83 302 build

[drsvox]

Picked up my first chanter when I was 25, and tomorrow I'm 46, but regrettably I stopped playing a while back...life just got in the way.

Every now and then I've an incling to pick them back up, but again...too much other stuff going on...maybe one day.

 

[Angie]

haven't worked on the cab lately, however, did some cleaning and painting of parts. today built a new set of gauges.

cheers

 

[drsvox]

very cool!

 

[Angie]

thanks!

ran into a small snag with that wiring system and had to make an adjustment to the plan.
placed a small wire block to use for properly securing the new sets of wires that i will be adding to the light block. (will be more apparent in coming days when it is finished and in the dash) today i noticed that the 18 ga. wires were fragile on the older plastic panel and is brittle when moved about. this is the reason for redoing it with the wire block

the other wiring pins will be redirected and taken out of the 83's wire harness and stuck into the proper places on this 85 dash from my parts truck. all the new gauges will be wired direct to the proper places from the motor with new wires.

i will post pics as to the process of inserting the newly built dash into the truck's cab in coming days.


today is day 1 of a 3 day weekend and we were able to paint the orange inside the cab.

looks good but pics are dark.

cheers

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

 

[Angie]

today is last day of 3....
we were able to finish the door jambs, and all the interior is painted. trim, and dash is ready to be returned into the cab. replaced the heater core, no way want to not replace an over 30 year one with new when you have the dash apart.

my little gauge project is 95% complete.

cheers

 

[drsvox]

lookin very sexy! just out of curiosity, what paint system are you using? base+clear, single stage? can't tell for sure, but both colors look like pearls or metallics...?

 

[Angie]

thanks... yes it is looking nice....

Omni base with heavy metallics, (PPG) & Besa Clears. the base has 2 coats and the clear seems to lay best with 3. the orange is $50 a quart and blue was $100for half gallon and these prices after our 40% discount. we reduce the colours down to 50-50.

Can't wait til the cab is done and then having the 2 sections back on the frame.

 

[Angie]

this week
I have been building the front dash speaker holders. had to make a new frame for these little dash speakers. started tuesday night after work and spent a couple hours a night on them. finished today, hooked up the head deck and the rears to see how it will work out.
on tuesday we went to a wrecking yard and found a very clean set of buckets with full console from a 91 ranger. will post up as these get a face lift.

started replacing the bottom of the dash also

 

[multiranger]

Looking good so far....

 

[Angie]

we have been slowly working away at this project. stuff that has no pictures. been slowly placing the dash parts back together. placed in the main metal for the dash, the head radio unit, connected the dash pad to the dash top piece. angie did a bang on job of re-upholstering the old dash pad. will post up a pic or 2 over the next couple days. just doing all the time consuming things.

wiring up the cluster and figuring the gauges and things.... days go by with what looks like nothing being done .... LOL

today though, we gave the cab a coat of primer to protect the exterior body metal for the winter. spring will see the cab become painted...

and that brings this project up to date..... cheers

 

[JoshT]

Y'all suck getting speedometers that go to 140 up there. Yes I realize that it is km/h instead of mph, but the 140 still looks cooler.

Seriously though, this thing is looking great so far. Look forward to seeing how your gauge mod and speakers turn out once installed. I'm doing a 86 with the guts from a 98 Explorer V8, and gauges are one of the areas I've got to figure out. Won't be using any of the stock gauges, but want to keep it looking as original as I can manage. That means doing similar to you and putting new gauges in the stock locations.

 

[Angie]

hi josh, thanks.

what do you mean by placing 98 into 86? any work started yet? pics?

hoping to have the dash top in and finished during the up coming weekend :
)

 

[Angie]

putting the top and the dash pad in. here is what it looks like today, haven't tightened it up yet. just sitting in place.

cheers

 

[JoshT]

I'm attempting to put the entire drivetrain and most of the electronics from a 98 Explorer V8 into a 86 Ford Ranger. Not an original or difficult idea in and of itself, but most people doing similar also swap in the dash and controls from the later model vehicle. I've decided that I am going to keep the original dash and try to keep all of the original switches and controls. Got a lot of wiring to figure out.

A bunch of work has been done, but have 3x as much still to do. Not going to bother with a build thread again until I get further along and am steadily working on it. Working outside as time, weather, and money allow, so the going has been slow.