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Trucks Of The Month
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BY
Will Wills
The
first thing I ask myself when looking at a truck is: "where is the
coolness factor here?" What is it about this truck that gets my
attention? What has the owner done to deserve recognition? Most of the
time, as with last months solid axle swap, you can see it. But not
always. If you'll remember the editorial last month, I said that it is
the functionality of the modification that impresses me; not the
appearance. This month's feature truck (owned by forum user
buddy448--we'll call him Andy) is a perfect example of that philosophy.
In fact, it is so perfect an example, that you can't even tell it's
modified by looking at it. Well, until you open the hood. And that is
where the WTF? factor comes in.
Maybe
you are expecting me to tell you this trucks has a 300hp smallblock or a
twin-turbo V6 packed inside it's mundane body. Nope. Nothing of the
sort. And it is the absolute functionality of it that impresses me.
Because under the hood of Andy's '97 2wd Ranger is a
naturally-aspirated, indirect injected Nissan SD-22 4-cylinder diesel
engine pulled from a 1982 Datsun pick-up. About a 90hp trim off of the
stock 3.0 V6 that came in his truck. And why? It's all about gas
mileage, Bubba. Try 37mpg!
Reading
through Andy's description of the swap, it seems pretty simple. But
there are a couple of indications that his fabrication skills are well
above average. For instance, he machined, welded and balanced his own
driveshaft. That is something $100 or so would take care of at a
driveshaft shop, but that is a lot of gallons of diesel oil if economy
is your goal. So he did it himself. The rest of the swap is just careful
fitting and clever thinking. Nothing spectacular.
Since
the Datsun transmission placed the shifter further back, Andy trimmed 20
off of his 60/40 seat and made a plate for the new shifter. The hole for
the original shifter was plated up and a mechanical fuel cut-off lever
was installed there to shut down the engine. All of the Ford gauges now
sense the Nissan engine's vitals and the Ford clutch master now operates
the Nissan clutch slave. He was forced to give up his power steering in
exchange for a manual steering box as there was no way of putting the
pump on the diesel. No big loss on a truck with functionality as Job
One.
Because
this is Andy's second Ranger with the Nissan diesel in it, (the first
being an '88 that he converted 8 years ago and drove into the dust) I
have to believe the swap is well worth it. Certainly the 50% plus
increase in fuel economy would pay for the swap in no time flat. Not to
mention that the motor and tranny you pull out are probably going to
sell for more than the price of the ones you put in. The main problems
are that you have to be lucky, as Andy was, and find a low mileage
engine. You also need to live in an area where they don't require an
emissions check. And, lastly, you have to get used to highway humility,
as 60hp is pretty meager in a 3,200# truck. But it is enough. And as a
final proof to myself that this is a vehicle worthy of praise: I
have spent more time looking at these few pictures of Andy's truck than
I have spent looking at the hundreds of Spring Round-Up pictures people
have put up. Maybe I'm crazy. ~TRS
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