Project Fordzuki

[Loanranger]

Ok, on to some updates.

I got two more pieces made and installed on the passenger side. This leaves, I hope, just one more piece to cover the last hole. I also got the gas pedal mounted finally, and the throttle cable hooked up too. Because of the 1/8th inch firewall, I had to shave about an 1/16th off of the tabs that hold it into the firewall, but it snapped right in and holds tight.

Got the firewall primed...

And seamsealed...

And painted.

I got the PCM installed, I just put a nut on the back of the stock studs, I also installed a ground stud near the PCM for the ground there. I will have to install one more ground stud for the rest of the grounds in the underhood harness.

I cleaned up the front clip a little and gave it a paintjob too.(Well, the inside anyways)

So we're down to:

Fuel
wrap and install wiring
finish passenger side tunnel and top
prime, seamseal, and paint interior
Wire ignition, tach, fuel pump, fan and lights
reinstall seats
build intake/filter system
shorten trans shifter


more tomorrow.

 

[Loanranger]

More progress. Small stuff, but every little thing get's me that much closer to hitting the trails again.

Tonight I got the front clip all bolted on with new fasteners, and got the underhood harness wrapped and routed, I just need to add some routing clips along the way in a few places. I got the distribution block mounted, the relay mounted, and the alternator harness brought around to the passenger side of the motor, and routed and fastened it in place. I need to bring my right angle drill home tomorrow for the last two holes where the connectors are for the alt. harness. I started routing the power cables, they're hooked up at the relay, I just need to do some creative routing to the starter to stay away from the exhaust. I also seem to have misplaced my negative cable somewhere. But I'll either round it up or snag the one from the pinto motor. I need to change battery terminals anyway, the stock mazda sheetmetal ones don't have provisions for the winch cables.

So here's some pics.

Modified the distribution block bracket a little

3 gallons of shit in a quart jar right there.

I also got a fuel pump from a buddy, so I just need to swap it in, wire it, and run a return line and the fuel will be done too.

 

[Loanranger]

It's ALIVE!... again.....some more.



I got the underhood harness all buttoned up, I made a simple plate to mount the harness to next to the battery. (Which I realized when I took this picture that it's in backwards, the rolled edges were supposed to be rolled away from the harness, not towards it)

Got the battery cables ran

The winch cables routed and hooked back up.

Front diff breather

And the P/S cooler mounted. I can't wait for all the remarks out on the trail about how small my radiator is.

And here's the new fuel pump. It's quiter than the old one, which is a plus. This is just hooked up to make it start, I still need to take the old one out and plumb and wire the new one in right.

So now the only things left under the hood are the air cleaner and to run a return line to the fuel cell. I forgot about this when I fired it up tonight, and dumped a gallon or so of gas on the garage floor.





wire and permanently plumb fuel pump and add return line to tank
air intake
wire cooling fan
finish trans tunnel
remount seats
wire ignition and mount underdash harness/fuse block
Lights (not really necessary, but if I get time before I take it out for the breakin run.)

 

[Loanranger]

Well, I had a good day of progress today, got the intake all figured out, I'm only short one boot between the intake pipe and the maf. I ended up using 3" stainless exhaust to get through the firewall, tomorrow I need to make a flange to weld to the pipe where it passes through the firewall, so I can seal and mount it. I also need to make a bracket to hold the airfilter/MAF in place under the dash.

I also finished the return line, ended up running hardline along the frame up into the back, then 3/8ths hose to the cell. And took the time to shorty up my shifter, in first gear it was close to the steering wheel.

And I finally got the sheetmetal work done.

Got it seamsealed, and was able to paint this much before running out of paint.

I'll have to run up to Lowe's in the morning and grab a couple cans, I'll see if they have any kind of 3" hose too, though I doubt it.






Things left:

air intake boot
wire cooling fan
muffler
remount seats
wire ignition and mount underdash harness/fuse block (I took a look at it today, and it should be fairly simple)
Lights

 

[doorgunner]

Thanks Loanranger......man!.........does that give me an for my '36 Ranger !!

EDIT: The water can get purdy deep in New Orleans at times !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

 

[Loanranger]

Thanks Loanranger......man!.........does that give me an for my '36 Ranger !!

EDIT: The water can get purdy deep in New Orleans at times !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Like a friend said, "When the water reaches your nuts, shut it down before you hydrolock." Sounds like pretty sound advise to me.

 

[Loanranger]

So I went up to Lowes today and grabbed some more paint. Got the rest of the new sheetmetal painted, but spaced the whole cure time thing, so the new stuff wrinkled on top of the stuff I layed down last night. Good thing it's a wheeler.


Today was a very productive day. After painting the rest of the sheetmetal, I started in on the body harness. I got the fan wired in, the fuelpump wired in, the headlights and taillights, and tach all wired in. I was able to run everything to the inside fuse block, and only had to run two extra wires to the front, which were the ground for the fan relay, which goes to the thermal switch, then to ground, and the headlamp power wire. I ran these in a seperate loom, and passed it through the firewall with a rubber grommet. I also got the MAF wiring ran through the firewall, it has the rubber plug that is supposed to pass through the airbox, in the firewall. I had no luck finding a boot for the intake, so I'll have to take a gander at work tomorrow and see what I can come up with.

The ignition was a little trickier than I had originally thought, I basically swapped wires over, color for color, but was losing power to the coilpacks when cranking. While testing, I couldn't find ANY pins on the ranger ignition that stayed hot while cranking. SO, I ended up running the ignition switch from the ranger still, but only for power, then I ran the starter signal to a momentary switch. So it still has a locking steering wheel, and keyed ignition, with a starter switch.

So here's the finished product as far as the dash goes.

Ignition switch and OBD2 port

Fuse box

Intake tube and MAF harness

Trans shifter boot

Fan thermal switch.

Headlights

And taillights

Finished product under the hood.

So all that's left now is to finish the intake, I have the flange for the firewall layed out on a piece of 1/8th inch, I just need to cut it out and weld it onto the tube. Then find a boot and make a hanger bracket once the aircleaner is in place.

Weld on a muffler. I actually have a muffler hanging, I just need to fill in about 10 inches of pipe between it and the downpipe.

Mount seats.

 

[dogboy]

You've made some good progress!!
You've gone a while without wheelin, haha!

 

[Loanranger]

You've made some good progress!!
You've gone a while without wheelin, haha!

I know. It's been WAY too long. I'm shooting for a shakedown run this weekend though.

 

[Loanranger]

Drove it out of the garage tonight!

I got the flange made and welded onto the intake tube, and got it bolted into the firewall.

Found a boot from a broken airbox at work. It was a pain wrestling it on there though, I may get a different one sometime.

Ran it around out in the field for a bit, and ran codes, this is all it came up with.

That's the post cat O2 sensor, which isn't there.
I also ran through the special tests, and everything seems to be working fine.

So now I just need to mount the seats and weld a muffler on and I'm back in business.

 

[Loanranger]

IT'S DONE!

I spent a late night out in the shop last night (1am) and finally got most everything wrapped up. Exhaust done, seats done, new boot on the intake, and I solved my little overheating problem. I thought it was just air in the system, it would get up to 100* C real quick, so I got a flush kit and tried working the air out that way. I finally decided to pull the T-stat, and it was stuck closed. That knocked it down to 50* C, and it actually cools down a couple degrees when I stab the gas.

I'm finding out all kinds of good stuff my little scanner will do, I've been watching the water temp on it, throttle sweep, engine load....

So basically it's done, I need to grab another quart of ATF today to top off the trans, and clearance a little off the back of the clutch pedal to get full swing.


Eventually I will need to get a proportioning valve for the brakes, now that I have a good MC and booster on it the rears lock up first. This is something that everyone had told me would happen with the rear disc conversion, but didn't ring true with the old ranger master I had on it.

So I should be heading out this saturday for a shakedown run, I'll keep you guys posted.

 

[Loanranger]

Here it is! It went very well. Steering is noisy, fuel pump is noisy, but it gets it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCZDBqzypL8

 

[Loanranger]

Well, the rear housing has been overdue for quite some time now, so I decided to finally dig in on it.

This was what the old one looked like after this weekend.

So here's the new housing.

After leveling the housing on the bench, I made sure my ends were square

Started the truss with 3/16ths for the top, and 1/8" for the sides.

Got the vent relocated, and a baffle in under the left side of where the upper link mounts will go.

And started boxing it all in.

Taking the rest of the evening off, but I'll get back on it tomorrow night.

 

[Loanranger]

Ok, so I went back out the other night and got the lower link mounts made, then monday night got them welded on and the start of the upper link mounts. Then I ran out of gas for the welder, and the place I usually go was closed yesterday. So the link mounts are all made and tacked on, just need to hopefully get more gas tonight and get back to

I decided to raise the links on the axle by 2", this will level out the links more, resulting in less flex steer. I'm also hoping that it makes it a little more stable on climbs. It will also give me that extra bit of clearance under the axle, since the old link mounts were under the axle, the new ones are more in front of the axle.

As long as I get some argon today, I'll be finishing up all the welding on the truss and mounts tonight, as well as making the new shackle mounts, and this thing will be done and ready for some abuse.

 

[Loanranger]

The truss is all welded up, and the link mounts are done. I just need to shorten up the shackles and add mounts for them on the axle, and add some shock mounts.

Threw it under the rig to check for shackle and shock mounts..

And heres the old one with a piece of angle next to it for reference,