AverageJoe10 Posted April 17, 2023 Share Posted April 17, 2023 Alrighty so it's about time I post my project. Ever since I bought my Comanche I've been obsessively on this forum and I can't get enough! In October I purchased my very first MJ. 1988 2.5L 2wd Base model MJ. Pretty sure this is the most base model you can get on these things but that didn't stop me from buying the jeep truck I've always wanted. These are the original photos from the Facebook listing. As you can see from the photos she definitely needed some TLC. Located in Pueblo, CO the previous owner had bought it from his neighbor next door who was the original owner. Cool to know it's been in one location most of its life. Things the previous owner did right before he sold it.... Reupholstered the bench seat (in great condition) New clutch New slave Valve cover gasket (still leaks) New Spark plugs and wires New Cap and rotor New head unit New speakers (wired horribly from an audio shop) Overall when I picked up the jeep it was in good condition, mechanically. It started up no problem, shifted through all the gears, brakes worked good, etc. I also noticed that the underside was pretty rust free! It obviously had surface rust but no real cancer that I could see, so I bought her! I have a lot of plans for this rig. Mostly I want to bring her back to her former glory while upgrading the truck in any way I can. I've already done a number of upgrades/fixes on it that I will explain as I continue to post. My biggest dislike on this truck is the horrible paint job (hence why I'm calling it Rattlecan). Apparently the original owner let his son drive it occasionally to school and back and one night he got drunk with his buddies and decided it was a good idea to spray paint the entire truck black with some rattle cans. As you can probably see it turned out very poorly. The overspray is horrendous, especially in the truck bed. They managed to paint over most of the exterior the best part is the paint circles left on top of the roof from either paint cans or beer cans or possibly both lol. So that's also a big obstacle I would like to overcome. I still haven't decided what I want to do about it yet though. It's a real bummer they painted it because from the parts that are still originally red, the paint looks to be in pretty good shape. When I first got the truck I spent the first week trying to rub off the top black layer with paint thinner to get to the original Colorado Red but it took HOURS for very very little results The truck is currently my daily driver and I have upgraded a number of components on it that I'm happy with. I will post on here soon of all the things I have done to it thus far as well as upcoming upgrades Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageJoe10 Posted April 17, 2023 Author Share Posted April 17, 2023 First few things I did to the jeep was go through Cruisers tips. I think I covered just about every one of them that was needed. That black tar stuff in the c101 connector was some nasty stuff. Ended deleting it entirely instead of cleaning it out. Did some simply engine bay fixes like a manifold gasket. It had a broken manifold bolt that looked like it had been there for awhile on the front side. The old gasket show traces of black deposit seeping past the gasket where the broken bolt was. Ended up getting that broken bolt out and replaced the gasket along with new manifold bolts. Also found that the egr tube that connects the the exhaust manifold was missing a bolt so I got a new gasket and new bolt put into it. After those small fixes I went to the junkyard to find some exterior pieces. Ended up getting a chrome front end and grille off an xj as the old front end was mostly broken in pieces. And the best fix of all was installing the grille the correct way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted April 18, 2023 Share Posted April 18, 2023 Looks like a fun project. That C101 looks atrocious, good job getting rid of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageJoe10 Posted April 18, 2023 Author Share Posted April 18, 2023 Thanks man! Its been a journey already haha. Some other "upgrades" I've done so far.... Switched to this style steering wheel. The old one was in pretty bad shape and I've always really like the look of these guys. Still need to paint the center cap at some point. I've also installed a full gauge cluster. Pretty much plug and plug aside from replacing the oil pressure switch and temp switch. Gauges work great! Only thing I need to adjust is the tachometer calibration as I got it off a 6 cylinder xj and the tach is definitely not reading correctly for my little 4 cylinder. Also picked up a digit clock from the same xj. It needs some attention as is its very very dim. Possibly a new bulb Anddddd one of my favorite modifications so far is this cupholder! Followed directly from this writeup... Thanks to Ronnie for the great idea! It works great, fits very well, and looks pretty good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted April 22, 2023 Share Posted April 22, 2023 Good save. Keep up the great work. It’s sad to see when these poor little trucks cross paths with the one wrong person who does something stupid to them. Like crappy paint jobs or easily avoidable body damage like my poor ‘92fer. Keep at it. Keep her on the road! And Keep posting! I recently did the sentinel light upgrade and interior light upgrade too. Really like Having the lights inside. Just a suggestion for next time your at the Junkyard. Don’t forget the glove box light too lol. Try to totally option out all my MJs. It’s fun taking a super base truck to a Pioneer trim or better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageJoe10 Posted April 22, 2023 Author Share Posted April 22, 2023 3 hours ago, WranglerMangler said: Good save. Keep up the great work. It’s sad to see when these poor little trucks cross paths with the one wrong person who does something stupid to them. Like crappy paint jobs or easily avoidable body damage like my poor ‘92fer. Keep at it. Keep her on the road! And Keep posting! I recently did the sentinel light upgrade and interior light upgrade too. Really like Having the lights inside. Just a suggestion for next time your at the Junkyard. Don’t forget the glove box light too lol. Try to totally option out all my MJs. It’s fun taking a super base truck to a Pioneer trim or better! Thanks! I appreciate the encouragement. They are totally worth the time and energy. How hard was it to set up the sentinel light? Seems like a cool upgrade and I haven't really done much research on how it's done. I've actually upgraded my interior lights as well. Found some aftermarket b pillar lights on ebay for relatively cheap. They look great, fit great and put off decent light for how small it is. I also want to install floor lights inside at some point as well That's also kind of the plan for this jeep I'm trying to cram all the good upgrades on this little base model. I figured since she's still in relatively good shape and runs and drives it deserves to be upgraded! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted April 23, 2023 Share Posted April 23, 2023 13 minutes ago, AverageJoe10 said: How hard was it to set up the sentinel light? Seems like a cool upgrade and I haven't really done much research on how it's done. It’s a module that plugs into a big connector under the dash and gets bolted to the dash to stay up and out of the way. I’ve got a few modules lingering around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageJoe10 Posted April 23, 2023 Author Share Posted April 23, 2023 43 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said: It’s a module that plugs into a big connector under the dash and gets bolted to the dash to stay up and out of the way. I’ve got a few modules lingering around. ....oOoOO I might have to snatch up one of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted April 23, 2023 Share Posted April 23, 2023 Shoot me a PM whenever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salvagedcircuit Posted April 23, 2023 Share Posted April 23, 2023 @eaglescout526 Are you talking about the 56009324 headlight delay module? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted April 23, 2023 Share Posted April 23, 2023 52 minutes ago, Salvagedcircuit said: @eaglescout526 Are you talking about the 56009324 headlight delay module? Thanks Could be. I recognize it as 8956000636 or 56000636. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted April 23, 2023 Share Posted April 23, 2023 4 hours ago, AverageJoe10 said: Thanks! I appreciate the encouragement. They are totally worth the time and energy. How hard was it to set up the sentinel light? Seems like a cool upgrade and I haven't really done much research on how it's done. I've actually upgraded my interior lights as well. Found some aftermarket b pillar lights on ebay for relatively cheap. They look great, fit great and put off decent light for how small it is. I also want to install floor lights inside at some point as well That's also kind of the plan for this jeep I'm trying to cram all the good upgrades on this little base model. I figured since she's still in relatively good shape and runs and drives it deserves to be upgraded! Oh man it’s easy. Literally one screw and plug it into an existing plug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageJoe10 Posted April 23, 2023 Author Share Posted April 23, 2023 1 hour ago, WranglerMangler said: Oh man it’s easy. Literally one screw and plug it into an existing plug. Thanks to eaglescout, I should have one coming soon I'm excited! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageJoe10 Posted April 23, 2023 Author Share Posted April 23, 2023 Got a good deal on a MTS fuel pump very soon after I bought the jeep. Just installed it recently as I wanted to see the condition of the old pump and the fuel tank. Turns out the original pump was in pretty good condition. Only thing that looked bad was the old rubber hose connecting to the pump was all cracked and pieces of it were floating around the bottom of the tank. I didn't necessarily have any problems with the old fuel pump but I figured it was best to replace anyways. While I was in there I was debating whether to drain the tank and clean it out. Didn't want to do it initially because the tank was half full and I really didn't feel like spilling gas everywhere lol. But thought to myself if I don't do it now, I'll probably never do it. So I did my best to drain it (not very well lol). But got it drained regardless and blew it out as best I could. Result turned out pretty good. Got all the little pieces of rubber hose and debris out of the tank and did a visual inspection of the bottom of the tank. Tank was in good condition inside as you can see. Only thing was a little discoloration where the pump sits but I'm not too worry as there was no sign of flaking/rust. Installed the new pump no problem. Fit in just like the original. Installed new fuel hoses and a new fuel filter. After priming a few times, started up like a charm. I already love that the MTS is SO much quieter. Not that I minded the old noisy pump (because I can tell when it was getting primed) but it's nice to have a quiet one now. On a side note, anyone have any problems with the MTS fuel gauge not being completely accurate? I have a slight suspicion that it's reading a little less fuel than I actually have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted April 23, 2023 Share Posted April 23, 2023 DO NOT throw away your old pump and sending unit!!! I’ve made this mistake before and still regret it today. Someone will buy it from you if you want to get rid of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageJoe10 Posted April 23, 2023 Author Share Posted April 23, 2023 1 hour ago, WranglerMangler said: DO NOT throw away your old pump and sending unit!!! I’ve made this mistake before and still regret it today. Someone will buy it from you if you want to get rid of it. Still have it! It was in too good of condition to toss. Realistically all it needs is a new hose and it would be good to go. Not sure if I want to get rid of or not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageJoe10 Posted May 4, 2023 Author Share Posted May 4, 2023 Update! Going to swap this lil truck to 4wd! Got an ax5 and np 207 out of a YJ for a great deal nearby. Was excited to hear that the YJ it came out of had just about the same miles as my MJ so it's nice to know everything will "wear" evenly. Didn't get to take too many pictures of the install but I had really no troubles bolting it in. Only thing I had to do was re-drill the transmission tail end to re-clock the transfer case. Not too hard just made a template and drilled new holes. Transmission and Tcase tucked up nice in there. Had to get a new drive shaft as it needed to be shortened and the yoke changed to a 27 spline. Put fresh fluids in and had no leaks Ax5 shifts nicely and it's nice having an overdrive (5th gear) compared to the 4 speed. Transfer case seems to be working properly. Only thing I was having a problem with was my shifter was popping out of gear in 2nd. Figured out the shifter housing on the YJ sits taller then the MJ housing because the actual shifter off the YJ has a longer throw rod. With the original short-throw MJ shifter rod in the YJ housing, it wasn't long enough to engage in the bracket. Which ended up popping it out of gear occasionally when I pulled the shifter too far one way. Ended up just swapping over the shifter housing from my old ax4 to my "new" ax5 and now it shifts like a charm with no problems! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageJoe10 Posted May 9, 2023 Author Share Posted May 9, 2023 Swapped in a Dana 30 front axle out of a LJ. The front axle deal came with the original front driveshaft which was a great for my conversion. It has 3.73 gears which I'll have to hold off on connecting the front driveshaft because my rear d35 has 3.55's. Also the front driveshaft off the LJ is just wayyy too long for my setup so I'll have to cut it to fit (waiting to put a 3" lift on) Had a major issue with death wobble once I swapped the axle. Come to find out I completely missed the track bar mount on the Dana 30 had been ovaled out so the PO welded in washers. In short it was a very hack job and was causing the track bar to have a crazy amount of play when steering back and forth. Ended up welding the holes front and back, re-drilling, and grinding flush to fix the play. Unfortunately the few times I got death wobble before I fixed the axle mount, the wobble was so bad it destroyed my original track bar tie rod end that connects to the frame. It had tons of play, resulting yet again in DW. Had to buy a new stock track bar from local auto parts store and now FINALLY no more DW. It took a few weeks to trace what was going on but not she steers solid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted May 10, 2023 Share Posted May 10, 2023 That’s all part of the fun, finding previous owner hack jobs and repairing them up to your standards. Be sure to check the frame mount higher up, closer to the frame, I recently found one almost cracked all the way through on one of my MJs. Keep up the good work. Looking good. 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageJoe10 Posted May 10, 2023 Author Share Posted May 10, 2023 2 hours ago, WranglerMangler said: That’s all part of the fun, finding previous owner hack jobs and repairing them up to your standards. Be sure to check the frame mount higher up, closer to the frame, I recently found one almost cracked all the way through on one of my MJs. Keep up the good work. Looking good. 👍 Thanks man! Crazy to find some of the things put together by owners and call it good. Actually the PO took the MJ to an audio place to get new speakers installed before I bought it off him and the wiring is absolutely horrifying! Sad to know "professional" shops don't care about leaving such a mess and overcharging their work. It's really a shame. But nonetheless give your car the attention it deserves and you'll be rewarded Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted May 10, 2023 Share Posted May 10, 2023 Yes. Agreed with all of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageJoe10 Posted May 12, 2023 Author Share Posted May 12, 2023 So got some fun stuff recently Scored a great deal on some turbines that have 31" mud terrain tires with good tread left. Exactly the setup I was looking for honestly! The deal also came with all center caps that are pretty good condition too. Also scored a deal on a Rough Country 3" lift. Now before anyone gives me an earful, I am well aware of the quality of RC kits lol. I'm on a budget and found this unused lift kit for half the cost of a new one. Hard to beat that price. Also I'm not too worry about the quality as much being only a 3" lift and all. Something cool as well is the dude I bought the kit off of had an MJ too. He decided to go with the bigger 4.5" RC lift and fitted 32" tires underneath. Needless to say we talked awhile about Comanches lol. Here's his MJ. Very cool setup Also didn't realize his grille was upside down until I got home and looked at the pic haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 I’ve been running a long arm RC lift on Minche for years now. Got it for free. When I found it the enduro joints were beat to death so it had already had a rough life, replaced the joints with Johnny joints and have continued to beat on it for almost 10 years now. I’m one for finding weak links as well and it hasn’t left me stranded. Worth every dollar invested IMO. And if a dude with deeper pockets and a $3000 lift doesn’t like it, I could care less. He is usually the one at the bottom of the hill telling everyone to turn around because he couldn’t make it then my group of experienced drivers and less capable rigs goes straight through what he just got done tearing up. Just my opinion on making stuff happen on a budget. Keep up the good work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageJoe10 Posted May 13, 2023 Author Share Posted May 13, 2023 16 minutes ago, WranglerMangler said: I’ve been running a long arm RC lift on Minche for years now. Got it for free. When I found it the enduro joints were beat to death so it had already had a rough life, replaced the joints with Johnny joints and have continued to beat on it for almost 10 years now. I’m one for finding weak links as well and it hasn’t left me stranded. Worth every dollar invested IMO. And if a dude with deeper pockets and a $3000 lift doesn’t like it, I could care less. He is usually the one at the bottom of the hill telling everyone to turn around because he couldn’t make it then my group of experienced drivers goes straight through what he just got done tearing up. Just my opinion on making stuff happen on a budget. Keep up the good work! Right on! Good to know I'm not the only one who isn't stubborn with putting expensive parts on haha. I really don't plan on beating on my jeep too often and if something does break I have no problems beefing it for next time. But until then, it definitely doesn't hurt to run the budget stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WranglerMangler Posted May 13, 2023 Share Posted May 13, 2023 Yep. Exactly what I do as well. Wrench, Wheel, Wreck,Repeat. Lol. Find the weak link, fix or build it to my specifications, on to the next problem. Just know where not to cheap out. (Like a winch) Nice score on the turbines too. I’m jealous. Have always wanted a set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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