RuBacon Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 More to come... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awesome Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 Can't wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuBacon Posted August 28 Author Share Posted August 28 While I would very much like to have a mostly original, reasonably restored Comanche in the collection...this is not that truck. We winched this red, 2wd, broken BA10, wasp nest of a Jeep out of a field in Northern Utah on a hot, August morning. The interior is really rough and smells like a cattle farm, but the Jeep is almost entirely stock and remarkably complete, with the exception of an obligatory cherry bomb muffler and a head unit that was wired externally across the dash to a single speaker in the driver's door... Oh yeah, and the driver's door only opens when you pull down on a rope that was routed through a hole drilled in the bottom of it: I do like the original styling of the Comanche and early Cherokees, but I have a bit of a soft spot for the 97+ model years since my very first Jeep was a 2001 XJ. That was also the vehicle I was driving when I first met my wife, so this Comanche will be a bit of a tribute to those happy times. We found a 99 XJ to use as a parts donor for the swap. It had been t-boned and while being sold as a "clean title" vehicle, it was very clear it should've been totaled and off the road. We got it for a great deal, got all the parts we needed for our swap (except a passenger door), and we were able to sell off a handful of parts to recoup some money and help our fellow Jeepers with their projects! Things started moving along slowly, but before I knew it, most of the parts were stripped, the engine and transmission were out, and then we only had the shell of an XJ remaining: For future reference, an XJ rear hatch fits perfectly in the back of a Honda Element for delivery to its new home! What remained of the XJ was then pushed to the side to make room for the MJ to start it's disassembly process! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariaManche Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 Awesome work! I am looking forward to keeping up with this build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GonzoTheGreat Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 This looks like it’s gonna be a good one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff351 Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 before you get rid of the shell, don't forget to cut out the door striker sections so you can get the 97+ doors to latch shut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awesome Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 Oh gross. My '86 came with a Cherry Bomb too. Sounds soooo bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drahcir495 Posted August 29 Share Posted August 29 “Comanche will be a bit of a tribute to those happy times.” Don’t let your wife read this as happy times were just in the past! This, the rope that opens the door and the hatch in the back of the Honda has me laughing. Wow, did some damage on the donor XJ. This will be an interesting build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuBacon Posted September 7 Author Share Posted September 7 Thanks for all the interest and words of encouragement! Now that I've had a chance to start working on the Comanche a bit, I'm getting even more excited to make some progress. On 8/28/2024 at 4:34 PM, jeff351 said: before you get rid of the shell, don't forget to cut out the door striker sections so you can get the 97+ doors to latch shut. I appreciate the tip! I've been looking through your conversion for ideas, I really like how you managed the fuel tank situation! I'm having similar thoughts at this point that cutting out the entire firewall may have just been better, but I went through the donor XJ and cut out a bunch of random parts I thought might be useful to transfer over to the Comanche and ended up with this pile just for the interior and doors: On 8/28/2024 at 6:39 PM, Awesome said: Oh gross. My '86 came with a Cherry Bomb too. Sounds soooo bad. I can see how it was probably some small-town teenager's favorite first mod, but it definitely won't be making the list of parts to be reinstalled...nor will the bailing wire exhaust hangers: On 8/29/2024 at 2:52 PM, Drahcir495 said: “Comanche will be a bit of a tribute to those happy times.” Don’t let your wife read this as happy times were just in the past! I definitely count myself lucky to have a wife that doesn't just allow a driveway full of Jeeps, but actually helps locate, repair, and enjoy said Jeep projects...the happy times continue! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuBacon Posted September 10 Author Share Posted September 10 The Comanche engine bay was dirty, but impressively complete and unmodified, the intake pre-heater hose was even in decent shape! The main thing that stood out was the upgrade to a newer style radiator and a Red Green approved steering reservoir cap. Removing the air box gave me a clear view of the original cap that had been dropped and considered lost enough years ago that it had worn through the paint on the steering shaft. Retrieved the old cap, cleaned it and the duct tape residue from the reservoir, and returned it to its original home. Spent some time getting the engine bay cleared out and prepared for engine removal. The wiring was all in much better shape than my last Comanche project started with, hopefully it can go to a good home and help someone get their Jeep back on the road. I then turned my attention to the interior. It was in really rough shape and almost dirtier than anything on the exterior. The more dust I kicked up, the more it smelled like a cattle farm. Luckily, it wasn't long before I had the dash and HVAC assembly removed. Just as I turned the vacuum on to start cleaning up some debris, I noticed something interesting and barely avoided it with the nozzle. It was the original tag from when the dash assembly was manufactured. A quick Google search later, and I found out the company was actually still in business and operating to this day! At the end of a long evening I was organizing all the parts I had removed and got excited that I'd stumbled upon such an old QR code...then my tired brain wondered what kind of archaic technology they used to scan it when everyone lacked the supercomputer cameras that we all have in our pockets these days...then I felt kinda silly when I came to the realization that it was likely just a recently remanufactured ECU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salvagedcircuit Posted September 10 Share Posted September 10 7 minutes ago, RuBacon said: Just as I turned the vacuum on to start cleaning up some debris, I noticed something interesting and barely avoided it with the nozzle. It was the original tag from when the dash assembly was manufactured. A quick Google search later, and I found out the company was actually still in business and operating to this day! At the end of a long evening I was organizing all the parts I had removed and got excited that I'd stumbled upon such an old QR code...then my tired brain wondered what kind of archaic technology they used to scan it when everyone lacked the supercomputer cameras that we all have in our pockets these days...then I felt kinda silly when I came to the realization that it was likely just a recently remanufactured ECU That is very cool to know the dash manufacturer still exists. I do wonder what parts of the ECU are replaced during "remanufacturing". I bet they just ship them to some place in china, tell them to replace the few capacitors, re-seal with silicone, paint and bobs your uncle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuBacon Posted September 22 Author Share Posted September 22 On 9/9/2024 at 10:36 PM, Salvagedcircuit said: That is very cool to know the dash manufacturer still exists. I do wonder what parts of the ECU are replaced during "remanufacturing". It really would be interesting to know how they're "tested" and what exactly they "replace"... I've made a lot of progress getting everything removed from the Comanche interior and engine bay: I found one more hidden wasp habitat tucked away INSIDE the cab this time: I have no idea how this much dirt and debris can make its way behind the windshield trim, but I feel very lucky that it was just dirty in there and not completely rusting out. I'll definitely be looking forward to having the newer rubber style trim installed after seeing this: I then switched my attention to removing the few brackets and miscellaneous attachment points that were no longer needed on the inside of the firewall: After measuring no less than three times, I began adding in all the firewall brackets and attachment points I'd harvested from the donor XJ: I also decided to bring over the sections of the transmission tunnel where the lower dash bracket attaches and where the parking brake lever/airbag module attach: Once I was happy with the location of everything, I got all of my additions primed and ready for the next step. It initially felt like quite the project to get everything moved over and properly placed in the Comanche, but seeing the pile of cut up parts shrinking and the parts all getting welded in place definitely boosted the motivation! I need to work on getting the floors cleaned up and thoroughly inspected next. There are a handful of spots that I'm hoping turn out to just be nothing more than some surface rust and it looks like the clutch master cylinder leaked briefly at some point and caused some paint damage...it always seems like rust is worse than originally thought once the wire wheels get involved though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuBacon Posted October 10 Author Share Posted October 10 I started working the floors over and ground down all the incredibly sharp spot welds that kept drawing blood while I was at it. I got exceptionally lucky and didn't find any rust that couldn't be quickly wire wheeled away. While I was well practiced and feeling motivated by the interior outcome, I decided to move on to preparing the engine bay for paint as well. Once everything was cleaned and primed, I got a few coats of paint on all the prepared surfaces in anticipation of some reassembly work. While the paint was drying, I turned my attention to the HVAC box that was barely containing the mess from a heater core that had been leaking for some time. I got everything cleaned out and reassembled with a new heater core, air conditioning evaporator, and seals. A few days later it was finally time to start adding parts back into the Comanche instead of taking things out. It felt great to start seeing the beginnings of the interior falling into place! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salvagedcircuit Posted October 11 Share Posted October 11 This is some seriously excellent work. Hats off to you sir! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZLAJeep Posted October 11 Share Posted October 11 Wow! Lots of work! Looks good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.T.Hands Posted October 13 Share Posted October 13 Man that is looking great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuBacon Posted October 26 Author Share Posted October 26 Thank you kindly everybody! It's feeling great to see the steadily shrinking pile of parts waiting to be installed! I got a little nervous about spending my entire winter working on this project only to have it fail the county emissions inspection and turn into a struggle to legally get it registered and back on the road, so I've slightly adjusted the project trajectory for now. I'm hoping to have everything put back together enough to have it driving in the next month, and then when I have all the official paperwork in hand that says it's roadworthy, I can dig into phase 2 of the build. I was getting excited to see the dash and a door in place so I spent some time getting them both test fit. Luckily, measuring four times and welding once worked out better than planned and my dash "test fit" turned into a final install! While I do appreciate an original Comanche in good condition, I'd much rather the new style interior over the trashed interior this came with. With my motivation boosted even more, I decided to tackle the interior wiring harness. I really wanted to shorten all the wires to route neatly through the cab and remove the wiring for the rear doors, the rear hatch, and anything that wasn't going to be used in the Comanche. I laid it all out, downloaded a service manual, and got to work. I was eventually left with this pile of extra wires I had carefully determined I wouldn't be needing anymore: I left some excess length for the fuel pump/sending unit and the lights at the rear of the bed until I could get my plans figured out for both of those situations. The harness now fit in the cab like it was made for it. I plan to get everything tested before I wrap it all and find out there's one wire buried somewhere that needs an alteration of some sort... The next item on the list was getting the engine bay wired and the brake lines run so I would be ready for the engine. I didn't end up getting any photos of the wrestling match that was installing the engine and transmission, but everything eventually dropped into place. I installed new gaskets for the oil pan, valve cover, rear main, and oil filter adapter to hopefully dry up most of the leaks. Then I replaced the intake/exhaust gasket after removing the exhaust manifold to weld up a few cracks for now. I cleaned a small selection of parts while I was at it, but didn't spend too much time because I hope to fully rebuild an engine for this truck in the future. Before I could install the transfer case and transmission mount and bolt everything down, I had to tap the available holes to shift the crossmember farther back. This was originally a 2 wheel drive manual, and for obvious reasons, the automatic transmission and transfer case combo being installed weren't quite lining up with the original mounting location. For future reference, an M10x1.5 tap did the trick. I just cleaned the existing holes out and carefully got things threaded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89 MJ Posted October 26 Share Posted October 26 3 minutes ago, RuBacon said: I'm hoping to have everything put back together enough to have it driving in the next month, and then when I have all the official paperwork in hand that says it's roadworthy, I can dig into phase 2 of the build. You’ve got quite a bit to in a short amount of time. I’m excited to see the progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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