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1987 Ranger 306 Project Build


Range98

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1987
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
306 with a bunch of mods
Transmission
Automatic
Well here's my second ranger project I'm attempting. Picked up a rust free 1987 ranger with a blown tranny to be the project. Here she is.





With the tired 2.9L





I picked up an old 68' 302 out of a torino with a set of used E7te-PA heads. Not too pretty but she cleaned up nice.




I'm about 2 months into this project so I'm gonna post a lot of progress in the next day or two. Then I'll post as I make progress.

So the engine was torn down and I discovered it was recently bored .30 over with newer forged pistons so I was lucky. So my 302 is actually a 306. Freshened up the rest of the block and rotating assembly and started to reassemble. I had my heads, oil pan, and timing cover sandblasted. These next few pics are about a months amount of work when I had time.





Onto the heads where what felt like countless hours were spent on, I heavily ported and polished the e7's and got a trick flow valve spring upgrade kit for them. I'd say not too shabby. Following a very helpful online guide for porting these exact heads helped me a ton. I was very pleased with the final outcome.






Sadly I didn't take many pics of the porting. The work was so tedious and time consuming it slipped my mind. The port on the far left is done in the picture and that's what I repeated on both heads. The exhaust ports were very restrictive and probably where I made the most gains. I then went and polished the chambers, and exhaust ports to a nice shine. Once the heads were finished and cleaned I assembled my new springs and valves. You can see the exhaust ports here and the springs installed. I threw some rockers on just to check fitment and alignment with the new springs.





At this point I loosely assembled the engine for painting. No gaskets and only a few bolts holding on the oil pan and timing cover. I installed a few head studs to hold the heads on for painting. Here is the tape job and painting.






And finally, I went with Eastwood's Deep Ford Blue ceramic paint for the engine and here's the finished product.











And I finished up with a gloss black oil pan and in the future valve covers.







Now to catch everyone up. I dissembled everything and did a final assembly up to my intake so here's where I'm currently at on the engine.











Hope y'all enjoy this thread I'll post as progress is made. Future plans include a complete interior makeover which is currently underway, rear end swap, a slight truck lowering and much much more. Stay tuned!
 
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Range98

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Pennsylvania
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1987
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Ford
Engine Size
306 with a bunch of mods
Transmission
Automatic
Alright so I've been tackling my interior the past few days while the weather has been pretty nice. Here's the cruddy old interior I got it with.




Now afew years ago I saw an old c10 pickup which had an interior of only the seats and floor mats. Everything else was just exposed painted metal, the floors, walls, and roof. Since my truck was already missing the headliner and the carpet was complete trash I decided to do my own attempt at a painted interior. I stripped everything out and cleaned up the tiny bit of rust and I'm almost ready to lay some paint. Here's the floor sanded but not cleaned yet. I plan on using a black rubberized bed liner for my floor pans and black wrinkle paint for the rest of the cab.

more Pictures will follow tomorrow. Also plan to swap dashes our since mine is cracked and brittle.


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Range98

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306 with a bunch of mods
Transmission
Automatic
Began my interior painting. Starting with the dash pieces. I'm going with Eastwood black wrinkle paint. It's my first time using it and I gotta say I love it.


I'm gonna do the rest of the dash tonight. Very pleased so far.


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Range98

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Ford
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306 with a bunch of mods
Transmission
Automatic
Buttoned up some more engine knick knacks today. Got the water neck in and fuel pump block off plate installed.





Plate was only 3 bucks off summit and it was pretty darn nice looking I think.

Lower dash is finished all in wrinkle black and I found a newer ranger badge I threw on to the trim for some uniqueness . Pictures don't really do it justice and don't show the cool texture of the wrinkles.



Debating on either trying to junkyard find a black upper dash piece or just ordering a new one.


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Range98

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306 with a bunch of mods
Transmission
Automatic
Well more interior work done today. Disassembled the upper dash cover piece. Decided to bondo the cracks and paint it. Much cheaper and easier than buying new or finding a good used one.


Took the steering column off to paint as well. Door panels are getting vinyl painted as well. Figured I'd try to salvage them before I bought new. Here's a before pic

Will post finished product tomorrow along with finished dash hopefully. Fingers crossed.


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Range98

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306 with a bunch of mods
Transmission
Automatic


Door panels came out very nice. Glad I could make the old ones work.


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bronco2fan

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4WD
Total Lift
3 inch body lift
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She looks really good. I'm impressed with the motor work and the interior. I'm waiting for nice weather here to start my interior redo, been raining too long and too humid to paint. The crinkle looks real nice and even gave me some ideas lol.
 

gsp

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Nice work man...
 

Range98

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Automatic
Thanks for the positive comments guys. Appreciate it ! So today was finally nice weather to paint so I did the dash and I couldn't be more pleased here's before. Bondo on the cracks and sanded.



Used more wrinkle paint. Almost removed the vents and painted those and the little cubby on the passenger side as well.





Just laid the bed liner down in the inside of the cab. Here's before pics. Had to remove basically everything. Seat belts, the ecu hidden on the passenger side, and everything else to expose everything.


Will post pics when bed liner dries and dash is completely reassembled in the truck. Can't wait to see everything back together !


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Range98

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306 with a bunch of mods
Transmission
Automatic
Well here's the dash done and installed. I love it. Also the bed liner floor dried nicely and now just the walls and roof to spray.



I'm still kinda torn on what seats to get for it however. What do you guys suggest?



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Range98

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Pennsylvania
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1987
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Ford
Engine Size
306 with a bunch of mods
Transmission
Automatic

The walls and roof were all this green color so I prepped and taped everything off and here's the paint job. I decided to use regular paint and not the wrinkle paint cause I felt like it would take away from the dash so I just went with Eastwoods gloss black chassis paint.





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Range98

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Pennsylvania
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1987
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Ford
Engine Size
306 with a bunch of mods
Transmission
Automatic
And here's the doors finished. Painted the doors and door panels.


Just need to decide on a seat and the interior is done. Also a buddy dropped off a steering wheel so that's going on too.


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bronco2fan

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Location
Copperas Cove, TX.
Vehicle Year
1984
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Type
2.8 V6
Engine Size
2.8
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
4WD
Total Lift
3 inch body lift
Tire Size
33
That looks really good. I'm with you, really want to see assembled. Awesome work :)

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Range98

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Location
Pennsylvania
Vehicle Year
1987
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
306 with a bunch of mods
Transmission
Automatic
Well been very busy so I haven't had much time to work on the truck. Picked out my seats and got the driver side installed. Also went junk yard picking and got an 8.8 rear out of a ranger, 92 explorer seat brackets which fit my totally non ford aftermarket seats perfectly. Thank god lol. And explorer accessory brackets for the engine. Rear will be going in tomorrow today I wanted to button up interior work. Very close to being done.


The seat needed a little more angle so I put spacers in the front just need to paint them now.

Explorer brackets fit the ranger very nicely so I lucked out. More updates to come.


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