CC aka canadian comanche

[Sp88mj]

Hey y’all! 
Last spring i bought a 88/4L/2wd/5speed comanche that i saw on marketplace in my hometown. I knew for many years that comanche but rarely see it cause the owner always kept it in is garage.  It didnt take long to fall in love with it, its my first comanche, i used to have 2 xj and a zj back in the days! So i decide to get a litle work done on it this winter, lol! I have already done some work on it so ill post from the begining of the project! 
 

oh and i’m french canadian so sorry if I'm hard to understand ill do my best!

[Sp88mj]

So there it is 

 

First of all i want to do a 4wd swap and keep it manual, so i buy back my old 98 xj with an ax15 and a np242. It is not running anymore due to engine failure and frame is rusted out so bad. Got it for 400$ lol 

 

i took everything i need for the swap, it have a welded 8.25 on it and i decided to leave it cause i will not offroad it and don't want a welded diff on a sunday driver lol!

[Sp88mj]

Since i have 3.07 gear in the manche and a 3.55 d30, i found a 3.55 turdyfive out of a xj from a friend of mine in exchange of my welded 8.25

 

afrter a litle sand blast

[Sp88mj]

I found 4 xj’s at a junkyard near my place, and nobody have touch them for years! I even found a manual 96 with everything on it except the engine, so ill probably grab everything for a future manual swap since the owner of the jy sell me pieces for really cheap! I even found a 89 one with a full cluster that i was looking for!

 

grab all this for 100$ (cad) lol!

[Sp88mj]

Since i have a aftermarket back glass that is not in really good shape, i start the hunt for a oem slider. Comanche part are really hard to find in canada due to winter, most of them are long gone in heaven! I then find a complete shell with good backglass, tail gate and rear light. So i jumped in my truck and drive 12hours (back an forth) to pick it up

And then when i pick it up i notice that it have a D44 with 4.10 gear! So i guess that ill need to sandblast a new set of diff!

 

when i was on my way to pick that comanche, a guy call me, from a add i put on internet that i was looking for comanche parts. He then told me that is father own a body shop for many years and he grabs some parts and store it in his garage, and now he starting to sell his dad stuff since he retired. He told me that he have a tail gate in good shape so i have to see it. And guess what?! Its the holy grail of tailgate, i grab it for 250$(cad) what a steal!!

[fiatslug87]

NICE!!! Welcome, add the VIN to the registry when you get a chance  

[Sp88mj]

14 hours ago, fiatslug87 said:

NICE!!! Welcome, add the VIN to the registry when you get a chance  

My 88 was already registered! I just add my 87 too! 

[Sp88mj]

Started tearing down the comanche, pretty happy how it look like under the bed, the previous owner own it for 25years and he never drove it in winter! 

[Sp88mj]

Glad that the PO made some oil treatment (against rust) not even a single snapped/stock/striped bolt on the entire teardown  

[Sp88mj]

Borrow a hot water pressure washer to one of my good friend, save me so much time since the oil treatment was so hard to get rid off with my pressure washer and by hand. This machine make miracle 

 

before

 

and after

 

[Sp88mj]

This sums up where i am with my project right now. I am working flight in/ flight out job up northern quebec so ill post my progress in my days off!
My goal with the manche is to put new floor pans

Stone white paint job

frame And under body/axle new paint job

4wd swap (dana 30/ax15/np242) 

3inch lift on 31x10.5

refreshing engine seals and gasket 

etc! 
I have pretty much every parts i need exept for a headliner! 
i found so many help on this forum, its crazy how everything i was looking for there was a thread on it! I want to tank you all for this!  

[Eagle_SX4]

This is a massive project and you have made great progress. Keep up the good work. 

[Salvagedcircuit]

Wow, definitely the undertaking! Nice job. 

[Sp88mj]

Did some work on the manche today, i pull out the floor pan job from the previous owner. What a mess! He put some metal sheet over the original floor, and ask me why he put some insulating foam with news paper in between them. The moisture between the two floor was horible! 

 

Good news is the inner rocker are in good shape. The tunnel will need some work too, the one on my other comanche is in good shape so ill probably juste cut it and put and put it in this one.

 

 

 

Nice wire mesh and foam job 

[89 MJ]

Yikes...

[Sp88mj]

1 minute ago, 89 MJ said:

Yikes...

 
 

Happily the rest of the truck doesnt reflect the floor, everything is rust free except some minor rust under the rear flares! 

[Sp88mj]

Sadly i open the d44 cover from my other manche hoping to find 4.10 gears due to a manual 4cylindre, and find out it have 3.07 gears . 
Since i have already buy everything to rebuilt my D35 from a friend xj, i choose not to regear the 44 and keep my initial project. So i took both axles out today and welded new perchs on the 35

 

Took the second manche in the shop today. Soneone will come help me to remove the back glass from it. I don't wanna try this myself, I'm too afraid to break it 

 

[Salvagedcircuit]

That floor. WOW. That's what nightmares are made of. Ouch. 

[Sp88mj]

Off to work for the next 2 weeks, hopefully my keyparts floor pan will wait for me at home! Next step is welding those pan and ill be ready to paint the frame and underneath the cab. 

[Sp88mj]

Back from work, unfortunately floor pans haven’t been delivered yet 

So i decided to give a try removing the back glass gasket from the donnor, what a stressful job lol! But it turns out great and pull it in perfect shape I'm pretty happy with that!

 

Any body have ever remove a CRL aftermarket backglass? Trying to figure out how to. 

[Sp88mj]

Give a quick wash to the engine, tranny and fuel tank. They will be ready to get disassembled, cleaned than painted. Also ordered a rear main seal, new valve cover/oil pan gasket with a new oil pan aswell since mine is rusted out a bit 

[Sp88mj]

Pull somme goodies out from the spare comanche, a grey dash bezel that will go in my 88. 2 doors XJ seat in really good condition with mint comanche seat bracket on the right! Not sure if I'm going to use them or not. And a rainbow interior lol. Grey dash, Red door card and mint red sunvisor! Dark blue backboard, everything else is black. 

[Sp88mj]

Successfully pulled the 87 backglass today

 

also took a couple more thing ill need later like drip rail and the metal plug in the front off the bed ( don't know how its called lol)

 

cut a floor section that ill use as a patch

 

Also take off the bushwacker from the 87, ill not use them on the manche but maybe one day ill use them

 

Now i need some space in the garage

 

[Sp88mj]

Pull the donor out of the shop using the winter tow rig 

 

Started prepping the cab waiting for the floor pans getting home.. 

[Sp88mj]

Finally back working on the comanche after the hollydays and work! 
I'm still waiting after my floor pans to show up, almost 2 month since i’ve ordered them 

 

I spend the last two days sanding the underneath of my bed.. took me around 10h lol. Pretty happy with the result, no bad surprise so ill be ready to put an epoxy primer tomorrow!