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...
RuBacon Posted November 13 Author Share Posted November 13 With everything coming together like it is, I'm getting excited too! I'm really looking forward to driving this thing for the first time! I put some effort into cleaning up the engine wiring harness, repairing a few wires with failing insulation, and getting some new loom installed in an attempt to reduce any first start electrical issues. After that was finished and installed, I moved back to the interior. The gauge cluster was a little hazy and thoroughly scratched, so I polished it up the best I could for now. With thoughts of future test drives on my mind, I decided I should turn my attention to getting the door catch situation figured out. Thanks to a handful of great build threads on here, I was able to speed up the process by knowing roughly where things needed to be located before I even started. I drilled out the spot welds on the old catch, temporarily installed the new catch, and got everything marked and cut. I had cut the adjustable nut plates out of the donor Cherokee door frames, so I trimmed the excess off and welded them in place using the factory spot weld locations. The hinges still need some adjustment, but I got the the doors closing, latching, and opening without too many lost hours. Having doors again provided more than enough motivation to get working on installing the fenders and grill. It's looking so good to have a mostly assembled Comanche again! I still need to get some exhaust cobbled together, get the rear driveshaft measured and shortened, and see if my fuel delivery plans are going to work out like I hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZLAJeep Posted November 13 Share Posted November 13 Looking good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pizzaman09 Posted November 16 Share Posted November 16 This is a very satisfying build to read about, nicely done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuBacon Posted November 24 Author Share Posted November 24 Thanks for following along with the progress so far! We found another great deal on an XJ, so we decided to make the drive to see if it was worth fixing and flipping or if it was better just to part it out. When we met the owner to pick it up, they had driven it a decent distance to meet us and it was running and idling well, there weren't any crazy leaks, and all the fluids looked good...so we exchanged some cash for the keys and title without so much as a test drive around the parking lot. My wife and I joked that it would be pretty funny if everything was in working order, including the AC, for the price we paid. I hopped in our newest Jeep to drive the hour home and decided to turn the switch to max AC and see what happened. I completely forgot that you could have the fan speed set to maximum and have the system turned off...and I was instantly reminded of that feature as a cloud of mouse nest confetti launched out of every vent. I turned the fan off as quickly as I could, but it was too late. The odor that filled the cabin necessitated windows down freeway driving for the entirety of the journey home. After looking it over closer, it was clear that parting out would be the right choice, so I started transferring over the better parts to our Cherokee and Comanche... I like supporting local businesses whenever possible, so after measuring at least seven times, I took the stock rear driveshaft to a shop I've been going to since I had my first Cherokee over 10 years ago. I had already swapped over the slip yoke from the donor XJ and I needed the 2-wheel drive shaft shortened to fit with the transfer case I had added. He did a great job as usual and everything fit perfectly. After getting the driveshaft back and installed, I started working on the exhaust. I was able to cobble together a complete exhaust with used parts from 3 Jeeps and a few new components to finish things out. A full new exhaust is on the future to-do list, but this will get it driving for now. Then it was time to turn my attention to fuel delivery. I wanted to keep the stock long bed tank if possible, but realized I had a few challenges to overcome. The first being that the '89 fuel line makes a complete loop from the pump, all the way up to the fuel rail where it's regulated and the excess fuel is returned back to the tank again vs. the '99 system that's regulated at the fuel tank and only the needed fuel is sent through a single line at the proper pressure to the fuel rail. I remembered during my WJ days I had replaced a fuel filter and was intrigued by the fact that there was a fuel pressure regulator built into it, then I remembered they also were optioned with a 4.0, so I did a little research and found that the 49psi from the Grand Cherokee was exactly what I needed. It just so happened that the Comanche already had a great bracket and location for a filter near the tank, so I ordered a WJ fuel filter and some fuel injection rated hose and fittings so I could begin my experiment. When it all arrived, I found that the regulated filter was a decent fit and just needed a timing belt scrap wrapped around it to keep things tight. My pressurized fuel line connects to the outlet on the stock pump in the stock tank and travels to the WJ filter that's mounted about 6 inches forward of the original filter location. From there, a line returns the excess fuel right back to the stock inlet on the pump, keeping that loop short and tidy. Then a single, regulated fuel line runs the remaining distance forward to supply the fuel rail. I was also able to mount the XJ EVAP canister in this same area just forward of the fuel tank. As far as wiring goes; I removed the fuel pump power, ground, and level sensor wire from the MJ taillight/fuel pump connector under the truck. I then connected the fuel pump 12+ and ground to the Cherokee wiring harness fuel pump connector. The fuel level gauge is the only thing currently not working with this setup, but I have plans to tinker with a way to convert the old signal into something that will work with the newer gauge cluster, just for something fun to do. This setup is currently working great and supplying all the properly pressurized fuel I need for under $100. I wanted to wire the taillights into the Cherokee harness as simply as possible, so I tried to use the factory XJ trailer wiring harness to accomplish that. I got it mostly functioning, but wasn't happy with the heat the 5 wire to 4 wire converter was putting out at times. I've seen one of these melt and nearly catch fire before, so I decided I'd rather take the time to wire the taillights up without it. I cut all the wires to the converter so I could still use the factory XJ connector. Using this method meant I needed to run one more wire from the cab to the back of the truck. I repurposed the orange 12+ wire that was previously running through the floor to the fuel pump allowing this new wire to run through the stock grommet and keep all the wiring for the taillights in the same connector. I may change things later, but for now I wanted the top bulbs in the housings to function as marker lights on low and brake lights on high, the middle bulbs to be marker lights on low and blinkers on high, and the bottom bulbs to retain their reverse light duties. To accomplish this, I cut the high output circuit link between the mid and upper bulbs on each side of the truck, I then connected the new wire I ran from the cab to the this wire on the driver's side upper bulb and ran another wire from this connection to the same wire on the passenger side upper bulb. This new wire powers the brake lights and the stock wiring powers everything else. My list of future plans for this truck are growing by the day, but I really want to get my emissions test done and finish my registration before I get much further. My current plans are to modify the original bench seat to temporarily fit over the parking brake handle and airbag module that are now mounted to the top of the transmission tunnel and get the seatbelts installed so I can drive to the inspection station! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuBacon Posted December 1 Author Share Posted December 1 I was excited to finally find out if all the work I had put into the Comanche so far would be enough for county and state approval to legally drive this truck on the road. I had heard various and often conflicting bits of information from everyone I had talked to, so I wasn't too sure how things would turn out. I used the seat belt assemblies from the front of the parts XJ (after trimming the mounting brackets and drilling new holes) and the buckles from the rear bench bolted into the stock Comanche locations. I decided to modify the bottom frame and cushion of the original bench seat so I could take my time finding some bucket seats. Even though they don't do yearly safety inspections around here any more, I wanted to make sure the horn worked, windows rolled up and down, the power mirrors were adjustable, and all the lights and blinkers operated correctly. While we were on our first test drive, my wife discovered that the passenger window controls weren't functioning. I did a little troubleshooting and remembered that the lockout button on the driver side controls was a frequent failure point. I removed the switch assembly from the door, opened it up, and found both solder joints for the switch were broken. I got the soldering iron out and reflowed all the connections I could see, reassembled everything, and the problem was fixed! My wife was kind enough to run the Comanche down to the shop we usually use for our yearly renewals while I was working on some other projects and came back with our successful emissions results! She said the guy walked around the truck, pulled it into the bay, ran it through the tailpipe emissions test (even though it has obd2 now, they test it to the '89 VIN requirements), and printed out the paperwork for her. I was looking over all the numbers and the measured values for all the different tests were less than half of the allowable limit! It was great to finally see the Comanche on the road after looking at it from no more than 15 feet away for so long. After completing our registration process and having some licence plates in hand, I finally felt like I could start working on all the less necessary things I wanted to upgrade... I couldn't resist test fitting the 35s from our Gladiator just to see how it would look. I have to admit, it was a pretty awesome sight...and even though it got a bright green light from my wife even after she tried to climb in and out of it, tires of that size will have to wait for a future round of modifications. For now, something in the 32-ish inch range would be great and I'd really like to build and test the Dana 30/8.25 combo I wish I could've built for my first XJ. Then when it's time to upgrade, that axle combo can be transferred to our current XJ and the Comanche can level up. Our local pick-a-part yard was having a sale, so I spent my morning after Thanksgiving pulling some WJ knuckles and other various bits to help with the axle upgrades. These XJ axles will be cleaned, torn down, and completely rebuilt over the next couple months: New tires and piles of parts have been ordered from all over the country while the holiday sales were in effect, phase two has official begun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89 MJ Posted December 1 Share Posted December 1 Glad to see its on the road Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted December 1 Share Posted December 1 40 minutes ago, RuBacon said: was looking over all the numbers and the measured values for all the different tests were less than half of the allowable limit I found the same when I ran my 84 XJ through. Renix TBI slashed the results in half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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