89 Comanche DD Build

[scguy27]

Merry Christmas!

I'm finally getting around to working on the Comanche. I dropped it here behind the shop a little over two years ago, and here it sits. It's been a long road of house repairs and projects, getting married, and having a son. Time to circle back to my dream truck

In 2006, I bought my first Jeep, a 89 XJ Wagoneer. Being in high school and only working part-time, my plans and dreams for it never came to be reality, but now I'm a little better suited to fix up my dream truck.

I'd like to build it in a 2000s era style, along the lines of my plans for the Waggy. I love the 80's-ness of the truck and I don't want to stray too far from that.

What does that mean?

Original front end, no 97+ clip or interior
No LED lights, especially not headlights. Stick to halogen auxiliary lighting.
15 inch wheels, likely bullet holes
32x11.50R15 tires (unless I have to go up to a 33 for more tire options)
Finish the 4.0 HO swap, entire harness and all. Interior color change to grey. Power window/locks
Full console swap. Probably going to stay with the foot E brake for now.
Interior sound deadening.
Roll bar or headache rack for lights.

Basically replicate a fully loaded 92 HO MJ plus a few niceties.

And eventually, paint. I've been leaning towards root beer brown, but I'm liking the factory blue still.

So, in short, nothing has been done. But, maybe shortly, something will be.

 

[High2by]

Nice! That looks like my truck except blue. I want to do a full console in mine also. Is yours a column shift?

 

[scguy27]

Nice! That looks like my truck except blue. I want to do a full console in mine also. Is yours a column shift?

It was a column shift.

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[High2by]

It was a column shift.

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Did you swap columns or leave the original one in and just remove the shifter?

 

[scguy27]

Did you swap columns or leave the original one in and just remove the shifter?

Planning on swapping columns. Have an entire XJ donor, so I'll put it to good use.

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[scguy27]

Actually made some progress. Hauled the Comanche out of the yard into the shop and began work on the floors. Wire wheeled down all the rust, then patched the worst of it, then finally a coat of Chassis Saver. I'd rather have had satin black, but gloss was all that was readily available.

I also installed Noico 80 mil sound deadener to the roof and inside the doors. Much improvement.

Another*evening of wrenching and the XJ donor has now surrendered the dash, heater box, floor and transfer case shifters, and all necessary interior wiring. Added another coat of Chassis Saver to the Comanche floor today and should be able to start going*back together after it cures and I get the sound*deadener installed on the floor, tunnel, and back of the cab

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[scguy27]

The floor and trans tunnel are now covered with the Noico 80 mil sound deadening. Used all 36sq ft, didn't have enough to do the back wall, so I'll have to order more.

Also installed the newer column, so now I have tilt steering and a much better way to steer and move the truck around.

Complicating things, the rear brakes locked up. The wheel cylinders are leaking so that will be to be addressed.

Bought a new heater core to put in the heater box before interior reassembly begins.

Test fit the new ACC carpet. Should look alright.

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[High2by]

I've got to do this very thing on my truck. Take out the interior and fix any and all issues....

 

[scguy27]

Installed the floor shifter, with shifter cable and interlock cable from the 93 tilt column and the transfer case shifter. Didn't do the linkage yet, still have to find where I put that Boostwerks linkage kit.

New heater core is in and the box is back in the truck. I used the newer 93 XJ box. It seemed less brittle.

And finally, the engine bay is painted and am starting to install the HO engine harness. Wow, the TCM connector firewall grommet put up a fight!

I thought I was going crazy because I could not find the hole in the firewall for the shifter cable. Took me a while to figure out I had to drill my own hole, which the 1-1/4" holesaw made quick work of. Now I need to find something to plug the column shift cable hole.

Y'all, it's actually starting to look like a truck again.

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[scguy27]

Got the 97+ XJ washer tank installed. It frees up so much space under the hood.

Manifolds are now installed. Gonna see about getting it running first, but new injectors are on the shopping list.

 

[scguy27]

Wired up the XJ HO dash to MJ rear harness jumpers tonight. Really simple thanks to the guide on ComancheClub.

 

[scguy27]

More progress. Spent the day wrenching, and mostly trying to find the right bolts to reassemble things taken apart almost 4 years ago. You know, fun.

I got the dash and interior harness in the truck. Not totally together with the harness inside, I was mostly working under the hood today.

I ended up having to rotate the interior fuse box 90 degrees, made it a bit tight to get the steering column brace bolt in, but it's manageable. The wiring adapters I made seemed to work out well.

The transmission linkage is hooked up now. I ordered wheel cylinders and shoes for the rear to remedy the currently leaking rear wheel cylinders.

I got most of the accessories installed, verified the belt size, got the starter on, installed the rocker arms and pushrods, added the cruise control servo, and EVAP canister.

The WJ booster and master cylinder are installed. I used the brake pedal assembly from the 93 XJ, so I didn't have to modify the booster rod or brake light switch at all. I'll have to run new lines, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Had my little guy supervising the work today, getting a little shop time in.

 

[scguy27]

I've made very little progress since last week, had some family health issues, but I did manage to get the radiator, condenser, hood and bumper installed. Looks like a truck again. I'm worrying about cosmetic issues later, just trying to get her running for now.

Managed to snap a bolt off in the front pinion yoke so that should be fun.

 

[Azzi24]

Hey man did you ever finish that WJ master and Booster swap? I’ve been having a hell of a time with the prop valve leaking, I’ve ordered a new prop valve to see if that fixes my leaking problems, BTW, I even had a machine shop do flares for my lines, so I don’t think it’s the flares.


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[scguy27]

Hey man did you ever finish that WJ master and Booster swap? I’ve been having a hell of a time with the prop valve leaking, I’ve ordered a new prop valve to see if that fixes my leaking problems, BTW, I even had a machine shop do flares for my lines, so I don’t think it’s the flares.


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I haven't. It's bolted up but don't have the lines run yet.

 

[Azzi24]

I haven't. It's bolted up but don't have the lines run yet.

Dang, well this is slight squish of the cones in my prop valve seem to be squished enough where no matter how good the flare they won’t seal. I hope you don’t end up with this problem, been a hell of a time not having my cherokee to use cause it’s hard to find new prop valves, and shipping takes a week.

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[scguy27]

Took advantage of an open box deal at ExtremeTerrain and ordered new wheels. I was planning on going with some form of bullet holes, but I came across these and loved them. They look very similar to AEV Pintlers, but at least in my opinion, better.

They're 15x8, 3.7" BS Mammoth Boulder wheels.

 

[scguy27]

And here they are!

 

[scguy27]

Test fitting the new wheels.
See that nasty header panel trim? I had some chrome pieces lying around that needed somewhere to live.

I did rear brake shoes, wheel cylinders and hardware so that I can have a parking brake again.

Unfortunately, I had to pull the trans to get to the bottom of this scraping sound while cranking. Ordered a new flexplate but it hasn't come in yet.

 

[scguy27]

https://youtu.be/ZdIM2AvbNis