1987 Ranger Project

[maddyn]

That floor plate is awesome. I may have to steal it when I get to that point. Planning on trying to squeeze another shift lever in there for a doubler also. Looking good

 

[Awesom-O]

Mocking up the floor plate. Tack welded a small bracket to the underside so I could mount a little garbage can. Kids ain’t leaving no candy wrappers on the floor and I always pack out of the bush what I pack in. Often more, as I tend to clean up after ignorant slobs.
Also made up the first side mounting bracket for the track tie down system. Used some stainless angle steel I had laying around.

Finally, I cut the access hole in the box for the fuel pump for future considerations. Check that off the list.

Off to camping this long weekend so won’t be back onto this thing until next week.

 

[Awesom-O]

Finally got an hour or two to work on the Ranger. Prepped and applied the first coat of Herculiner inside the box. I’ll have Friday to work on it again for sure (typing with fingers crossed). I’ll try and get the second coat on, but before that I’ll block out the white tail light areas and get them primed. Then I’ll install the fuel pump plate and finish the other side of the track bracket setup.

 

[Awesom-O]

Squeezed the second coat on today.
If I never see this stuff and a brush again in my life I won’t be sad.

 

[Awesom-O]

Got a day in the shop today. Perfect as it was raining. Spent the entire time working on the track system and headache rack mock-up/upgrades etc. Was trying to wrap my head around the order of install with the track, the rack and the box rails in regards to paint & assembly etc. Had the tool box in for mock up purposes, worked on the track bracket for the opposite side, and have figured out how to attach the headache rack with proper nuts and bolts after the track system was installed. Modified the track bracket I made to be able to reach under as it was impossible on my original design.
Had to cut the aluminum box rails because LMC sent me ones for a longer box? Whatever, they sent me two pairs as well for some reason. Double screw up by them but worked out fine. Also had to grind the “checker plate profile” off them where the rack contacts as it was pretty tight after adding the track bracket I made underneath.
On the rack, I welded a D ring to attach the winch hook to so it never swings around into my rear window or just hangs there in the way of the rear view mirror. Also prepped the lower bar on the rack to accommodate the track bar that fits the back of the box on the Titan. Also installed the fuel pump cover.
Doesn’t look like much happened today but I was at ‘er all damn day and it feels like a big piece of the puzzle was solved. The joys of fabbing and problem solving. Back at it again tomorrow!

 

[Awesom-O]

Haven’t had any time to work on the Ranger, but today I had the wife help me mock up the other track setup and we mocked up the rack and rails so I could organize the wiring. I threw the tail lights back in and the tool box, and just sat and admired how close she is to being finished while we enjoyed some cold bevvies while the dog hung out in the shop. Should have some updates tomorrow.

 

[Awesom-O]

Well, it’s been a while. As usual life gets in the way of playing with trucks and cars.
I did quite a bit on this, probably not pic worthy, but I’ll flood this post with them anyways.
Cleaned the old sealant out of the window gutters and applied new. Bought an Auxbeam multi switch panel from Amazon to run a bunch of accessories and lights. Had to make a pedestal on my floor plate to accommodate the bracket so it cleared the cup holders. Made up some brackets to mount the circuit breaker and the new power distribution box I added to run this unit and my box winch and probably even the front winch. Used 1/0 welding wire.
Added a couple ground blocks as well, 1 on each side of the engine bay, again connected to the battery and body with 2 AWG wire.
Scuffed the window trim and floor plate and got both in etch primer ready for paint. Fixed a couple small dents on the hood edge that I either failed to notice or consider worthy of repair back before scope creep took over. Can’t remember. Lol.
Got the underside of the hood all degreased and pressure washed, covered in etch primer. Got the holes cut in for the heat extraction style hood scoops. Going to 3M panel bond those on.
Also, because I failed to plan properly, I originally had blue rockers and everything else is green in the dash, so I wasted money and bought the green version instead and swapped them out. I’ll use the blue in the BII build.
But the best part is the sign my daughter made me while she was “helping” me in the shop today. She’s 11 and never even says this word.
Must have been hearing me say it a million times working on things. Kid cracks me up.

 

[Awesom-O]

Got the scoops 3M bonded on. Got the Auxbeam setup wired up and working. Installed lower rear tie downs. I think at this point I’m dragging things out because I’m almost sure I’m ready to cover and seal this in epoxy primer, set the box on, run my lines for two tone, mask up and shoot the truck in Raptor. Not gonna lie I’m a little nervous as I have never painted a whole vehicle before or sprayed Raptor. But I’ve never done a cab swap before either so I guess I’ll just jump with both feet.

 

[maddyn]

Looking good. I probably asked before, but how are you planning on putting the raptor on? just the Schultz gun? or something like a Harbor Freight HVLP?

Planning on the Raptor paint job myself, and picked up an HF gun for when the time comes. I'd like to shoot for something more like a bad orange peel paint job, not so much the rough textured bed liner job

 

[Awesom-O]

I’m using the Schultz gun. But I too want a finer finish, so I just to ordered the adjustable Schultz gun Raptor offers.

 

[Awesom-O]

Well it’s been a busy month. No substantial progress on the Ranger. Did add the inner door braces from a parts truck as I realized the doors I swapped had the regular mirrors but not the inner brace for such mirrors. The bottom mount was simply into the door sheet metal. That wouldn’t do so I cleaned up and installed the proper ones. Added some killmat to the inside of the doors while I was in there. Few little unmentionable details done as well
before she gets sprayed. I’m just trying to book a few days in a row where I have no distractions so I can get my head in the game and get the Raptor on. Needed a creative day in the shop so one of my daughters and I decided to make some wall art with the front end of a parts truck. She helped with every step of the process and even helped paint it. Nice little evening project.
And I also got the faux gas station about 80% done now too.
Hope to have a real update soon.

 

[nesralyrrej]

just went through this all, great looking truck and impressive work! hats off to you good sir

 

[Awesom-O]

So I put the box on the truck and realized my suspicions that the cab was mounted slightly crooked. The gap from the box was wider on the passenger side meaning the front end was about a 1/4 inch off. Loosened all the cab mount bolts and adjusted. Made shims for the back box bolts and I’m pretty damn happy with how all the body lines line up now. Then I realized how much I actually dislike the original 60/40 seats so I popped the buckets out of the 91 that I stole the box off of. They are in really decent shape. Well the front mounts are different from 87 to 91 so I ground the rivets off and made a cut so I could swap the front mounts. Little weld and they solid. Backs are the same. I’ll finish the seats tomorrow and give them a wet vac cleaning. Then I’ll find some nice black seat covers. They have power lumbar too so I’m planning on hooking that up as well. Still playing two steps forward one step back. lol.

 

[Awesom-O]

So the passenger side seat rail modification was pretty straight forward. The seat riser for the driver side,.. well let’s just say that punching yourself in the balls is almost more fun than doing this mod. I don’t know why Ford changed the floorpan on supercabs from 83-88 and 89-92 but they did. At first I tried just using the 87seat risers tacked to the seat adjustment apparatus of the 91 bucket seat but I knew it was going to be too high and it was. It felt wrong and was not comfortable with the legs on the steering wheel and the hairdo on the headliner. So out that came and on to plan B. I had to cut and section about an inch and a half out of the front half of the 87 seat riser and weld it back together, and adjust for a slight angle, and decided to tack weld it together in the truck when it was all bolted to the floor. Too many damn hours doing this but the seat riser now with full adjustment sits less than a 1/4” higher than the passenger side. Now I can finally access the back seat area from the driver side because with the old seats they were buggered by someone in the past and wouldn’t slide forward. Even the spare set from the parts truck was screwed. And the single cab is again completely different. Good thing I have like 5 parts Rangers to scavenge from lol. Gave the seats a wet shampoo with the Bissell and started the process of turning them black to match. Seat covers are on the menu.
Here’s a shot of the 87 riser next to what I had to do to modify. I mean, now that I know what to do it’s not so bad, but it was a lot of messing around, and it’s like 38* C so between sucking back a beverage every 15 mins it was the least favourite part of this build.

 

[Awesom-O]

Well all that work for the seat risers paid off and was definitely worth it. Now my seat roll up and are adjustable. They came out of a blue interior truck so I shampooed the grossness out of them and ordered some black seat covers off of Amazon. Painted the parts black that were visible. Height is perfect and now I will make a storage console/arm rest either from scratch or modify the stock one from the 91 that the seats came out of. Need to ponder that idea for a while. Also thought of making a custom rifle holder? Gotta play with the ideas in my head at 3 am. lol.