1986 Jeep Comanche, A change in path
 

So after finally selling my 2-door XJ, i was in the market again for another jeep as a DD. I quickly decided its gotta be a Comanche. Having one for a trail-toy/turned DD you get a lot of comments and enjoy some of the looks. Have always wanted one as a dedicated DD while keeping it simple and not getting too overboard with upgrades. (mild gas saver)

Now after going 0/7 i finally caught a break and found one barely a mile from my house.

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$400, 4cyl, 2wd, 4spd manual, Longbed. and this is one solid MJ.

out of the 7 MJ's i've looked at in the last couple weeks only 1 had an actual solid frame, all the others had frame rust at the least ranging from small holes on the inside rail to more the half the unibody frame gone :(

But finally a solid start to a long anticipated 2nd build. Gonna a be blast i'm sure, many plans to get started on and still a few $ to play with.

The initial plan is to go with a 94-95 XJ donor (ideally a rust bucket with solid driveline) and swap. Complete harness, engine, trans, drivetrain. Simple D30 up front and a C8.25 from a Liberty (disc brakes and factory LSD). Possibly a simple lift >3" and a good amount of rust proofing.

I'll be taking a number of pictures to start out as a solid starting base and then update as I get going.

So the plan is to find a solid drivetrain out of a 94-95 XJ. Swap the complete drivetrain and wire harness. End up with an H.O, updated MJ with (in my opinion) the easiest and most reliable operating system they put out. Until then its just a matter of picking away at it.

but here are some pics as it sits

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4cyl. motor is completely locked. Went to start it and the starter turns *:thumbup:* but won't turn over. Tried a breaker bar on the crank/balancer bolt and its not moving. So the motor is scrap weight, Kinda anticipated this.

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despite the smell of old interior and wild animal life, the interior isn't too bad. Its even got bucket seats!

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Gonna start tearing this down soon and start the rust P.M. part of the build

Picked up my donor jeep tonight.. 95 XJ- $650. What a beer can this body is but at least the drive train is solid!

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Seems interesting! Subd

After some fun with the donor jeep and a small incident with a tree :pinch:
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it was time to tear into the MJ

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gonna hopefully finish up removing the interior and the rest of the wiring in the cab this weekend... then starts the dusty part.... body prep and rust repair

Nice bucket seats. I'm gonna swap in some in my soon.

interior is gone, floors are not as solid as i had thought. No big deal just some sheet metal to weld in and its good to go. Also got the bed removed and besides the top of the wheel wells the bed is SOLID. Not to mention all the bolts came right out, it ended up being fairly painless.

going to remove the doors and then power was the entire thing then the wire brush storm begins!

passenger side floor boards. just 2 spots to fix. Everything else is solid enough to keep.

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Looks like its gonna be a nice build. Subbed! :thumbup:

I have a Comanche weakness....subbed.

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passenger floor fixed!

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salvaged some floor board from the donor xj... mostly part of the tunnel

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interior floors sealed and coated

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rear chassis sanded sealed and coated

What did you use for coating?

Also its funny that you paid 250$ more for the donor than the original vehicle. lol

i used rustoleum rust reformer as a down coating, then brush applied rustoleum industrial semi-gloss paint. added a little "will-bond" to the paint for some extra stick!

I would have went lower on the donor but there were other people on the way to look at it.... Or so he said.

but now that i think of it yea its kinda funny i payed more for the parts vehicle than i did for the jeep i wanna keep. I guess $250 is the difference between buying one that runs and drives and one that doesn't

Must be true. I payed 1250 for my running XJ and 1000 for my donor.

Build looks like its gonna be a good one.