'85 Ranger Restomod

[dangerranger83]

I know that the M5OD uses auto tranny fluid in them. Mine calls for gear oil. I may try some ATF fluid in my tank, though I did just put a can of seafoam in her and now Im down to a half tank.

BTW what are your MPG's that you are getting with your 302 so far? If its better then 10mpg (what Im getting with my 2.8) then it is a swap well worth doing.

 

[88ranger89camaro]

hmmm i have always uesd trans fluid through a vacuum line (and you think seafoam smokes) and then a little bit of diesel in the gas tank with a full tank of gas to clean the injectors, never herd of trans fluid in the gas ..... may have to try it

 

[88ranger89camaro]

I know that the M5OD uses auto tranny fluid in them. Mine calls for gear oil. I may try some ATF fluid in my tank, though I did just put a can of seafoam in her and now Im down to a half tank.

BTW what are your MPG's that you are getting with your 302 so far? If its better then 10mpg (what Im getting with my 2.8) then it is a swap well worth doing.

I would think he would do real good with a V8, heck I can get 21MPG out of my camaro if I baby it, now plaing around is another story

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

BTW what are your MPG's that you are getting with your 302 so far? If its better then 10mpg (what Im getting with my 2.8) then it is a swap well worth doing.

My best was 13mpg city with the stock settings on the carb, I have since leaned it out. To be honest it hasn't really been babied much as I have been tinkering with it trying to get rid of the ping and most tanks have been less than that because of it.

I have had it on the highway a couple times, with a 3 speed trans it moves a lot of fuel at 2700 rpm. Not enough to get much of a measure but I do think it was 10mpg or less.

 

[Robert_1967]

I have had it on the highway a couple times, with a 3 speed trans it moves a lot of fuel at 2700 rpm. Not enough to get much of a measure but I do think it was 10mpg or less.

OUCH

I think I would be changing the gearing on the rear end, or getting a auto with over drive.





Robert

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

OUCH

I think I would be changing the gearing on the rear end, or getting a auto with over drive.

Robert

Why?

I have a later model F-150 with a overdrive trans, 3.31's, AC, cruise... and legroom. This thing will never be my long distance driver of choice. That is one of the reasons the lack of OD isn't a huge deal for me at the moment, and I like the punchiness of the 3.73's and 31's around town. Mainly I drive it 2 miles to work and back, maybe somewhere for lunch and up town once in awhile.

If anything happens to the C5 it will probably get a 5 speed, but since that will take a lot of work and I have no parts at all rounded up for it I hope it will be while.

It would get better milage now because the carb was way rich back then, but with it being dark when I get off work and the deer being in rut I am not in a huge hurry to recheck it right now.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Had me a good day of pillaging at u-pull-it yesterday:

I know the gate is aftermarket, but the darn thing is pretty much new... hard to pass up for $50.

I also grabbed yet another set of D35 Warn hubs (have 2.5 sets now) and since I had time I grabbed all the guts out of this truck too so now no matter what I get for an axle I have the stuff for manual hubs. It would have had the ideal axle for my truck with the bolt on calipers... but had taken a hard hit in the front right. The hit had snapped the end off the steering gearbox and folded the RA and both RA brackets. Somehow both hubs were perfect.

Then I found a BII with a rim matching the ones I have in my Ranger, I grabbed it so I have a nice matching rim for a spare tire.

Another BII had the detatchable smaller 4wd lever for the t-case so now when the lever in the cab is in 4wd hopefully it is actually in 4wd.

On a sadder note, I found this there too, she needed a little lovin' but...

I think most of the side damage was from them moving it with a payloader... looked pretty solid/straight except for the bumper, grille and hood from hitting a pole (and I suppose why it was parked in the mid '80's) 2bbl 302, floor shift manual trans (4sd I suppose)... having never seen anything but a fastback I kinda like the coupe as a change of pace. The pic isn't that great but rest assured my old RAZR tried hard although my finger got in the way a little.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Been working on the tailgate at night finally got the the thing stripped and primed. Whatever that black stuff is they use to prime aftermarket parts is tough stuff, my wire wheel burned it before it got it ripped off.

Threw the first layer of paint on it:

The orange was really hard to do but nothing like the light red color... which of course dribbled all over so I am going to have to do a little sanding.

 

[jhammel85]

Looks good!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I got it masked up ready for paint tonight, not sure when I am going to get to it. I don't really want to throw paint on it and wrestle it into the shop bathroom so it has a warmish place to dry. Where I am doing this only the showroom is heated throughout the night, and the bathroom has a duct so the pipes don't freeze, shut the door and kick up the thermostat for awhile before I leave and it warms the little room up pretty good. That was hard enough with just the primer (which isn't as picky on temp)

Orange is for my brother (leukemia) pink is for my aunt (breast cancer) The magnet worked but didn't really fit in with the truck, I was always afraid of losing it too.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Since the tailgate is on hold, it was recently brought to my attention that with the 302's low end torque and to an unknown extent wider tire patch of the 31's it is rather helpless in 2wd on snow/mud. I got the cure, so I decided to get that ball rolling.

Why can't it be this easy?

3.5 cutting wheels later (those pads are pretty thick, almost like they don't want them to come off )

Ground flatish:

I wire wheeled the whole thing and threw some primer on it to keep it from rusting until I get the parts in and on to continue.

I got the Ruffstuff perches (and one piece shock mounts) ordered, since they are something like 7" long to counter axlewrap it seems kinda silly to keep my stock lift blocks. Kinda wondering how this will play out with Explorer springs...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I finally got my stuff from Ruffstuff, apparently they had to make it because it took a week.

It looks really nice but I have discovered yet a few more snags.

As near as I can recollect I got this axle in roughly '07-08 and disassembled the brakes shortly afterwards... so I didn't exactly remember how things went. I cut the axle pads off per the instructions in the tech library... which means I now have to weld nuts on the the new mounts for the brake lines to mount to. So IMO if you have a disc brake axle I would forgo that step, which will save you a lot of time. The springs are the same distance apart so I don't think the old pads would have hurt a thing down there tucked between the u-bolts.

I laid the newfound parts out on the axle and discovered one of the sway bar brackets is going to have to go. Might as well zip both off so it looks decent.

 

[dangerranger83]

Those ar ethe exact same ubolts that I am using. The nuts do like to seize up on them after a few months so be sure to put some kind of anti seize on them.

Long story short I have to cut mine off for when or if I do an axle swap due to this.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Those ar ethe exact same ubolts that I am using. The nuts do like to seize up on them after a few months so be sure to put some kind of anti seize on them.

Long story short I have to cut mine off for when or if I do an axle swap due to this.

Hopefully this axle will stay in longer than anti-seize will do them any good. It was part of the plan though.

The current (likely original) bolts are pretty well in there. Shortly after I got the stuff I was going to just poke the springs in. It stalled out our big 1/2" impact and I couldn't shake a one with a breaker bar and pipe. Since I didn't have any bolts for the 7.5 and didn't want to run out and buy a set I didn't push too hard, I am afraid the 3/4" impact or a big cheater pipe would have just busted them.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I finally got the inside of the tailgate painted.

It was also nice so I got my springs cleaned and primed.