5.0 swap and SAS "Half-Pint"

[Rooster]

Took the truck out for a quick thrash just to make sure stuff wouldn’t fall off. I’ve got a trip coming up in about a month, gotta make sure she’s ready

 

[bobbywalter]

stuff is not supposed to fall off?

 

[Rooster]

Well, at least hopefully not any big stuff

 

[Rooster]

Truck passed it’s last inspection yesterday. Next year it turns 25, and will be considered a classic. No inspections means some interesting things may be able to happen under the hood

 

[bobbywalter]

Truck passed it’s last inspection yesterday. Next year it turns 25, and will be considered a classic. No inspections means some interesting things may be able to happen under the hood
View attachment 118450

GODZILLA.!.!.!.!

 

[bobbywalter]

or an ecoboost... those 2.3s are damn reasonable right now.

 

[Rooster]

Leaving for a wheeling trip today, I decided to throw together a transfer case skid plate real quick so I don’t break something. I had very little welding gas left so I just stitched it together enough to work. Not the prettiest but it’ll probably get beat up anyway. I’ll try and take plenty of pics/video on the trails

 

[Rooster]

Pretty good weekend. We had a few smaller jeeps with us so we mostly stuck to relatively easy trails, or at least trails with bypasses. I was able to get into a few difficult sections, and played around in the rock garden. The truck did well, I have some room for improvement but I’m very happy with it. I did get a little damage on the passenger side, I think I might be able to pull it out with a plunger

 

[Rooster]

Had to do a little repair. Drove the ranger around a little just get the fluids moving, and I had a small leak in the radiator. I ordered a brand new one on rockauto, and it arrived with the mounts broken. Unfortunately I waited too long to return it, so here was my attempt at fixing it. For next time, has anyone purchased an all metal radiator for a 5.0 swap?

 

[sgtsandman]

@Rooster I know a few have bought all metal radiators but I couldn't tell you if any of them were used in 5.0 applications. I suspect yes but I can't say 100% for certain or what they used.

 

[Rooster]

had to get the boats down to the creek. Got a little stuck on the way.

Next upgrade will probably be electric fans, spinning tires in mud got the engine real hot

Also made an instagram page if anybody’s on there

 

[Rooster]

Been out of town for many months, got a wheeling trip planned over new years though

Even when I’m not home I gotta have something to work on. I’m a big fan of soft tops on trucks, but my work truck has an 8ft bed (not many soft tops available that aren’t too expensive), and my ranger is bobbed so nobody’s gonna have one that fits. I really like the look of the “bikini tops” that old Toyota 4Runners have. I'm testing this concept on my work truck to see if I like it, if it works out I’ll try in on the Ranger too. Work truck was a little more complicated because of the ladder rack, I think the ranger would be way easier to set something up. I might even buy a 4Runner bikini tops for the ranger and see if I can make it work. Here are some pics of what I have put together for the work truck:

Is this cool? I really like it but can’t tell if I’m just biased since I made it. I might be able to improve on it some when I get home and have better tool available. Here is a pic of a 4Runner bikini top for reference:

 

[sgtsandman]

I like it on the grey truck. Meh in the white one. Maybe try running it over the rails on the ladder rack?

Wind could a problem then. I don't know.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I like the idea of slung under the top rails, that way you can still tie stuff down and also not wear holes in the canvas. But I think it need to be attached to the top of the cab somehow to keep rain and wind out.

 

[Rooster]

Unfortunately I’m not willing to drill or weld into the cab on my work truck. If I do something similar on the ranger I’ll probably be more willing to cut stuff, I think it would be pretty easy to mimic the mounting points on a 4Runner. I might get a longer/ more custom tarp to put on my work truck, I think with a proper tube bender I could get it pretty close to the cab, so maybe I’ll improve on the idea when I get home. I’ve hit 60 mph with the tarp on and the wind isn’t an issue, it doesn’t flap or anything