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My 88 D21


Ranger850

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Location
Tallahassee Florida
Vehicle Year
2001
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
Born with a 3.0, looking for a donor V8
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
Stock 2"
Tire Size
Stock
My credo
Doing things wrong, until I get it right.
This is the 88 Nissan Hard Body "D21"
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This is the day I first parked it in the yard. It was worse for ware. At first glance, It was ugly to say the least. When you got up close, it was even uglier. The Hood and PS fender had obviously been replaced, so it has been wrecked, :poop:, The wheels were just disgusting, and the interior was horrendous.
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The door panels were replaced with wood paneling, the bench seat had a couple of pillows stuffed into the Driver's side, for support. and the dash is ….. I cant find words for the dash.
As far as the Drive train, it wasn't too bad. It started up every time, no problem, and it drove fine. Leaked a little oil I thought, no problem still, It is 30 + years old. But the rear breaks were leaking.
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Last edited:


Ranger850

Doesn't get Sarcasm . . .
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Location
Tallahassee Florida
Vehicle Year
2001
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
Born with a 3.0, looking for a donor V8
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
Stock 2"
Tire Size
Stock
My credo
Doing things wrong, until I get it right.
One of the first thing I had to do was ditch the bench for some buckets, and find some door panels for this thing.
37140
 

Ranger850

Doesn't get Sarcasm . . .
TRS 20th Anniversary
Joined
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Reaction score
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Points
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Location
Tallahassee Florida
Vehicle Year
2001
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
Born with a 3.0, looking for a donor V8
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
Stock 2"
Tire Size
Stock
My credo
Doing things wrong, until I get it right.
And then, on to the real stuff,
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replaced the old wheel cylinders
and did a rear break job.
37142
 

Ranger850

Doesn't get Sarcasm . . .
TRS 20th Anniversary
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Location
Tallahassee Florida
Vehicle Year
2001
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
Born with a 3.0, looking for a donor V8
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
Stock 2"
Tire Size
Stock
My credo
Doing things wrong, until I get it right.
Now that my stopping juice wasn't leaking out, I jumped into some cosmetic stuff, WHEELS.
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^^This is what they looked like when I got them.
So, I stripped them down to bare metal. There was this plastic clear stuff over the wheel, I chose to use a "waffle wheel" to get it done. That and a good pressure wash session netted decent results.
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Using the DODGE wheels as inspiration...
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I did this...

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It's very subtle, especially with 15" wheels, but the face is black and the backside is Gold.

And now the Truck looks like this
37149
 

Ranger850

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Location
Tallahassee Florida
Vehicle Year
2001
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
Born with a 3.0, looking for a donor V8
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
Stock 2"
Tire Size
Stock
My credo
Doing things wrong, until I get it right.
The Door handles, were working, but that's it. The DS was dangling and the PS was a plastic POS that was just going to fail at any time. So I found a guy on InfamousNissan.com wanting to get rid of some metal, chrome ones for the $$ of shipping.
37150
 

Ranger850

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Location
Tallahassee Florida
Vehicle Year
2001
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
Born with a 3.0, looking for a donor V8
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
Stock 2"
Tire Size
Stock
My credo
Doing things wrong, until I get it right.
The emissions on this little truck was a joke, so I removed all of it from the engine bay.

37151

The top shot is the fender where all the emissions stuff was jammed in there.
 

Ranger850

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Location
Tallahassee Florida
Vehicle Year
2001
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
Born with a 3.0, looking for a donor V8
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
Stock 2"
Tire Size
Stock
My credo
Doing things wrong, until I get it right.
The engine bay now needed a good cleaning, so I could try to figure out where the oil was coming from.
37152

I did the undercarriage too
37153
 

Ranger850

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Location
Tallahassee Florida
Vehicle Year
2001
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
Born with a 3.0, looking for a donor V8
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
Stock 2"
Tire Size
Stock
My credo
Doing things wrong, until I get it right.
Time for new plugs & wires, and a Valve Cover Gasket.
37154


Look what I found, the oil leak?
37155


The plugs, :sick:
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Last edited:

Ranger850

Doesn't get Sarcasm . . .
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Location
Tallahassee Florida
Vehicle Year
2001
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
Born with a 3.0, looking for a donor V8
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
Stock 2"
Tire Size
Stock
My credo
Doing things wrong, until I get it right.
New Plugs in, new wires on, and VCG replaced. I also painted a few pieces while they were out.
Before
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After
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37158
 

Grumpaw

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Location
Virginia
Vehicle Year
2009
Make / Model
Ford Ranger XL
Engine Type
2.3 (4 Cylinder)
Transmission
Automatic
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
Stock
Total Drop
Stock
Tire Size
Stock 225/70/15
My credo
I don't count birthday's anymore...just happy to be looking down at the ground instead of looking up
Nice job bringing a truck back from the "grave".
Never have owned a Nissan pick up, but used to race SCCA in a Datsun 510.
Have had same era Toyo trucks. Back then they were solid, dependable little trucks, and with routine maintenance would last forever.
Luck with your project.
Grumpaw
 

Ranger850

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Location
Tallahassee Florida
Vehicle Year
2001
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
Born with a 3.0, looking for a donor V8
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
Stock 2"
Tire Size
Stock
My credo
Doing things wrong, until I get it right.
Now that she was running smoother, I jumped to the inside for some trim pieces.
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37161

DS pillar
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PS Pillar
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Mirror Trim pieces
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The gray material I used is called Microfiber. I got it off of an abandoned couch lol
 
Last edited:

Ranger850

Doesn't get Sarcasm . . .
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Location
Tallahassee Florida
Vehicle Year
2001
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
Born with a 3.0, looking for a donor V8
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
Stock 2"
Tire Size
Stock
My credo
Doing things wrong, until I get it right.
The mirrors were a sad subject too. DS was fine, but the PS was not. It had a huge, oversized convex bubble bolted to the mirror housing.
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Here they are, already off of the truck.
I found a nice Xterra at the JY that looked like the Mirrors would fit my HB, so I snagged them.
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But before they could go on, I had to do some slight mods.
1st, I had to cut out these little tabs.
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Then I had to smooth that out, using a grinder to open it up a bit more.
Then I did this
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This is a little rubber boot that came on the Xterra Mirrors that were NOT on my HB. I removed that part instead of making the hole larger.
37174

prepped and ready for paint.
 
Last edited:

Ranger850

Doesn't get Sarcasm . . .
TRS 20th Anniversary
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Messages
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Reaction score
4,659
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113
Location
Tallahassee Florida
Vehicle Year
2001
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
Born with a 3.0, looking for a donor V8
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
Stock 2"
Tire Size
Stock
My credo
Doing things wrong, until I get it right.
Drivers side done, nice fit
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D21 vs Xterra
37178

And here is a Left&right shot
37179
 

Ranger850

Doesn't get Sarcasm . . .
TRS 20th Anniversary
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Reaction score
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113
Location
Tallahassee Florida
Vehicle Year
2001
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Size
Born with a 3.0, looking for a donor V8
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
Stock 2"
Tire Size
Stock
My credo
Doing things wrong, until I get it right.
My next big project is a brake upgrade. I ordered all V6 components, ( slightly bigger and thicker rotors ) and will be putting those on soon, along with the leaf spring bushings. stay tuned...
 

sgtsandman

Aircraft Fuel Tank Diver
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Location
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Vehicle Year
2011/2019
Make / Model
Ranger XLT/FX4
Engine Size
4.0 SOHC/2.3 Ecoboost
2WD / 4WD
4WD
Total Lift
Pre-2008 lift/Stock
Tire Size
31X10.5R15/265/65R17
Nice work so far. The body looks to have held up pretty well. I love the slide bolt latch for the driver's door. Classic Mr Bean mod there. I'm assuming you'll be addressing that at some point.
 

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