Vital Designs 1993 Regular Cab Prerunner

[ChristianEwing]

Once engine and trans were in place, I wanted to get a bearing on space in the engine bay area, so I mocked up a fender and the header panel. The radiator we got for this truck is a CBR 31x16”, which is 3” shorter in height than I’m used to using on full-size trucks and you can still see it stuck above the header panel by a decent amount. This resulted in me cutting the front of the frame off and bringing it down lower for the radiator to sit properly in the truck once I started on the engine cage structure. There was some time spent trying to figure out what I wanted to do for layout on the engine cage, my main things were I needed to build it around knowing it’s getting a bigger power plant later, so the center needed to be as open as possible and if I could I wanted it to look different than what I typically see on these I-beam trucks. The main structure comes out wide from the A pillars, instead of the center windshield tubes, giving a lot of space in the center of the truck and also giving it a more aggressive look diving into the front portion. The radiator tucks nicely into the engine cage, right in its little pocket in the frame rail. I didn’t want to have this thing sitting outside the main engine cage structure and have it possibly get unwanted damage if there was some sort of front end collision so this was the ticket.

Once the main structure was there, I started playing with shock layout as well as firewall layout and engine cage lacing tubes. These all need to be thought out together, at least in my opinion, to make sure everything works together properly and you aren’t shooting your self in the foot somewhere later. With this truck being so narrow in width, packaging shocks was kinda tricky at full compression/full lock situations. To add ontop of that, because this is running a conventional 3 peice clip and not some sickkkyyyyy raptor clip, the height constraints to the underside of the hood are a lot tighter as well so getting the bypass to clear at full bump took a little time moving mock up tabs around to get the angles correct. That is why this shock package has so much rake to it as well, it’s just to get everything to clear under the hood. You can also see my super custom shock supports I use too while I mount shocks another thing to note too, all the shock pivots are running dirtking weld washers making the bolt holes extra thiccc and simplifying the shock mounts to where I don’t need to run some crazy looking overlay. This is my go to setup now, sometimes more simple is better and in this case with shock mounts I think it’s the ticket

 

[ChristianEwing]

I got the upper and lower shock mounts buttoned up and burned onto the chassis. As well as getting the radiator fully mounted in the truck. The bottom side of the radiator I built a tray for it to sit into that bolts to each frame rail, that way it can get powdercoated so any water or coolant that gets down into the tray doesn’t start to make it rust over time. The top of the radiator is held in at 4 points with a removable crossbar that is also tying back to the shock mounts. The tubes that run back to the shock mounts will also be used to hold the air filter, overflows, and other accessories that will need to be mounted up front in the engine bay and all this stuff will be paneled in at the end as well. The last two photos are from when I was checking toe once more before I built the final tie rod that connects the pitman arm to the rest of the steering system. Just cool to see everything without a tire on it

 

[Josh B]

Yep! Reckon if I had a Million dollars I'd keep right on wrenchin till it was allll gone!

 

[Jim Oaks]

@ChristianEwing when are we going to see this finished?

 

[ChristianEwing]

I have spent the last couple weeks getting the cab sealed back up. A lot of tin work and a lot of silicon bronze welding but it came out rad. Cutting the back wall, floor and firewall out were pretty much a necessity to be able to get the most out of this regular cab platform and to optimize the final product. Exhaust is also done on this thing minus getting the tips done off the mufflers, but I’m waiting to get the panels built to be able to do them so they come out the panel work properly. Engine and trans were pulled back out as well to be able to build out the firewall and get it all welded in, it also allowed me to get the engine mounts boxed in and fully welded as well as weld the engine crossmember in that ties the two beam pivots together. Another item that I was able to get knocked out was the front bumpstops. With how tight the packaging is on the front of this truck, the bump had to land on the backside of the beam, so I had to get crafty with the bump pad coming off the beam

 

[ChristianEwing]

Took the truck to Offroad Expo in Pomona Ca and got alot of great feedback on it. Was cool to be able to have people see the truck in person and truly get an idea of the detail and craftsmanship put into this thing. Photos and videos never do justice to what it looks like in real life

 

[Josh B]

Man, that is an awesome build you are doing there

 

[ChristianEwing]

After the cab was sealed up, I started on driver controls and pedals. The steering column being used in the truck is an IDIDIT hot rod column, Ryan and I ended up going with this one because it has a keyed ignition on the column, turn signal lever, flasher, and a bunch of different positions of tilt all incorporated into it. All in all, it checked all the boxes as well as visually looks the best out of all the options you have for aftermarket columns. Once I received that, I burned the splined stub onto it for the quick release hub, and then had Ryan come over and get test fit in the truck to put the wheel exactly where he wanted it. The entire column and wheel are sitting higher up and further back in the chassis compared to a factory ranger.

The next one was pedals. With the space constraints inside the cab, custom pedals were the only option to get everything to clear right. I started with the gas pedal, it uses the factory cable mechanism that runs to the throttle body. I am going to change the ratio on it though which is why the mounting tabs are still tacked, it’s very “on/off” feeling and I think it’s going to be too touchy. It’s not the end of the world, this was the first time I’ve played with something like this and the change is very simple so that will be coming soon.

Once that was in, I started on the brake/clutch pedals. I scanned the cab so I could get the area im working with inside the computer and build around those constraints the best I could. You can’t see it in the photos but I did have to cut a hole in the firewall to get the pedals far enough forwards. I knew this was gonna be the case from the get go, and is also why if anyone’s noticed the hole for the steering shaft has been blown open and not addressed yet. The steering shaft hole and the hole for the pedal assembly are so close together I have been waiting to just do one big panel to enclose it all back in. Now that everything’s in place I can get the panel made and the cab sealed back up

 

[ChristianEwing]

Getting the front clip on the truck has been a time consuming process trying to get it all together by myself. This is the first time I’ve mounted an entire front end on a truck from scratch without have a factory core support to work off of. Meaning everything is floating in space to begin with while you try and mount things one by one. I definitely learned a lot doing it and once I got into it, it really wasn’t too bad other than trying to get crafty with propping things in place on my own.

Also got the meat and potatoes of the front bumper built. The main tube is 2” with a slight radius throughout the whole thing to match the front profile of the grill and then tightens into the corners. The skid plate design I’m stoked on, wanted to do something different than the standard 4 rectangles you always see. This is a similar design but I added the “V” to the center of it to try and throw a subtle Vital designs stamping on it. I still need to mount lights on a removable rack on it, I’m just waiting on BD to get me setup as a dealer currently

I also added the same stainless hexagon mesh that’s behind the skidplate behind the grill to protect the radiator from bigger rocks and things getting thrown at the front of the truck

 

[Jim Oaks]

Looks amazing!