Thanks for having me! These are my Rangers!

[bobbywalter]

this guy lucked out.

 

[Paint.The.Garage.Red]

Pretty sad about the parts truck in all honesty. It was a farm truck that stayed in the original family from Virginia all the way down here in Bama. Got it for $500, just needed the engine. Got a 7 foot bed though compared to my 6 footer on the red truck. I’m sure both of your trucks are great, wish red still had her clear coat all around

Agreed... that Lil red number makes both my trucks look like boogers.

Hell... us rust belt folks are in awww of the parts truck.

Welcome to TRS...

 

[Paint.The.Garage.Red]

Some more pictures including the “new” (frankenstein) throttle body, engine ready to be put in, and a picture of the rear of my truck because I forgot to include one.

Howdy everyone, my name is Valerie.
About a month ago I bought my lovely red 1989 Ford Ranger Custom 2.3L 5speed but it unfortunately had a bad oil leak through the rear main and its engine is toast, I didn’t even get to drive it! A week ago I bought my blue 1988 Ford Ranger XLT 2.3L 5speed “donor truck” because even though it has no brakes, fuel pump wiring issues, and bad suspension it has a good running lima.

We’ve already had to make a few changes such as adding the crankshaft sensor to the 1988 block and going distributorless, we also added power steering into the 1989 from the 1988 so that was a plus. We’re currently trying to do this without swapping the heads, we took a week vacation to do this. We currently have everything put together but the intake. Really hoping to get this done this weekend.

My great grandfather had a 1993 F150 and ever since he passed away and that truck was sold I’ve wanted an older truck myself and the Ranger is perfect. I love everything about it. We currently also have a 1996 Ranger 2.3L 5 speed but that one is my husband’s and perfectly fine haha. Just want one of my own.

Anyways here are my trucks, thank you for having me here!

 

[Paint.The.Garage.Red]

If you've been following along or giving me advice I am so pleased to update you that my 1989 Ranger is running and driving as of today with the motor from the 1988 donor I bought and we added a crank sensor, bypassed the distributor, added power steering, etc. What once ran with 8 plugs and two coils is now with one coil and 4 plugs. Our biggest snag was discovering the ignition module wasn't grounded correctly, preventing spark and a crank signal. As of today I got to crank it up for the first time! Just need to find a good home for the ignition control module and a heat sync system for it. Thank you everyone, you're amazing!

 

[scotts90ranger]

Sorry I don't pay much attention to this section much but I definitely could have told you about the ignition module grounding! that's how I ended up rolling my '90, it would run for a while then stall out, did that at the wrong time...

Anyway, doesn't need much of a heat sink, I made a 1/8" aluminum plate to sandwich between the two halves of the intake manifold so it could mount similar location to stock and added a ground wire, it's been working like that for about 10 years now... I did add a couple computer heat sinks to the back of it but one's fallen off, don't think it needs a whole lot...

 

[Paint.The.Garage.Red]

It definitely took some serious digging to find what the issue was, we were suspecting a bad crank sensor (which i can get my money back on the more expensive one i bought), we thought we had it grounded correctly a few weeks ago but a couple of alligator clips humbled us haha. I am so freaking thankful! Now I can truly make it my truck, already started with signing my initials on the frame lol

Sorry I don't pay much attention to this section much but I definitely could have told you about the ignition module grounding! that's how I ended up rolling my '90, it would run for a while then stall out, did that at the wrong time...

Anyway, doesn't need much of a heat sink, I made a 1/8" aluminum plate to sandwich between the two halves of the intake manifold so it could mount similar location to stock and added a ground wire, it's been working like that for about 10 years now... I did add a couple computer heat sinks to the back of it but one's fallen off, don't think it needs a whole lot...

 

[scotts90ranger]

It only wants to be grounded on the 3 bolt holes that were originally installed, why it has a 4 bolt pattern if you only use 3 is way beyond me...