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

Impressive!

So we recently had a few days where the weather hasn't been too bad out (high 30s, low 40s and not snowing or raining)

so i decided to start at installing these Mustang2 seats

again, here is the original ranger 60/40 bench





so first thing was to get the old seats out.
several of the seat slider/frame mount tabs were completely roted out and no longer attached.
those that were attached and in ok shape i couldnt get the bolts to budge, so i ended up taking a cut off wheel to the bolts anyway.

once i got the seats out, pulled up the nasty carpet, i got to see how bad the floor pans actually were.

for a massachusetts vehicle, this is a very rust/rot free vehicle, frame, bed, body panels, fenders, rockers, are all in great shape, BUT, it looks like the holes drilled in the cowl channel, or maybe a previously leaky windshield really took it's tole on the floor pans.

this is what i got to look at when i pulled the carpet up.





i then did some test fitting of the new seats and a pair of early 90s explorer frame/tracks.
i discovered that if i just put the frames in as is with the seats ontop of them, my head was against the roof sitting in the driver's seat.
this obviously wouldnt work.

so i started at the frames with the cutoff wheel.
i had to trim them down incredibly low, had to modify the sliders so they only open up on the outside of each one, and so now when im all done im going to have to weld on new mounting tabs to bolt to the floor.

here's the driver's side sitting on the new cut down track





then here's the two of them in there.
not bolted to anything. the tracks don't even have tabs to bolt down yet







next, its time to start at fixing the floor.
the entire interior was coated with a roll on bedliner paint, and when i started stripping up that, i found some fun stuff.

one of the previous owners Literally patched the floor with Tinfoil and Fiberglass





sweet

hahaha

well atleast i found it and now i can fix it.

took the cut off wheel to the bad stuff
had a hell of a time getting it in there
but managed it.
the passenger side is actually pretty good.

only the driver's side had to get this extreme




after this i coated everything with rust converter top and bottom.

hopefully this week the weather will continue to be moderately ok, so i can can get the patches in and seal up all old mounting holes.

i'm going to grind and weld as much as much of the floors as i can, and use automotive body panel adhesive everywhere i cant get a good weld.
then i'll poor15 everything, then re-bedliner everything.
then i'll actually be ready to figure out where im putting the new mounting holes for the seats.

Cool steering wheel.

Yeah, that steering wheel is pretty ridiculous! Ate right through your floorboard. Love the updates...keep 'em coming!

alwaysFlOoReD said:

Impressive!

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many thanks. slowly getting there.

Jim Oaks said:

Cool steering wheel.

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thanks. $11 halloween store skull, a dremel, a rusty old steering wheel, some JB Weld plastic epoxy, and some acrylic paint.

not bad for a friday night in the garage.

1qaz said:

Yeah, that steering wheel is pretty ridiculous! Ate right through your floorboard. Love the updates...keep 'em coming!

Click to expand...

hahaha. that must have been it. hahaha.

replacement floor pans showed up, did some trimming, had to custom make a few patches, and i used a combo of welding with my cheapo fluxcore, 3M body panel adhesive, and a few sheet metal screws where needed.

it's solid as a rock now.

letting the adhesive dry for a few days, then going to por15 everything, then going to re-roll on bed liner it all again.

then i can start figuring out where to weld the mounting tabs on the seat tracks.


it's not super pretty, but its going under a carpet anyway so i'm really not too worried about it.

also, in preparation of the inevitable Death of the 7.5 , i picked this up.

the truck currently has a 7.5" rear end with 3.73 limited slip.
considering i'm making about 400hp at the crank, i don't think that 7.5 has long to live.

this is an 8.8 out of a 2007 ranger Fx4 with the levelII package.
31 spline axles, oversized tubes to accommodate the larger axles and larger bearings,
10"drums, 4:10 gears and a torsen limited slip.
best of all the spring perches and shock mounts are all in the right spots already and it could
essentially bolt right up to our 83. (the entire rear end is about 2" wider than the 83,
so i'll have an extra inch or so of wheel sticking out past the fenders on each side.
not really a big deal)

before i put it on im going to weld the tubes, clean it all down, paint it with some por15,
replace all the brake components with new drums, and get rid of that torsen limited slip.
not sure if i want to go with a clutched limited slip, either stock ford racing part, eaton or auburn,
or go with a detroit locker.
i think for the time being i'll stick with a traditional limited slip,
as i've heard lockers can be hairy with stock spring rear suspension.

eventually i'll do a 4 link rear end, at which point i'll think more about a locker i think.

if anybody knows of anyone interested in a Torsen limited slip, i have one for sale. hahaha.
they're the same Torsen T2 differentials they started putting in the boss mustangs in 2012,
and after started putting stock in ALL mustang GTs up until the most recent ones have a Torsen T4.

anyway,

here's my New-To-Me rear end

THose seats and steering wheel are trick. OI honestly was wondering where the hell you buy a skull wheel but impressive you grafted it together.

I have a later disk explorer 8.8 with clutch limited in it and honestly the torsions give better feedback if they arent worn/chipped/damaged compared to the clutch where it gives greater tunability but unless you plan on 'tunning' its bite why bother swapping id opt for the check it new lube and let er eat! I also cut down the driver side axle tube and swapped a pass axle it to shorten up the housing. but for your wheel setup it doesnt look worth the hassle lol. love the overall theme btw.

Z

thanks man!
yeah i was really trying to shoot for that, 70s street rod vibe (even though i know it's an 83), so needed some black vinyl high backs. we'll see how they actually work out actually driving down the street.

and yeah, i've just heard that these are not the differentials you want if you are looking to go fast in a straight line.
heard they're amazing for road racing, which is why they are in all the new mustangs, and moderate for off roading, which is why they ended up in these fx4's to begin with, but get squirrely trying to launch in a straight line.

atleast that's what all the mustang guys seems to say.

it's funny with this truck how much of my forum time gets split between here and foxbody forums.

in all honesty im probably a few months from putting the rear end in anyway, so at that point i might just leave it the way it is. we'll see.
i want to finish up the floor, seats, seatbelts and carpet, so it's back to a point where i can drive it.
i have a 408 stroker that i need to swap into my van this spring, and i don't want 2 vehicles under the knife and out of commission at the same time.


and yeah, i have 15x10.5 centerlines in the back with 295 cooper gts. i'd need to get rid of the leafs and mini tub most likely if i wanted to fully tuck those.
or make some crazy fender flares (Which is actually more my speed. hahaha)
the tires are from the previous owner and i'm gonna need to replace them soon. i'm probably just going to go with the same size in a BFG Radial TA, white letters out of course.
but i have been tempted to put a giant pair of Mickey Thompson Sportsman Pros on the back. if i Really wanted to kill the 7.5 in a hurry.

hang 'em out

proz07 said:

THose seats and steering wheel are trick. OI honestly was wondering where the hell you buy a skull wheel but impressive you grafted it together.

I have a later disk explorer 8.8 with clutch limited in it and honestly the torsions give better feedback if they arent worn/chipped/damaged compared to the clutch where it gives greater tunability but unless you plan on 'tunning' its bite why bother swapping id opt for the check it new lube and let er eat! I also cut down the driver side axle tube and swapped a pass axle it to shorten up the housing. but for your wheel setup it doesnt look worth the hassle lol. love the overall theme btw.

Z

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Dude, I've missed the updates but glad to see ur still at it. This is a baddass lil truck with some cool tricks. Keep at it. Looking fwd to the rear end swap. It's on my list for this spring myself. 400 miles of break in is pretty good, with this crap winter here in nj, I've only been able to put like 50 miles on mine. Can't wait to get it out there.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

prymetime1 said:

Dude, I've missed the updates but glad to see ur still at it. This is a baddass lil truck with some cool tricks. Keep at it. Looking fwd to the rear end swap. It's on my list for this spring myself. 400 miles of break in is pretty good, with this crap winter here in nj, I've only been able to put like 50 miles on mine. Can't wait to get it out there.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

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thanks man.
she has some tricks up here sleeve thats for sure.
its all slowly coming along. I'll most likely swap in a new t5Z-spec before the rear end goes in though, just because the current old 80s t5 is giving up the ghost faster than i expected. synchros to 1st are gone, 2nd pops out of gear on real hard pulls, 3rd is kinda hard to get into, 5th is Real hard to get into, reverse is miserable. hahaha.
i'll be working on cleaning up and rebuilding the rear end slowly in my free time. sand, weld axle tubes, paint, new brakes, lines, girdle cover, new limited slip, then hopefully drop it in when i get a chance. although i i think i need all new U-Bolts, as the axle tubes are larger than the 7.5 i currently have on there.

anyway, i totally feel your weather pain.
i'm in Massachusetts. my sister just got 5 1/2 feet of flood water in her basement last weekend. we then got 7 inches of snow this past wednesday. it was 70 here 2 weeks ago. spring is teasing me with hotrod weather. hahaha

also, I know this isnt the place for posting "for sale" stuff.
but if anybody wants these 60/40 seats that i pulled out, and is local to Massachusetts, i'm letting them go for $60.

there is a small hole on the driver's side. other than that they are in surprisingly good shape.

trying to get these put of my way quickly so i figured id throw them up on here too.

CoreyTilton said:

also, in preparation of the inevitable Death of the 7.5 , i picked this up.

the truck currently has a 7.5" rear end with 3.73 limited slip.
considering i'm making about 400hp at the crank, i don't think that 7.5 has long to live.

this is an 8.8 out of a 2007 ranger Fx4 with the levelII package.
31 spline axles, oversized tubes to accommodate the larger axles and larger bearings,
10"drums, 4:10 gears and a torsen limited slip.
best of all the spring perches and shock mounts are all in the right spots already and it could
essentially bolt right up to our 83. (the entire rear end is about 2" wider than the 83,
so i'll have an extra inch or so of wheel sticking out past the fenders on each side.
not really a big deal)

before i put it on im going to weld the tubes, clean it all down, paint it with some por15,
replace all the brake components with new drums, and get rid of that torsen limited slip.
not sure if i want to go with a clutched limited slip, either stock ford racing part, eaton or auburn,
or go with a detroit locker.
i think for the time being i'll stick with a traditional limited slip,
as i've heard lockers can be hairy with stock spring rear suspension.

eventually i'll do a 4 link rear end, at which point i'll think more about a locker i think.

if anybody knows of anyone interested in a Torsen limited slip, i have one for sale. hahaha.
they're the same Torsen T2 differentials they started putting in the boss mustangs in 2012,
and after started putting stock in ALL mustang GTs up until the most recent ones have a Torsen T4.

anyway,

here's my New-To-Me rear end

Click to expand...

is the damn Torsen for sale????

while you have the level II axle out can you measure it? wheel flange to wheel flange? are they Ranger width, or Explorer width?
if you pull the shafts out their lengths would also be appreciated.

I have a 2011 axle. those have the big bearings but only 28 splines. plan is to install 31 spline diff unit and axle shafts. aftermarket shafts for the Level II are what I need, but are hard to get a part number for.


Thanks, Perry

Next in line for the Torsen. I'd like one for my race truck.

pjtoledo said:

is the damn Torsen for sale????

while you have the level II axle out can you measure it? wheel flange to wheel flange? are they Ranger width, or Explorer width?
if you pull the shafts out their lengths would also be appreciated.

I have a 2011 axle. those have the big bearings but only 28 splines. plan is to install 31 spline diff unit and axle shafts. aftermarket shafts for the Level II are what I need, but are hard to get a part number for.


Thanks, Perry

Click to expand...

alwaysFlOoReD said:

Next in line for the Torsen. I'd like one for my race truck.

Click to expand...

hey guys,
i will definitely be selling the Torsen.
going to put a traditional limited slip in, until i install a 4 link setup and feel comfortable running a detroit locker on the street. but who knows how far down the road that is.

right now as it stands i'm hopping to get to the rear end project come june or so. i'll probably be cleaning it up between now and then so i might get the Torsen out before June.
i found a good deal on the whole setup, hence jumping on it before i actually needed it or intended on doing the work.

anyway, when i get the Torsen out i'll look over it/have a local mechanic check it out and make sure everything looks good on it before reporting back and trying to sell it.


and yeah i'll put a tape measure to it next time im near it and remember.
and it's out of a ranger fx4 LevelII package.
the explorers from what i've read are a bit wider, and the spring perches and shock mounts aren't in the right spot.