Bumble's Build Thread

[Dprocks100]

This is going to be my build thread for my 91 Ranger "Bumble". The name came about because the suspension was so worn out when I bought it that it bounced off-road. And from the Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer Christmas special, we all know that "Bumbles Bounce!" I have owned it for just over 2 years now. I bought it when I was 17 and never thought I would lift it, let alone swap the engine in it. But my feelings have changed, and I love doing things to my truck.

This is how it started when I bought it in 2013. It was a 2.3 2wd 5spd manual with 128,xxx miles on it. I was the happiest kid in the world to be able to afford it.

As I slowly replaced and fixed the truck, I started wanting to do stuff to it. It got new tires and wheels for my graduation, 3" body lift and some other stuff. This is where I thought it would stop for a while.

But no more then 6 months later I wanted it built up more and decided that off-roading was pretty fun. Even if it was only a 2wd, I still find myself more places then most people take their 4x4s. I added the following items:

2" lift coils with camber/caster bushings
93 F150 front shocks
Explorer 8.8 4:10 L/S with disk brakes (old 7.5 had open 3:08)
30" All-Terrains
Ranger leafs mixed in with current pack
Thrush Turbo Muffler
09 Ranger split bench seats (modified seat brackets)
KC Apollo Pro's
Sony Bluetooth stereo
CB Radio
Tool box
and a ton of maintenance!

Here are a few random pics

The other Ranger is my younger brother's. Its a 1991 3.0 2wd with 162,xxx. He gets a lot of my parts when I take them off to upgrade. His username is BrendenP99. Hopefully he will one day be able to make his own build thread!

Anyways, her engine has been leaking oil since I bought it, and its gotten quite a bit worse in the last few months. Thought I might regasket the engine when it got warmer. That was the plan until she blew her head gasket last friday at 143,xxx. And rather then throw money away rebuilding the old 2.3, I'm just going to buy a 1991-1994 explorer on the cheap and throw the 4.0 and transmission in my truck. I plan on using a 1991-1992 Ranger 4.0 harness (Because it will plug right into my existing dash wiring, right?) and everything else I will source from the explorer donor. Should pretty much be a "plug and play" swap from what I understand. If I am wrong, please correct me and save me a headache!

Here are my future plans:

4.0 swap with 4x4 tranny and t-case

Part time snorkel, explorer overhead console and other interior stuff, custom bumpers and sliders

Dana 30 SAS (like the idea of matching bolt patterns with my 8.8, and I will take the body lift off)

33" tires, and locker in Dana 30

and probably a lot more after that plus little things here and there

Anything you guys know is always welcome! I could always use the help. 4.0 should be happening here pretty soon. Started pulling the 2.3 today, should have it out by next week, and once thats out I just need to find my donor explorer.

 

[TexasRebel]

Truck is looking good man. Sounds like a good plan to start with.

 

[Dprocks100]

Thanks man!

Got a bit of work done last night. Got the 2.3 pulled and out. going to clean up the frame a bit, get the dirt, oil, and grime out this week while I look for a donor.

 

[Dprocks100]

Been a bit since I updated this, got quite a bit of work done on her in the last month and a half. First off, plans on the 4.0 swap fell through. Had a hard time looking for the perfect doner Exploder in my area that I could get for under $1,000 that either had a manual tranny, or a cheap enough automatic that was toast. The ones I did find were more trouble then they were worth getting into and had a lot more wrong with them then either blown tranny or major body damage.

So with that not working the way I wanted, I decided to tear into my little 2.3 since it was still sitting on the engine stand. Was kind of curious as to what was wrong with it. Tore the head off and took it to a local machine shop where they found that 3 out of the 4 cylinders had cracks between the valves, with number 4 being the worst, and most likely my problem. So now knowing what the problem was (and being with out my baby for a month now) I decided that Id just fix the problem, get a reman head for a few hundred $, regasket and clean the block and throw it back in. The bottom didn't look like it needed a rebuild yet, and being a poor college student that I am, I didn't feel I had the money for a full rebuild with all the stuff that needed to be replaced at the present.

Pic of it on the stand after being painted waiting for the head to be delivered

Here's the list of things that are new to the truck as of the last 6 weeks:

Reman head, valves and springs
oilpan, head, intake, exhaust, valve cover, and timing cover gasket
all three front seals
New oil pump and pickup tube and aux shaft
New Flywheel, clutch, and slave cylinder
Replaced water pump under warranty along with thermostat
New Catalytic Converter (old was plugged, cut downpipe to remove engine due to rusty bolts)
Cleaned intake and replaced gaskets and injector o-rings
Solid rubber motor mounts
New power steering pump and pressure line
all new fluids in tranny, engine and ps pump.
Radiator
Tachometer and oil pressure gauge for dash
Fuel filter
painted engine block and accessories.
and other assorted things you replace while the engine is out.

(Things in red still need to be installed)

Still got a few things to button up before I'm comfortable driving more then I need to.

The replacement slave I put on is leaking, so it needs replacement and system bled.
Manifold to catalytic converter joint is leaking and I cant get it to stop. apparently there isn't a gasket between there???
Need to replace distilled water with 50/50 mix in coolant system. Will do radiator at the same time. The previous owner had used tap water in the mix and caused the old head to rust pretty bad, clogging up the heater core, radiator and ruining the original water pump "fins". Radiator is last to be replaced on the system.
Few other little things

Anxious to get this thing back to 100% again. Summer is coming and Ive already missed 4 off roading trips out to the West Desert. Pretty soon the canyons in the Wasatch range will open up fully and then its camping season!

Couple of pics, kinda forgot to take a lot while we were dropping it back in. With the camera on my phone being broken at the moment, I don't think about grabbing my actual camera until its too late!

Flintstone Power!

Another with its fresh coat of paint

And dropped back in where it goes!

I'll try and find some others I have. Took a break from engine related repairs today and replaced a bunch of lights with LED's from superbrightleds.com. Ill post pictures of that when I'm done with it, along with the tachometer installation location.

 

[Dprocks100]

Got half way through replacing the lights behind the dash. only bought a few to see how I liked them before I went all out. So far I really like the look. It looks a lot cleaner and newer than before. The left is still the standard, and the right are the LED.

These are the bulbs I bought for the dash. Cool white with 120 degree angle.

Super bright LED

Still figuring out which ones I like in the cab and stuff.

 

[Dprocks100]

Bit of an update:

Been busy the last month helping my parents and my best friend take care of some yard and house work, as well as playing with the family's new toys. Always wondered what my tiny ranger would look like with Dad's 30' Toyhauler out back. Saw the chance and took it!

And no, I didn't actually hook it up. I'm not that stupid haha

Got 450 miles on her since I put it all back together. MPG went from 15 back up to 18-19. Valves were pretty pitted on the old head, clutch was warn out, and it had the original Cat and a hacked up exhaust system, so I assume those were the reasons for my bad mileage. Pretty happy about that.

Things done in the last month:
Cat back exhaust with side dump
Durabak 18 bedliner rolled on bed
LED lights in dash and interior light
Tachometer installed

I really like the bedliner, It cleaned up the back of the truck and makes the old girl look loved. Wish It was a bit thicker, but I can always put down a few more coats in the future when I know how well this one holds up. I used textured Durabak 18 with UV protection. sanded the whole bed with 50 grit sandpaper and wiped down with xylene until no residue was left on the rag. Should bond pretty well. Any trucks I own in the future will be professionally done though, took a lot more work then I thought it would. From start to finish, it took me about 20 hours over 3 days and $175.

Here's a couple "poser" shots. Washed and waxed her for the first time in 3 months. And I wanted to get under her and check stuff out while flexed.

Thats my dog!

Found out my U-Bolts were loose and Im not able to tighten them up, some how they are stripped. So I bought some new ones from Ruff Stuff this week. Should be here by monday and Ill swap them out and remove one or two of the leafs in my bastard pack to soften it up. Depending on how much lift it removes, I might add a factory 4x4 lift block to bring the rear back up for now. Trying to decide between chevy 63" or explorer springs later on.

Ill post more pics of the interior stuff and other little things when I get the chance to take more pics.

 

[Dprocks100]

Here's some more pics of the updates this past month:

LEDs in the dash

Used these kind of bulbs through the whole thing
Bumble's Dash LEDs

And this one for the interior
Bumble's Interior LED

I really love the way it turned out. First off, to me it makes the truck look newer, and it makes it look cleaner. Only problem I found with these LEDs is that they don't dim with the factory switch. But thats not a big deal to me.

Tachometer location

Muffler and side dump

And then here are some other older things Ive done to it that I haven't mentioned or posted pictures of.

KC light switches

CB radio location

09 Ranger seats

Tool Box Organizer

And then something I have had a problem with on both my ranger and my brothers with the RABS. Mine had either rusted up solid or simply just didn't work right any more when I had bought it. I was doing the rear brakes and replaced the wheel cylinder. When I went to bleed them, I coundn't get any fluid from either rear, but could from the front. Read some stuff on how the RABS could rust solid and not allow fluid to pass. So I just used a male to male connector to join the two lines together and that did the trick. I personally don't like ABS brakes so It didnt matter at all to me to loose them and save myself $120 by not buying the new part. Been running mine that way for 2 years with out a problem, and my brother has been driving his that way for a year without a problem. His RABS was leaking when he bought it, so we just bypassed it as well.

Hopefully that helps someone, I searched for hours trying to figure out why I wasn't able to bleed my rear brakes on a RABS ranger and never found a cheap solution to the problem. This cost $5 plus fluid to do as long as you don't mind giving up your RABS.

 

[luke]

Your little ranger is looking nice. I like the LED idea.

 

[SenorNoob]

I'm curious how you intalled the 09 seats in it? Aren't the rails part of the seat pan by that year?

 

[Dprocks100]

Your little ranger is looking nice. I like the LED idea.

Thanks man! Been following your build last few months, good luck with your SAS!

I'm curious how you intalled the 09 seats in it? Aren't the rails part of the seat pan by that year?

Yes, the rails are part of the seats. At the moment they aren't modified, but I plan on eventually cutting and welding them to fit my floor pan better (next time I dig out the welder). I had a bench before, so I only had 2 holes drilled and tapped on each side from the factory. On both sides I was able to off set the rails to fit the floor pan on 3/4 corners. The offset reduces the amount of travel front to back, but being a single cab, the full travel isnt usable anyways. on the two of the three holes that lined up without existing holes, I just drilled the pan and put 1 1/4" fender washers and nuts on the exterior side.

Since the seat belt buckles are still in the stock place on the floor and not the seats, Im not too concerned at the moment with only three bolts per seat. The plan is to cut the last bolt hole tab and weld it in place where it lines up with the last stock holes . Its definitely not as easy as explorer or early ranger seat swaps, but I really like the looks of the newer seats and how they feel when you sit in them. Plus the center storage/seat is an added bonus.

 

[Dprocks100]

As I was swapping out the water in my cooling system with 50/50 mix, The man in the brown truck showed up with my stuff!

Primed, cut, and painted the U-bolts and hardware. This was the first pair.

What I've been running for the last 6 months

Its my original Pack with another set of ranger leafs mixed in. Main leaf of original, main leaf of other pack with hangers cut off, second leaf, other pack second leaf, third leaf and overload. It was nice during the winter when I had my sandbags in the back. It didn't make the truck "drag" like it did the year before, but it was way too stiff without any weight in the back. So I decided to just remove the second ranger main leaf to soften it a bit. Half way through the job

Finished job

Leafs I removed

Did a few other things while under there as well. I extended my brake line by an inch or two by pulling down and bending the tab that holds the line. And then I decided to extend my diff breather tube. Bought 6ft of hose and ran it up to the front drivers side stake hole in the bed.

I'm quite happy with the work done today. The truck rides so much better with that one leaf removed. It only dropped half an inch from removing that leaf, which is perfect. It makes the back higher then the front by only an inch. And its a lot more quiet, no more rattles from the ubolts, or stuff being thrown all over the place by the stiff suspension. Now I just need to find some new shocks for the rear.

 

[Dprocks100]

Went and picked up some 3/16 6"x2" steel tube and plate this weekend to start building my rear bumper. Going to keep it square looking and simple, 64" total length. Ill post more pics when there's something worth showing.

 

[Dprocks100]

Power went out at my house half way through cutting the brackets out for my bumper, so I didn't get as much done on it as I wanted. Fired up the generator so I could at least finish cutting, but still need to drill and weld the brackets on to the bumper. Here's what it will basically look like.

The licence plate will be centered, and I'm thinking Ill eventually add bumper clevis's on both sides and maybe back up lights.

 

[DOPIESLC]

Those seats you got from me are looking awesome! Really liking the dash lights and the rear bumper. You going to make it to one of the meetups sometime?

 

[Elutheros]

So my C-channel bumper isn't too ghetto.

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