GUYS.

THIS PROJECT IS NOT DEAD.





As I mentioned earlier, I got everything stripped and checked for rust. Nothing there ... took the headliner board down, scraped and re-wrapped it.  Note, the spray glue DOES NOT MESS AROUND.  Once you tack it, that's it, no moving it. Ever.

Not even if you really want it to.

I vacuumed, scrubbed, and generally made sure the interior was in good shape. There's too many pictures to caption each one, but you get the general idea.   Then I put down about 50sqft of deadener, about half and half of Fat Mat 80mil and Noico 50 mil.  I think the 80mil is a bit overkill, it's pretty hard to conform to curves that aren't straight edges; the thinner Noico was much nicer to work with.  You can see how hugely different they are. The Noico was pretty affordable too, by the way ... About half the price of the Fat Mat on Amazon, and it applied really easy.  Ultimately anything at all will prove helpful with sound and vibration dampening.  

I also opened up the hole for the transfer case lever, and got the carpet laid in.   It got cold and retreated inside, and decided to make another "filler" out of some leftovers from my wife's sofa project. This taught me tthere's a lot of places to hide your drugs in the Comanche. [BD ]

One gem was finding the original AMC build sheet under the passenger side door panel.  I left it there.


The transmission is loaded up in the truck so I can go spray it off, then I'll bring it back into the garage for inspection pre-installation. She should have 4x4 here real soon!


Sorry for the picture dump and the 1-month update, but I adopted an Explorer and am trying to sell the Escalade, my wife got a new job, and I got a new assignment, so things have been busier than normal.  I'm trying to finish the Jeep, starting the Explorer, and tinkering on the CTS-V all at the same time.... This ensures that I am always busy and nothing ever gets done.

I've got some more pictures, just gotta get them organized and off my phone ...

Looks great!
Glad things worked out with the employment issue, that must be a relief.

Nice update!

Any more updates?


Been following as I just started on a Comanche for the wife this weekend, hasn't gone well so far.  Lugnuts were seized worse than any I have ever seen and so far have only one front wheel and shock off and the other wheel being held on with one lugnut...has been quite the bitch so far.


 

I quit when I ran out of sacrificial sockets.

Get some of this stuff, it basically melts away rust, best penetrating fluid I've ever used:

Kano Aero Kroil

Unfortunately not much.  I started putting the interior back together, but I've just got excuse after excuse as to why it's not complete yet ... biggest one being the sub-freezing weather and holidays.

I'll get back on it soon and provide some updates. Sorry

And here is a great deal on Kroil.
I use a lot of it restoring old rust tractors and equipment.
Great stuff!

appreciate the tip, will pick some up



 

hey ive got one of thouse, been slow going i had a bad motorcycle wreck right after i got it, it was pretty rough with mismatched tires and the wireing for the starter relay was trashed, it need floor pans but that and the spot on the cab corner are the only rust that bothers me. it has the typical rust under the flares but i have two brand new fenders already. and its convertable

Nice, Zeta. But as a motorcycle guy for 30 plus years now, there is NO good motorcycle wreck, only bad ones!

id say a good one is prolly one you walk away from unfortunatly i didnt, ive got 12 screws and two plates to put my shatterd ankle back togeter that was in july i can only just now walk half normaly without my cane. totaled my nice shiny nighthawk to

Actually ended up finding a Comanche at the junk yard.  It was in rough shape, but I managed to get a seatbelt from it (hopefully I can get it clean enough to dye), and ....


A SLIDING REAR WINDOW


For those who don't know Comanches, a sliding rear window was a very unusual OE option, and on the used market they demand quite a premium.  I'm pretty stoked, now to find someone who can refurbish the seals and install it for me ...

Great job. Looks like it will be a nice little rig.

Was out this weekend for some snowmobiling but did manage to dye the seatbelt.  It went from tan to a light grey, going to try again with some black dye and see what we get. Worst case scenario I run the mismatch belt for the time being so I can get the interior back together, and keep on the hunt for a proper color belt.



Thanks! The hope is that it'll turn into something I can trust to daily and wheel periodically ... we'll see how that goes...

Seatbelt didn't turn out at all. Went to the yard and got a Cherokee belt, it was a bit bigger unit but it seemed to bolt into the factory location without much trouble. It's got a different locking mechanism though, so I'll have to go back and buy a matching anchor.  Other than that, I got the trim, seats, paneling, etc. back in today. It's starting to look like a real truck again. Not very happy with the carpet kit -- it doesnt' appear to be molded very well, and it's not  conforming to the floor either

If anyone with a Comanche and bucket seats could go check, can you post a pic of where the other end of the seatbelt bolts into the floor? I put carpet over the hole and now I can't find it

On the carpet, use a heat gun to get it real hot where it does not want to conform and let gravity do it's thing.

I don't think likes cars that run.

Excuse me, 4 of 5 run, thanks

Sorry I haven't updated this at all.

Comanche is currently dead.  Took it out for a spin the other day and didn't make it more than a half-mile before it started puking coolant everywhere.  Now it won't crank.  Either the starter somehow magically died during all this, or something seized up.  I'm not even getting solenoid click, which leads me to believe the starter gave up the ghost.  Hopefully that'd be all; easy and cheap fix in that case. Then I'd have to figure out the cooling system problem thereafter.

It's on my list of things to get back at in the near future.

Worst case scenario, 4.0s are about as common as they come. Hope it's just the starter though.

Surprisingly 4.0s aren't nearly as cheap as I hoped. Fingers crossed it'd just the solenoid on the starter that died simultaneously.

Could drop a 4.8 LS in...  that's more fun than figuring out seatbelt

Wesco and Golen are still building 4.6+ stroker motors.... Probably less of s a headache and cheaper in the long run. Nothing beats a V8 in this application though.

So for shits and giggles I jumped in the Comanche and turned the key.

It fired up.

Kek willed it.

Truck is gone. My dad picked it up from me yesterday and pulled it home.  Wish I could have finished it, but between the CTS-V (also sold yesterday) and having a newborn baby,  I just didn't end up having the time or money (mostly time) to deal with it.

Sorry for the let down guys.

It happens. I broke down and sold my fj60 last month for similar reasons.

Newborn baby?

That's not a letdown. That's an upgrade! Good job! Pics of new money pit?