Bringing my '94 back to life

I saw an ad with this pick a little more than a year ago:



'94 Super Cab, 4x4, 75K in the odometer (5-digit odometer so I was guessing 175K, of course)... Truck was a little less than $3000.00 and it looked really nice in the pic... The tires alone were worth ~$950.00 (5 Cooper Discoverer STTs 31x10.5 R15) so I decided to give it a shot..

As expected for the price I was paying I've changed so far:
- Radiator
- ALL the AC System (Condenser, AC Line, Evap, Compressor, and canister)
- Alternator
- Serviced Upper/Lower Intake Manifold
- All your every-day tune-up components
- Front Diff seals, U-Joints
- Switched to Manual Hubs (Jeep beefed-up warns)
- Changed to black steel wheels
- 2006 rear leaf springs, one extra leaf from the old ones that had an ugly "w" shape on them
- Front Skyjacker Leveling Coils (2")
- Skyjacker Nitro Shocks, all 4 of them
- Got rid of the side steps, and eventually of the front grille guard as well
- ENTIRE clutch system, along with the line

Some pics I have handy (Will look for more @ home):

With Leveling coils/new leafs:



In this one you can see how I found out I needed new front diff seals


Added a steering stabilizer:



With the new wheels/hubs:




As always, I should've stop there, but nooo.... I was afraid to have it painted because I knew the truck was going to need a lot of body work, and just by looking at the front support It was obvious the PO smashed the truck against something and got a half-butt job done just to sell it, So after a year of working almost every weekend on it I decided it was time to make my baby look purty.... well, 7 weeks and counting...

I started by removing the rear hitch because it was welded fwd of the rear spring perch and that fatigued the chassis to the point of showing a small crack.... Couldn't find the pic but I promise I'll take one next Saturday when I go to where the truck is sitting (a friend owns a Paint and Body Shop, he's doing all the body work). Besides that well, I'll let the pics speak for themselves:

To the left you can see how the rad frame is bent, so we found out it needed replacement:




Removed the old frame, tried to fix it but just decided to replace it along with the right inner fender:





"New" Support/inner fender:



Here you can see why we need to straighten up the cab (and get new doors, btw)



Removing all the windows, windshield:



Guess I need a new antenna cable.... Also, How many colors has this thing had??? I see Red, white and blue there!!



As far as it got last Saturday.. My friend welded the new frame in and mounted the outer fenders to see if everything matches he had to straighten out the front part of the chassis 1/4th of an inch up and 1.5 inches to the left. Both beams bent because of that front hitch I'm getting rid of, btw...



Also you can see my color pick... Ford Dark Metallic Gray... Sorry for the low-res, I only had my cell phone camera... Promise more pics and will upload some of the old ones I have.... The truck started to get dismantled in mid-July, so 8 weeks and counting, and I think 3 more to go at least.... Things I got that will be replaced:

New clear front lamps/turn signal lamps.
New 4X4 grille (old was broken)
2006 Style side mirrors
2006 Tail lights

Man can't wait to finish this and go wheeling!

Looking good so far.

nice resurection, that core support is a real chore isnt it!

Looks like a fun project! Oddly familiar....

Do you remember what spring code those rear leaf springs were? They look like they gave you a nice ride height

nice work man, i like the stance it has with the new rims and tires

do you still have the grill gaurd i would like to buy

multiranger said:

Looking good so far.

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Thanks dude, been putting a lot of effort into it

ForOffRoadDriving said:

nice resurection, that core support is a real chore isnt it!

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Loads of fun.... first finding a good (not so rusted) one, that would have a good passenger inner fender attached to it; then having the guy cut it correctly so it wouldn't damage the part AND THEN actually removing the old part and putting the new one back in.... On the bright side I put in all the proper insulation between the support, the condenser and the radiator this time so I'm expecting a much more cooling/AC efficiency

rkneeshawr said:

Looks like a fun project! Oddly familiar....

Do you remember what spring code those rear leaf springs were? They look like they gave you a nice ride height

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Don't remember, really... I think there is a tag still attached to one of them, I'll check this weekend for ya. Upfront I can tell you they came out of a Mazda B2400 extended cab, and that they have 4 leafs; my old ones had 3.

Ranger Sport Honduras said:

nice work man, i like the stance it has with the new rims and tires

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Thanks! The best part is I got 'em brand new for $220.00; Buy 3, the 4th's free Here's a pic I like a lot with the new Tire/wheel setup:

aliker said:

do you still have the grill gaurd i would like to buy

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Sorry man, long gone... removed it and sold them half a year ago along with the sidebars...

Had to go back to page 7 to find my thread, I guess I have not been dilligent enough with my updates.....


So the cab has been painted, Ford Dark Metallic Gray:






Replaced the old carpet and seats:



Also installed the new clear headlights and '07 mirrors:





So the project is moving, slowly but steady..... Next steps include:

Painting the bed/bumpers/grille
Need to remove the dash, clean everything up and give maintenance to the AC system ducting
Chassis paint

looks so nice man...gonna be too pretty to wheel!

looking good man!!
everytime i see those 06+ mirrors i like em more lol i m gonna have to get a pair for mine

looks great man, can't wait to see her all finished and tidied up

It looks sweet bro

Thanks everyone!! truck's almost finished with only the tailgate and the liner to go.... got stuck with the tail lights upgrade, though... I followed the instructions and the tech section and after two different trailer wiring kits (both from Hopkins) I realized the brakes only kick in when the turn signal circuit is open. Here's the thing, I found out the turn signals are normally closed. So right now it's either the fancy way with relays and diodes or I'm maybe choosing the wrong trailer wiring kit, although I find it weird that two different ones operate exactly the same... any thoughts would be more than welcome.....

Now, pics!!

looks great! no idea on the tail lights boss. GL though!

looks awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my two suggestions:

1) colormatch grille, or get the other style 95-67 grille and colormatch it
2) get 01-03 fender flares and paint them black like you have yours (get textured ones though, not edge ones)