1988 4x4 ranger first pick-up project

[JoeLeFou]

A few weeks ago I started searching for a car or truck and I came across a few that caught my attention but not as much as this 1988 Ford Ranger XLT

Being in Canada it's impossible to find a truck or any used car in such a good shape rust wise, usually there would be holes in the Frame or body ...

It turns on even though it grinds when you start it, the clutch that is dead and the headers clearly leak nothing that can't be fixed. I just love it, ordered the parts and all got them already but can't work on it yet because of the dumb paperwork (stupid bureaucracy and taxes) I'll be taxed on the price of the evaluation of what it's worth and not the price I bought it from.. :/

It's my first ever vehicle and I hope to keep it till I die

 

[Blmpkn]

Canada was first colonized by the British.. the British who more or less wanted to stay british.. explains all the extra beauracracy and taxes and less potential for fun


Fine example of an old truck though, congrats! Excellent shape for its location. Do it right, and it'll return the favor.

Welcome to the site!

 

[JoeLeFou]

Canada was first colonized by the British.. the British who more or less wanted to stay british.. explains all the extra beauracracy and taxes and less potential for fun


Fine example of an old truck though, congrats! Excellent shape for its location. Do it right, and it'll return the favor.

Welcome to the site!

Feels like never ending bureaucracy and taxes lol, can't take away the fun though!

Probably the best example of a well taken care truck in years, some abuse here and there but still taken care of. I'll try to take care of it even more starting with the mechanical parts that need to be fixed and then remove the bed and body to undercoat it and also coat the frame/ everything thats bare metal

 

[Blmpkn]

Feels like never ending bureaucracy and taxes lol, can't take away the fun though!

Probably the best example of a well taken care truck in years, some abuse here and there but still taken care of. I'll try to take care of it even more starting with the mechanical parts that need to be fixed and then remove the bed and body to undercoat it and also coat the frame/ everything thats bare metal

Use something like fluid film.. no rubber in a can stuff.

 

[JoeLeFou]

Use something like fluid film.. no rubber in a can stuff.

well I was thinking doing a raptor liner or some other thicker coating that wont chip from rocks and stuff

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

well I was thinking doing a raptor liner or some other thicker coating that wont chip from rocks and stuff

The only problem with that is unless the prep is perfect, any cut through will lead to major rust behind the liner.
Fluid film is lanolin, made from sheep's skin. It will flow back into the cut. Downside is it needs yearly reapplied. But after the first time only reapplied to the exposed areas.

 

[JoeLeFou]

The only problem with that is unless the prep is perfect, any cut through will lead to major rust behind the liner.
Fluid film is lanolin, made from sheep's skin. It will flow back into the cut. Downside is it needs yearly reapplied. But after the first time only reapplied to the exposed areas.

I work in a industrial paintshop and we have a sandblasting room so getting rid of 99% of the rust should be fairly easy but would have to take the whole car appart for that. Maybe Fluid film would be a better tamporary option?

 

[Blmpkn]

I work in a industrial paintshop and we have a sandblasting room so getting rid of 99% of the rust should be fairly easy but would have to take the whole car appart for that. Maybe Fluid film would be a better tamporary option?

A wax or fluid product is the BEST solution, no question.

 

[JoeLeFou]

Front driver side body mount is totally shot gonna install the new body mount kit this weekend and do some fab work for that mount.

Rubber feels like Marshmallow lmfao. The new ones are polyurethane so they should hold up wayyyyy better and I'm also getting an inch or 2 of lift so that's a win win situation

 

[Josh B]

Hey Joe, welcome to TRS!
I saw your name i thought Cajun but then I saw your location, no where near it eh
83 or 84 New Orleans had the World's Fair and I spent one busy day there between flights.
Canada had an awesome pavilion there covering all the French movements to Louisiana prior to 1803, some thought they were in Arkansas and others wound up in the south LA swamps and mixed with the Indians there.
The French and the Cajuns there are some of the best, as well as some of the worst that you'll ever meet, and thankfully I mostly met the good ones

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Nice lookin rig! Enjoy it!

 

[JoeLeFou]

The French and the Cajuns there are some of the best, as well as some of the worst that you'll ever meet, and thankfully I mostly met the good ones

we can say the same for most people, 80 % are actually good 10% have a bad day so bad attitude and the rest are criminals or they work for the gov !

Nice lookin rig! Enjoy it!

Thank you ! wait till you see the end result, probably gonna take a few years to be 99% done how I want it tho

 

[Josh B]

My previous Ranger was an 88 as far as I can recall. It was from minnesota and so eaten up with rust the owner "just wanted it gone". One good thing was it had a new engine in it, I even got a title to the engine but I cannot recall for certain what engine it was.
I spent the first 2 months crawling around under it (it was propped up on jack stands) with a wire brush and a chipping hammer. Found one brake line had a maybe 3 ft rubber hose patch in it, possibly the reason he wanted it gone.
He wasn't dumb, a physics major at Vanderbilt U there in Nashville, he just wasn't a mechanic,
It was a great little truck, that salt pretty much did it in tho

 

[JoeLeFou]

88 rangers either have a 2.0/2.3L L4 engine or a 2.9L V6 but interestingly enough the years before they also had the L4 diesel turbocharged, kinda unfortunate Ford stopped doing rangers with diesel.

I spent the first 2 months crawling around under it (it was propped up on jack stands) with a wire brush and a chipping hammer. Found one brake line had a maybe 3 ft rubber hose patch in it, possibly the reason he wanted it gone.

that is what is going to happen to me before the summer ends tbh, do what the other forum members said was the best.

he just wasn't a mechanic,

don't want to shoot shots at engineers but they also wouldn't of thought about it after years lmfao

 

[Josh B]

He really was a great young man Joe, he had brought his wife and baby and they had moved into a home there in Nashville, which has a lot of hills. I could just picture him getting in a tight spot with his wife and baby along, after finding that brake line patched with a rubber hose, it is not an uncommon mistake, but was likely the reason he "just wanted it gone".
I went by there just before Thanksgiving and he handed me the title just like he had said he would, and gave me the time to get titled tagged and insured for the 600 mile trip home for Xmas and New Years.

I'm sure it was a 6 so it must have been a 2.9. I did a lot of government auctions then and made one trip 250 miles to Montgomery Al, one about 350 miles down into Georgia, at least two to Louisville KY, one to Indianapolis, and a score of drives down to Huntsville AL, that was favorite destination there at NASA.

On the way there, about 120 mile each way, was a long steep hill, and that was the only place I ever found to nail it into overdrive, because no place else it could maintain it