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Corey and Elise's 1983 V8 Ranger build - aka - Project Interceptor


proz07

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World of difference some carpet makes. How are the seats mounted under the floor pan? I know the stockers run through the cross support. are yours in the stock local?

z
 


CoreyTilton

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World of difference some carpet makes. How are the seats mounted under the floor pan? I know the stockers run through the cross support. are yours in the stock local?

z
what do you mean cross support?

there weren't any reals structural bracing or supports of anything under any of the old seat mount locations before.
there were some small plates with bolts welded to them, seemed like a bolts welded to maybe 16 or 14 gauge sheet metal. nothing particularly structural. kinda looked like thinner versions of this



most of them were rusted/rotted out


i cut out all the old mounting stuff and hardware, filled all the old holes, and made all new mounting locations for these customized tracks.

i purchased 12 of these that i'm using for each of the 4 seat mounts and seatbelts




they're about 4 inches long, maybe 2 1/2 to 3 inches wide.
very thick steel. very heavy.
 

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Looks great with those Mustang II seats. I guess I should feel old because my best friend had a Mustang II when we were in High School. Heck, my sister bought one new. Let's hope Ford never gets an idea like that again.
 

CoreyTilton

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Looks great with those Mustang II seats. I guess I should feel old because my best friend had a Mustang II when we were in High School. Heck, my sister bought one new. Let's hope Ford never gets an idea like that again.
thanks! i think they fit that late 70s early 80s vibe. black vinyl everything.

and no, you shouldn't. everything seems old if you think about it like that. hahahaha.
it's funny too, even though they were total stinkers, people will still pay good money these days for the nostalgia.

my father used to buy, "supe up" and race/sell 65 and 66 fastbacks back in the mid to late 70s. he'd buy them from junk yards, rip out the trannys and 289s, and do a top loader and typically whatever larger displacement or higher reving small block he could get his hands on. he said he used to do allot of cleavlands. the 351w was a truck engine and nobody would put that in a car back then. he had a boss 302 that he got on trade from someone for a town car or something. he said at any given time there were 2-4 first gen fast backs sitting in my grand parent's back yard in various stages of broken.

anyway.... moral of the story, he used to buy 65 and 66 mustangs with original 289's for a few hundred bucks. sometimes as low as 400. he said the cars were a dime a dozen, and weren't the cool highly sought after collector cars they are today.
hahahaha.
he said he'd buy them cause they were light and cheap and parts were cheap, but the engine compartments were the worst thing ever to try and work in, and that as soon as you had enough power in them to lift the front tires, the unibody would be twisted and cocked and you'd need to bring it somewhere to get it bent back straight.

so, who knows, those mustang iis might just become the new cool thing in 10 years when someone steals one in some movie or something. who knows. hahahahaha.

in the mean time,
the seats are pretty comfy.
 

prymetime1

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Interior looks good bud. Hot rod vibe all over it. I'm about to embark on this project myself but just haven't had the time trying to work the rest of the bugs out. What's next on your list of projects?

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CoreyTilton

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Interior looks good bud. Hot rod vibe all over it. I'm about to embark on this project myself but just haven't had the time trying to work the rest of the bugs out. What's next on your list of projects?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
thank you thank you! and good luck.
it was a TON of time just trimming and test fitting and hitting with a hammer and test fitting and over and over and over and over again. then allot of sitting on a lawn chair in the driveway and just kind of starring at it. always lots of bugs.

i have a new set of front fenders i got off ebay for it im going to paint up and slap on. the ones on it are dented and bent beyond what i can actually get good, and for $90 for the pair, couldnt say no.

after that, i have an aluminum carb-mount scoop for this thing. but instead of cutting this up the steel hood, im gonna save the steel hood and grab a fiberglass one from... i think its egleton? engleton? something like that. they make them where they hook up to the stock hood hinges, but need 2 hood pins up front (which i already use any).

the aluminum scoop sticking through the hood should really round off the street rod look.

at some point i need to put new rubber on the tires. going to do BFG radial TAs the same size as the bald coopers on it now, but HAVE to have the white lettering facing out.


ummm.... after that it'll probably be time to replace the transmission.
:/

i also have an engine swap in my van i still need to finish, so... we'll see how much of that ranger list i actually get into this season.
 

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who knows, those mustang iis might just become the new cool thing in 10 years when someone steals one in some movie or something. who knows. hahahahaha.

in the mean time,
the seats are pretty comfy.
I think the only thing people have ever wanted out of the Mustang II was the front suspension.
 

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I think the only thing people have ever wanted out of the Mustang II was the front suspension.
When I durasparked my 2.8 I asked for a dizzy out of a Mustang II rather than one out of a Pinto.

Getting Pinto parts at a parts store of like going into a old west saloon in gunfighter garb and asking for New York City salsa. ;brownbag;

Mustang II isn't quite so bad... you can leave the II out and kinda fly under the radar a little bit too. :secret:

They were supposed to have a been a big hit back in the day and really not a bad car. They were well past their prime by the time I came along though so everything I have to go on is hearsay though.
 

CoreyTilton

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I think the only thing people have ever wanted out of the Mustang II was the front suspension.
When I durasparked my 2.8 I asked for a dizzy out of a Mustang II rather than one out of a Pinto.

Getting Pinto parts at a parts store of like going into a old west saloon in gunfighter garb and asking for New York City salsa. ;brownbag;

Mustang II isn't quite so bad... you can leave the II out and kinda fly under the radar a little bit too. :secret:

They were supposed to have a been a big hit back in the day and really not a bad car. They were well past their prime by the time I came along though so everything I have to go on is hearsay though.


hahaha. this is true. those front suspension setups are SUPER popular with f100 guys, and i think even cross breading into chevys and stuff like that too. i know a guy with an 84 ranger that he put a super nice mustang ii front end in. he also has an insane 408 stroked cleavland in it, fully caged, and does a mean 1/4 mile. but i regress.
seems like its all the people doing swaps out there that keep the mustangii suspension market alive.

but who knows. people like odd ball weird stuff that nobody has.
that mixed with nostalgia goggles, mustangii s might be cool in 20 years.

i mean, i'll tell ya what, most people my parent's age ask me about the truck i've been working on, and ask me what it is, and i tell them "its an 83 ford ranger" , 9 out of 10 responses are - "a ranger? the really small pickup from the 80s? why would you put all that time and effort and money into that?"
 

CoreyTilton

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CoreyTilton

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hey hey hey for those of you still following this thread.
long time no post.

i broke my arm back in June, so didnt get allot of work done/lot of driving into the old bird this season. eventually got the tranny swap done i had been wanting to do, back at driving her now.

here are some updates from the past few months.


first thing, i needed to get an inspection sticker.

for those of you who don't know, Massachusetts has yearly safety inspections that need to be done, they put a sticker on your window, yada yada yada.
it's been like this for ... ever. or , close to.

however, the state doesn't actually perform the inspection, they sub it out to gas stations, service stations, pretty much anyone who wants to get paid to do them, and then all the info computer stuff actually gets handled by some 3rd party company the state hires.
but no state employees actually looking at your vehicle, just your buddy at the gas station.
so this past year that changed. state hired a new company to handle the inspection sticker backend itself, and this new company requires much fancier computer setup in every service bay doing a sticker, with 5 webcams live streaming the inspection, as well as audio Mic on the person performing the inspection.

technically, none of the rules have changed. they are just fully enforcing them, with no leniency.
things that are kind of tricky for us older car guys, and custom car guys,
-customers are not allowed to be in the service bay during the inspection at all.
this means, if your keys need a little jiggle to start, or your blinkers are on a toggle switch, or... for us 1st gen ranger guys... your horn is on a weird push lever on the column, .... and the inspector can't figure it out on their own, you fail.
- NO Visible rust
this one kills me. we live in new england. the roads literally Are salt 3/4 of the year. you can get around it. technically, the webcams can't see THAT good, so a light coat of paint, or duct tape, maybe they won't notice. but at that point you need a guy you trust who will essentially look over things for you.

anyway, i had a short checklist of things i needed to get working for this season to pass inspection. i found a repair shop where my neighbor works as long as i go through with him how the truck works before he pulls it in, should be good.

so i had previously put some ugly front directionals in that i just smoked black. they were smoked too black in my opinion, and i thought they would be an issue, so i custom made a pair of new ones with blacked backs, and clear lenses, that Sort-Of match my headlights.





next was functioning windshield wipers

if you dig back to pictures from when we first got this truck, the wiper cowl had been cut off, there were a few holes cut into the cabin and into the engine bay, and the wiper arms were hooked up to the wiper motor via welded threaded rod.

i had a junk yard cut me off the cowl section from another ranger, ground it down, and made my own removable cowl for a 1st gen ranger, which is kinda cool. it doesnt look perfect, but its there. it comes off if i need to get in there.
but thats where i stopped. i never bothered getting the wipers working because, look at this truck. im not driving it around in the rain and snow. i lathered the windshield with rainex and said good day.

so now here i am, and i had to get the wipers working for the new much more thorough inspection.
so i bought a new motor, mounted it up where it KINDA looks like it should go? bought some used wiper "transmission" arms (thats what they're called apparently) and hooked it all up.
it works.
we are pleased.




also took this time to get a new windshield, as the old one was cracked and pretty pitted. again, was fine with me, small crack, but wouldnt pass a real inspection.



next was the volume.
if you've seen any of our videos, you know this truck is loud.
even after i put a pair of CarChemistry inserts in the header collectors, it still makes bystanders jump at startup, and sets off car alarms easily.

so i bought 8 motorcycle exhaust baffles


and welded nuts onto the inside

and put those in the tips, and tightened a bolt pushing out against the exhaust pipe.

they held. brought the volume down a good amount.

lastly i put a set of matching moderate width wheels with decent tread tires on them.

this is what the truck looked like



so needless to say, it passed inspection. guy had a good laugh at it when i was showing him all the switches to start it, honk the horn, turn the directionals and headlights on and all that stuff. all the guys at the shop stopped what they were doing after to check it out and ask questions about it.

i do have to say, the ride on those bigger tires IS smoother. but, sitting higher than normal in the front felt weird. i felt like i didnt have as much grip in the back. and i couldnt stand the quited down exhaust. it was super raspy sounding, and im so used to listening for exhaust notes to shift, it felt weird.

also, i did start work on new front fenders for this.
the fenders that are on there are BEAT. i literally just bondoed over the marker lights and repainted it, because they are so dented and mangled and bent up it wasnt worth my time to do right.

here is a picture of one of the New front fenders im working on. i cut a piece of sheet metal to fit in the marker hole. ground down the marker light mounting tabs on the back. welded it in. used some 3m body panel adhesive for filler. a VERY light skim coat of bondo to smooth it out. and allot of sanding and primer and sanding and primer.

it's as if the marker light was never supposed to be there to begin with.
 

CoreyTilton

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so on to the transmission.

i was weighing back and forth between whether we should buy a new z-spec t5, or a modified t-5 from G-force or Astro.
the truck makes just shy of 400hp at the flywheel. 395ish. and a little less tq. like, 390ftlbs.
stock t5 is supposedly good for about about 300ftlbs. maybe 315
the Z-Spec t5, which they put in 1 model year mustang cobra, and is a popular upgrade for foxbody guys, has mixed claims.
i've seen some sellers (LMR, CJPony Parts) say they are guaranteed for 330ftlbs
i've talked to some other places that say, no they're warranty'd at 330ftlbs, you can run 400ftlbs to 415ftlbs on them for years without any issues.

then theres the GForce and Astro t-5s. these are companies that take t5 casings, and all custom internals, and claim to back these transmissions behind 600hp with 500ftlbs running on slicks in a 3,300 pound car.

so,
with this ranger we are right on the brink of ... maybe its too much for a Z-Spec, but we really don't need the G-Force headroom.

also, the Z-Spec t5 is $1,800 brand new.
a G-Force t5 is $3,700

we talked to some guys. ended up talking to someone over at American Powertrain who basically said, there's guys running z-specs in the 10s, for seasons on end, with 450hp and drag slicks and 3,200 pound cars. we should be fine with 400hp in a light little ranger on street tires as a weekend joy cruiser.

so we bought the Z-Spec

painted it




put a new Hurst short throw shifter in it



and good to go




ended up going back to the ratty looking little stick and ball. the chromed out long hurst stick and white ball looked too nice for this thing

and here i am in the truck, with the new upholstery we did, just before i broke my arm

yay!

 

prymetime1

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Man, nice update. Glad your arm is back in order. The truck is really cool and the little fixes start to add up. The trans deal is also cool. The weather is turning quick this fall season so I hope u get to enjoy roasting some tires before it's time for winter hibernation.



Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

CoreyTilton

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Man, nice update. Glad your arm is back in order. The truck is really cool and the little fixes start to add up. The trans deal is also cool. The weather is turning quick this fall season so I hope u get to enjoy roasting some tires before it's time for winter hibernation.



Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


Many thanks man!

yeah the little things ad up over time.
i want to get the fenders painted and on before winter, just so they arent getting moved around the garage and i don't have to re-prime and re-sand them again in the spring.

i'd like to figure out some sort of arm rest/cup holder/fire extinguisher holder for between the seats. as always with this truck, im trying to make it as light as possible, so im looking at some plastic body vinyl top Explorer consoles, or something like that maybe.
i could custom fab something,
but it'll be out of metal and weigh a million pounds which is what im trying to stay away from.

looking into Fiberglass stock style hoods
i have a big custom made aluminum scoop and velocity stack i'd like to put on this thing and have pocking out the hood.
at which point i'd rather have the "permanent" fiberglass hood, instead of cutting up this metal one, thats pretty dinged up and warped and not too great looking.


although plans,
might try and clean up/rebuild the 31 spline 8.8 i have for this thing sitting in the garage.
its a fx4 levl2 ranger 8.8, so it should bolt right up to all the same mounts and everything.


so yeah.

slowly but surely.

ripping and tearing right now at the moment.
 

Ranger850

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Just read the whole thread. Nice build
Thanx for posting plenty of pics
Came a long way
 
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