1998 Ranger 4x4 Ground Up Restoration

[Craig0320]

I really love this freaking truck.

 

[fastpakr]

Same. Wish I had the patience, skill, and resources to do the same with my '99. Maybe in a few more years.

 

[ThatBostonGuy]

Thanks for all the kind words guys!

 

[ThatBostonGuy]

I decided to reuse my factory chrome rear bumper and just change the color to match the theme of the truck. I scuffed the F**k out of it with grey scuff pads and shot it with SEM self etching primer. The grille, front and rear bumpers were then sprayed with U-Pol Raptor bed liner. I had in process photos of that but I had a phone crash and lost a few photos.

 

[ThatBostonGuy]

Its been almost 2 years since I started this project and its finally starting to come to an end.

 

[DannyG]

Its been almost 2 years since I started this project and its finally starting to come to an end.

That is the best and worst feeling ever! Best because you can start to enjoy it again, sad because the adventure is coming to an end.

Looks factory fresh!

 

[97Ranger3.0]

I've been watching this thread since I joined the forums recently, and I have to say this truck is coming along so nicely! Your attention to details is insane and the quality of your work is impressive! Sometimes I wish I had the time and skills to redo my 97 to this level, but you did at least inspire me to paint my valve covers similar to yours

Also, I love the idea with the black interior, and you pulled it off very well! I'm assuming you painted the gray plastic, so I'm wondering what you used to paint the interior? If not, did you find black interior somewhere? I think the black interior would go very nicely with my color scheme as well and I love how yours came out!

Another side note - I'm from MA as well and it's cool to see another really clean Ranger get some love! I'm trying to keep mine clean and together for as long as possible but mine's nowhere near this level!

 

[Jim Oaks]

Looks great. Love the seats. Were you adding a center console?

 

[ThatBostonGuy]

I've been watching this thread since I joined the forums recently, and I have to say this truck is coming along so nicely! Your attention to details is insane and the quality of your work is impressive! Sometimes I wish I had the time and skills to redo my 97 to this level, but you did at least inspire me to paint my valve covers similar to yours

Also, I love the idea with the black interior, and you pulled it off very well! I'm assuming you painted the gray plastic, so I'm wondering what you used to paint the interior? If not, did you find black interior somewhere? I think the black interior would go very nicely with my color scheme as well and I love how yours came out!

Another side note - I'm from MA as well and it's cool to see another really clean Ranger get some love! I'm trying to keep mine clean and together for as long as possible but mine's nowhere near this level!

Sorry it's taken so long for me to reply. I've been busy putting the final touches on the truck with still a few more to go. I did paint the interior plastics and i used SEM Color Coat in Landau Black. Its excellent stuff. The vinyl pieces like the dash board just need to be cleaned and scuffed and sprayed directly. No priming necessary. The plastics really need to be primed with flexible primer surfacer first. They say its not necessary with the color coat but I found the finish to be too fragile especially with the high traffic panels.

Thank you for the kind words! It's nice to know that I am not the only on in Mass that loves Rangers!

 

[ThatBostonGuy]

Looks great. Love the seats. Were you adding a center console?

Thank you! At this time I don't plan on adding a console. I thought I was going to miss the arm rest from the split bench seats but I don't notice it being gone. I like having the subwoofer not hidden behind anything and really being able to feel the air movement.

 

[ThatBostonGuy]

I had to cancel on at least 3 pre-registered shows trying to get this thing finished up. It wanted to fight me every step of the way the last 2 months. I ended up having to pull my transmission for a 3rd time and have it rebuilt a second time. It's the only part on the truck I didn't do myself and it bit me in the ass hard. Fortunately it is now fixed correctly and like butter. I had to go through like 3 gallons of brake fluid before I was able to get all the air out of the system. Of course as soon as I took it on the road for the first time the check engine light popped on with code P1309. After setting and resetting the camshaft syncro multiple times and 2 weeks of head pounding frustration I figured out that the OEM harmonic balancer that I put on had the timing marks etched in the wrong position so it was off by 3 degrees. WTF Ford!

Anyways I was able to get into it's first car show along with my 1991 LX Mustang a few weeks back and holy sh*t I took home second place in the daily driver class. I couldn't believe it.

 

[planeflyer21]

Awesome man! Congrats on the trophy!

 

[AllanJYork]

Wow nice build.man I love it. How many hp do you think your rebuilt 3.0 has? Could you feel a difference in power?

Sent from my SM-N950W using Tapatalk

 

[Craig0320]

That trophy is well deserved. Good job brother.