'85 Ranger Restomod

[85_Ranger4x4]

Updates???????????

It spent most of last week getting cleaned up for the carshow last Saturday. I have been busy and haven't got pics uploaded yet, and I got some normal pics taken afterwards while it was still clean.

As far as how it runs, I haven't heard near as much out of the efan as I did before. If I let it sit and idle it will kick on, if I shut it off when it is up to temp and let it sit for a little while it will kick on when I start it and then shortly after that it will kick off. I think the thermostat housing is leaking after I ran it awhile and of course the stupid transmission pan is still leaking so that will need attention.

I am also reminded I need to do something with the shifter plate, it is a tad too open... it sure gets warm in the cockpit as I drive it. The gasket didn't survive and the rubber mat is cut out for the big stock shifter bezel so there is a pretty big hole down there, the shifter and front of the console gets pretty warm. I have a new carpet set to put in but I am thinking I want to wait until I redo the bodywork to put it in so it is all fresh at the same time. I really wish that part was done...

 

[dangerranger83]

My thermostat housing has a leak on the bottom of it too.

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[85_Ranger4x4]

I have been having a tranny leak that has been steadily getting worse and it has been bugging me to no end. Finally while I was in the pharmacy for about an hour a couple weeks ago and came back out to find two 8" diameter puddles under the the truck I parked it until I could figure something out.

While I had the heads off and the exhaust loose I tried to drop the pan to change the gasket, the exhaust couldn't go down far enough to let it come out... just by a tiny bit.

It is hard to find custom exhaust shops anymore and the one I got to do it welded the exhaust to the bed... so to remove I would have to cut it out which I wasn't too keen on. Its going to have to be delt with if I ever find a different bed but it really complicates this little project.

While laying in bed trying to get the ambition to get up this morning I got to thinking... disconnect the exhaust, remove two nuts and a floor jack on the t-case and maybe I could get the tranny up enough to let the pan down.

It worked like a charm.

Took it over the shop, cleaned the pan and put a straightedge on it (the regular bar one for checking blocks/heads) I had about 3/32" of rock end to end on the bar. That explains why the new gasket never did seal all that well. I had some of "the right stuff" ATF friendly pan sealant... so I did a normal no-no and left the gasket out and just tried to glue the pan to the tranny. Just snugged it up and am going to let it sit overnight and set up before I tighten it a little more tomorrow. It is a wing and a prayer thing, it really needs a new pan but they don't exactly grow on trees.

I also slipped off the thermostat housing while I was letting the tranny dribble out, I ran out of daylight and it was cooling off so I called it a night.

 

[dangerranger83]

That's the one thing I hate about auto transmissions, once they leak they always want to leak the rest of their life.

So is mileage the same or has it improved since the engine upgrades?

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[85_Ranger4x4]

That's the one thing I hate about auto transmissions, once they leak they always want to leak the rest of their life.

So is mileage the same or has it improved since the engine upgrades?

It isn't the transmissions fault a previous owner screwed up the pan. There are manuals with tin pans that can have the same exact problem. Engine oil pans and valve covers too...

I haven't really driven it enough to get a reading on the milage, I doubt it would improve much... that I can blame on the transmission (and its lack of overdrive)

I have no idea when it is going to happen, I would love to sneak an M5OD in it for highway milage since I just bought an acreage a couple miles outside of town... but because I just bought an acreage a couple miles outside of town funds are lacking.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Well... uh... it wasn't the pan.

Maybe it was a little, it wasn't the main problem though.

I let it sit from Saturday night to last night, put 4qts in it and let it sit and everything stayed nice and dry. Started it and drove it around... and then the telltale burning tranny fluid came back.

I slipped it over to the shop so I had more room to work around it, it appeared the pan was dripping. I rechecked the bolts to make sure I didn't miss one and it quit... confused me because I didn't really do anything. So I hosed it down with brake cleaner and let it sit, nothing came back. So I fired it up and crawled under it to watch what was going on. There is a steady stream of fluid coming from what appears to be the bellhousing and transmission case that runs down the 1/2" of case to the pan and most of it drips off the front of the pan onto the DS exhaust pipe to burn off after the truck got warmed up and some of it drizzles back the pan to eventually creap down the sides of it.

So now I am at a crossroads... a cheap fix (just an o-ring) with a bunch of time/labor vs a complete fix of an expensive and probably more time consuming 5-speed swap.

 

[dangerranger83]

I say fix what you have, being a simple fix from what you are saying, but still do the manual swap that you are wanting to do

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[85_Ranger4x4]

I say fix what you have, being a simple fix from what you are saying, but still do the manual swap that you are wanting to do

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Thats where I am at. It isn't a really simple fix aside from the parts receipts though.

http://www.reocities.com/dennis_2685/frtpump.html

It is really tempting to yank the engine and trans as an assembly and try a front sump pan on the engine too...

I really wish I could quit working on the darn thing and be able to call it done at some point... just one problem after another.

 

[Beef52751]

I really wish I could quit working on the darn thing and be able to call it done at some point... just one problem after another.

This is why i am afraid to do a 5.0 swap... lol. I say fix what you have and start collecting parts for the manual swap that way the price doesnt hit you all at once

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

This is why i am afraid to do a 5.0 swap... lol.

I can't swear on a stack of bibles I would do it again... its fun when it works but very frustrating when it doesn't.

 

[dangerranger83]

I would do it again but make sure I have a DD and plenty of time and a good encloser to do it in.

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[Robert_1967]

I'm getting ready to do the v8 swap, but I'm using a 4.6 out of a 95 t-bird I just traded for, I do wish the t-bird had a 5 speed, but I got what I got.



Robert



posted with a Monday and a bottle of Happy pills.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I would do it again but make sure I have a DD and plenty of time and a good encloser to do it in.

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I do/did on both counts, the gremlins are what is taking the fun out of it though.

Aside for maybe a week the thing has been sitting since March...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Well I have had the stupid o-ring and the tc seal for awhile, finally got around to dropping the trans this weekend.

I have a list of people I want to bust in the nose:
- The guy I bought the trans from's good friend that "rebuilt" it.
-- If that guy doesn't exist the guy I bought the trans from.
- The twit that wrote the C3/4/5 section on my Haynes transmission tech manual.
- Myself for not going through it.

I got the trans out which fought something fierce, I finally got it out and found:

Of the seven bolts that hold the bellhousing on the trans, the very bottom one was loose enough it had about 3/16" of gap between the head and what it was supposed to be tight against. The one beside it was barely finger tight and a third towards the top was just past finger tight. I didn't think about it until the drive home but I wonder if it is because they were too loose or stripped.

I got bellhousing off and as opposed to everything else I have read instead of having to pry the pump off (and if you have the early C4 that actually has an O-ring you change it there) the pump came out with the bellhousing with no effort at all... which of course tore the gasket behind which NOBODY stocks.

My C5 being more related to the later C4 than the earlier does not use an O-Ring so that whole thing was a hype. That is not mentioned at all in my manual, the stuipd C3 keeps cutting in the process as well which adds confusion.

So now my truck is stuck in front of the main door at work with no trans waiting on a $1.32 gasket to arrive on Tuesday. I can probably patch it together to roll outside but it is an irritation none the less.

My guess is that was the original problem, the loose bolts let oil through the gasket and caused the leak, the TC seal held fine and thus kept the inside of the bellhousing dry.

 

[GOODOLEBOY84]

I had the same problem with a 84 ranger with a 2.8 with c5, i thought it was the tq seal first after replacing it i found it still had a stream of tranny fluid leaking from bell housing, so i removed it again to find my bellhousing bolts loose, so i removed pump, replaced gasket, put thread locker on bolts and it was good to go after that