Although the little shortbed was in rough shape when the Curries picked it up, the body was treated to a straightening and respray in basic white. The shop logo was added to the doors, the bed was sprayed with Line-X, and the flares, trim, and sundries were cleaned up or replaced as needed.
With the body panels looking good, a custom rear bumper was whipped up by taking two Currie Rock Crawler YJ front bumpers and cutting and welding them to the right width. Up front, the Curries bent up a simple prerunner light bar and cactus basher to protect the flimsy factory stamped steel bumper.
The factory dashboard and carpet were in decent shape, so Westminster Upholstery in Anaheim only had to recover the stock seats and door panels in black vinyl to bring the interior back to presentable condition.
You can dig on the little things on this truck for a while without running out of stuff to look at. For starters, the unibody was holesawed and a reinforcing piece of tubing was welded in to allow the exhaust a place to pass through out of harm's way.
We also like the use of Truetrac limited-slip differentials front and rear instead of a harsher locker. For a rig not destined to do much, if any, rockcrawling, the mild street manners of the limited slips are a welcome relief on the street while hardly giving up any off-road performance.
The trick manner in which the rear sway bar was hung off mounts welded to both the rear unibody and shackle hangers should work for MJ and XJ guys looking for a high-performance torsional sway bar.
Also, even though larger 33- or even 35-inch rubber could be shoehorned under the sheetmetal, 32-inch 265/75-16 Nitto Terra Grappler all-terrains were slung on some American Racing 16x8 Diamond Lock II wheels with a 4.5-inch backspacing.
We would like to see an NV3550 or even an AX-15 replace the Vichy stock tranny, but that's one of the only weak links we find in an otherwise solidly built runabout.
In just a few words, the front axle. I really dug the front axle and thought it was the perfect solution to the bent front Dana 30 front axle in Jp Magazine's Project Jr. prerunner-inspired XJ. And if the axle is the solution for us, maybe learning about it will help out some other Jeepers looking to go fast off-road. But I also really dug the understated sleeper look of the vehicle and the use of high-quality components where it matters, namely the suspension and axles. Retaining the stock stuff-like the engine, T-case, and interior-helps keep the overall costs down and makes this a vehicle the average enthusiast can aspire to duplicate.-Christian Hazel
Vehicle:
'88 Comanche shortbed
Engine:
4.0L inline six-cylinder
Transmission:
Peugeot BA-10 five-speed manual
Transfer Case:
NP231
Suspension:
5-inch Currie Enterprise (front), spring-over with stock leaves (rear)
Axles:
Currie Enterprises 8-inch (front), Currie Enterprises 9-inch (rear)
Wheels:
16x8 American Racing Diamond Lock II, 4.5-inch backspacing
Tires:
265/75R16 Nitto Terra Grappler
Built For:
Hauling parts and Hauling
Estimated Cost:
$17,000