'85 Ranger Restomod

[RobbieD]

Nice shot of two classic Rangers.

Any idea what the two cars are in the background? Brown on the left looks like '66 or '67 Fairlane, maybe a GT390; and the yellow on the right might be an early seventies 442 Cutlass?

Looks like it was a nice car show. I won't complain if you post more pics . . .

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Nice shot of two classic Rangers.

Any idea what the two cars are in the background? Brown on the left looks like '66 or '67 Fairlane, maybe a GT390; and the yellow on the right might be an early seventies 442 Cutlass?

Looks like it was a nice car show. I won't complain if you post more pics . . .

Yeah, it was a 442 behind me, not sure about the brown one. I have pics I need to go thru yet...

Anyway instead of going thru car show pics I got to thinking... A/C would sure be fun. So I pulled my blower motor housing to see how the A/C variant will fit. That is kind of the biggest rogue element of this aside from the hose I have to make. I know the condenser will fit, I know the compressor will fit... I know with the tall valve covers I had 10 years ago the A/C housing was pretty ugly.

The base housing slipped on without me even removing the air cleaner.



The side cover... not so much.



But everything is going to clear my air filter assembly (using the my original side cover with a huge hole melted in it)



Also of interest, my "original" side cover has a '94 engineering prefix. They also for some reason added fences around the front tabs.



I took the housings over to the Mouseflusher 2000 to get all the barn dirt off the outside and the mouse crap/nests out of the inside. You have to read the fine print in the direction manual but a neat perk of the Mouseflusher 2000 is you can reverse flow test your fan housings to check for rough spots that may impede airflow.



Might be stupid, might be kinda neat... I snagged these two nice original tower style hose clamps off that mint tan truck I found in the JY last year. I am going to give them a go on the heater hoses at the firewall for a more original look.



Also changed the spark plugs and measured the valve covers to see which style grommet I need since OF COURSE Ford Racing valve covers have to use unique grommets made only for Ford Racing and not available at any parts store.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I popped the shields off the condenser fans from @PetroleumJunkie412



Looking like it will plausibly work with the radiator, condenser and fans all installed together.



Then I got to thinking the fans sure stuck out a long ways... wouldn't it be cute if I went thru all this and they hit the grille? Nope, should be fine there too.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I got the access door reshaped to clear the valve cover:



Evaporator housing has to go on as an assembly but it goes on.



Dual front efans are mounted just as far forward as I can get them.



The fans have this goofy little POS plate on the ends. There are two mounting holes one has threads tapped into the metal frame of the fan and the other has threads in the stupid plate. I literally fought for an hour getting them in and trying to get everything to line up. Got 'er done and of course the stupid little bracket on the PS hits a tube on the condenser.



The little tab attaches to the radiator support via that little hole. Same for the other side.



I had a deep train of thought in the shower, I am just going to delete that bracket, possibly melt into slag so I don't have to see it again and just use a machine screw and a nut. That tube might need tweaked a little but clearing screws should be easy.

DS fits perfectly.



I will probably poke the compressor it in while I have the front end opened up and then I need to get it back together ASAP and see how the fans are going to work before I take it on the trail ride.

 

[Dirtman]

Engines is goes vroom.

 

[RobbieD]

And AC is goes BRRR!!!

You're making great progress, 85_Ranger4X4. The finished system will look like it belongs there.

 

[Ranger850]

Saw the "Tri-motor" on Intagram this morning.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I thought the radiator could used washed out... so I did that tonight.



Top of condenser is bolted in, radiator is bolted in and everything kinda fits.



Lowers on both sides are missing the radiator support by an inch.



Fans look like they are in straight, radiator and condenser are parallel to each other... starting to wonder if this is a difference between a first gen and a second gen nobody mentions. I am going to snag some tube and make spacers tomorrow.

Nice that they used black for power and red for ground... that makes it nice and simple.





And I got the ground side ran for both fans, ran out of connectors and that shut me down for the night on that.

I thought I would stab the compressor in and see how that looks...



Just like everything else so far it just kinda sorta almost fits. I tweaked the power steering pressure line out of the way. The hose to reservoir isn't long enough to get out of the way and hangs up on the compressor. The biggest thing is the engine oil filter hose will be rubbing on the clutch.

Pretty close to throwing in the towel on A/C for a couple weeks, I need to get this thing back on the road and not spend my time totally re-plumbing the thing.

 

[Curious Hound]

The biggest thing is the engine oil filter hose will be rubbing on the clutch.

That will make it’s own clearance.

 

[RobbieD]

Pretty close to throwing in the towel on A/C for a couple weeks,

Take a break from it. You're doing too nice of a job on it, to start cutting corners before the AC is done. I mean, it already looks like it was born with that 5.0; keep the same craftsmanship going!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Take a break from it. You're doing too nice of a job on it, to start cutting corners before the AC is done. I mean, it already looks like it was born with that 5.0; keep the same craftsmanship going!

I would happily keep going... I want to get some sort of testing done on the cooling system before we strike off for Indiana though.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Man now your making me rethink my thoughts of not running the ac on my 4.0 swap. BTW that rig is really coming along, it's obviously a labor of love.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The war rages on... kinda wishing I hadn't started this debacle. Everything is a fight and I don't really have time to deal with it right now.

Anyway, I got the wiring done so both fans will in theory run.



The inspector general had to come check things out.



1" bronze bushings worked perfect for spacers



I am not going to put it on now but while things were opened up I pulled off the pressure line and tweaked it. Also rerouted the return so when I am ready the compressor will drop into place.



I have pretty good airflow thru the condenser. With the radiator in place a lot of air squirts out the top between the condenser and the radiator. This worries me immensely. I might just pull the condenser back out for the trip, I don't know. I did remember I had a factory seal so I put it in but haven't tested it yet.



And of course the heater hoses are now too short, I need to pull the inner fender to get the heater box bolted down. need a new pressure line seal for the PS pump etc.

Its like one step forward three steps back and where did that wrench go I just had?

And I had a cicada fly past my ear and crash into the steel bottom of the hood as I was fighting getting the fitting into the steering gearbox started. This must have irritated him because he started buzzing as he fell into the engine bay with the grace of a B-17 with one wing. That woke me up...

 

[RobbieD]

Its like one step forward three steps back and where did that wrench go I just had?

And I had a cicada fly past my ear and crash into the steel bottom of the hood as I was fighting getting the fitting into the steering gearbox started. This must have irritated him because he started buzzing as he fell into the engine bay with the grace of a B-17 with one wing. That woke me up...

Focus on positives. At least you had the breather on; otherwise the cicada would have kamakaze'd the carb, especially if you have luck like mine.

I have pretty good airflow thru the condenser. With the radiator in place a lot of air squirts out the top between the condenser and the radiator. This worries me immensely.

It's good that you remembered the factory air seal. The factory did those for a reason- they do help a lot. Anything you can do to direct air flow through the condenser and radiator, and prevent it from going around, will help, both engine cooling (mainly) and AC performance.

With your mods you might need to get creative and fabricate some things. Typically it's mainly sheet rubber and foam pieces (closed-cell foam is better). If you can, check out some later Rangers and first gen Explorers in the boneyard for inspiration; they had additional sealing pieces, over the first gen Rangers:

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Focus on positives. At least you had the breather on; otherwise the cicada would have kamakaze'd the carb, especially if you have luck like mine.



It's good that you remembered the factory air seal. The factory did those for a reason- they do help a lot. Anything you can do to direct air flow through the condenser and radiator, and prevent it from going around, will help, both engine cooling (mainly) and AC performance.

With your mods you might need to get creative and fabricate some things. Typically it's mainly sheet rubber and foam pieces (closed-cell foam is better). If you can, check out some later Rangers and first gen Explorers in the boneyard for inspiration; they had additional sealing pieces, over the first gen Rangers:
View attachment 64820

Air filter was actually off. My first thought with a weird hum, loud pop and buzzing was I had a big electrical problem (given that I had just wired the efans)

My condenser has the foam on the sides, I made plans to hit the JY tomorrow to see if I can find that one that goes along the bottom of the radiator. I need to check out those extensions, they are intriguing. I don't see anything in my parts book on them (goes up to '91)