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My 88 D21


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.
Didn't do the tie rod ends, waiting to get more parts. BUT, I did take out the explorer console that was in there and put in an actual Nissan console. It came out of a much newer truck and the rear bracket is supposed to attach to a small airbag computer that I do not have. So i had to fab up a bracket.
I started with a 4" piece of 2x3 aluminum angle
38533

And two 5" peices of 1" aluminum square tube
38534

I marked and pre-drilled the angle to go here
38535

Like this
38536

In the above picture, you can see the square tube attached to the angle. I used self tapping tek screws from the bottom, you could weld it.
 
Last edited:


Ranger850

Doesn't get Sarcasm . . .
TRS 20th Anniversary
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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.
Then I attached the stock bracket to my square tube
38537

In the pic above, you can see the front bracket and the rear bracket attached to my bracket. The console fits over the 2 brackets and gets 4 screws at the bottom, 2 on each bracket, then a 5th screw on top of the rear bracket. It took a few minutes to get it spaced right, but i eventually got it.
Here's the front bracket hole
38538

And here is the back
38539

And here is the console in place and bolted in
38540

And here it is with the seats back in
38541
 
Last edited:

ret_Marine2003

New Member
Law Enforcement
U.S. Military - Veteran
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Location
The crotch of the mitten
Vehicle Year
1998
Make / Model
Ford Ranger XLT
Engine Type
2.5 (4 Cylinder)
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
2WD
Total Lift
Stock
Total Drop
Stock
Tire Size
235/75/15
My credo
No greater friend, no worse enemy...
There was a 1986 Nissan D21 that went from Marine to Marine at MCAGCC 29 Palms Ca.
The drivetrain was almost unstoppable. The electronic and wiring was not nearly as Marine proof.
I rewired it once, and know others had to repair damage from other Marines who wanted to put a better sound system in it but did not know hot from ground...
An ugly orange Nissan Pulser (?) Was another similar mess, I helped put a used motor in that goofy cheese wedge of a car.

Both had cobbled features that would leave you laughing or scratching your head.
 

Ranger850

Doesn't get Sarcasm . . .
TRS 20th Anniversary
Joined
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Messages
8,421
Reaction score
4,658
Points
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.
There was a 1986 Nissan D21 that went from Marine to Marine at MCAGCC 29 Palms Ca.
The drivetrain was almost unstoppable. The electronic and wiring was not nearly as Marine proof.
I rewired it once, and know others had to repair damage from other Marines who wanted to put a better sound system in it but did not know hot from ground...
An ugly orange Nissan Pulser (?) Was another similar mess, I helped put a used motor in that goofy cheese wedge of a car.

Both had cobbled features that would leave you laughing or scratching your head.
Actually the D21 and Pulsar are closely related. They share a lot of bits and pieces that are directly swappable. A lot of people think the 240sx is the D21's car twin, but it is the PULSAR. lol
 
Last edited:

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.
That single cab can get pretty tight for space, with my co-pilot riding along. And the bed is too big for small objects, things tend to slide around or out of the bags before I get home. So with the little bit of time I did have this weekend, I put in a tool box.
39340


39341


Since I pulled it out of a junk pile and it has been sitting in my yard for a few years, the locks were frozen, and the lids wouldn't stay closed. So I worked them loose with some PB Blaster and got them working again.

This is the side view.
Locking mechanism2.jpg
There is a small bar that is attached to the lid. It slides into the mouth looking piece. The mouth should be facing up and when the lid is pushed down, the bar goes in the mouth and rotates it to the position in the picture. The backside of the mouth has little teeth. The teeth are then locked into place by a little thing that is attached to the push button on the out side of the box.

39343


Push the button, the mouth flips up, and the toolbox opens. Push the lid closed and it stays closed.
 

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.
Performed more liposuction. Since I'm not going to bother repairing the AC, I started removing related parts.
39707

That's the compressor and hard lines. I left the ac cooler in front of my radiator for the time being. Also in this pic is the bracket that the compressor was mounted to. It went here on these 4 bolts.
39708
 

b1pig

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Around
Vehicle Year
1988
Make / Model
ford ranger
Transmission
Manual
Oh, wow. I was talking to my wife the other day about how I'd love to have one of those trucks. When I was a teenager, I used to drool all over the hard body trucks at a local Nissan dealership. They got used to who I was and let me drool all I wanted to. I loved the look of the reg cab. I always felt like Nissan went down hill with the Frontier trucks. The hard body was the pinnacle. The 1st Gen Rangers and S-10s were it. Yes, I was into the compact trucks when the lowrider thing was in full swing. No, I never had any of the good ones. Back then, though I wanted the Nissan over all the others. I think Mazda and Toyota had the biggest following in that scene, but there wasn't anything better looking than a slammed hard body, and it didn't need ground effects to look great low to the ground.

That sucker looks like it's cleaning up great, though.
 

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.
Finally had time to do some stuff to the HB. I replaced the distributor cap and rotor
42766


42768


Old vs. New
42769
 

Attachments

Ranger850

Doesn't get Sarcasm . . .
TRS 20th Anniversary
Joined
Jan 24, 2018
Messages
8,421
Reaction score
4,658
Points
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.
While i was under the hood, i replaced the fuel filter
42770


And built a plate to cover an old emissions hole.
 

Ranger850

Doesn't get Sarcasm . . .
TRS 20th Anniversary
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Messages
8,421
Reaction score
4,658
Points
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.
Front shocks were done. When I removed the top bolt, the shocks just collapsed and came out without me compressing them.
42771


42772

They came all black but I painted the tops gold because I have a lot of gold paint I gotta get rid of thanks to a clearance sale.
 

Ranger850

Doesn't get Sarcasm . . .
TRS 20th Anniversary
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Messages
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Reaction score
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Points
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.
42773

Beleove it or not, this little piece is a jewel among the d21 crowd. I basically have the rest of the interior torn apart. I'm going to attempt to spray the vinyl headliner gray. I got a can of spray on vinyl paint/dye. We'll see how that goes. Still have some masking to do before all that happens. Those old headliners are in there in a strange way that destroys them if you try to take them out nd mine is an ugly tan. Going to go to light gray to match the pillars and other things.

PS: my ebrake doesn't even work right now.
 

b1pig

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1988
Make / Model
ford ranger
Transmission
Manual
Looks a helluva lot like the piece that was in the '88 Sentra we had when I was a teenager.
 

Ranger850

Doesn't get Sarcasm . . .
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Points
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.
Looks a helluva lot like the piece that was in the '88 Sentra we had when I was a teenager.
Probably the same if the brake pulls out if the dash like this one does.
 

Ranger850

Doesn't get Sarcasm . . .
TRS 20th Anniversary
Joined
Jan 24, 2018
Messages
8,421
Reaction score
4,658
Points
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.
The truck originally had tan & brown interior. I have slowly been converting it to gray because I can't seem to find ANY tan interiors at the yards. Got gray seats, door cards, console and tan headliner with a brown dash. The dash will be addressed in the future. The tan headliner was adressed today. With this stuff
42869

It works pretty good as long as the surface is cleaned properly. I didn't use anything the can suggested to use with this product, I just used a mild water/purple power mixture to clean it and after it was good and dry I started. Forgot to take "before" pics but have some " during".
Rear pass. corner
42870


Rear window
42871

Front before
42872

Front after
42873


42874


42875

I did another light coat to get rid of the streaking. Looks better dry.
 

b1pig

Member
U.S. Military - Veteran
Joined
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Reaction score
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Location
Around
Vehicle Year
1988
Make / Model
ford ranger
Transmission
Manual
many years ago when that stuff was just coming out, I used that on a 92 Civic that I had. I recolored the sides of the seat black and after I put a center console and armrest in it from the graveyard, I painted it as well. Turned out REALLY good on the fabric. Not so much on the vinyl. Their product has improved a lot since then, though. I've seen some really good jobs done with that stuff. Wouldn't hesitate to use it myself.
 

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