CC aka canadian comanche

[Sp88mj]

Hey y’all! 
Last spring i buy 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 use 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 to be understood!

[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 of 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.