What did you do to your Ranger today? (Part Deux!)

[scotts90ranger]

The temp needle was in the normal range again tonight which is new (in the sub 60F temps at least) so I think things are getting better! So far I'm going to keep the rag on the front of the radiator, gotta get the OBD II dongle thing out of the wife's car so I can watch the actual temp...

The stupid water pump kept sealing at 225k miles somehow, normally I don't change those until they leak, not sure how to complain about this...

Got gas tonight and it's still getting 24mpg so this old thing is working out for me! Just over 400 miles on 17 gallons isn't bad, can push it to at least 450 miles on a tank but no use pushing things...

 

[superj]

Drove around.

Went to a friends retirement on base. She has worked for the army as a covilian since 1984. Holy cow, aince i was 8. She said she was going to do a few more years but her daighter is having twins so she decided to leave early.

I know one more person who said they got hired there in 84. And he was prior army for 3 years. Crazy how long pwople like to stay working somewhere.

And here i am woshing i was close enough for early outs. 3 more years and i will be eligible for early retirement if they are offered.

 

[Brain75]

Did the last Buff, and the first Wash and Wax since the painting.

more pix in an update to my intro thread:

Little late for intro

It rained yesterday and supposed to rain today too so I am a little stuck on work. So I decided to finally get around to posting the obligatory "intro". I recently took ownership of a 1990 XLT 2WD 2.9L 5 speed manual standard cab, long bed about a month ago, it is a family vehicle that has been...

www.therangerstation.com

 

[scotts90ranger]

Did the last Buff, and the first Wash and Wax since the painting.
View attachment 121421

more pix in an update to my intro thread:

Little late for intro

It rained yesterday and supposed to rain today too so I am a little stuck on work. So I decided to finally get around to posting the obligatory "intro". I recently took ownership of a 1990 XLT 2WD 2.9L 5 speed manual standard cab, long bed about a month ago, it is a family vehicle that has been...

www.therangerstation.com

That looks great, I wish my '90 was blue but if I painted it I would care too much about how it looked and have less fun...

As for me Ranger related I took the '97 to an auction today, twice... First time I drug home a stand up 60 gallon air compressor and a plasma cutter so not too bad... second trip I was talked into dragging my brothers buys home... that consisted of like 6 tractor suitcase weights, about 5 6' used grader blades and 3 front wheel weights and two saw horses made out of 4" steel I beam that are 5' long... then we topped it off with two front tractor tires... Needless to say the thing was squatting like a mofo, my headlights didn't work for squat heading home... The alignment gets kinda goofy when the rear is 4" or so lower than normal, it drove weird...

 

[Brain75]

That very ranger in my pic above has squatted to the stops I helped a gal do landscape on her new house and she rocked a buttload. I hauled load after load of stuff from the landscaping place (mulch, garden mix dirt, and ROCK)... yes absolutely agree the headlights don't do anything but point to the sky when you are draggin' ass.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I went out and checked, there's still 2" between the rear axle and the bump stops so there's still room!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

For the first time in over a month... it roared to life.

 

[Bill]

I finally got around to installing the new front shocks. I lost the top bolt for the second shock. I had everything out on a large piece of cardboard that I was laying on. I didn't get up, so the bolt had to be withing about five feet of me, but I couldn't find it. So, last minute drive to the hardware store and finished the installation. It really made an improvement in reducing sway when turning and even though it is a firmer shock than the KYBs I had, the ride is much smoother.

 

[sgtsandman]

I finally got around to installing the new front shocks. I lost the top bolt for the second shock. I had everything out on a large piece of cardboard that I was laying on. I didn't get up, so the bolt had to be withing about five feet of me, but I couldn't find it. So, last minute drive to the hardware store and finished the installation. It really made an improvement in reducing sway when turning and even though it is a firmer shock than the KYBs I had, the ride is much smoother.

Since I have a gravel driveway, that happens often enough that I got me a strong magnet to find lost hardware.

 

[JoshT]

I squatted it (the 99) and I hate it, but it's for a good purpose. The end goals for the truck is a slightly lowered AWD Ranger. By "slightly lowered" think a 2wd coil spring truck that is lowered with something around a 2/2 drop. Getting a proper exhaust installed on it next week (hopefully), so inpreparation for that I did a temporary axle flip. That with a lift shackle puts me in the range of a 3" rear drop ensuring that when they route the new pipes they leave plenty of clearance for the final stance. Once it comes back from the exhaust shop, I'll unflip the axle and ditch the squat.

How I eventually do the finished product on the drop will depend on which axle I end up using. Ranger axle will probably use a hanger flip, and Explorer will likely stay spring under with taller leafs and lift shackle. Both are waiting for someone to make me control arms so I can drop the front a little more.

Also unsure at the moment how I'm going to get the new exhaust routed. I intially wanted split rear side exit like I had on my 84 Ranger, those dumped out at a 45° angle behind the rear tires. I've since figured out that there just isn't room for that on an extended cab and shooting straight out the sides that far back would look kind of odd IMO. Runner up is split rear exit under the back bumper, but after looking at it today I'm not sure if there is room for that either, it's an awful tight squeeze between the suspension and the spare tire/trailer hitch, and I'm not willing to give up either. Might have to settle for a dual side exit in front of the rear tire on passenger side, but that really isn't what I want. We'll see what the shop says when they get it up on the lift.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I squatted it (the 99) and I hate it, but it's for a good purpose. The end goals for the truck is a slightly lowered AWD Ranger. By "slightly lowered" think a 2wd coil spring truck that is lowered with something around a 2/2 drop. Getting a proper exhaust installed on it next week (hopefully), so inpreparation for that I did a temporary axle flip. That with a lift shackle puts me in the range of a 3" rear drop ensuring that when they route the new pipes they leave plenty of clearance for the final stance. Once it comes back from the exhaust shop, I'll unflip the axle and ditch the squat.

How I eventually do the finished product on the drop will depend on which axle I end up using. Ranger axle will probably use a hanger flip, and Explorer will likely stay spring under with taller leafs and lift shackle. Both are waiting for someone to make me control arms so I can drop the front a little more.

Also unsure at the moment how I'm going to get the new exhaust routed. I intially wanted split rear side exit like I had on my 84 Ranger, those dumped out at a 45° angle behind the rear tires. I've since figured out that there just isn't room for that on an extended cab and shooting straight out the sides that far back would look kind of odd IMO. Runner up is split rear exit under the back bumper, but after looking at it today I'm not sure if there is room for that either, it's an awful tight squeeze between the suspension and the spare tire/trailer hitch, and I'm not willing to give up either. Might have to settle for a dual side exit in front of the rear tire on passenger side, but that really isn't what I want. We'll see what the shop says when they get it up on the lift.

So, I’m gonna see if I can get someone to machine me some cups for upper ball joints and see if I can manufacture two sets of arms because I’m tired of being stuck in this position of having lowered the back and the front is way out of whack. If you have any pictures of what the lowering arms looked like that used to be produced, I would like to see what they did. I may have to buy a different die for my tube bender. Depending on how well they work and how difficult/expensive to produce, I may consider making more. My intention is to make a pair of prototype sets, one for me and one if you’re interested.

I failed to put a spare tire in place when I took it for exhaust and I’m not sure a tire will fit the way they ran it. Undecided how much I care about that. Because of the lift shackles and the heavier leafs, the exhaust shop ran my pipes below the frame and above the leaf springs to a semi-hidden turn-down tucked under the back corners of the bed. Dad’s Ranger wasn’t lowered so they went under the springs and out the back corners with some nice stainless tips. I’ll have to see what I can come up with for pics, I think there’s a pic or two in my build thread. Not sure how much you can really see. Dad’s 5.0 Ranger was the red one I got my frame section from since that truck is wrecked and the front frame section is trashed.

 

[Saddle Tramp]

Put it to work today.

 

[JoshT]

Took it off the jack stands, pulled it out of the shop to drain the "coolant" (water with evaporust flush stuff). Filled it up with water again and started to run it to warm up, need to cycle water through it a few times to flush out the cleaner. That's when I remembered that I never reconnected the spark plugs on #7 & 8 that I disconnected to get at and tighten header bolts. So had to wait for it to cool down again so I could get my hands in there. Got everything buttoned back up and proceeded to drain and refill twice. Few more times and it might be ready for actual coolant. Don't worry, I left it drained and weather isn't going to drop cold enough to cause problem for the next week atleast.

While it was out I grabbed a couple of shots for posterity. Let it be known that this is the first and only time I will ever own a truck that is squatted. Also to be clear, that's modified suspension squatting. I don't consider being overloaded and sagging due to weight to be squatted, that's just a truck doing truck stuff.

IMO front needs to go down an inch or two, and rear needs to go up about the same.

 

[Rick W]

code said the carbon canister vacuum line was leaking, again……

Scary Baby helped me to troubleshoot. I already replaced most of the vacuum line up to the head. The elbow on the left is a “part“ not a vacuum line, but I took out the play with a hose clamp.

The vacuum tube on the right was hard, and I could easily spin it on the fitting. I replaced it with a new vacuum line.

I reset the computer.

I’ll give you the results in a day or two.

 

[MT_PLS]

I spent the last few days of my Christmas vacation assembling the rebuilt 2.3 for my truck at a buddies auto shop. I bought this engine off another Ranger enthusiast who had rebuilt it ~20k ago and had it setup for a turbo. He pulled it to swap in a 5.0. He did a quality build of .030 overbore with forged pistons, tapped the block for a return oil line, ARP fasteners throughout, and a new head. Unfortunately, he attempted to lap the valves in himself and did not do the best job (which he warned me about). When I pulled the head, the valves for cylinder #3 had heavy carbon buildup from not sealing correctly.
Luckily, I was able to have a reputable machine shop go through the head thoroughly. They found no issues other than improper valve installation, so they were able to reuse the valves and lap everything so that they seal correctly.
This head and block are from a 96 Ranger, so I get to deal with making the 89 electronics work on the 96 engine. My buddy and I are planning to complete the swap either next weekend or the weekend after.
Wish me luck!