Haven't spent much time on the KJ lately...here is the reason why (click on the pictures for larger images):





Picked up the truck at the end of January 2008, and that's how it looked about a month later. Replaced the original front bumper because it was a little bent up then added the bed liner and tool box from the first MJ i owned (and later scrapped because of a bent frame).

_________________
'05 Sport
'92 Comanche Eliminator

Didn't have the truck for a few weeks while i had the AW4 replaced. Truck came with a replacement transmission, so not a big deal. When i got the truck back and started using it semi-regularly i noticed a damp spot in the carpet on the passenger's side. Pulled up the carpet and found this:



Not too bad for a 16 year old truck, just some surface rust. Unfortunately i don't have the equipment or the space right now to take care of this on my own, so i took it over to a body shop to get it media blasted and repainted.



Had the cab interior painted black for a couple reasons, one of which is that its easier to track leaks with baby powder on a black surface. Added some sound deadening and replaced the door seals with thicker seals from a 97+ XJ.

_________________
'05 Sport
'92 Comanche Eliminator

Dang cool! Love those MJ's! What are your future plans for it?

_________________
99 TJ
71 C101
04 KJ
03 SFA KJ Sport
LOST JEEPS So-Cal

My buddy is dying to buy one of these and swap out all the older style interior and exterior fascia parts for newer style XJ parts. Make sure to post all of the build you end up doing on it. These trucks are cool.

_________________
My Jeep Build ----> Big Black

It's a 4x4...but it's not going to see any offroading in the near future because finding a straight, rust free MJ is getting near impossible to find. i'm not going to lower it or make it a street jeep of any kind tho, just leave it at stock height, keep it on near stock tires and use it as a daily driver. It will be getting new sheet metal, but not the newer interior. I know the pre-97 interior looks pretty dated, but i don't like all the hard plastics in the 97+ interior (its the first thing i would change on the KJ if i could).

I've got a lot more done that i've posted so far, i'm just trying to find any pictures that i may have taken and keep the build in chronological order. Problem is that i'm not much for taking pictures, which is basically why it took me 11 months to start a project thread. There are a lot of things i want to get done, even started gathering the parts...too many people tho say they plan x or y then never do it, so i'm going to post each mod as they are finished.

_________________
'05 Sport
'92 Comanche Eliminator

Originally i wanted to work on the exterior, engine and exhaust first, but since i had the interior completely stripped out to paint the cab it made sense to start on some interior wiring fixes and upgrades. Riding around with the gauge cluster zip tied to the firewall wasn't cutting it, and installing the dash every time i needed to drive the truck wasn't an much of an option...so i hacked off the passenger side off a scrap dash to use temporarily:



I also dyed it black to see how well the VHT would hold up to abuse.

The previous owner installed a cheap alarm system that would go off at random times, including while driving down the highway. The shop that put it in did a complete hack job on the dash harness...so instead of trying to undo the damage, i found a '92XJ limited at the junkyard and pulled its dash harness. The harnesses are very similar, just requires rerouting a few wires in a couple of connectors (since this is a KJ forum i won't go into detail, but if anybody ever needs to do something similar and has questions, pm me).

I also grabbed a few more things from that XJ; the overhead console/wiring, ambient temperature sensor/wiring and crossbody harness. Ran the wiring in the MJ the same way i found it in the XJ. Found an auto dim mirror from an early ZJ and pulled the power from the overhead console harness. Really not much different than what i did with my KJ.



Its tough to see, but the overhead console is reading accurately...my storage garage faces SW and it was about 100 degrees in there the day the day i finished this up.

_________________
'05 Sport
'92 Comanche Eliminator

Next upgrade, power accessories: power side mirrors, windows and door locks. I grabbed the wiring and switch bezels from a 2-door XJ; didn't need the extra switches and wiring for the back doors. The window regulators and door locks came from a 96XJ. Besides hopefully having the least amount of wear on any junkyard part, jeep decided somewhere around 93/94 to use bolts instead of rivets to attach the door guts. The mirrors came off an early 90's XJ, they were already painted so i figure repainting them down the line would look better than newer, mostly plastic side mirrors.



The hardest part is drilling out the existing rivets, the wiring is all plug and play. I reused the bolts from the 96XJ (they fit perfectly) for the regulators and door locks. While i had the door apart, i replaced the movable vent windows with stationary windows from that same 96XJ. The movable vent windows were letting in a lot of road noise and probably some of the water getting into the cab.



I pulled a black center console and door panels from an '88 XJ limited. At this point i realized i made my first big mistake (on this truck)...i should have changed the parking brake from the pedal and handle underneath the driver's side dash to under the center console like the XJ. It can still be done, all the sound deadening needs to be pulled up and then replaced after the swap.

That '88 XJ also had something i'd never seen in before or since, so even tho they are in pretty rough shape i grabbed them anyway.



Its tough to see in the picture, but the color of the top part is agate and the vinyl is perforated. If i don't come across another set, i'll probably get these recovered; its basically the color scheme i'm going with for the interior.

_________________
'05 Sport
'92 Comanche Eliminator