Project Guinea Pig

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

Shoot yeah bud! Congrats!


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[prerunner]

A bit more done today after all the other stuff. All but the front drivers side old spring hanger is ground off. I want to get the gas tank out of the way before I go any farther there, partly to make space for my chubby hand on the back of the framerail and partly to get rid of the rats (or bird?) nest and other crud around the tank.

And the ones I did do:

The NAPA spring hangers are made in China.

 

[prerunner]

Gas tank is down. I might pull it out completely just to get all the crud outta the left framerail. Its worse than I thought it would be and the crud is slightly wet. So I'm going to clean and check things. Rust, fuel lines, wiring and brake lines are in there.
I'm pretty glad I dropped it. I wouldn't have known otherwise.

Building a decent pile of dirt, rust flakes and broken metal under here already.

 

[prerunner]

Sure enough. I gotta replace ten or twelve feet of brake line. I gather its a pain in the ass job.

 

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

Damn that's a ton of rust!

 

[prerunner]

Developed a couple disposable cameras onto disc today. Some of the pix go back to the beginning of my relationship with the gf (like 7 years, I forgot how cute she was. lol)
I threw a few pix back in the thread where they fit.

I'm contemplating a change I've seen some other guys ( Josh40601, Legoms 013, and some others) do. Adding the more modern Quad door cab.
It won't be right away, mind you. But the thoughts been there for me.
Not quite a heads up but a potential change in direction in the future.

This interior isn't that bad but the quad doors might be easier to live with down the road.

Note its relatively "clean" in this pic. Its a total pigsty of late.

 

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

Only one picture showed up...

 

[prerunner]

Damn that's a ton of rust!

Just surface rust. Even under the shackle brackets that had rusted right out the frame is still good. I'll probably just POR 15 it and call it good.

 

[prerunner]

I never appreciated the simple beauty of my 93 Ranger until today.
I'm doing a side job for a buddy with a 99 S-10 Blah-zer, his fuel pump came undone from the top of the fuel tank spilling about a half tank of gas going home after work last week. My task has been to pull the tank down, reseal a drain plug on the bottom and install the gasket onto the top of the tank. (its a side job as I've has precious little cash to put into the pickup lately and anything I earn on this goes directly into beer and my truck.)
First off, there is no space under the Blah-zer to work in, and when the tank was disconnected and down the drainplug ripped out spilling 2 or 3 gallons of gas where I'm working turning the asphalt to junk. I'm trying to create a plug for this now out of pressed sh!t. Then I get to lift it all back in place and remount it with its two dissimilar bolts to remount it and with room for only one arm at the fuel pump.
As much as I like to b!tch about the Ranger it has never left me wondering how high was the person who designed it.

 

[prerunner]

I might have bought a HP Dana 44 from an F-150, less hubs and brakes for $200 if I can work out the logistics of moving it in the gf's Malibu.

On the rear suspension front, I've assembled some of the 63" Ch*vy spring conversion but am still waiting for another frame bracket for a shackle mount. Napa has ordered the shackles twice now. Still need leaf spring center bolts to complete this. I've also found a connector on the un-rusty part of the brake line that will shorten up the amount of line I need considerably provided I don't screw that up. But don't put it past me. lol

This is a mockup before cleaning everything up or drilling new holes.

If I somehow manage to get that axle home today I'll post it.

 

[prerunner]

Axle is from a 79 F-150. Next weekend.
Should have one side of the rear suspension more or less in place tonite.

Edit: Its in there if you can ignore the hardware store bolt in the bottom of the shackle. Need to drill two more holes. I need a longer drill bit than the step bit I used behind the cab. Better edit: That crappy bolt has been replaced with the correct one. I bought the $56 shackle to get 2 of them.

 

[prerunner]

The right side leaf is in now. I'm looking at it and I don't think I've added much altitude to the rear, maybe a few inches more than a stock 4x4 version of the Ranger. So I'm gonna throw in a pair of add a leaves I have kicking around hoping to get it closer to 5" of rear lift.
What this tells me is that any lift achieved by changing to 63" Ch*vy leaves is mostly gained in the longer Belltech shackles.

I haven't picked up the HP 44 yet. Money is tight lately, worse than usual. Its the reason I've had so little progress on both my "projects" over the past couple years. The fact that I'm working on my Ranger on a Wednesday bears this out, I should be at work but theres nothing going on today.
This paycheck is gonna suck. Really, I need a better job.
It is what it is, I guess.

Its getting closer...

Now to source leaf spring center bolts...

 

[prerunner]

Well, after running around to different places looking for leaf spring bolts I ended up at Dendoff Springs in Surrey. A management guy came out, took my center bolt to check if they had any in stock - they didn't. He tells me its just a regular grade 5 bolt with the head lathed off, nothing special. He said they don't use grade 8 bolts until that bolt gets to be 3/4 inch diameter. Said to just grind the head round on a regular bolt.
Well that was interesting, I assumed they were special somehow. They aren't.

Of course Home Despot had zero 3/8" x 3 1/2 inch hex bolts. I'll try again later.

http://www.dendoff.com/

 

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

Lol damn you do have my luck...


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[prerunner]

Damn, Rowdy. I wondered what happened to you. Without you offering encouragement my page was just me droning on and on about my busted ass junk.
Glad to see you back.