hey hey hey for those of you still following this thread.
long time no post.
i broke my arm back in June, so didnt get allot of work done/lot of driving into the old bird this season. eventually got the tranny swap done i had been wanting to do, back at driving her now.
here are some updates from the past few months.
first thing, i needed to get an inspection sticker.
for those of you who don't know, Massachusetts has yearly safety inspections that need to be done, they put a sticker on your window, yada yada yada.
it's been like this for ... ever. or , close to.
however, the state doesn't actually perform the inspection, they sub it out to gas stations, service stations, pretty much anyone who wants to get paid to do them, and then all the info computer stuff actually gets handled by some 3rd party company the state hires.
but no state employees actually looking at your vehicle, just your buddy at the gas station.
so this past year that changed. state hired a new company to handle the inspection sticker backend itself, and this new company requires much fancier computer setup in every service bay doing a sticker, with 5 webcams live streaming the inspection, as well as audio Mic on the person performing the inspection.
technically, none of the rules have changed. they are just fully enforcing them, with no leniency.
things that are kind of tricky for us older car guys, and custom car guys,
-customers are not allowed to be in the service bay during the inspection at all.
this means, if your keys need a little jiggle to start, or your blinkers are on a toggle switch, or... for us 1st gen ranger guys... your horn is on a weird push lever on the column, .... and the inspector can't figure it out on their own, you fail.
- NO Visible rust
this one kills me. we live in new england. the roads literally Are salt 3/4 of the year. you can get around it. technically, the webcams can't see THAT good, so a light coat of paint, or duct tape, maybe they won't notice. but at that point you need a guy you trust who will essentially look over things for you.
anyway, i had a short checklist of things i needed to get working for this season to pass inspection. i found a repair shop where my neighbor works as long as i go through with him how the truck works before he pulls it in, should be good.
so i had previously put some ugly front directionals in that i just smoked black. they were smoked too black in my opinion, and i thought they would be an issue, so i custom made a pair of new ones with blacked backs, and clear lenses, that Sort-Of match my headlights.
next was functioning windshield wipers
if you dig back to pictures from when we first got this truck, the wiper cowl had been cut off, there were a few holes cut into the cabin and into the engine bay, and the wiper arms were hooked up to the wiper motor via welded threaded rod.
i had a junk yard cut me off the cowl section from another ranger, ground it down, and made my own removable cowl for a 1st gen ranger, which is kinda cool. it doesnt look perfect, but its there. it comes off if i need to get in there.
but thats where i stopped. i never bothered getting the wipers working because, look at this truck. im not driving it around in the rain and snow. i lathered the windshield with rainex and said good day.
so now here i am, and i had to get the wipers working for the new much more thorough inspection.
so i bought a new motor, mounted it up where it KINDA looks like it should go? bought some used wiper "transmission" arms (thats what they're called apparently) and hooked it all up.
it works.
we are pleased.
also took this time to get a new windshield, as the old one was cracked and pretty pitted. again, was fine with me, small crack, but wouldnt pass a real inspection.
next was the volume.
if you've seen any of our videos, you know this truck is loud.
even after i put a pair of CarChemistry inserts in the header collectors, it still makes bystanders jump at startup, and sets off car alarms easily.
so i bought 8 motorcycle exhaust baffles
and welded nuts onto the inside
and put those in the tips, and tightened a bolt pushing out against the exhaust pipe.
they held. brought the volume down a good amount.
lastly i put a set of matching moderate width wheels with decent tread tires on them.
this is what the truck looked like
so needless to say, it passed inspection. guy had a good laugh at it when i was showing him all the switches to start it, honk the horn, turn the directionals and headlights on and all that stuff. all the guys at the shop stopped what they were doing after to check it out and ask questions about it.
i do have to say, the ride on those bigger tires IS smoother. but, sitting higher than normal in the front felt weird. i felt like i didnt have as much grip in the back. and i couldnt stand the quited down exhaust. it was super raspy sounding, and im so used to listening for exhaust notes to shift, it felt weird.
also, i did start work on new front fenders for this.
the fenders that are on there are BEAT. i literally just bondoed over the marker lights and repainted it, because they are so dented and mangled and bent up it wasnt worth my time to do right.
here is a picture of one of the New front fenders im working on. i cut a piece of sheet metal to fit in the marker hole. ground down the marker light mounting tabs on the back. welded it in. used some 3m body panel adhesive for filler. a VERY light skim coat of bondo to smooth it out. and allot of sanding and primer and sanding and primer.
it's as if the marker light was never supposed to be there to begin with.