Fixin' up the "Farm Truck"

RayInStl · Nov 27, 2015

Fixin' up the "Farm Truck" (83 1st Gen)

I've owned this truck for a little under a month. I sold my 2012 Jeep Wrangler and used the proceeds to buy 2 trucks. A 1999 Dodge Ram 2500 v10 4x4 for hauling my cars around and a 1983 Ford Ranger 2.3L 4 speed 4x4 for daily driving and eventually for playing in the mud.

When I first picked it up, it was in pretty sad shape. The PO had put a new alternator and carb on it but it still ran rough. I did some "timing by ear" in the parking lot of Advance Auto before even making it out of the little town the guy lived in. That helped a LOT. She made the hour and a half drive home without much drama, but I found out later that she was spitting oil and power steering fluid all over my Ram (driven by my brother who was following me home). Gee, thanks for letting me know! :shok:

She lost 3 quarts of oil and pretty much all of her power steering fluid. Not a great way to start things off, but I was pretty stoked. I've been a fan of Rangers for a long time. My dad had a 90 XLT when I was growing up. He should have had a truck twice it's size for all the hauling we did, but it never complained.

Anyway. Here's a couple pics from the morning after I brought her home and later in the parking garage at work:

RayInStl · Nov 27, 2015

Day 2: The "must be done NOW list"

I gave the truck a good once over to determine what things needed addressing right away.

It was immediately obvious that the tires were shot. They were dry-rotted and very hard. I think the truck did some sitting.

32 years of band-aids and shade tree mechanics had done their toll on the engine vacuum system and wiring. There were things capped off and others that were running to obviously wrong places. It appeared there had been a small engine fire at one time, as much of the wiring around the carburetor had melted connectors.

The glass for the driver side mirror fell off during my ride to work on day 2. Luckily it did it when I closed the door to leave, not going down the highway. The passenger side was missing it's glass from the beginning.

RayInStl · Nov 27, 2015

Day 3: New shoes!

I decided to address the tires right away. It rained the morning of Day 3 and I slid through the first two stop signs. So I turned around and parked the Ranger. Looks like the Ram will be my daily driver for at least a little while. :sad:

During lunch, I called the local NTB and set up an appointment to get some new tires. After work, I drove the Ranger over to NTB. On the way, another rain storm blew in, forcing me to slow down and be cautious with my braking. Just as I got there, the driver side windshield wiper stopped moving. This little truck has had a hard life. My list of "fix NOW's" was growing.

Another hour and a drive home where I drove from the center of the truck so I could see through the portion of windshield being cleared by the remaining wiper, I had the Ranger safe at home with a new set of Cooper Discoverer RTX's in 235/75R15.

At least now I can stop in the rain!

RayInStl · Nov 27, 2015

Now that the tires were safe, I replaced the windshield wiper arm bushing to restore the movement of the driver-side arm. It was refreshing to walk into an auto parts store and grab a generic wiper arm bushing kit off of the shelf and actually have the part I needed. I own two mid 60's Ramblers. You can't walk in and buy almost ANYTHING for those! lol.

With two small victories under my belt, I began to tackle the engine. She ran, but not well. It would run ok one day and barely run at all the next. I was able to plug some pretty severe vacuum leaks right away, which helped. But it became obvious fairly quick that a good portion of the emissions was missing, and what wasn't missing was leaking, incorrectly routed, or burnt to a crisp. It was a miracle it ran at all.

I did some reading and found I could ditch the computer and much of the vacuum by replacing the duraspark module with a GM HEI module that only took 4 wires to rig up. In most cases, I'm a proponent of keeping the stock system. I know I won't get much love for sticking a GM module on a Ford motor. But I needed reliability and I needed it quickly. I didn't have time to sort out what was missing, how it connected, and where to even find this stuff anymore.

So the deed was done. In an afternoon, I had removed the computer and about a hundred miles of vacuum lines. Many of which were in terrible shape.

Mounting the GM HEI Module to a heat sink (an old computer graphics card heat sink)

All wired up. Zip tied for now. I need to make a more permanent mount for it.

RayInStl · Nov 27, 2015

Let's make her purdy

Now that the immediate issues were out of the way, I could start working on the appearance. Now don't get me wrong. It's cool in it's own "farm fresh" sort of way. I mean, check out these bumper stickers!

But that doesn't mean I can't make it pretty. I like pretty. But before I get to that, let me show you what I had to work with.

The interior wasn't too bad. But it was FILTHY. I mean like, "never been cleaned in all of it's 32 years" kind of dirty. I will say, I really like the interior on these trucks. It's a simple, clean, uncluttered design. And it feels well built. I mean, here we are, 32 years later, and there's a single tear in the driver's seat (at a seam) and that's it. NO cracks in the dash pad, no holes in the rubber floor mat (other than the one where someone ran some wires to the back speakers.... more on that later), just dirt.

The questionable wiring runs back to a graphic equalizer mounted behind the seats that powers two 6 1/2" speakers, or at least it did at one time. This picture was taken after I removed the graphic equalizer. You can see the two holes in the rail that runs across.

The exterior was a bit more "rough". 1983 wasn't a good year for factory paint and my Ranger shows it. The ill-fitting camper shell probably didn't help. Add to that the previous owners' apparent hate for anything that looked like a car wash, and you have a recipe for rust. Which is something my Ranger has in spades.

RayInStl · Nov 27, 2015

Make It Purdy, Part 1

I don't know if this is a theme or not, but I started with the wheels again. This time, I removed them to add a fresh coat of black paint. I've always liked the way back wheels look on trucks. I think it adds just a little bit of a sinister look.

Just after painting

Mounted back on the truck. I think it goes a long way to making it look better.

Here's a before shot for comparison. I also removed the "Deflecta-Sheild" bug guard, too. I hate those things.

Unfortunately, I found some new things to add to the "Need to fix NOW" list.

Oh, hey, found the exhaust leak...

I drove this an hour and a half home. I couldn't tell it was cracked by the feel of the pedal. Had I not taken the wheels off for paint, I may not have known for a while!

RayInStl · Nov 27, 2015

Make It Purdy, Part 2

So I actually fixed the rotor and brakes on the driver side. I didn't take any pictures because it was damned cold and I had to do it after work, so it was in the dark and I was tired. Sorry... But I replaced the rotor, wheel bearings, grease seal, caliper, and brake pads. I wanted to replace the rubber line as well, but they didn't have them in stock. I'm going to order some online and install them when I do the passenger side next weekend.

I wanted to drive the Ranger to the Thanksgiving, so I started to clean up the interior. I also picked up a newer dash bezel that has the single din size radio hole. I really didn't want to cut up my stock bezel because it's in perfect condition. I like the silver more anyway. I've never been a fan of fake wood.

I think it turned out very well. I used Mother's VLR (Vinyl Leather Rubber) cleaner and conditioner on virtually all of the interior pieces. It's not some "wet look" oil like ArmorAll. I don't touch that stuff. It's a pH balanced cleaner that also has neat's-foot oil and lanolin to help protect the vinyl. I was very impressed with how well it cleaned. It left behind little to no residue.

I also wired in a cheapie Kenwood head unit I had laying around.

For comparison, here's what the floor mat looked like before cleaning.

RayInStl · Nov 27, 2015

Make It Purdy, Part 3

While I was in the cleaning mood, I did a quick wipe-down of the engine bay. It still needs a good degreasing, but it looks a lot better than it did. New plug wires, plugs, rotor and distributor cap are on my short list of things to replace. I'm working out a deal with a mechanic friend to have the rear-main-seal and oil pan gasket replaced. I could do it, but it's worth it to have him do it. Hopefully that will fix the oil leak.

Divh · Nov 27, 2015

looks like a nice little project ya got there

RayInStl · Nov 27, 2015

Thanks. She's not much to look at yet, but I'll get there eventually. Right now I just want to get it running good and drive it for a while. I'll slowly fix it up as I go. I wonder if I picked the right subforum for my build. It's never going to be a dedicated off road vehicle, but instead a daily driver that gets on the trails once in a while.

I picked up a 2 bbl intake off eBay to replace the wheezy little 1 bbl that's on there now. I think it should help it in the power department. It's a weird little intake though. Each barrel is segregated from the other. The port has a plate splitting it in two so that the first barrel flows through the top of the port and the second through the bottom. Hopefully it still performs decent.

4EyedTurd · Nov 27, 2015

I dig it, my 83 is rough but yours is in better shape. Keep posting pics

Mightyfordranger · Nov 28, 2015

Oh come on just when it was getting good no more to read yet and I really like that little truck its got some real character and compared to my first gen waaayyy cleaner too keep it up I'll be readin

RayInStl · Nov 29, 2015

Ha ha! Thanks guys. The Ranger's heading over to a mechanic the family has been using for years to have the rear main seal replaced. He's going to do the oil pan gasket at the same time. So hopefully that will take care of my oil loss issues.

Next up is getting new plugs, wires, cap, and rotor. The engine randomly runs VERY rough. Like it's down a cylinder. I'm hoping the new wires/plugs will fix that. I'll probably hit it with another round of degreaser when I do that.

It's nice knowing that I can order almost anything for this truck from LMC. I wish they did Ramblers! I'm used to hunting for parts and paying premo prices for "rebuildable" parts!

85_Ranger4x4 · Nov 29, 2015

Usually you have to pull the engine to do the pan gasket, might be a good time to give the engine a bath if he pulls it all the way out.

RayInStl · Nov 29, 2015

I agree, but unfortunately won't be there when he's doing it. I'll be dropping it off one weekend and picking it up the next. He lives ~45 miles from me.

I think I'm going to have him do the timing belt at the same time. Might as well get as much taken care of in one go as I can.

Changed the spark plugs and wires today. I think the spark plugs needed it. lol. Cap and rotor are ordered and should be here Monday evening. I'm still having some trouble where under load the engine wants to buck and run rough. I assume it's still timing, but I've done both "timing by ear", which I'm usually pretty good at, and timing with a light following the normal procedure (vac advance disconnected and capped, idling 800RPM).

Any thoughts?

Fixin' up the "Farm Truck"

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