1986 new to me Ranger

[drummerdad]

New guy here with a new to me 86 Ford Ranger. I dont know much about them to be honest, but I remember back when this body style was new I had some friends who owned them. I had an 87 S-10 back in those days; lowered with custom paint and aftermarket wheels.... It was at the beginning of the mini-trucking craze. Anyway, its not much but it was free, so no complaints. Heres the story;

My father-in-law owned it way back in the late 90s into early 2000s. Drove it to work foryears. Its just a 5-speed 2.0 short bed, standard cab Ranger. It was last registered in 2006, and sat as a dumpster until I pulled it out. He gave it to me because it was just rotting into the ground. Im just going to use it as a daily. I have too many other projects right now.

Im about $2500 in, with new tires and brakes and a bunch of other parts. I thought it had a bad head gasket, along with bad front and rear seals. So, I pulled the engine, and resealed it all. The head gasket was good, but the rest of them were not. The clutch throw-out bearing wouldnt return very good either, so that also got replaced.

My latest trouble is wiring. Im afraid my father-in-law was wiring it before he parked it. The wiring is a disaster. The truck runs fine now, after all the work, but the wiring is still in question. There seems to be a lot of extra connectors under the hood. Its almost as if this was a fuel injected truck but it was converted to carb. Either way, itll be fine. The future will have me re-wiring the whole truck, I just dont know when. It needs to do DD duty for awhile now, so I can get the other projects on the road.

Sorry the pictures are out of order. Ill get better at posting them. The bottom picture is after I have been messing with the wiring and after I put the engine back in. The alternator wiring had burned up, like literally melted out of the truck. The "GEN" light was on too. I re-wired it like it was, but it melted again. I looked for wiring schematics, but nothing matched the colors in the truck, so I ended up wiring it to match an 86-ish bronco schematic I found online. Those colors matched and it seems to be working for now. Ill have to test it some more tomorrow.

 

[scotts90ranger]

The 2.0L was somewhat of an odd duck as it was originally a feedback carburetor with an O2 sensor, air pump and all sorts of emissions stuff, looks like you have a more simple setup, it would basically have all the wiring for a fuel injected engine as that was the second year fuel injection was offered on the Ranger.

Looking good!

 

[Robert Mangrum]

Welcome to TRS. Nice looking rebuild. Look forward to watching it come together.

 

[Jazzer]

A lot of good work there, thank you and welcome!

 

[RobbieD]

Welcome to TRS.

That is a nice, honest truck. I like it a lot.

Your work does look good, and Bless you for saving that old thing.

 

[drummerdad]

Thank you all for the comments

I drove by this truck for years and never even looked at it. But I got the notion I needed a truck so I stated looking, and I didnt like anything for various reasons.

Im never going to buy any of this hot garbage they are selling today. I dont like the idea of spending $70-80k on a plastic and aluminum truck ran by computers that need an update once a year. And Im not paying a subscription for anything. This generation of cars and trucks is just not for me at all.

So i went back and started looking at the older stuff. Im actually a Mopar guy at heart. My car is an 07 Charger R/T and Im currently swapping the engine in it (thats another story). The other project is my sons 67 Dodge d-100. Its a long story, but we were starting it as a father/son project when he got sick at the age of 17 and passed away after 4 months in the ICU. He asked my wife and I to finish the truck, so we have put a ton of work into it. I dont want to drive it daily, because its irreplaceable and the parts are next to impossible to find. It isnt perfect, but Ill be working on this truck for the rest of my life.

I didnt want another project, but old car and truck prices are getting crazy. I would love a full-size 70s-80s Dodge d-150, but they are pricey in running condition. Then I noticed the little red truck. I mentioned it to my wife, and she thought I was nuts, as usual. I have a tendency to see the finished product, and ignore the work and struggle to get there. But she didnt complain, and I mentioned it to my father-in-law, and he told me to take it.

It seems to be a good little truck. The bed is very rusty from sitting with trash in it for 20 years, but everything has come back around and has started to work, the lights, blinkers and blower motor, even the windshield washer.... My plan is rather boring unfortunately. Im just going to drive it. Ill treat the rusty bed, maybe fix the windshield so I dont get a ticket. I will have to re-wire it someday, but no time soon. I have two other projects to take my time and money.