picked the truck up 4-15-12 for $600. 2.3L w/ 130k 5spd, body lifted and leveled(according to seller).



body was in a bit of a rough shape and needed some love. Washed, waxed, scrubbed, and brushed out the bed. Looked much better with a bit of surface rust from being used as a dump vehicle.

picked up some spray bed liner and wire brushed the rust




shampooed the seats and cleaned off all the dirt and grease. One small stain still left, but it looks 1000% better than before.

Tore out all the carpet and shampooed, vacuumed, and dyed the carpet black. Was full of stains and wear and tear, looks like a million bucks now.

wire brushed and painted the floor boards with due to the surface rust.

removed the head liner which I will be wrapping later this week.

polished the Headlights and tails

replenished all the fluids, the PS is still noisy, but well it is a ford.

Will do more shots once she is prettier. I need to decide pretty quick here what color I want do. Wife wants it to be a forest green or highland Green.

few questions, I'm missing some parts......





what belongs in these 3 positions?

Also, I have a reservoir on the fire wall in the engine bay next to the brake booster/master. I want to say it is clutch master, but not 100%. What does it belong to and what kind of fluid belongs in there?

Well, this is my start for now. Need to find some bed rails and a tool box ASAP and some new bigger tires.....

 

The hole below the head light switch had a few options, one was a flat platic cover, next was a little storage area and I want to say their was a switch panel there. Nice progress so far.

 

after toying around with it and searching, has anyone done a quick release steering wheel on their ranger? Looking for some info on doing so as a safety feature, as well as comfort thing since I don't have a tilt steering wheel.

 

body off the truck, going to replace the fuel pump and sender this evening. May need to replace the lines, not sure yet...

Wind shield replaced yesterday by safelite. Looks much better now.

head liner all re-done will get that installed tonight if I have time.

Mileage gauge is reading like 3 miles for ever mile a go, any idea what might be causing this? is mileage calibrated at the speed sensor?

 

replaced fuel pump

primed system

truck turned off and fell flat on its face. Primed, gave it some gas, and turned it over. Truck ran ok and checked around the engine bay for leaks. get to the corner of the cabin and see fuel pissing out the fuel line into my neighbor's yard. Cut truck off and picked up a few line splice in the AM. Put the splice in the truck is idling great, cleaned the MAFS, changed the air filter, and topped off the clutch master.

Looking better by the day, just sprayed down the frame with under carriage spray, going to re-install the bed tonight.

 

Good looking project! Looks rust free?

 

there is minor surface rust on the bed rails from where the PO had a tool box rub the paint off and a tiny spot on the roof that I will handle myself. neither is all that bad.

 

got home from work and dumped the oil, the 133k on the motor looks as though I may have had the OEM oil still in there. Came out in clumps....

Put cheap 10W40 and cheap filter in, going to let it run for a few days and then change it with some better quality oil and filter. Wife is daily driving it right now and she seems to love driving it more than her 6spd G35. Well I was under the car I found more gunk and **** built up under the engine that I had ever seen on any car. Got down there and sprayed it down with GUNK engine degreaser and scrubbed it down with a couple of tee shirts. Chunks of shiz just fell off, I would wager I removed probably 6 or 7 pounds of old grease mess. Fired the truck up after the oil change and cleaning and it ran 100 times better than before. Still little odd stumble that I believe is related to the IACV being dirty, but some seafoam and taking the motor apart this weekend will clean it up. Not enough of a hassle to make a big deal about.

 

Took the dash apart this weekend. replaced all the dash lights with LEDs that I had laying around from other projects. Clean the cluster and all of the electrical connections. Wiggled the wiring harness and the fuel gauge started functioning properly again!

Took it out on the highway for the first time and it handled it pretty well. Need some real tires on it and it should be great.

 

You should do a turbo swap. That thing would fly!

 

wife is actually shopping for a SVO engine as we speak. Since she sold her turbo S13 a few years ago she has been borrowing my friends turbo cars when ever she gets an itch for some boost. She wants to have "her own boost" again. I don't get it she has all but laid claim to my PU already and loves driving more than her 6spd G35.

O well gotta encourage the auto love. Better than buying jewelry any day of the week.

Almost forgot, plastic dipped the wiper arms and antenna mast back to black to restore the chipped off paint. I also added some elcheapo pedal covers from harbor freight so the pedals have something to grip when driving.

 

picked up some body match spray paint and some Ospho. Going to cure the little surface rust(probably could sand it off, but want to make sure it doesn't come back) and then paint the components sand and paint what needs it. If it doesn't look great I will take it have an auto body shop refresh the paint.

 

painted the truck with some rattle cans. Nothing amazing, but it looks better than it did. Re-did all of the windshield shroud with Glossy black paint and that turned out well.

Added some bolt on H3 driving lights, can see much better at night now.

Could use a new pair of Driver and passenger lights. previous owner over tightened most of the bolts and broke the mounting brackets. the lenses still are not perfect, so I think it is time to just bite the bullet and get new ones.