Project Fordzuki

[Loanranger]

I can't believe it. It came out! I imagined having to at least lift the body up....

 

[Loanranger]

Ok, so to fill you guys in on what's going on, I decided to finally swap in the injected motor and 5 speed. Somehow I mismeasured, and the 5 speed is the same length as the TK4. I mean exactly the same, 33.5 inches between the bellhousing and the center of the ujoint on the slipyoke, with both slipyokes extended the same. *about a 1/2". So basically, I have the old motor/trans pulled, along with all the old wiring and stuff. I also ran a check for codes, and it came back with none. 127,000 miles on it, and aside from a small valvecover leak, it looks to have been very well maintained. Shiney sparkplugs and a newer looking wix filter. I'm excited to get this thing in there.

This was why I finally pulled it apart. The clutch was slipping pretty bad after the last trip through the busy.

Notice the mud packed between the fingers and cover.

New clutch and slave in the mazda combo.

I'm guessing a m50d, though I don't know what variant. The shiftrail plugs look good, no leakage.

Poor little bastard.

And that's it for tonight. I need to run a return line for the fuel, swap the drivers side motor mount, and maybe make a passenger side. The mounts are at a v type angle to each other, rather than flat like the ranger ones. The drivers side looks like I can bolt up the old one, the passenger side, the alternator bracket is in the way. This should be a fairly simple fix though, and it's on to wiring.

The plan for tonight is to kick back with the chiltons and see what kindof trouble I can get myself into.

 

[Loanranger]

I've been playing with wiring the last couple nights, and have it pretty much stripped down. I have a couple odds and ends to finish up tomorrow night, and it'll get all wrapped up again.

This is what I'm down to basically, plus the untouched engine harness. This is what used to be the underhood harness, and underdash harness, basically just for the ignition and obd2 stuff. I would also like to get it narrowed down to just one fuse box, but we'll see.

And this is all the "extra" stuff.

I still need to clearance for the EGR tube...

Widen up the trans tunnel a little bit, and make a new trans crossmember.

That's it for tonight.

 

[militarydave]

after spending the last 53 minutes reading every page/post of this thread... all I have to say is:

this is F*$%#&NG sweet!

good job man!

-dave

 

[doorgunner]

..

I've been playing with wiring.....This is what I'm down to basically, plus the untouched engine harness.

And this is all the "extra" stuff.

Now I'm sur I'm on the right track with my '36 Ranger conversion........that's exactly what my wiring harness looks like....

 

[Loanranger]

Ok, I worked a little on it tonight, but no pics.

First, I got the rest of the "spare" wiring pulled out. At this point, it started to rain, so into the shop I went with the harness, and started in on making the motor and trans fit. After a good couple hours with the plasma cutter and porta power, I got it in about an inch forward of where it should be. At this point, I've only run into two problems, other than all the unforeseen hacking that I've been having to do on the firewall/trans tunnel. The first is that the accesories are a in a little different placement, so the stretch of belt between the crankpulley and p/s pump intersects with the steering shaft, which before it had a 1/4" of clearance. The second is the water pump inlet from the radiator sits right against the frame. Both of these seem to be pretty easy fixes, though I haven't come up with a definate plan of what I'm going to do yet.

A couple other minor issues I've run into, some of the components on the harness aren't in the same place in the LJ as they were in the mazda, like the battery and starter relay, so I'm going to have to reroute a few things before giving the harness a final wrap and strapping it in place. The other thing is the gas pedal may pivot off the back of the intake....

 

[Loanranger]

Ummm. I'm not sure if this really constitutes as progress or not....

Where the PCM will go.

Right behind the glove box

And I'll have to make a little dish in the firewall for the intake.

It's sitting on the motor mounts now, so I just have to build a new trans mount now, and it's mounted up. I got the harness finished tonight. I got the alternator circuit moved over to the passenger side, and the two evap valves over to the drivers side. I need to wire it into the ignition plug for the '83 column/ignition, plug it all in, and hope I didn't miss anything. Then I just need to route/plumb fuel lines and I can fire it up.

 

[Loanranger]

Bolts are in the motor mounts, and I've got one more fishplate to make for the crossmember. It actually worked out nice, because with the crossmember further back, it's closer to the front output on the transfercase. This means the crossmember passes over the slipjoint, which is smaller diameter than the 2" DOM tube for the driveline. This just means a shorter hoop, and more thickness, without cutting into the floor. More.

I'll get some pics of the whole shindig tomorrow when I finish it up. Then it's on to plumbing and hopefully a little WAGGUMM! (Yell that at the top of your lungs with a little hate and enthusiasm, and that's what it'll sound like.)

 

[Loanranger]

It's ALIVE!

I got the crossmember finished up this morning, and welded the bottom up, this was enough to get it started, so I wired it up and gave it some fuel.

It's in.

And whenever photobucket finishes loading it, I'll post up the video of the first start in the LJ.

 

[Loanranger]

And for the record, the only wiring I had off, was the alternator and fuseblock wiring I had hooked to the wrong side of the starter relay. I noticed right away, cause I didn't have power at the ignition.

Here's the video.



EDIT* I need a bigger fuel pump is the reason it won't idle. I had the return line just hanging there and nothing came out, so it's definately not getting enough fuel.

 

[Loanranger]

I got the engine and trans pulled again and welded the rest of the crossmember. I got the engine and trans back in, and bolted up, got the radiator hoses hooked up, and the floor around the tunnel cut back a little more, just to even it up, and make the seam straight. I had the idea to use some 16 guage I have here in a big sheet, but I looked at the 2'x4' sheets of 1/8 inch, and I'm toying with the idea of using it. Then I wouldn't need to reinforce around the master cylinder and steering shaft like I would with 16 guage. Well, we'll see.

 

[Loanranger]

Got the firewall all built and welded in.

I also got the exhaust routed under the body. I decided to go this route since I was into the floor anyways.

Firewall plug welded in.

PCM slid into place in the original jacket.

Tomorrow nights plan is clutch system and brake master and booster. I also need to get the steering collumn back in, and then I can wire everything up. I have a couple circuits to add, fuelpump, headlights and taillights, fan, cb, and tach. It's getting close now.

 

[Loanranger]

I got the brakes and clutch setup tonight. I need to swap the two lines from the master out of the mazda, because the fittings have a longer thread section than the older ranger ones. It looks like I can swap the two from the mazda though, so I should be good there. The clutch is all hooked up, I even got the grommet in the firewall for it.

I ran into a little problem with the throttle cable though.

I'm going to have to make a custom bracket, and reroute it as low as possible, but I should be able to make it work. I still have the gas pedal to do anyways, which will coincide with the building of the trans tunnel, since the two will be so close.

It's getting so close now I can taste it. Wait....no that's brake fluid.

 

[Loanranger]

Ok so tonight wasn't as productive.

1. The steering shaft u joint at the box intersects with the serpentine belt on the engine.
2. Upon installing the mazda brakelines from the master to the distribution block, I found that the rear brake line has a smaller fitting on the block side, and I kinked the front line rerouting it into place. This one is semi-simple, just get some new lines at the parts store, find adapter fittings if necessary.
3. I can't mount the gas pedal till I figure out where the steering column is going to go. With out the gas pedal in place, I can't start building the trans tunnel.
4. Needing a fuel pump that run around $100 bucks, with more important things to spend the $100 on.

Edit*
1. Going to remount the box on the frame, rocked down a hair in the front, shouldn't cause any issues with the spring.
2. just gotta go to the parts house some time.
3. should be able to work all this out tomorrow.
4. Thinking of making a new fuel cell, utilizing the pump from the mazda.

I did however get the throttle cable mount made tonight, I still need to make a tiny adjustment, and paint it black.

 

[Loanranger]

Got the brakes done. I ended up getting 2 sections of 3/16ths brakeline, and two more edleman fittings, plus a short adaper piece for the one I went to replace. Oh and a coupler. Basically, back when I originally plumbed the brakes, the master, distribution block, and rear brakehose were standard, the front brake hoses and rear wheel cylinders were metric. So I basically ran a standard system, with adapters at the front brakehoses, and at the wheel cylinders in the back. Well, now with the mazda brake master (which is metric), I had to adapt from metric back to standard, to avoid replacing all my lines with metric lines. Oh well. It's done now, just need to bleed the system and we're good there.
So on to steering for tonight.