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What's it like to drive a V8 ranger?


Ramcharger90

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Unfortunately, that rarely happens. And look what is happening to once wonderful Texas now. Used to be a red state, solid Republican. It is now a purple state due to so many people fleeing CA and bringing their bad ideas with them. It's said that by 2024 Texas will be a solidly blue state.

I fled CA for OK in 2002. But I am a lifelong Republican, so I didn't bring any bad ideas with me, just moved to a state that matches my outlook on things. For the most part, for whatever reason, Oklahoma is viewed negatively. Maybe it's the weather, which frankly doesn't bother me the slightest. We have actual seasons here. Hot in the summer, warm in the spring and fall, cold in the winter. Such is life. All my vehicles love the winter time. especially the Lightning. Good boost weather. LOL!! It can be humid here. It just depends on which way the wind is blowing, for real. From the south, humid due to it being Gulf air. From the north, dry and cool. Anytime the wind is blowing from the north, they call it a cold front here. From the south, hot and muggy. It was 102 yesterday and humid, dew point of 71. The higher the dew point, the muggier it gets. It's just part of living here. You get used to it.

Just remember in Oklahoma, you can tint your vehicles windows, even the windshield. My Mustang has a tinted windshield. You won't get harassed for having no reflectors on your vehicles, none of mine do. You won't get harassed for no front license plate, they don't even give you one here. I run tinted licnese plate covers on all my vehicles, not harassed once. No smog or safety inspections. It does result in some vehicles on the road that shouldn't be there. Missing bumpers, missing lights, missing fenders, badly cracked windshields, etc. But that's to be expected in a state where anything goes. You should see some of the custom cars rolling around here, rat rods they're called. I can't even begin to imagine them on CA streets. Dual quads, 6-71 blowers, open straight zoomy pipes, no mufflers, etc. My Ranger has no muffler, it's loud. Not been stopped for it once.

Constitutional Carry state, no permit required and the gun doesn't have to be registered. I have one unregistered 1911, my Dad bought it years ago when registration wasn't required. He gave it to me some years ago. Colt Combat Commander in .45 ACP. Can carry open or concealed. Can carry as many guns on your person as you can fit on you. I typically carry a 1911 on my right hip and a .32 ACP on my right ankle.

I carry matching but opposing Spyderco Military knives on me daily. There is no length law in affect here.

I consider OK to be a leave me the fack alone state. I've not been harassed by anyone for any reason in the 18 years I've lived here. Strangers wave at you. That's nice.

I have two motorcycles. Both heavily modified. Loud exhaust. intake and heavily trimmed license plates. Don't even have plate lights on either, never been stopped on them. Sneak peak at my Lightning in the garage next door.
I can live without limo tint lol. I understand we all make certain concessions where we live and local government is the way we should govern, That being said my state isn't perfect (Pennsylvania) but we had less restrictive gun laws in Pa then Tx until 2017 when Texas finally allowed open carry of modern handguns, We have open carry in Pa most prefer not to. You gotta pay 20 bucks for a card every 5 years in pa to the sheriffs office, our self defense laws have improved with castle doctrine, we dont have dumb magazine laws or cosmetic feature laws that make no sense and stop nothing, we have dumb liquor license laws and state inspection and emissions depending on county. I want safety inspection laws I agree with that fix your shit lol... but the emissions nonsense for anything older than 95 is useless. They just look at it and say pay me. We have decent classic car laws. Our Governor is a turd but I have to say his behavior on the 2A is exceptable (he didnt pass nonsense) but he still wants to be a lil dictator with this covid stuff.
 


19Walt93

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351
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3"
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235/55R16
My credo
If you don't have time to do it right will you have time to do it over?
I was asking a bit sarcastically, but glad I did, this had been an interesting read...
Not getting my hopes up...Florida is too humid and swampy for me, I'm more of a desert lizard, otherwise it would probably be fun to live there.

I heard Vermont is the most "leave me the eff alone" of all states.
I live next door to the peoples republic of Vt. There are always cars with Vt plates in the parking lots at our stores because of the lack of sales tax here. NH's property taxes are a little higher but they have a sales tax and income tax so they collect a lot more in total taxes. Both Vt and NH are constitutional carry, Vt just passed laws about gun purchase age and magazine capacity that caused a big stink because it's always been common to own at least a 22 long before you had a drivers license. NH has a better state safety inspection program, both states have emissions inspection for 96 and newer, I've heard Vt's is a pain in the a$$. Vt requires California emissions, we don't. NH is more business friendly, Vt's state OSHA seems to want to punish businesses more than they want to protect the employees. NH has a clean dry roads policy in the winter, Vt has what they call a safe roads policy- translation: lousy snow removal.
 

97RangerXLT

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Indiana isn't too bad of a state to live in. it does get a bit humid in the summer though, and can get real cold in the winter, plus the possibility of shoveling 12" of snow on occasion. but I think we are better off than a lot of our neighboring midwest states, especially the one to the west of us...

AJ
 

racsan

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Ohio isnt bad, havent had a real snowy winter in years but its always possible. They just did away with the front plate here, no emissions testing for most of the state, think they do have it for a few counties though, mostly near big cities like cleveland and cincinati. a few major highways have a 70mph speed limit which is nice, really cuts down on travel time. The summers can be hot, its been quite a hot one this year. No vehicle inspections, mine would be long gone if that were the case. Only real bad thing I know about vehicle wise is that if you have a electric car, you get hit with a yearly registration charge of 300 (I think, been a bit since I read about it- its high!) If I were to have a electric vehicle, Id also buy a gas equivalent and change the driveline out. Ive been in ohio all my life and doubt I would relocate now.
Oh, and Id love to have a V8 ranger, Ive never drove one but the concept of a sleeper appeals to me.
 

85_Ranger4x4

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Both Indiana and Ohio were very pretty to drive thru.

But then so is Illinois...
 

Eddo Rogue

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Keep an eye out on real estate values where you live. If you have a house and are thinking about getting out. don't wait too long if the values are dropping. Houses in California used to be high, so you should be able to get a pretty nice house in another state.

And all states have their problems. I just heard on the news the other day the supreme court ruled in favor of a indian tribe in Oklahoma. I don't know any details but the jist of what I got out of it was the state has been taking over the reservation land for years for their own purposes, and now the indians have some ammunition in the courts to get it back.
Thats another thing...Whether I sold my place or rented it, I'd be making out like a bandit
 

Shran

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anyone else feel free to chime in lol
Im looking for a place that is: (not necessarily in this order)
gun friendly
motorcycle friendly
pot friendly
tax friendly
vehicle modification friendly
Outdoor friendly (land use/weather/plant hardiness zone etc)
and maybe a few friendly people would be nice too...
South Dakota meets your requirements for guns, motorcycles, vehicle mods. Not so much for taxes, our cost of living is stupid high for what you get, the weather is OK, pot use is an absolute not...outdoor friendly depends on the area... east river is farm country, west river is ranch land.

I like a lot of things about SD... the list of things I don't like is growing. We have a new law that basically says government entities can pass laws or ordinances as an "emergency" and if passed that way, they cannot be referred to a general election... so for example, if your county commission feels that they have a gun violence "emergency" that can be solved with a high cap mag ban, a handful of people get to decide that and nobody else gets a say in the matter. Or they can pass new taxes and we can't vote on them... etc... it's just criminal. I think it's totally unconstitutional but nobody has challenged it yet.

Most of our rural areas have incredibly low wages unless you have professional skills. Our larger cities have slightly better wages but the cost of housing is incredibly high for a variety of reasons - probably reasonable compared to what you're used to though.

Access to outdoor recreation is good west river, east river... you can fish, or hunt, or fish and hunt, or fish... fishing is popular too.
 

sheep herder

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If it ain't broke, break it.
South Dakota meets your requirements for guns, motorcycles, vehicle mods. Not so much for taxes, our cost of living is stupid high for what you get, the weather is OK, pot use is an absolute not...outdoor friendly depends on the area... east river is farm country, west river is ranch land.

I like a lot of things about SD... the list of things I don't like is growing. We have a new law that basically says government entities can pass laws or ordinances as an "emergency" and if passed that way, they cannot be referred to a general election... so for example, if your county commission feels that they have a gun violence "emergency" that can be solved with a high cap mag ban, a handful of people get to decide that and nobody else gets a say in the matter. Or they can pass new taxes and we can't vote on them... etc... it's just criminal. I think it's totally unconstitutional but nobody has challenged it yet.

Most of our rural areas have incredibly low wages unless you have professional skills. Our larger cities have slightly better wages but the cost of housing is incredibly high for a variety of reasons - probably reasonable compared to what you're used to though.

Access to outdoor recreation is good west river, east river... you can fish, or hunt, or fish and hunt, or fish... fishing is popular too.
Y'all got some funny looking critters in SD.



 

cbxer55

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I believe we have them here as well. Plus Virginia Opossums, Raccoons, aardvarks, etc. Lots of roadkill cookbook critters available here.Possum Potpie anyone? LOL!
 

Eddo Rogue

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There is no such place. Guns and Pots are both so stigmatized in different ways that they would never be harmoniously accepted together.

Another problem, nice places like CA go to hell because most regular folks are too busy doing regular things, not spending all their time getting involved in politics. We are hobbyists, tinkerers, workers, family members etc...NOT Lobbyists.
 

gaz

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Eddo:

While I do not posses or have I ever driven a V8 Ranger I do own a 94 Dakota with a very NOT stock 5.2L Magnum V8 automatic. This Dodge midsized truck would get by with a metric TON less power. This truck drives/handles and has the power if a early 90's Corvette.

I am very happy to drive the Ranger with 2.9L power, I had to learn to drive all over again in that Dakota! To his credit, the gentleman that built it did so, so that he would not buy a like year Corvette ☕☕☕🚬
 

cbxer55

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The situation with the Dakota is likely similar to a Lightning. In 99 - 04, stock F-150s made 240 hp. Lightnings made 260 in 99 / 00 and 380 from 01 - 04. And mine is definitely not stock. Mods I've done place it in the 450 hp range. On a truck with little weight at the rear tires and very noticeably front heavy. Mine now has stock rims widened from 9.5 to 12.5 in the rear with 345/35-18 M & H tires on them. That's what it takes to get it to hook, even with a good set of long bars under it.

Ford toyed around with the idea of putting a Lightning motor in a Ranger. I cannot imagine how squirrely that thing would've been.
 

lil_Blue_Ford

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Ok, so I got to build and experience a V-8 Ranger with my dad. We took a 2000 extended cab 4x4 and put the EFI 302 drivetrain out of a 99 Mountaineer. Auto trans, AWD t-case. Looked perfectly stock. Sounded beautiful with custom duals with a crossover muffler and would give you a nice push back in the seat. Very fun to drive right up until a kid ran a very red light to clobber me in it, mashing up the truck and my hip.

I intend on doing something very similar in the hazy near future to my 4x4 Ranger, except I’m looking at doing a 331 stroker out of the 302, add headers, exhaust dumps and a disk brake 8.8 rear. Maybe other goodies, we’ll see how it all goes.

Dads Ranger is slated to be resurrected at some point. It was too much fun not to, lol.
 

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