The Silver Bullet

[TheDirtyJeep401]

Ever since I got my 86 my dad always wanted one. But was always too picky on what options he wanted. Found him one and told him to get it as it was the closest thing he was going to find. Finally, my dad got a Comanche. 
 

Over the past few years he would drive it occasionally buy new parts for it, but never get them installed due to his health. I’d work on it and fix it for him and install parts that he got, until his health made it to where he could drive anymore and the truck sat for months. 

 

In early October, he passed suddenly. Something that we did not expect to happen so soon and caught us all of guard. If it wasn’t for my dad, my passion for Automobiles wouldn’t exist. Jeeps, AMCs, all of it. Was because of him. 
 

This truck was one of the many projects I have that I was to build with my dad. For my dad.

So I’d like to introduce my dads MJ that I’m going to continue to build. The Silver Bullet. 
 

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The reason for the nick name other than the color of the truck is (obviously) silver. The silver paired with the red interior reminds me of the old Coors light cans. My dads favorite beer. 
 

As she sits a bone stock 86 2.5 Auto 4x4 with 31x10.50R15 on factory turbines. Lived pretty much her whole life in Oklahoma. No rust other than a few surface areas, and a few bumps. But by far ones of the cleanest bodies I’ve ever found around here.  I don’t plan on cutting it up. I plan on installing the plethora of parts he ordered for it, keeping it clean and nice. It’s a daily driver that I plan to use camping, taking on road trips, fishing trips and taking it on some off road trails. But for the most part, make it functional, and look pretty while doing it. 

 

It’s been a while since I’ve been here, and been a while since I’ve been in a MJ. Almost forgot the pure joy of driving one. I’m excited to build and share it with the world. Hopefully inspiring others. As many of your builds have inspired me over the years. 

[Salvagedcircuit]

Looking really good, especially with the extra rare louvers. IMHO turbines are the correct and only choice for the comanche.

Can't wait for more of the restoration thread.

[TheDirtyJeep401]

1 hour ago, Salvagedcircuit said:

Looking really good, especially with the extra rare louvers. IMHO turbines are the correct and only choice for the comanche.

Can't wait for more of the restoration thread.

Thanks!

 

The louvers you can actually still buy. They are plastic that just slides into the rear window seal. Actually pretty nice for keeping the sun off the back of your neck. 

[WranglerMangler]

Beautiful truck. Looking forward to the build. Sorry to hear about your Dad. Glad your continuing on with his project. Good luck with her. 

[TheDirtyJeep401]

Noticed one day after a good rain storm that the back of the cabs carpet was wet. With spring coming I knew it was something I wanted to tackle before we got more rain. Went ahead and pulled the carpet out (Needed to check the floors anyway). 
 

 

 

 

Floors were about as good as could hope. No rust all they way through. Passenger side looks bad, but is actually pretty solid. While looking for the leaks, I went ahead and cleaned it all up sealing it with POR-15. And added sound deadening mat to the floor. 
 

 

 

[TheDirtyJeep401]

After drowning the truck with a garden house I found a total of 4 leaks:

 

-Both rear lower corners of the back window Water would run down the inside of the panel and into the corner. 

 

-A plastic Christmas tree clip that was panel bonded over from the factory right below the fuse box

 

- And from where the blower motor is suppose to seal up against the firewall. 
 

Looks like someone had the dash out for a heater core replacement and didn’t get the seal put back properly, and cracked the HVAC box. Got the holes and window seal taken care of. The HVAC one I have temporarily sealed until I can find a nice red dash to replace the cracked one. Would only like to pull the dash out once and be done. 
 

 

 

[TheDirtyJeep401]

After getting it all sealed I thought about changing the carpet. I had a brand new carpet in black that I originally bought to put in the other 86. Thought it would change it up a little bit with the red interior. Figured it wouldn’t hurt. If I didn’t like it, I could just pull it out and put the original in. 
 

 

 

 

I'm actually pretty happy with the way it came out. I will say I had to do a lot more trimming than I have originally anticipated to get it to fit. I’ve heard of others saying that, and they definitely were not lying. 
 

The sound deadening did make a difference on road noise. The carpet I put in I ordered with extra mass backing too. I plan on doing the whole cab, but need to fix all of the dry rotted weather stripping to get some of the noise down. I’m pretty sure a Wrangler with a soft top has quieter wind noise going down the road than this thing does. 

[Pete M]

the black looks dang good   

[jpnjake]

That contrast on the bright red really makes the interior pop 

It looks great 

[TheDirtyJeep401]

Thank you all! 
 

Bought a tool box for it. Wanted something that I can keep stuff dry in, since not a lot can go behind the cab. Not sure if I like the look with it in. I’ll probably get a different style one later on. But for now, it works. 

 

[TheDirtyJeep401]

Got to take the Jeep out this weekend camping. First time taking a drive for an extended time on the highway. Was curious to see how the truck would do with the 31s and the 2.5. To my surprise it cruised at 65 70 the whole time, even though I was on the flat lands of Kansas. Rode like a dream and didn’t have any issues like I thought it would. Probably needs an alignment and worn out steering components replaced, but was truly impressed with how it rode. 
 

Really need to get the cruise control sorted out. Would have been really nice to have just cruising along. 
 

 

 

 

 

Definitely going to be making a kayak rack. Whether it be on the camper shell, or my Willys trailer.

[TheDirtyJeep401]

Decided to go ahead and get the grill and headlight buckets painted. Was debating on what style of black I wanted to paint it. As the bumpers and trim will eventually be black. I didn’t want anything with a high gloss, but didn’t want it to be completely flat black. Found some Krylon satin black paint and figured I’d give it a shot. 
 

Before with silver buckets and faded black/ silver grille: 

 

 

And after:

 

 

 

 

I'm happy with the way it came out. At first glance after putting it on the truck, I thought it was too glossy. As it fully cured after about 24 hrs the glossiness finally toned down. 

Hopefully in the coming weeks I can get the JCR bumpers I have painted and put on. Then I won’t have just one thing on the truck with a good paint job. 
 

And a pic of it clean since I scrubbed the turbines for probably 2 hrs to get these results. 
 

 

[WranglerMangler]

Wow. The grill and headlight bezel paint job turned out great. Turbines are looking good too. Windshield trim up for paint next? 

[TheDirtyJeep401]

15 hours ago, WranglerMangler said:

Wow. The grill and headlight bezel paint job turned out great. Turbines are looking good too. Windshield trim up for paint next? 

Possibly. I planned on eventually doing the 97+ gasket. There is a small chip that I was thinking would’ve cracked in the winter. But actually held up. Would have gave me the excuse to replace it. 
 

Once I get the flares and bumpers put on, it’ll probably bug me even more than it already does and I’ll end up painting it. 

[TheDirtyJeep401]

Finally after getting the bed liner sorted out, the front bumper is on! Had to do a little more trimming on the fenders and got it bolted up. The rear should be ready tomorrow. Still need to add the lights to the bumper. The red Shackles are ones I just had and threw on it just to get an idea. 

 

 

 

 

 

Only complaint on the front bumper is the front receiver tube was welded slightly cockeyed. For the front plate I have a receiver that slides into it the bumper. Had to adjust it to make it look level. Plus the mounts for the lights were welded too high up and I have to re drill the light brackets to get them to fit. Over all it is still a pretty stout bumper. 
 

[TheDirtyJeep401]

And for the rear. Getting the old bundy bumper off turned out to be even more cutting. From the looks of it, they cut down the factory rear brackets and sandwiched the 2 together and welded them together. It was kinda thrown together but was still pretty strong. Only problem was part of the bracket was hanging over one of the bolts. Had to cut off the ears to get the bolt out. 

 

The Bundy bumper weighed so much more than I thought it would. Whole thing is practically solid steel. Made the JCR rear bumper feel light. 
 

 

For the license plate I have another receiver mounted style. Had to drill a hole in it for the lights to be ran through. Just used some lights off of Amazon that bolted straight to the plate. 
 

 

Not the biggest fan of the way the tag is on it. The bracket is crooked making the license plate crooked. Just plan on running it like that for now and putting a flip bracket on it later on. So I can still access the receiver and not have to pull the plate off every time I need to use it. 
 

Next step will be ordering another pair of pod lights for the front and hooking it all up. But first have to take care of the valve cover leak. 

[TheDirtyJeep401]

Got the valve cover gasket put on. For all 2.5 people, I can’t recommend these gaskets enough!!!

 

I have tried almost every gasket you can get for the 2.5 and this is by far the best one out there. It is the same style gasket I use on every vehicle I own. They can be pricey but Amazon has them for $22. Parts stores are usually around $40. It’s better to get this gasket then try the other rubber style. The black rubber one most commonly found with the plastic valve covers fail pretty quickly. I had one last maybe 2 weeks before it started to leak again. 

If you can get your 2.5 to stop leaking, this is your best bet. 

Look for a 92+ YJ 2.5 Valve cover gasket P/N posted below. 
 

 

 

 

Now to see how it does this weekend on a trip to the lake with some vacuum leaks fixed, a new gasket and a fresh oil change. 

[TheDirtyJeep401]

Didn’t get the time to take pics of it all since it was so late, and of course, took a lot longer than it should have. The radiator was leaking, so I had to rob the radiator out of the other 86 since it was practically new, and I was in a pinch. The one I pulled out in silver was the original radiator. It was so clogged it didn’t even drain all the way. Noticed that the fan clutch was broken and had to swap that out too. 
 

Upon installing the radiator, I noticed that the fittings on the radiator for the transmission lines were different. And after many runs to the parts store trying to figure out a fitting, I ended up getting an external trans cooler as my only option. The fittings went from standard on one side, to metric on another. Had no way of finding an adapter for the lines. I was already doing a fluid/filter change on the transmission to see what was causing it to not go into reverse fully. Figured a cooler wouldn’t hurt for as warm as the trans gets. 
 

So far everything is holding up and working properly. No leaks, fans not as noisy, and the transmission is shifting smooth like butter through all gears. Still have some leaks and noises to address soon. The timing chain sounds like it’s loose and the rear end has been howling with a nasty pinion seal leak. Soon it won’t be making unnecessary noise and leaving stains on my driveway. 
 

Did take a photo after it was all done and cleaned up. I take too many pictures of this truck. Seems like it’s always at a good angle when I look at it. 

 

 

 

[Pete M]

runs well and looks great... every Jeeper's dream  

[Drahcir495]

 

 

[TheDirtyJeep401]

Been putting the truck through more work rather than working on it. Every time I get the time to, something with the house decides to go wrong. Had a few trees fall, including a huge oak in my backyard from a storm that came through. Luckily this massive oak missed the house. 

 

Poor thing is probably tired of hauling firewood or stuff on the trailer. By the time I’m done, it’ll have done 3 trees and running a mower back and forth since mine is down.  Suspension isn’t too happy, but doesn’t really bother the 2.5 much. Also heard a clunk in the front end when putting it in 4X4. Found the driver side axle u joint is getting pretty loose. So another thing to add to the list. 
 

 

Are you guys sure the saying wasn’t “Easy to be a Jeep. Hard to be a truck?”  Because I’m sure it would much rather just be a Jeep. 

[Salvagedcircuit]

20 minutes ago, TheDirtyJeep401 said:

Been putting the truck through more work rather than working on it. Every time I get the time to, something with the house decides to go wrong. Had a few trees fall, including a huge oak in my backyard from a storm that came through. Luckily this massive oak missed the house. 

 

Poor thing is probably tired of hauling firewood or stuff on the trailer. By the time I’m done, it’ll have done 3 trees and running a mower back and forth since mine is down.  Suspension isn’t too happy, but doesn’t really bother the 2.5 much. Also heard a clunk in the front end when putting it in 4X4. Found the driver side axle u joint is getting pretty loose. So another thing to add to the list. 
 

 

Are you guys sure the saying wasn’t “Easy to be a Jeep. Hard to be a truck?”  Because I’m sure it would much rather just be a Jeep. 

It sure is earning it's keep!

[TheDirtyJeep401]

Apparently the Jeep was feeling neglected with all the other projects and things that I have going on. So it decided it was going to break. 

 

 

Originally I thought it was just the master cylinder since the pedal fell to the floor. But turned out to be more that needed replaced than I thought. Hoses were cracking, rear shoes were completely worn. Had to wait a few days to get parts in. 

 

 

 

After a few days of waiting, and me messing up a brand new hose and having to get a new one. Back in the road and now it stops like a new truck. Glad it’s done. But wish it would have waited a month or so, and not in the middle of the week. 

[Pete M]

old trucks have their own time schedules.   

 

but in all seriousness, those are all items that should have been replaced a while ago.  

[TheDirtyJeep401]

On 10/7/2023 at 1:09 PM, Pete M said:

old trucks have their own time schedules.   

 

but in all seriousness, those are all items that should have been replaced a while ago.  

It honestly surprised me on how well it was stopping with the shoes pretty much gone. Didn’t even make any noise. I never thought twice about it because of how good the brakes were. Just sucks that I had to replace the shoes instead of getting it swapped over to discs once I had the parts. Now I’ll just have to wait till these or worn down.