Jeep Comanche Build

Eh I was in my truck. Not surprised you didn't notice.

After all the rubbing at MAbell I had to do something, first time fender trimming went...decent I guess. Gotta figure out something for flares, and painted the bumper made by Dave, held up well at MAbell

THOOPY3 wrote:Swapping in a 4.0 is way more work than it's worth. It's not as simple as the internet makes it seem and the costs can really add up quick. A new exhaust will help things in the power department a bit, but low compression and oil blow-by is bad news.

I know I probably sound like a broken record, but if you're DDing it with 4.10s on 33s you really are putting a good amount of strain on a motor/drivetrain combo that wasn't intended to handle that sort of load. Things are only going to get worse for the motor so I would address those issues well before cutting into the fenders.

Assuming the motor in it is the factory 2.5 from '89, trying to find a similar TBI 2.5 replacement (in the case of a swap) is going to be difficult and pricey. And a swap to a newer ('91 or up) MPFI motor would be a decent amount of work because you'd have to update the fuel/intake/emissions systems currently in place to mate with the MPFI setup. If it's got a MPFI 2.5 in it currently though obviously that would be quite a bit easier to do.

Wow, I'm sorry, I never saw that you posted that. I'm gonna be saving up what I can for a new motor to drop into the Comanche and since it's my daily, I'm just going to keep driving it until I can't, or until I have the money to put the new motor in. I'm using some Lucas stop leak right now and it seems to be a little better than without it, obviously not a permanent solution but it helps while I get the money together

Yeah I can understand saving up. Newer (MPFI) 2.5s can be had for decently cheap from my understanding, the older ones like I mentioned before are rare and come at a premium (despite their shortcomings).

If you really want to go balls to the wall you could potentially stick a Hemi from a Durango under the hood. Jp Magazine did this in a TJ a bunch of years ago, which I'm sure is easier because TJs have real frames and possibly a bit more room under the hood: http://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/154-0305-jeep-tj-v8-engine-swap/. You'd have a seriously unique ride on your hands at that point.

You could always take my old man's approach to our 2.5 too, that being "When it goes it's time for a 350."

THOOPY3 wrote:Yeah I can understand saving up. Newer (MPFI) 2.5s can be had for decently cheap from my understanding, the older ones like I mentioned before are rare and come at a premium (despite their shortcomings).

If you really want to go balls to the wall you could potentially stick a Hemi from a Durango under the hood. Jp Magazine did this in a TJ a bunch of years ago, which I'm sure is easier because TJs have real frames and possibly a bit more room under the hood: http://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/154-0305-jeep-tj-v8-engine-swap/. You'd have a seriously unique ride on your hands at that point.

You could always take my old man's approach to our 2.5 too, that being "When it goes it's time for a 350."

I've always wanted to stick a 350 under the hood, unfortunately since I just had to buy the new tranny and tcase, I either have to save up a whole lot more money for that swap or I can just go with the 2.5 for now and down the road when this is no longer my daily I will swap one in. I have found a 2.5 from a YJ that is tbi I'm just waiting on the funds to pull the trigger on it

So went on the night run on the 10th, it was a lot of fun and didn't have any issues. Unfortunately, yesterday I started leaking again around the top of the lower radiator hose and my heater core went. Not sure if it's the water pump leaking or the lower rad hose clamp is loose at the top but I'm going to look into it and find out. For now I'm gonna bypass the heater core. I had been tempted to convert the interior to the 97+ xj interior, and now I'm really considering it since I have to pull the dash to put the new heater core in, still thinking about it though I figure i have up to a month before it starts to get really cold and I need to have that done. As for the motor, as THOOPY pointed out it is extremely tough to find a tbi 2.5 at a decent price so I'm now considering either a 350 or 5.0 swap, but this will be after the winter I still need to really figure out the plans.

Or you could buy my 4.0L and TJ dash/interior...

Rob Cote wrote:Or you could buy my 4.0L and TJ dash/interior...

Funny how you worked that in there...

Rob Cote wrote:Or you could buy my 4.0L and TJ dash/interior...

If I still had the old YJ that would work

Ryan McKee wrote:Funny how you worked that in there...

Brought my salesman hat today.

Yeah it seems that wheeling old XJs and MJs seems to put the nail in the coffin of iffy heater cores (ask me how I know). Unfortunately I don't think you have it as "easy" as I did a few weeks back in terms of keeping the dash in and replacing it. If I recall the old XJs/MJs require you to pull everything out to get at the HVAC box. Of course I thought the same thing about my replacement and then I did some research and found otherwise, hopefully you'll be as lucky.

As much as I hate to do it, I am either going to be rebuilding the motor that is currently in my truck, or buying a used one. I'm leaning towards buying a used one, that is mpi and just converting it to tbi, I would like to swap the truck to mpi but I am going to need to get this done as fast as possible since it's my only vehicle. I may have found a motor on CL for a pretty decent price with 82k on it ( obviously no real way in knowing but I am going to have to go by this guys word) I will likely do a head gasket and water pump since the motor will be out anyways. Should be reliable enough for me until I can afford to put some real American muscle under the hood. If anybody has any tips or opinions on a rebuild kit for my motor, or the replacement one I'm all ears!

Again, the story with mine is I have quite a bit of blow by, my compression is real low, I haven't tested it yet but parking on any slight incline at all in 1st gear the truck will still roll, and I am having trouble with any type of acceleration, going up a hill in 4th I'm lucky to make it up it going 45 maybe 50, I know the 2.5 is sluggish with 33s and 4.10s but it should not be near this bad.

Also while replacing my heater core (when I do something about the motor) I am thinking about a 97+ interior swap since I may be able to get the parts for a fairly cheap price, not my main concern but if I have the chance to do it while replacing the heater core I just might do that at the same time, then I would have some motivation to pull the dash

If you're gonna fuck with fueling, have you considered going with a SEM like Megasquirt or anything? Might get you a little more power out of it if you have the time to tune, I dunno. It should (I could be talking out my ass here) give you a little more flexibility when you go to install a different engine down the road. My understanding is it's pretty modular.


Anyways, my suggestion will always be 4BT swap.

Rob Cote wrote:If you're gonna fuck with fueling, have you considered going with a SEM like Megasquirt or anything? Might get you a little more power out of it if you have the time to tune, I dunno. It should (I could be talking out my ass here) give you a little more flexibility when you go to install a different engine down the road. My understanding is it's pretty modular.


Anyways, my suggestion will always be 4BT swap.

I have no idea how the mega squirt works, been a while since I've heard of that, a couple years ago when I use to mess with cars haha, anyways I may look into it but I think for now a "simple" replacement/rebuild will do, that's funny you say a 4BT swap, the guy I'm getting the motor from is 4BT swapping his Comanche

hnnnnnng DOOOO ITTTTT

Rob Cote wrote:hnnnnnng DOOOO ITTTTT

If only I had the funds and time to make that work

If you're going to do the interior swap as well it would probably benefit you to just buy a whole Cherokee on the cheap. Total rotboxes with good motors can be had around here for under $1000, and at that price you're getting the motor, all the sensors, the entire interior, the computer, and whatever other goodies it comes with so it's a good deal. The tough part is going to be find one with a 2.5 in it, the majority I've seen have the 4.0.

THOOPY3 wrote:The majority I've seen have the 4.0.

You say it like it's a bad thing. Is it hard to swap 2.5 to 4.0? I forget what the reasoning was for sticking with a 2.5....may have skimmed this thread very lightly.

For his purposes it's a bad thing. Dropping a 4.0 into a Jeep with a 2.5 really isn't as easy as some of the people on JeepForum would like you to believe. The benefit in this situation is that the Comanche platform was designed to accept both the 2.5 and the 4.0, so you shouldn't run into clearance issues with things like the master cylinder, radiator, or firewall.

The most difficult challenge (for someone without access to a welder/knowledge of welding, can't remember if you have those things Rob C.) is likely burning on new engine mounts, which requires you to remove the grill and radiator so you can drop the new motor/trans in, which requires an engine hoist, and so on and so forth. Not to mention you have to have the old motor and trans out at this point to do that, and without a decent garage and equipment of your own you're pretty much hosed. That's major down time, not just a long weekend of work, so you're looking at not having a vehicle for easily a month (unless the money tree is really blooming this time of year and you can afford to dedicate all your time to working on the thing).

You could get lucky and find a shop that will do it relatively cheap like I did, but I was putting a 4.0 into a vehicle that already had a 4.0, and even that took a solid four days of shop time. My experience with that turned out great thus far but it's not likely you'll be able to find a good price on a motor swap that requires as much work as this does. I guess the moral of the story is that it can certainly be done, but it's going to take either a lot of time, a lot of money, or more than likely both. I'm not trying to be a Debby Downer, I'm just trying to give you a realistic idea of what you're looking at.

THOOPY3 wrote:For his purposes it's a bad thing. Dropping a 4.0 into a Jeep with a 2.5 really isn't as easy as some of the people on JeepForum would like you to believe. The benefit in this situation is that the Comanche platform was designed to accept both the 2.5 and the 4.0, so you shouldn't run into clearance issues with things like the master cylinder, radiator, or firewall.

The most difficult challenge (for someone without access to a welder/knowledge of welding, can't remember if you have those things Rob C.) is likely burning on new engine mounts, which requires you to remove the grill and radiator so you can drop the new motor/trans in, which requires an engine hoist, and so on and so forth. Not to mention you have to have the old motor and trans out at this point to do that, and without a decent garage and equipment of your own you're pretty much hosed. That's major down time, not just a long weekend of work, so you're looking at not having a vehicle for easily a month (unless the money tree is really blooming this time of year and you can afford to dedicate all your time to working on the thing).

You could get lucky and find a shop that will do it relatively cheap like I did, but I was putting a 4.0 into a vehicle that already had a 4.0, and even that took a solid four days of shop time. My experience with that turned out great thus far but it's not likely you'll be able to find a good price on a motor swap that requires as much work as this does. I guess the moral of the story is that it can certainly be done, but it's going to take either a lot of time, a lot of money, or more than likely both. I'm not trying to be a Debby Downer, I'm just trying to give you a realistic idea of what you're looking at.

I was seriously considering a 4.0 swap, my only real concern was the wiring harness, I'm not that good with wiring so I figured I would have issues with that (obviously would have had issues with that anyways putting a v8 in but was considering carbureted) I do have access to a welder and Dave(Nvincible torque) has the skills to weld in new motor mounts, I am going to be renting a storage facility for a month no matter what route I go, I guess if somebody can convince me to go the 4.0 route and that the wiring harness wouldn't be impossible for me to figure out I will strongly consider it

Welder /
Engine Hoist /
Electrical Wiring capabilities /
Free time to help - limited... Thats where we fail Rob!

Word. I didn't know the motor mounts were different. Does the harness change require any custom? From the ECU to all engine points, it should be plug 'n' play if you have the matching engine/ECU combo. I'm not sure what happens on the vehicle side of the ECU though, so serious question. It must take inputs from the ignition switch, cruise (if equipped), and maybe HVAC? Throttle is just cable, so that should be straightforward, brakes are separate, steering is strictly mechanical, clutch? are you manual or auto I forget.


Well anyways, even if it IS all "bolt ons" and plug-and-play, it's still a big undertaking. I've done engine swaps before and it's definitely not recommended for a daily. Unless you got a bus pass.

NvincibleTorque wrote:Free time to help - limited... Thats where we fail Rob!

Fuckin' story of my life guy.

Well if you've got capable help (which it certainly seems is the case) and time then a 4.0 swap wouldn't be totally out of the question. I would definitely go the route of finding a whole Cherokee in that case, ideally a '97-'99 before the cracked heads became an issue, because it would provide you with everything you need, including all the interior stuff.

Oh, and I just realized that you're both 'Rob C.' so that wasn't very helpful, haha.

Hahahaha also don't confuse me with the other R. Cote.