Rebuilding my father's old truck

Rangerx2 · Oct 5, 2016

DaddysTruck said:
Thank you. When I think about how my dad would have felt about what I'm doing, I always remember the time when I was a kid and he walked in and caught me taking apart his vcr. He would probably get upset that I have his truck in 5000 pieces and assume I had no idea what I was doing. Lol

Yours and mine both... :icon_confused:

Keep up the great work, though!

DaddysTruck · Oct 28, 2016

I picked up a set of black Mustang sun visors, both with lighted mirrors. I'll have to create an adapter of some sort because the mounts don't match or give them the correct angle. I just stuck them up there for now. I'll need an extra power distribution box to wire these up and the power seat.

I'm going to use the existing seat rails on the Nissan buckets as the flat surface to create a place for the Ranger rails to mount to. I've got all of the brackets ground off, and the plan is to weld in some steel across the rails and mount the Ranger rails to that. It so happens to give the shorter seats the same height as the originals so it should be perfect.

I pulled some nice newer door seals off of a 99 model to replace the old torn up ones on mine. Other than that I haven't got much done other than spending money. I picked up a nice welder and an engine crane so I can get the motor out and start the rebuild.

DaddysTruck · Nov 19, 2016

I decided to give it a rest with the interior stuff for now and focus back on the motor. Working on getting everything prepared for it to be pulled out and put on the stand.

I realized I could take out the whole hvac system as one piece, and get it out of the way without having to diconnect any lines so that was nice.

It feels good to finally see the engine bay so empty, still lots to do though. I spent an entire day off just cleaning out the garage to make room for me to do the rebuild. It's finally getting really cold, so I would like to get it in there asap where I can stay warm. Plan is to have everything done by spring.

DaddysTruck · Nov 24, 2016

Changed my mind on the 4x6s in the doors. Going with an old 6.5 component set I had in a Mustang before.

DaddysTruck · Jan 16, 2017

Finally had a warm day without 50 other things to do, and managed to get my motor out and on the stand. Had no issues at all getting it out with the HF 2 ton crane. The universal lift plate that was suggested worked great. I did have to notch out the holes to get it to fit, but no biggie. Got it from Advanced.

The clutch set looked to be in great shape. It must have been replaced fairly recently. I'm just going to throw it right back on since I was having no problems with it.

Now I just need to crack the motor open and figure out if it's it good enough shape to overhaul. I have a hunch that it's been rebuilt at some point, so hoping to find good things inside. I would hate to be forced to find some other motor to drop back in there. :3gears:

Stangman92 · Jan 16, 2017

Looks like you're moving right along. Great work!

DaddysTruck · Jan 30, 2017

Looks like at some point the crankshaft timing gear got chewed up. No chunks missing though, and it was giving no problems.

I had trouble getting out a couple of the drivers side exhaust manifold bolts. Torched them and nothing worked. Ended up snapping two of them. At least the motor is pulled, they should be easy to drill out.

DaddysTruck · Jan 30, 2017

Got an auto dimming rear view out of an '02 Explorer that looks like new. Pulled the wiring harness with it so it should be easy to wire up.

wildbill23c · Jan 30, 2017

Truck looks great. My first truck was an 84 Ranger 4x2. My grandparents bought it new in 84 and used it up until 89 to pull a 13' travel trailer. Truck was still in great condition body wise. The downfall came when the TFI, and computer started failing and causing all sorts of trouble. Of course back at the time the troubles started, I was still in high school, didn't know anything about the TFI and computer troubles and ended up selling the truck

. I'd love to get my old truck back but the likelihood of that happening is pretty slim most likely impossible.

Glad you took the time to fix that truck up, those older Rangers are great trucks.

AndyB. · Jan 30, 2017

Did you have much trouble separating the engine and transmission when pulling the engine?

If you get some time, could you post a picture of a rocker arm, and the end of a rocker arm shaft? I'm making plans to rebuild my '85 2.8, and it looks like there may have been a part change mid-year.

DaddysTruck · Jan 30, 2017

AndyB. said:
Did you have much trouble separating the engine and transmission when pulling the engine?

If you get some time, could you post a picture of a rocker arm, and the end of a rocker arm shaft? I'm making plans to rebuild my '85 2.8, and it looks like there may have been a part change mid-year.

I didn't have much trouble at all. I supported the motor with the lift then removed the motor mounts and slid the motor forward off the shaft. I did have to stick a big flat head between them and wedge them apart at first.

I have a million pictures on my computer at home. I'll post a few for you after work.

BLOODBANE · Jan 30, 2017

Dont know if you have adressed the rake yet or not, but on my 84 we determined that the front coils were weak. For something that picked mine back up level, I used a set of coils off a samne year Ranger with a diesel engine though (mine came with the 2.8 as well). It helped while I was running a stock suspension (sorry they are long gone since I lifted it years ago).

Your doing a great job on restoring yours. I didnt want to mess around with the 2.8 so I went with a stroked 302, but the 2.8 isnt a terrible engine. It will run with lots of things wrong with it, but can be a major PITA to fix when it goes down. FORD trying to mix carb with computer. I seemed to blow power valves in the carb a lot (anytime it backfired through the carb anyways).

I carry a sweet spot for the Gen 1's myself (of course I have one). Keep up the great work and kee[ us posted.

Gary DuBois · Jan 30, 2017

good job

i never was a white vehicle kinda guy i would have kept it red and that would be nice if had the automatic with 4.0 v6

DaddysTruck · Jan 31, 2017

I haven't touched the suspension yet. I was reading about certain coils giving a lift, but I'm not sure where this project is going yet. I'm just doing a tune-up gone overboard on the 2.8 right now. Something bigger is going in eventually, maybe sooner than later if this motor turns out not salvageable.

85_Ranger4x4 · Jan 31, 2017

BLOODBANE said:
Dont know if you have adressed the rake yet or not, but on my 84 we determined that the front coils were weak. For something that picked mine back up level, I used a set of coils off a samne year Ranger with a diesel engine though (mine came with the 2.8 as well). It helped while I was running a stock suspension (sorry they are long gone since I lifted it years ago)

I have factory replacement Explorer coils in mine (with a 5.0), it rides nice and with low mile '09 Ranger rear springs it has the factory 1.5-2" rake like I like it to have. So if I put something in the back it doesn't look like a squatting dog.

BLOODBANE said:
Your doing a great job on restoring yours. I didnt want to mess around with the 2.8 so I went with a stroked 302, but the 2.8 isnt a terrible engine. It will run with lots of things wrong with it, but can be a major PITA to fix when it goes down. FORD trying to mix carb with computer. I seemed to blow power valves in the carb a lot (anytime it backfired through the carb anyways).

Durasparking and finding a better carb (or making a metering block) goes a long ways to making the 2.8 more tolerable. The cooling system even with a late '85 that had the thermostat where god intended it on top of the engine was pretty hokey. The way the lower hose connects to an elbow that sandwiches the timing cover to connect to another elbow that then shoots up and over... PITA to do with the engine in the truck. And then the threads were stripped on the back elbow (which is NLA) so I had to get longer bolts and fish nuts thru the thing on the back side. Tougher than tough to kill the engine though (at least mine was) It seemed eager to bounce back if for no other than reason that out of spite. The rotor came loose and as it destroyed itself against the cap it backfired hard enough it blew up the muffler... didn't hurt anything the carb.

BLOODBANE said:
I carry a sweet spot for the Gen 1's myself (of course I have one). Keep up the great work and kee[ us posted.

Rebuilding my father's old truck

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