1988 Ranger Restoration - Keeping a Promise

[Shran]

Mine are base models too... except the STX... and it definitely rattles a lot. The others don't. I suspect that many years of worn out door hinges played a huge part. The weatherstripping is squished in to where the doors were, not where they are now after replacing the hinges and I've got huge gaps all the way around. That will be fixed.

I guess the rear sliding window in my other truck rattles quite a bit but I can blame that one on age too. The felt slider things are long gone.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Well. This is awkward.

I imagine this is what it's like when your wife meets your girlfriend.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Your Challenger? I spy SRT in the grille, whats it got?

1970 'Cuda is my favorite car so the new(er) Challenger is pretty high ranking on my list.

After the past year I think my F-150 and Ranger on similar terms as I dote over the Ranger and the F-150 gets the bare minimum for attention.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Your Challenger? I spy SRT in the grille, whats it got?

1970 'Cuda is my favorite car so the new(er) Challenger is pretty high ranking on my list.

After the past year I think my F-150 and Ranger on similar terms as I dote over the Ranger and the F-150 gets the bare minimum for attention.

Yessir, that's mine.

2013 SRT8 with the 6.4l and 6 speed manual. 14k miles - lives it's life in a heated garage with a cover on it haha. Only new vehicle I've ever bought.

Absolutely love the thing. Have to constantly resist the urge to drive it, as I want to ensure I have it for the rest of my life.

 

[Uncle Gump]

According to my neighbor Reggie... that is nothing like his wife coming home early and meeting his girlfriend. I can confirm this due to lack of purse contents in the driveway... broken front screen door... and lack of police cruisers in your photo.

 

[Rangerx2]

Not to get too far off base on a Ford forum but a friend of mine has a 2018 Charger RT/Scat Pack with the same 6.4 Hemi. He's got the automatic as I don't think Dodge offers a manual in the Charger. He'll light that thing off from across the parking lot and it sounds like an angry F**'ing bear! Damn what a beautiful sound that car makes!
The upside to the Charger Scat Pack is that with careful shopping you can buy a nearly 500 hp car all day long for under $40k. The downside is that with that hood scoop, the "392" emblazoned on the fenders, and that exhaust note barking its way down the road like a pissed off dog; every cop in the free world is gonna know exactly what you got! But if you're gonna get buried under the state pen' you may as well go with a smile on your face!
Another mutual friend has a really cherry 1993 Ford Taurus SHO (remember those?). Just once I want to see those two hot sedans face off against each other. Obviously the Charger will put that SHO away any day of the week but I still want to see what that old analog Taurus can do.
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...?

 

[AgPete139]

Subscribed. It must be a labor of love. I salute your dedication to keeping her alive despite the truck's best attempts to drop you onto the road below.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Picked up the 1988 parts truck that was in the for sale section.

Thanks @94cylcamry!! (also, REALLY SORRY ABOUT YOUR LAWN. Keep that jeep!!) No joke, he pulled out my 2011 ram 2500 diesel with the parts truck on a dolly like it was NOTHING with a Jeep with a 318.

Gee... Why am I a Mopar guy...

Either way, threw it's set of 235 75 R15s on tonight. They feel awesome compared to the junk rubber I was running. Harvesting it's cap next...

 

[AgPete139]

First Ranger had 215's on them when I got it. I thought they were stock (didn't know better when I was 16). Night and day difference.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

First Ranger had 215's on them when I got it. I thought they were stock (didn't know better when I was 16). Night and day difference.

This last round was going from 225 75 to 235 75. When I first bought it, it had 205 70 r15s on it. It was downright scary on the highway back then.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Well, not an update to the truck per se, but an update to my work area that will allow me to do all kinds of fun crap to the truck.

Have to upgrade it's guts of course. There's a few good articles out there on how to make this one usable.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

Making your own pressure pot blaster is really quite easy using old junk. I built one from an old air compressor tank. Works very well. Mine is total loss though. so I usually blast parts on a tarp in the largest cardboard box I can find, then reclaim and sift the media to reuse. I used the harbor freight blast "deadman's nozzle"

I hope you've got a large air compressor with an acceptable duty cycle for blasting...

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

And now, gore:

These are the rear floor supports of my cab.

I think I need a cab.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Ewwww.
Bet that'll polish out...

 

[Bird76Mojo]

A rusty cab floor is the least of your problems.










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