Jimmyrig
Member
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2016
- Messages
- 78
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 8
- Location
- Northwest oregon
- Vehicle Year
- 1985
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 2.8
- Transmission
- Manual
- My credo
- It ain't stuck till it don't move
Picked it up for a hundred bucks. 85 ranger, 2.8 with a five speed. It came with cut fenders, semi dismantled interior, and a new clutch. Just had to tighten the bellhousing bolts and put the driveshaft in. Oh, and no clutch master. Drove it home on borrowed tires and mounted up a set of pr78-15 buckshots. Later some 32's. The y pipe was hacked up and the rest of the exhaust was full of holes, no cat, so I scrounged up an exhaust system.
Got a y pipe and exhaust from a scrap truck, no cat there either, but it had a glasspack. Way too loud so I put a used Flowmaster behind the y pipe, I don't have to deq where I live so it works. Next was a free used clutch master, soon to be replaced with new parts. Swapped the doors for an early 90's set, painted the door panels, inside trim, and glued up a headliner to replace the scotch tape and beach towel it came with. I reassembled the interior with new explorer visors and started driving it and working out the kinks.
Kink #1, 8.99 miles per gallon. Kink #2 alignment so far off I had to hold the wheel 90 degrees to the right to go straight.
I reset the toe until it drove straight and started tinkering. Oil change, cap, totor, plugs, wires, fuel pump, oil pressure sending unit, things got better. I found an edelbrock air cleaner and added a new filter to it. Next came oil change #2 after the first month. Added a quart of at a week before the oil change then ran some napa brand oil flush and got a lot of gunk out, it was black\amber before the flush, black and almost gritty when it was drained. I've super cleaned and pressure washed the engine twice to help chase oil leaks, furl pump, oil pressure sender and valve covers were the worst of it. Set the valve lash while the valve covers were off, then deleted the smog pump. I waited until I had driven it for about a month then adjusted the carb, it was running rich and I found out why, the right screw was out 10 turns, the left 12 turns. Then I set the idle and adjusted the fast idle solenoid. Along the way it got a stereo, speakers, amp and sub, cb and amp, stainless whip antenna, and some off road lights.
It drives good and aside from the starter bolts backing out last week it hasn't given me any issues. My short term plans are to build a new front bumper, add a winch, more lights, and an electric fan, and replace the rusty passenger fender. long term goals are for a chevy leaf spring swap and lift, 4.88 gears, explorer front axle and second gen explorer rear axle. I also plan to swap the bed, mines almost junk, and to take factory wheel wells and stretch them to the same size as my current cut fenders. 35's with only a 2 inch lift is worth the work.they barely clear now, but not well enough. For now it's 32's for driving and the buckshots for wheeling.
Got a y pipe and exhaust from a scrap truck, no cat there either, but it had a glasspack. Way too loud so I put a used Flowmaster behind the y pipe, I don't have to deq where I live so it works. Next was a free used clutch master, soon to be replaced with new parts. Swapped the doors for an early 90's set, painted the door panels, inside trim, and glued up a headliner to replace the scotch tape and beach towel it came with. I reassembled the interior with new explorer visors and started driving it and working out the kinks.
Kink #1, 8.99 miles per gallon. Kink #2 alignment so far off I had to hold the wheel 90 degrees to the right to go straight.
I reset the toe until it drove straight and started tinkering. Oil change, cap, totor, plugs, wires, fuel pump, oil pressure sending unit, things got better. I found an edelbrock air cleaner and added a new filter to it. Next came oil change #2 after the first month. Added a quart of at a week before the oil change then ran some napa brand oil flush and got a lot of gunk out, it was black\amber before the flush, black and almost gritty when it was drained. I've super cleaned and pressure washed the engine twice to help chase oil leaks, furl pump, oil pressure sender and valve covers were the worst of it. Set the valve lash while the valve covers were off, then deleted the smog pump. I waited until I had driven it for about a month then adjusted the carb, it was running rich and I found out why, the right screw was out 10 turns, the left 12 turns. Then I set the idle and adjusted the fast idle solenoid. Along the way it got a stereo, speakers, amp and sub, cb and amp, stainless whip antenna, and some off road lights.
It drives good and aside from the starter bolts backing out last week it hasn't given me any issues. My short term plans are to build a new front bumper, add a winch, more lights, and an electric fan, and replace the rusty passenger fender. long term goals are for a chevy leaf spring swap and lift, 4.88 gears, explorer front axle and second gen explorer rear axle. I also plan to swap the bed, mines almost junk, and to take factory wheel wells and stretch them to the same size as my current cut fenders. 35's with only a 2 inch lift is worth the work.they barely clear now, but not well enough. For now it's 32's for driving and the buckshots for wheeling.
Attachments
-
233.3 KB Views: 565