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2nd coming of the Comanche,.....


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Well I put it to a poll,... And well you all won and made me go buy the other Comanche,...

 

Now when I went to go get it, it was gone someone had taken Him away,... I popped back in a few days later to ask the question that was killing me,... Was it shredded or put to the yard?

 

My friend who works at the autowrecker said it had been sold bu for what ever reason it was coming back and to my un-belief moments after He said that it was back!

 

I returned home with a nice bottle of red wine, explained to my wife how no one else was going to save this brave little soul and I got the thumbs up!!!

 

So may I present to you the "latch key jeep" that is now going to be known as "Latch" for short

 

 

 

 

And before anyone asks ; yes this is Comanche #2 , Jeep #5 we own at present and no I am still not finished the first Comanche LOL

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Well the drivers door needs to be replaced, fix the B piller and take the whisky rinkle out of the box side, replace the skin on the A Piller,change the column out, get locks for the doors, windshield and make it road worthy,.. Then I can see where it can go from there,.. The 2.5 mated to the 4 speed is pretty lethargic soooooo going to see where it goes ;)

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Well the drivers door needs to be replaced, fix the B piller and take the whisky rinkle out of the box side, replace the skin on the A Piller,change the column out, get locks for the doors, windshield and make it road worthy,.. Then I can see where it can go from there,.. The 2.5 mated to the 4 speed is pretty lethargic soooooo going to see where it goes ;)

 

 

My guess is nowhere fast! :yes:

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Hung a good door on the Manche today to see the extent of the collision damage,.. Pretty good whisky wrinkle,... Not quite sure how they managed to damage the mid section and not the lower,..

 

 

 

Now to reverse the damage ,... :nuts:

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Now that the b-pillar is somewhat straight I now need to pull the pillar out approx 1/16" as the door is still not quite square and the A-Piller will need a new skin. I plan on hitting that Saturday,... More pics and details to follow :)

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I know it doesn't look like alot of progress but it is!

 

Some color on to see the highs and lows

 

 

 

Some more tapping,.. And less paint! Step in the right direction

 

 

Now I found I had to close up my incision to keep tapping the highs and lows out, it's not finished yet

 

 

A little more straightening is required in the b pillar ,.. Another day

 

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So most people think I have a boat load of cash into tools but to be honest most of them can be bought at places like harbor freight or princess auto. Cheap body hammers to use (and modify) for what you need, some dollies , chunks of 2x4's , old sockets, you name it , what ever makes the steel move the way you want it to, here are a few I am using:

 

 

One of my dent pulling techniques,..

 

 

Yup I weld screws or nails to the body then pull, now I try to follow the damage the way it occurred ;

 

 

Then once it's close you can hammer and Dollie it to be in place, sometimes you get it perfect other times you need a bit-o-filler.

 

B Piller is getting sooooo close

 

 

And here it is as of when I pulled the pin for the day on it,.. Stay tuned ,.. I guess I should finish the other on too :$

 

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Think the big thing with dents is that you need to look how they were formed, then reverse the process ; the hardest part is shrinking the metal back to shape. Once you invert the dent you can use a concaved dolly on the back side and start hammering it back to shape,... Some dents will never be 100% back to stock but close works, I did use a flap disk to take out any minor deviations and it allows a nice texture for the filler bond to.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Several weeks have passed and my hand is finally healing from the break I sustained racing the big jeep,.. but I am slowly getting back into the swing,..

 

OK so I wasn't happy about the outcome on the B Pillar, door frame where the catch is is still tweeked and I am un-happy how the door closes

 

So I started stripping down the donor panel, now when I cut it out it had portions of the cab still connected , so that had to go,..

 

 

 

So I had to find all the factory spot welds that looked like this, now sometimes its easier seeing them from an unpainted surface but these were pretty evident

 

Hope you can see it just in front of my finger

 

 

So I started with a small pilot hole and then to a bit just larger than the spot weld

 

 

When I go to remove them off the truck itself I will use these bits designed to cut the sheet metal around the weld and preserve the metal behind for the reattachment.

 

 

And Bazinga! The panels with some light suggestions from a hammer and chisel separated. Now I still need to release the section of the roof and a few more braces before its ready to be installed

 

 

 

now just need to remove the old panel and weld in the new one,...

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  • 1 month later...

Here is where I am as of tonight,..

 

Split the exterior sheet metal of the "spare" A Piller

 

 

 

Pulled the glass as I need access to the spot welds in behind, I got impatient and it got messy

 

 

Started to strip the exterior sheet metal off the Comanche after cutting some stress relief strips

 

and one 1/2 off :)

 

 

Always looks worse before it looks better,...

 

 

 

So now I have to undo the spot welds on the door jam side of the A pillar, test fit the new piece and see if the post is tweeked at all, cross your fingers for me ,..

 

If all goes well the panel will fit flawlessly and I have no structure damage. The to lift the box, and start on the rework of the b pillar,..

 

Thanks for viewing!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got some work done today,..

 

"A" Pillar in

 

 

 

Started on the B-pillar; This was a scary sight,.. , I knew I was dedicated to finish it :out::out::out:

 

 

And after a few hours of test fits and trimming,..

 

 

 

 

more to come :)

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