What did you do to your Ranger today? (Part Deux!)

[ThatOneGuy]

Still working on getting the truck ready to complete the interior work. Found a bad spot of rust from the inside of the cowel, to the top of the brake booster, and through to the inside of firewall. Ended up removing, clutch, and brake pedal assembly, and brake booster, to gain access, treated rust, patched holes painted,and seam sealed all three sides. Painted more misc. Items ashtray receiver, dash speaker covers dome light base. Trans tunnel cover plates, still working on cab paint, I might be a bit of a perfectionist. Even if it's a rattle can job it has to look as good as possible. Got the final coat of paint on dash core. Be ready for clear coat tomorrow. Glove box painted, started prepping fuse panel to go in, found a loose pin that the, retaining tab wouldn't hold, ended up using a small piece of crushed rock shoved into the housing to force the tab in, than super glued in place, a little janky but holds good and works good. On the surface it sounded like a simple job, but so many things to do once you get into it. I've got new carpet, and sound deadener showing up this weekend, so it's going to be a busy one. I'm hoping to have truck back together and driving this week.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Got the carb together and took it for a test run.

 

[racsan]

got my new tach installed & calibrated, still waiting on the speedometer gear assortment, hopefully it wont take too many tries to find the right one, granted I’ll need to go through the same thing for the other set of tires. It will be nice to actually see what my fuel milage is. my best guess now is low 20’s.

 

[JohnnyO]

Spent $1600 two weeks ago to get the truck past state inspection then Wednesday the water pump committed suicide. The wife's minivan was at the shop and we carpooled since our jobs aren't real far apart and the water pump crapped out when I picked her up for lunch. I didn't have time to deal with it so I called the shop and said hey, I'm dropping off my truck when I pick up the minivan. Helped to build my case for getting a new Ranger after the first of the year when I've paid off the credit card with the $3400 bill for last year's inspection. Then today I cut the hell out of my hand putting new thermostat in her minivan. Was getting a code that said low coolant temp. Temp gauge is one bar higher now.

 

[racsan]

built a box out of plywood to go between the bucket seats for the original armrest to sit on, now has a actual armrest as before that armrest was on the floor between the seats. made a bracket from the plywood box to the armrest original piviot/mounting point. still need to fasten this thing to the cab floor, but need to finish it with something, Its just bare wood right now.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Got the back wall prepared and removed the old, cracked seam sealer from back wall and floor seam. Got the rust treated primed, new seam sealer in. And got the noico black installed on the floor. I still have 4 sheets left trying to decide, between fire wall, and back wall. Or back wall and doors but the doors wont be ready for a couple months most likely. So probably fire wall and back wall but I need the seam sealer to set. I will get a photo in the morning.

 

[JohnnyO]

Replaced the blend door actuator so it no longer sounds like a blacksmith is working behind the dash when I change the temperature. Got the Ultra Power unit from Rock Auto for about $16. Had to play contortionist a bit but got 'r done.

 

[Ramcharger90]

Replaced all the 2 awg wire with 1/0, slow starting is gone.... for now....

 

[sgtsandman]

Made back from SAR training. The 2011 handled the trip well as usual. As did the trailer on it's maiden voyage in city traffic and at highway speeds.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Finished installing the sound deadener, ended up with enough to put some on the dash core under the metal part of the dash. A good sized piece on the ceiling, got the thermal insulation on the back wall and against the fire wall. Insulated the blower motor housing. Still working to perfect paint on interior parts.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Took the '97 Ranger on a road trip from home to Bakersfield CA and back from Friday afternoon to a few minutes ago... went well, Ranger got about 22mpg cruising 75-80mph most of the way at 3000rpm, not too bad considering I hauled several hundred pounds of black walnut slabs down there to the father in law...

I think I figured out one thing that is dragging the mileage down, I think the fan clutch is dragging or stuck engaged which would explain a few things... Also the clutch decided to not always engage today so that's fun... drove over 400 miles shifting mostly without the clutch pedal... I made a post in the transmissions area if anyone has any thoughts on that...

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Carpet came in from, Custom Interiors today. They did a really top notch job got it laid on truck, to regain its shape. If anyone is planning to buy new floor coverings, I highly recommend them.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Didn't touch the broken Ranger tonight, but since I drove the wife's Explorer today I spent some time doing little things since I always forget with the her not telling me things and me forgetting anyway...

Put the headlight switch knob back on, somehow the two screw nubs broke off the dash on the inside so the knob is the only thing holding it on... need to add the dash part to the junkyard parts list...

While I had it apart I decided to get the stupid air suspension switch off message off the message center... for future use if you pull the message center out and unplug the two connectors they are labeled with numbers, cut the wires that go to pin 12 and 22, one's pink and one's green... works great, much less annoying...

 

[ericbphoto]

Drove it to the grocery store and parked next to a youngster.

 

[JohnnyO]

Got a wire brush assortment for the Dremel at Harbor Freight to polish up the contacts on the trailer plug to try and get the third brake light to work, which it does now. Yes I put dielectric grease on the contacts. I only put the cap on for the winter.