interior plastics and getting them ready to reassemble. If anyone has any good tips for realigning MJ doors please let me know. It’s a tough process making sure that the seal all around the door is compressed equally for a quiet and sealed ride.

 

Will be working on the steering and front suspension soon to get it all lined up. Hope to crank the engine over and fire it up before too long 

 

 

[ghetdjc320]

Tailgate body work complete and all imperfections gone now. Aligned the axle to the chasis today. For future reference, the centerline of the XJ D30R is noted in the pic below. Starting with the lower control arms at 16” and the uppers at 15”. I’m at about 8* of caster now which is quite nice. Front suspension is coming along nicely. NOS HD sway bar is up next. Been pretty pleased with all the BDS products I’ve installed so far. 

[ghetdjc320]

Didn’t take a picture of it but I also replaced the horn contact button in the column and reassembled it all. I’d like to still find the “anti-theft” plate that goes over the lock plate in the column though. 

[ghetdjc320]

More alignment in progress

[ghetdjc320]

Had to modify the door strikers and remove the captured thick washer. The thickness of the striker reinforcement plates I added was just as thick as the captured washer so the striker was sitting too far out. Works perfectly now. 

[ghetdjc320]

Restored wipers installed

[Salvagedcircuit]

2 hours ago, ghetdjc320 said:

Had to modify the door strikers and remove the captured thick washer. The thickness of the striker reinforcement plates I added was just as thick as the captured washer so the striker was sitting too far out. Works perfectly now.

 

This is going to be one of the straightest comanche's on the road. Nice job

[Gjeep]

Looking good, and not sure if you're done aligning doors... Passenger side for my MJ lined up perfectly using factory shims but the driver side was another story. Need to to create proper shim widths to get all lined up. Took forever to get just right. Nothing fun about aligning doors.

[ghetdjc320]

15 minutes ago, Gjeep said:

Looking good, and not sure if you're done aligning doors... Passenger side for my MJ lined up perfectly using factory shims but the driver side was another story. Need to to create proper shim widths to get all lined up. Took forever to get just right. Nothing fun about aligning doors.

I swear my drivers door is short by 3/16”. I have a good stack of shims to work with but haven’t been able to get down to less than 1/4” gap all around. Passenger side I got 5/32-3/16 all around. Drivers side is 3/16-1/4 all over. I’d like to get no more than 3/16 everywhere but am having to settle for just a good seal all around the door. I may play with it some more though as I have a nice stack of oem shims to use. 

[ghetdjc320]

31 minutes ago, Salvagedcircuit said:

 

This is going to be one of the straightest comanche's on the road. Nice job

Thanks! Everything is lining up nicely except the drivers door. 

[watchamakalit]

Just give it and extras few layers of that beautiful paint.

[ghetdjc320]

So it turns out that the driver side door is slightly smaller by about 1/8” lol. No wonder I was having trouble with the gaps. Anyways, I kept working with shim packs and alignment until I got it absolutely perfect in the frame. The door to b pillar is exactly 3/16 top to bottom and the a pillar to door is exactly 1/4”. 

[ghetdjc320]

Moved from the garage to the shop. For those who are curious, I’m running a Deatshwerks DW200 pump which is considerably smaller than the oem pump. It’s a turbine unit which is typically smaller. I’m running an MTS sender for the MJ and removed the lower pump bracket. I reused to of the rubber spacers from the old airtex style pump and added them to the DW pump. I then used two stainless band clamps to secure it to the return line tube. I retained the upper pump bracket to keep the clocking correct. Going to browse for an appropriate strainer for this custom setup at the local parts store. I’ve also decided to nix the LS filter/pressure regulator setup in favor of a fuelab regulator mounted around where the old map sensor location was. Will add a Russell silicone filled pressure gauge also and all AN fittings. I think I’ll retain the oem Jeep filter and filter location but that’s still TBD. 

[Pete M]

80s sheetmetal is... inconsistent at best.  

[ghetdjc320]

Here is the completed fuel sending unit with the DW200 pump. Tank is ready to install.

[ghetdjc320]

By far the nicest bed cover I’ve ever come across. 

[fiatslug87]

Is that the one Limeyjeeper has?

[ghetdjc320]

37 minutes ago, fiatslug87 said:

Is that the one Limeyjeeper has?

Yes it is. I was able to get the company to make another custom one

[ghetdjc320]

Made new door handle gaskets. Also going to get these wheels wrapped in some 31” BFGs 

[Salvagedcircuit]

1 hour ago, ghetdjc320 said:

Made new door handle gaskets. Also going to get these wheels wrapped in some 31” BFGs 

 

Looking good! I was thinking of just buying a new set of refinished turbines because they cost so much to properly restore.

[ghetdjc320]

Full size power glass installed with 97+ regulators and power locks installed. Lots of work but I was able to mirror the other side that I had already done.

 

 

[EUREKA]

Did you use a factory crossbody harness for the power windows?

[ghetdjc320]

8 hours ago, EUREKA said:

Did you use a factory crossbody harness for the power windows?

I did and I’m in the process of identifying everything. The power windows are very simple as they pretty much just get power and ground and the harness takes care of the rest. The power locks are a bit more complex as they use a relay system I’m trying to figure out to integrate into the harness. My harnesses are from a 94-96 XJ. I’m about to post some tech questions about this harness setup to get some insight on the connectors.