03 Supercab - Camper Build?

[09fx4guy]

Wow

 

[dustyrangers]

Half day at work so I had some extra time. Interior gutted as much as I plan to with the weird hard plastic vent part of the dash and doors out. Interior is looking more and more fun. Still thinking about that rust...

 

[Uncle Gump]

Would be a good place form AOR sliders...

93-11 Ford Ranger Weld-In Rock Sliders - Affordable Offroad

 

[dustyrangers]

There is metal in there! Cleaning up pretty nice and working on my parts list. Will post once I’m further along.

I’m trying to decide if I want to strip back my wiring harnesses to what I need and/or start with a new one. The under dash harness is a bit iffy looking and I’m looking to stamp out any electric issues now, but don’t want to create any at the same time.

 

[dustyrangers]

Pulled the exhaust today after a lot of cleaning parts. Hole in my muffler so looking to replace at least that section. Any cat back systems plus manifold recommended for performance to price ratio?

I think I’m as far as I want to get into the engine and am probably going to drop the transmission for a rebuild while the exhaust is out.

 

[Shadowrider6661]

The outer rocker is a fairly simple repair. While a pipe/tube welded in that spot would work, I don't think you'd be happy with the look. So, Its easy to cut out the spot welds, they make a special bit for it. You can cut out a used one at at salvage yard, I'm sure you know where more than a few are located, the repair can be done in a couple hours, without having much experience with this type of repair. Just another piece of "Unsolicited Advice" from someone with too much time on his hands.

 

[Blmpkn]

I'm relatively sure all the catback systems are the same between motors, no idea on what headers are available. Personally, I wouldn't be putting an exhaust on a 4.0.. they sound like tractors to me lol but to each their own!

 

[dustyrangers]

I don't think I've heard a 4.0 with exhaust but would be going with something on the quieter end. My brothers are into the tuner stuff more than me and we had a 2.3 with a cherry bomb and a 2.5 with the dynaflow system that drove me insane. PO put a cold air intake and throttle body spacer that I'm likely going to remove for something closer to stock as well. Not looking for too much extra power until this motor has seen its time.

Those rock sliders that Uncle Grump posted are exactly what I'm looking for. Ranger logo and all! Thanks for the tips everyone.

 

[dustyrangers]

I stripped the seats down over the weekend as well. Thinking about trying to retool these by cutting off the “40” part of the driver seat and putting new foam and upholstery. The foam I have is nasty and I’m having a hard time finding new, though. I had some buckets that’s were a direct fit in my 98 that I wish I still had. It’s near impossible to find them in the junkyards these days.

This makes me think about airbags and seat belts again. I’d love to actually fit a pair of new buckets with harnesses. I can keep my driver bag but is there any such thing as an aftermarket passenger airbag? The front of this one (and the whole dash) is staying out.

 

[dccarpenter]

You may want to do the heater core while you have the dash out, if that is one of the rangers that needs the dash removed to replace the heater core it seems an opportune time to do it.

If you have your little one riding in the ranger with you a lot in a car seat you probably will have the passenger air bag off almost all the time anyway. I know I leave mine permanently off so that I never forget to switch it off on the almost daily event that my daughter is in the car (she's 5).

 

[dustyrangers]

I’m trying not to touch the actual heat and ac right now because it runs pretty well. At the same time it’s why I plan to leave the dash off as there are a lot of little things that can break back there and I need heat and AC if I want to be able to tell my wife it is a daily driver

 

[Shadowrider6661]

A random thought. Since you're doing a camper build, have you thought about adding an extra heater core for the rear of the truck ? It should be fairly easy to install one with an auxiliary fan. It could also have a factory style vacuum control that's connected to your dash panel. As I mentioned before, just another one of my "Unsolicited suggestions". Enjoy your day.

 

[dustyrangers]

A random thought. Since you're doing a camper build, have you thought about adding an extra heater core for the rear of the truck ? It should be fairly easy to install one with an auxiliary fan. It could also have a factory style vacuum control that's connected to your dash panel. As I mentioned before, just another one of my "Unsolicited suggestions". Enjoy your day.

Random thoughts are my favorite. I'm planning to re-purpose the floor/face lines to route to front and back instead and hadn't considered adding some extra power as I will probably need it.

 

[dustyrangers]

A lot of bad weather recently with some really nice days mixed in. Prepping the rear to get at the leaf brackets and probably springs and strut mounts... Any rear axles with bigger diff and disc brakes fit up nicely to this guy?

 

[dvdswan]

ooo, that's purdy.