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'85 Ranger Restomod


85_Ranger4x4

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The technical term is "front dig" :cool:

Great work so far, I am looking forward to seeing your final shifter design. I happen to have two 205 shifters myself and it should be even easier for me since my trans was designed to have a 205 behind it. Twin stick 205 has been on my mod list for quite a while.
My inspiration, as per usual the Chevy system is simpler to work with. :annoyed:

https://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/general-4x4-discussion/572617-how-np-205-twin-stick-cheap.html

I am going to have to tweak the levers some, they bind when beside each other. Cut some of the pivot bushing off of one and move it to the other side basically and trim the other one to shorten it up.

Yeah, at first it sounds like you just throw a 205 on like any other tcase, there is more to it than that. One thing that kinda makes me nervous is the input shaft seal retainer is supposed to locate itself in the transmission so it doesn't have any weight on the trans output shaft. I am going to have to watch that so I am not pushing the end of the trans output shaft down with my 130+ lb tcase. And then you have to notch it. And finagle levers to come out in a decent location, your trans is shorter so they would come out much farther ahead than mine. I am probably going to have to run a strap ahead off of those two bosses on the side of my trans and mount the levers on that farther ahead.

And I wish someone made OEM looking twin stick knobs, I might just have to run blank ones.

I love it and it really doesn't look that difficult. There does seem to be a lot of these transfer cases around! But in my case I'll be lucky if I even get around to getting the "shiftster" to manually switch my BW1354
Most are Chevy or Dodge though, Ford didn't run the married style very long and 4x4's were not the norm in the 70's like they are now.

I am pretty much going to have the Shifster setup until I get the levers done, just push/pull shift rails rather than turn a knob lol.

Anyway to recap tonight, took the wife out for winning grand champion in the bread contest at the county fair. It was fun but I only had an hour left for the truck. Exhaust is off the header (PITA) shifter is out, starter is out.
 
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85_Ranger4x4

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Deconstruction continues...

I asked dad to borrow his sawzall (mine is metal which is heavy and is either on or off) he said why don't you use my pipe cutter.



The thing is friggin magical. I don't know why he kept giving me the sawzall all these years. Made by K-D, I am going to have to get one, it is awesome. :icon_thumby:

Slipped the grille off to pick on the coolers:



Still kinda proud of my setup. :bawling:





Cooler lines are off trans, left them hanging in space to continue drooling last night.

Just need to pull the dipstock, suck what I can out of the pan (pan is glued on and I don't feel like fighting it), Torque converter nuts, bellhousing bolts, crossmember and trans mount.
 
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85_Ranger4x4

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Getting dangerously close to dropping the trans. When I only get a half an hour to an hour to pick at it the process seems to drag on.



I found my new floorplate. It looks a lot better than the hermaphrodite conflagration the PO cooked up.



Poor thing hasn't been down a week and I miss it. :bawling:



I was flipping thru a book at work and something caught my eye... has bubbles like the stock 205 knob too.



https://www.steinertractor.com/IHS1204-high--low-insert-for-our-ihs242-knob



https://www.steinertractor.com/IHS242-rubber-knob

Not crazy about the shape of the knob, I might get the center first and play with it a little. I looked a geardrive 1066 and the lever dia looks pretty close to being right though.
 
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85_Ranger4x4

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Test fit a bellhousing bolt, it fits.



First part of the trans swap is INSTALLED :yahoo:



I went ahead and stuck a vacuum cap on the carb port before I forgot about it and spent half a day trying to find the vacuum leak.

Holy crap, I have fought tougher things... but I really can't remember when. The stupid thing flipped upside down halfway out so oil puked out the trans vent and the speedo hole. Then it got caught on the firewall in that position so I had to wrestle it back upright to continue its trip out.



Jacked the truck up and it is out. :icon_hornsup:



This was in my driveway this morning, was really missing the Ranger.

 

fastpakr

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Looking good. You made a lot more progress today than I did on mine.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 

85_Ranger4x4

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Looking good. You made a lot more progress today than I did on mine.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
Catching flak for my late night right now. :temper:

At 9:30 the trans was hanging upside down on ratchet straps and it was a long ways from a good stopping point.
 

fastpakr

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I'm up because I just finished on mine. It's past midnight here. Had a chance to get the sport trac springs in. Still haven't bolted in the drivers side, but that should be quick tomorrow. After that, the bed is finally ready to go back on.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 

85_Ranger4x4

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I'm up because I just finished on mine. It's past midnight here. Had a chance to get the sport trac springs in. Still haven't bolted in the drivers side, but that should be quick tomorrow. After that, the bed is finally ready to go back on.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
I fell into the "I am just going to change springs real quick" trap last year. Even when I just had them out 5 years before it wasn't as easy as it looked.

Make an headway on your whistle and oil pressure?
 

fastpakr

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It was definitely EGR and intake vacuum related. Spraying carb cleaner near the valve affected the whistle and could shut down the engine given enough quantity. I pulled the upper intake so I could re torque the lower and get a closer look for any problems down there. Will install a phenolic intake spacer while it's off, and I'm putting in a new EGR valve, EGR tube, and DPFE hoses as well. Kind of shotgunning a few things since I really want to be done screwing around with this thing.

Happy birthday by the way!
 

85_Ranger4x4

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The stupid DPFE hoses can be a pain, when the original ones got some age on them my F-150 would blow one off if I got on it (like to merge into traffic or something) Terrible hot in that area to try to poke it back on too.

Thanks!
 

85_Ranger4x4

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Rattled the flexplate off with my impact. Unforeseen curve ball #1... 5.0 flexplate bolts are different than 4.2 flywheel bolts that are different than 5.0 flywheel bolts.



Noted that the dowel pins stayed in the block, I would rather have them in the block to hold the separator plate in place during assembly so the ones that stayed in my new trans gotta go. One was easy, tap it out with a punch. The other I had to drill a hole to tap it out.



Rear main seal is leaking, back of the intake is leaking and the back of one valve cover is leaking. I think it is the intake not the DS head leaking oil. I will clean it good and observe for sure. Crank was borderline when I changed the seal in '11, it is going to need a sleeve.

 
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85_Ranger4x4

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Did some spitballing last night with the tape measure, not going to be as much driveline length difference as I thought. The 205 isn't as deep as the 1350, going to be about 1" longer overall is all which IIRC (from 7 years ago) is about 3" shorter than it was with the stock A4LD and 1350.

C5/1350 is about 39" overall to the center of the cross.



205 is 12.375" roughly.



M5R2 is 27.75" roughly



12.375+27.75=40.125"

Also poked around with the backup lights a little, it seems the connector that goes to it did not survive The Great Wiring Purge of 2011 and will need to be restored. Seems it shares the connector with the neutral start which I also had to resurrect (and now don't need)
 
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lvwill

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Looking good. I'm getting jealous no time and way to hot to get anything done on the b2. Any updates on the spacer? I'm seriously thinking about just getting a clocking ring.
 

85_Ranger4x4

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Looking good. I'm getting jealous no time and way to hot to get anything done on the b2. Any updates on the spacer? I'm seriously thinking about just getting a clocking ring.
Estimated 2-3 weeks when I dropped off the .dwg file yesterday. They have hopes of squeezing it in sooner because it is a smaller part but the big table for cutting 3/8" is backed up and they won't guarantee it. Estimated $13 and change.

Weather has been beautiful here. Low 80's for highs and into the mid 60's at night, very unseasonable. We are going to pay for it but I am trying to make hay while the sun is shining so to speak.

EDIT: Tonight I rerouted the rear truck harness and eliminated that short jumper harness. Cut the fuel pump wire going thru the shifter hole and fished the Sirius antennae back thru the shifter floor plate and fully removed the shifter out of the cab. Removed speedometer cable, found absolutely nothing wrong with it but I have a new one to install. Backup light wires have been located, I need the dash harness side connector though. The rivets for the exhaust heat shield under the passenger side floor must have loosened up, I drilled them out to replace them.

Also test fit the trans crossmember moved back, I had thought I cut it down but I just drilled a different hole. If it I end up in the neighborhood of an A4LD (it should be close) it should be good to go.

Been busy doing a lot of minor stuff that is greatly simplified by not having a trans/exhaust in the way.

EDIT #2: Progress not really worthy of a new post.

Parts store didn't have anything to lube speedometer cable. Asked dad about it, he said he has used Multiluber for speedometer and tach cables for years and it works great. He let me borrow his bottle.



Weird looking stuff:





Cable is in, pretty uneventful.



Snap-On had a special on these, I snagged one. Pretty freaking neat, you touch black part of the handle and put the probe to something with power and touch the vehicle with your other hand and it beeps and lights up. Would have been awesome with my tail light debacle earlier this summer.

 
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85_Ranger4x4

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Cleaned the loose crumbles off the floor of the truck. Can't say it looks better lets just go with different.





Decided to reroute the Sirius antennea thru the firewall and down the frame rather than thru the shifter floor plate... took a little doing but I got it done. I intend to do the same for the fuel pump wire coming off of the inertia kill switch. Then I will have no wires going thru the shifter hole.



The perils of doing radio work with no floor plate in place... (spacer for the radio fell out the bottom of the truck :annoyed:)



All back together:



And I have a better gauge pod designed with provisions for my switches that will clean that mess up, I need to drop it of to be burned and bent sometime.

For those that wondered how fast a old 18.2V Craftsman C3 drill will run, however fast it takes to get the speedo to run about 35mph. It was nice and smooth too. :icon_thumby:



Hit the JY today in search of the ever elusive clutch pedal, no luck. Did snag a solid floor plate so I have that for an option if the factory manual one doesn't fit.



For the connector for my backup lights, C156 in the '88 EVTM I need a four wire version. Older trucks are different and second gens for that location use a connector with one locating tab rotated differently. Second gen backup light harness to dash harness connections:



BUT second gens use the same exact connector (with different wire colors) for the windshield wiper motor harness. :yahoo:



Still waiting on the rear main seal, speedi sleeve and flywheel bolts. They went past me from Utah to Illinois to go to the delivery company... Dang Rockauto anyway. On the flipside it is giving me time to get all this extra stuff fixed that that I am not 100% happy with but may not have taken time to deal with if I had everything on hand to keep rocking and rolling putting a trans in this thing. Making it to our car show on the 18th is looking pretty shaky.
 
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