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Mustang inspired grille for first gen ranger


CAD

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After I finished up my new winch bumper and brush guard I decided that I really didn't like the look of the factory grill. Spent a little time through the junk yard but didn't find anything that really inspired me until on the way home I passed an early Boss mustang. So I went home and rummaged through my scrap and found a door off of an old Dell server I collected years ago, and a piece of 1/8" x 1-1/4" x 6' strapping. Cut the center out of a spare grille I had laying around, and cut the door down to size. Bent the strapping around a 30mm socket with a torch cut and sized it to the opening, only went around the sides and bottom. Attached the metal door material to the original mounting points and put the grille shell in. spot welded the door piece to the strapping and made some mounting brackets for the sides of the new grille. Painted everything up and put it back together. also put on my new LED off road light at the same time. Took about three hours start to finish, but I like the look much better. took it for a test drive to make sure I was getting enough airflow to keep from overheating, and everything worked great.
 

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Mark_88

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Looks good!

I was thinking of changing mine over to a 92 style front end because mine was damaged...but I might do something like that otherwise...the hood and front fenders on mine are just about due for replacing but finding them now is harder...hence...the idea about going with the 92 front end...
 

CAD

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The same idea would probably work on the 92 front grill as well. It was a fairly easy mod, nothing to difficult
 

85_Ranger4x4

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I was nervous where this was going to go but that looks really good. :icon_thumby:
 

CAD

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Thanks, the only other option was a billet grille which are OK but not really the look I was going for.
 

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