'88 Olympic Pioneer - the addiction continues

Since having one Comanche is never enough, here is #2. Its a 1988 Pioneer Olympic edition. 4.0, 5 speed, 4wd. I got it from another Jeep lover across the state (about 10 hours of driving in one day) and I'm picking up where he left off. I'm not sure sure what the final plans for this truck is, but I know my dad has his eye on it, so we'll see.

The good:

Straight body, excellent rear bumper, has AC, relatively new carpet and headliner, bench seat in good condition, upgraded gauge cluster, open cooling system, hitch, rear slider window (not sure how it opens yet), nice wheels.

The not so good:

Tiny bit of rot on both rockers, decals and body moldings have seen their better days, tailgate needs paint (paint in general is average, but not bad for its age) and it appears to have a leaking slave cylinder, so I can't actually drive it yet.

All in all, its a great platform and it has tons of potential. I had a great day driving with my dad and the previous owner is really excited that someone is going to be able to finish what he started fixing. Its been a fun day being a Comanche enthusiast. Now that I'm finishing up my '90, I've got another project to keep me busy.

Wow - even the rims are nice on that one! Congratulation :cheers:

There it is! Really nice shape.

The rear slider slides over to the passenger side of the cab. I had to put some Vaseline in the channels to get mine to move freely.

I got a little work done on the '88. I got the moldings and stripe off the passenger side. There is still ghost residue that I need to remove, but I think it looks a lot cleaner. When I removed the door handle, I broke the spring on the inside, so I swapped out the handle from the rear door of my '97 donor. I tried polishing the wheels, but I only got half way done on the rear one and quit.

I ordered a new slave cylinder and it should be here tomorrow. I'll probably tackle that this weekend.

I got the transmission and transfer case out (man, I forgot how much I hate doing that by myself). The drain and fill plugs on the BA 10/5..... :grrrr: :rant: :fs2: . I got the drain one out, but not the fill yet. I have the new slave, but I think I'm done with the '88 for today. I think I'll go wash the '90.

If you ever need help, let me know, I could take a trip down and help. I think I'm about an hour or so away.. If you catch me on my days off haha

If you ever need help, let me know, I could take a trip down and help. I think I'm about an hour or so away.. If you catch me on my days off haha

Thanks!

I got the transmission and transfer case back together. The slave line still needs some bleeding, but I was able to drive it down the street and back. Today I'd thought I'd try the black eight slot grill. I still have a black ten slot and a chrome eight slot I can try too. I don't know why the passenger headlight looks so dark.

Dexter likes to chill out under the Comanches.

Check to see if the seal around the headlight is broken. The headlight can still work and the seal be broken. I had one that was dark on my '90 when I got it, headlight worked but when I went to take the headlight off, the glass front and the light separated in my hand.

It's just the picture. Its not really that dark in person. Scroll up to my first post and you'll see what I mean.

I really like the clean crispness of the white grill and surrounds. The placement of the fog lights are perfect for that look too.

Rob

After taking some time off on the '88, I did a little work on it today. I got the moldings and leftover residue off the driver side and the decal off everything but the door. Tomorrow I'll pull the handle and finish removing the decal. I've been contemplating the right method for removing what's left of the decal behind in the clear coat. Since rubbing compound didn't work, I think I'll have to wet sand it.

nice yours is the only other 88 olympic pioneer ive seen. very nice.

nice yours is the only other 88 olympic pioneer ive seen. very nice.

My '88 LWB (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=21973) is an Olympic edition and there's at least four more I know of on these forums, but this one has got to be the cleanest one I've seen yet. Nice truck!

It just occurred to me that the Olympic editions only came in red, white, and blue...duh...makes sense!

I had seen your red one before, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a blue Olympic edition before. Honestly, I liked the way the gold stripe looked on the white (especially with the tan interior), but it was in such bad shape, it had to go.

I forgot to mention that I bled the slave more and it runs pretty well. I took it down the highway the other day and it seemed to do OK. So, now I have a running truck and I can't afford to register it and put insurance on it. If I'm forced to sell my Mustang, I'll move the tag over from it. We'll see.

I got the stripes and molding off of the driver side. I still need to spend some time with the rubbing compound, but on this side I only got ghost stripes on the fender; the door and cab came out fine.

I also put the '97 door handle in on this side too. For those that are curious, I don't think the upgrade is worth it. I only did it because the striker/button spring broke on my original ones on both sides and I still had my rear doors from the '97 donor. They are slightly bigger, but they were a pill to swap and then the rod contacted the window channel on the driver side, so I had to tweak that, etc. etc. Maybe others have had better luck than me, but it total wasn't worth it to me if I had a choice.

White grill back on too.

There it is! Really nice shape.

 

The rear slider slides over to the passenger side of the cab. I had to put some Vaseline in the channels to get mine to move freely.

Is there a clasp or something? I can't seem to get it to move at all. I don't want to apply too much pressure because I'm afraid of breaking it.

nice yours is the only other 88 olympic pioneer ive seen. very nice.

 

My '88 LWB (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=21973) is an Olympic edition and there's at least four more I know of on these forums, but this one has got to be the cleanest one I've seen yet. Nice truck!

 

It just occurred to me that the Olympic editions only came in red, white, and blue...duh...makes sense!

thats awesome, ive been MIA from this site for a few years so i can see how some would get by me.

Funny story: I went to move the '88 today. I have three sets of keys for this truck and when I went to start the truck, the key wouldn't even go in the ignition. Two sets of keys, I have never used and I just grabbed the set of keys in the bin (separate from the other two). I couldn't figure it out. There wasn't anything stuck in the ignition; I was using the GM key and not the AMC key, but nothing. Then it dawned on me; I was trying to use the keys that originally came with my '90. When I switch to the '97 column, I didn't get rid of the original keys. I have three sets of keys for this truck and I still grabbed the wrong ones.

I'm going to be using this truck as a test jig for mocking up the roll bar in the '97, mostly so I don't scratch the new paint. Until that project can start, it will just have to sit tight in the back of the '88. I'm not sure it looks as good in this truck.

I worked out a deal last night. For some parts for trade, I will be getting the rocker rust taken care of and the tail gate painted. Not exactly sure when this will happen, but hopefully soon. I asked my painter about the ghost stripes. He said most likely, the stripes were put on before the paint had completely cured, so it just left the impression in the paint. Not sure how I'm going to fix that now.

I diagnosed the rust issue today. I haven't seen any evidence of problems on the passenger side, but here is what I found on the driver side:

More than I thought, but certainly not as bad as it could have been.

I swapped out the half-working fog lights for my Hella driving lights that I had on the '90.

The covers are white and black so they look better on this truck. I haven't upgraded the head lights on the '88 like I did on the '90, so I think having driving lights will be better than the fogs.

I dropped the truck off at the body shop yesterday. It will be getting the rust holes in the rockers patched and the tail gate will be painted. I also found out the front shocks are toast. I still have the original suspension from the '90, so I'll try those shocks (and springs) to see if they're any better.

Today I swapped out the front springs and shocks. I was running very behind so I wasn't able to get a good impression of the height difference or the ride quality, but I should be able to get some pictures this weekend. The body work is done on the rockers and they should be painted along with the tail gate this week. Hopefully I can get some pictures of those as well this weekend. If I can get home in time Friday, I'm going to register it and get a tag for it.

I registered and titled the truck today. I went by the shop this morning to put the tags on it and check out the springs. They look a lot lower than before which I'm OK with. The body work looks good on the truck and I should be getting it back any day now (supposed to be today, but I haven't heard from him). Pictures soon!