Taddraughn's 1989 Comanche Progress Thread

[taddraughn]

Hi Guys, 

 

Picked this '89 Comanche Pioneer up about a week ago. Been sitting in the same spot in my neighborhood since I moved in 4 years ago. And as my new daily is an ND miata and my long term Lancia Fulvia project is coming to a close, it felt right to get something interesting with a little practicality to tinker on. 

 

 

Since it didn't run a friend helped me get it to the parking pad I have in my cul-de-sac. 

 

 

Quickly realized it didn't have spark or fuel. Spark was the ignition coil but I also threw a new cap and rotor at it for good measure. That solved the spark issue. 

 

Then I pulled the fuel pump... lol no wonder i didn't have fuel. 

 

 

So I yanked the whole tank and ordered some new stuff. This morning I rigged up a cheapo fuel pump inside a 1 gallon can to see what it would do and voila. Cranked right up. 

 

 

This allowed me to drive it into the garage where I can actually start to work on it. 

 

 

Looks nice next to the little Fulvia!

 

The engine sounds pretty bad though.. not sure if it's a stuck lifter or something worse. Here's a YT link if anyone wants to listen and tell me!

 

 

Maybe piston slap? maybe lifter? idk.. 

 

I drained the oil and will pull the pan to check things out. But headed on vacation in a couple days so it'll probably have to wait a few weeks. 

 

Bonus picture of the Fulvia project I'm finishing if anyone is interested.. I made a custom EFI system for this car over the last 4 years and it has been a long journey but finally close to done. Runs on a Haltech Nexus R3, has a cam sensor where the distributor was, so fully sequential injection and ignition with VR38 GTR coils, Pico injectors in some 3D printed aluminum runners, Carbon plenum I made, CWA400 water pump, etc etc.. Basically all custom but it was a really fun project. Wiring the car from scratch so that's a WIP but here's a pic as it currently is 

 

 

 

Looking forward to learning from you guys and getting this thing back on the road!

 

 

 

 

[89 MJ]

That looks like a very nice, honest, original MJ. Great find!

 

In terms of the ticking sound, it sounds like it could easily be either a lifter, piston slap, or an exhaust leak. I'd check for the exhaust leak first. The factory manifolds are known to crack and the intake and exhaust manifold bolts are prone to loosening up over time. 

 

That Lancia looks like a very cool project!

[taddraughn]

33 minutes ago, 89 MJ said:

That looks like a very nice, honest, original MJ. Great find!

 

In terms of the ticking sound, it sounds like it could easily be either a lifter, piston slap, or an exhaust leak. I'd check for the exhaust leak first. The factory manifolds are known to crack and the intake and exhaust manifold bolts are prone to loosening up over time. 

 

That Lancia looks like a very cool project!

 

It seems to be very original and just one little rust hole in the passenger floorboard that I missed in my initial check because it was behind the foam piece that comes down the firewall. Water either ran into that corner or was held there by the foam but shouldn't be a big deal to weld up just one little spot. Everywhere else was surprisingly solid so not much welding to do. 

 

I'll pull the manifolds and have a look at them. Would be great if it's an exhaust leak or lifter as that means I'll get to drive it a bit before an engine rebuild. But fine by me if I do need to rebuild the engine. Parts seem so cheap for these things but my basis is my last two project (Lancia and Audi parts are expensive  )

 

Thanks! The Lancia is a ton of fun and very happy to have it back on the road now. I restored it back in 2018. It was super rusty and required a lot of metal work. Back then I didn't mess with the engine other than having the head re-done. Eventually lost a cylinder and I told myself the new engine i built for it would not be carb'd. Took forever but very unique set up on a car that's already somewhat rare stateside. Registry a guy keeps has around 400 or so in the US so it always gets lots of attention because no one knows what it is lol. 

[Gojira94]

Welcome to the forum, great find!

 

Quick and easy thing to check is pull the valve cover and see if anything feels loose while rolling it over by hand, i.e. pushrod slack or a loose rocker. The 4.0 wasn't really known for piston cracking until the later years (96-04) but possible. Pulling the cover will also give you some insight as to how well it was kept on oil changes. If it looks a bit sludgy, an engine flush cycle with Liqui-Moly might free up some deposits if there's anything in the lifters gumming them up, as well as helping to free up the rings.

 

Click the link below to add your MJ's VIN number to the registry when you get a chance:

 

1989

 

[taddraughn]

3 hours ago, Gojira94 said:

Welcome to the forum, great find!

 

Quick and easy thing to check is pull the valve cover and see if anything feels loose while rolling it over by hand, i.e. pushrod slack or a loose rocker. The 4.0 wasn't really known for piston cracking until the later years (96-04) but possible. Pulling the cover will also give you some insight as to how well it was kept on oil changes. If it looks a bit sludgy, an engine flush cycle with Liqui-Moly might free up some deposits if there's anything in the lifters gumming them up, as well as helping to free up the rings.

 

Click the link below to add your MJ's VIN number to the registry when you get a chance:

 

1989

 

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll start with pulling the valve cover and taking a look and maybe try the liqui moly stuff and see if that frees things up. 

 

I posted in the 89 sub-forum yesterday to get mine added to the registry! Interested to see where it was originally sold

[taddraughn]

3 hours ago, Gojira94 said:

Welcome to the forum, great find!

 

Quick and easy thing to check is pull the valve cover and see if anything feels loose while rolling it over by hand, i.e. pushrod slack or a loose rocker. The 4.0 wasn't really known for piston cracking until the later years (96-04) but possible. Pulling the cover will also give you some insight as to how well it was kept on oil changes. If it looks a bit sludgy, an engine flush cycle with Liqui-Moly might free up some deposits if there's anything in the lifters gumming them up, as well as helping to free up the rings.

 

Click the link below to add your MJ's VIN number to the registry when you get a chance:

 

1989

 

Just saw underneath your post numbers it has your location listed as Clayton! I'm in south Garner and only around 12 minutes from downtown Clayton.