“The White Jeep”

[Loganrf]

I bought my second Comanche sometime last year from a buddy who was going to part it out. Didn’t get too picked over before I bought it, but I’ve always thought the 97-2001 interior and exterior looked great on these trucks, so that really didn’t matter as had planned on 97+ swapping it anyways.
Plus, my first Comanches interior was just too nice to part with, so I had been on the hunt for one to hack up as I pleased and this truck checked all the boxes. 

1990/ Base/ 2.5l/ 4spd/ 2wd/ 68k miles

 

 

I had been in a rental house with limited space, so he let me keep it in his yard for a while until I had somewhere to put it. On the plus side, it being at his house meant I could sucker him into helping me pull the engine and transmission with his lift. 


 

He also had a set of mud tires for sale, so I got a great deal on them. I swapped the rims onto the steelies and sold the aluminum wheels that they came off of. 


 

Found a buyer for the 2.5l and made the money back for the tires. 

 

Loaded her up and took her home to get to work stripping it down!

 

This truck had vinyl flooring from factory, so I knew what I was getting myself into well before I even looked underneath…I mean, through the gaping hole in the drivers side floorboard. 
Nothing I can’t handle though. 


 

The project got put on the back-burner for a while due to work, so in went floor boards to keep the critters out. 
 

 

I sold some parts I took off and made back almost all of what I bought it for.

(I still have lots of good parts of anyone is interested.)

[MariaManche]

Looks like a fun build! So your plan is to install a 4.0 i6 from a newer cherokee xj? 

[Loganrf]

On 8/19/2023 at 6:14 AM, MariaManche said:

Looks like a fun build! So your plan is to install a 4.0 i6 from a newer cherokee xj? 

That was the plan. But I came across a great deal on a 2001 beetle with a 1.9l TDI. Pictures coming soon!

[Loganrf]

Found a cheap 2001 Cherokee part out close to where I work, so I spent the next two days pulling the interior out when I got off. Didn’t get pictures of the process because I was strapped for time, but in the storage unit it goes for now. 

 

 

Hope my boss doesn’t see the where this wood crate went!

 

 

 The drivetrain options had been on my mind for a while, and with most of the pieces to the puzzle present it seemed high time to surf marketplace. 

-A newer 4.0 build was the first thing to cross my mind as it would be the simplest / cheapest swap to do, but where’s the fun in that?

-An LS swap was brought up and quickly shot down. I’m not in the right tax bracket for what I would want to do with it, and its just not that cool anymore. 
-Being a 1990, I thought to drop a Hemi in her. Too poor, and that’s just against my beliefs. 
Finally. After many sleepless nights and literal days on marketplace, Christmas came early. 
 

 

A 2001 New Beetle with a 1.9l TDI. 
Not running, listed for $800 and walked away with it for $400. 
Took it home and put in a new battery, bled the fuel lines, added some coolant and did the immobilizer reset and she fired right up. 
The interior was absolutely disgusting, and since I plan on driving this beast for a while to work out any kinks something had to be done. 
 

 

Fast forward to this evening. I gutted this little turd in all of 45 minutes. Going to deep clean it and get it registered, and with the money I hopefully save by getting 50mpg I can start to order parts for the swap!

[WranglerMangler]

This will be an awesome build. Can’t wait to see how you do the TDI swap. With how your making your money back selling parts, pretty soon, people are going to be paying you to drive the truck. Lol. Keep the updates coming. 👍