'85 Ranger Restomod

[PolarRanger]

I am enjoying your build progress. TBH, I have been stalled on mine partially due to work constraints, but also have been letting other things that are less important get in the way as well. I am now over that and continuing work on mine. Thanks for the great line.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Wish i had the time, money and motivation to work on mine like you do.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

Hey, I string it out and stash parts as I go. That fuel tank has been literally waiting in the rafters for 14 years.

As for time she knows I want it in our engagement pictures which are this coming weekend and I convinced her it is a major PITA to push around the farm. (I had dropped the tank out before that was set up)

For motivation walking into the garage and smelling gas/having a puddle of gas under your truck is kind of scary...

I am enjoying your build progress. TBH, I have been stalled on mine partially due to work constraints, but also have been letting other things that are less important get in the way as well. I am now over that and continuing work on mine. Thanks for the great line.

Thanks, it happens. I have taken 16 years to get it this far. If you have to just let it sit, don't worry about someone taking the fun out of it by doing it for you... 'cause they won't.

Anyway the fuel tank is in, it runs and the new springs are in. I love the stance over the slightly tail high stance it had before. I think it is pretty close to the factory rake.

Managed to catch the sunset after I got gas during the test drive.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Tach is in!

It reads half again too high but it is in... I have an email into Baker about what to do about it. Kinda weird to cruise down the highway at 4500rpm.

And the garage is swept out and the truck is backed in as far as I can get it... lets see if I can bring myself to rip the front axle out of it...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I just got this back this morning:

Thanks for contacting us,


Have you tried connecting your vehicle's engine speed wire directly to the factory tachometer? Does it read 4/3 of what it should (4/3 would be 1.33 or 33% too high) without our module?


It is possible that there are extra pulses being detected, by our module, due to electrical noise. If your tachometer reads as expected without our module (33% too high), try using our module with some electrical noise reduction options in the attached PDF. Try option 1 and 2 first, and then if you are still getting extra pulses try adding in option 4 (you would not need option 3).

So now I have something to go on anyway, their tech dept has been very good so far on answering questions.

That said I have never had a fix that easy so I am still somewhat skeptical...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Been fighting with the tach... kinda wondering if it is a 4cyl tach.

It has been 5 years since I pulled it but I always thought it was a 6cyl tach. With my 3/4 mulitplier it reads 1500rpm when the engine is at 960rpm. Without it the tach reads 1500rpm when the engine is at 760rpm (cold with the choke on so it was running slower) I set my aftermarket tach to 6 cyl again and it reads 1000rpm with the engine at 760... so it is 25% high like it should be.

I wouldn't have thought they put tachs in 4 cyl trucks, I know the truck I got the tach out of was loaded.

 

[fastpakr]

Did Ford use a standardized tach signal on the older TFI equipped trucks? If so, it might be based on a 4 cyl measurement. The EDIS trucks are like that - all the tachs are the same, they just get a standardized signal regardless of engine type. That allowed me to use an instrument cluster from a 4.0 Explorer in my 2.3 Ranger with no modification.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Did Ford use a standardized tach signal on the older TFI equipped trucks? If so, it might be based on a 4 cyl measurement. The EDIS trucks are like that - all the tachs are the same, they just get a standardized signal regardless of engine type. That allowed me to use an instrument cluster from a 4.0 Explorer in my 2.3 Ranger with no modification.

My aftermarket tach reads right with same signal on the same wire though.

It just comes straight off the coil.

 

[fastpakr]

Interesting. Wish I had something more useful to contribute!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

One thing that hit me on the way to work this morning is in the write up Shran made he mentioned something about putting the tach wire on pin 3 or 4 to match the donor. My donor was on 4 so I left it there. 3 has nothing in it.

Looking at the pic of my cluster both go to different parts of the tach... me is wondering if the pin changes with engine displacement.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Whatever pin #3 is good for... it ain't that.

Must be some kind of ground, note the turns signal indicator was dimly glowing. When I shut the engine off the tach stayed pegged at 7k, I moved it back to 4 and it worked "normal" again.

Thinking about trying a different cluster.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Hit the JY today and grabbed a different tach (for sure a V6, it was the same BII I pulled the dash out of a month ago) and it still reads twice the actual engine speed...

Also got the harness for the capacitor to see if that makes a difference (I doubt it will) after that I think I will just send my module back and have it reprogrammed. Even found a neat pair of mudflaps, might try to revive them a little (kinda warped and faded)

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Been playing with my cluster waiting for my tach signal divider to get back to me.

I ordered gauge overlays from whitefacegauges.net. To get anything other than white it is special order which isn't cheap but they have a ton of options. Overlays look great, I guessed semigloss for the OEM it is a little glossier than original. Matte would have probably been more "correct" but oh well. Carbon fiber was very tempting... Gripes are not too bad, the red range went about 1/4" farther originally and the hole for the speedo needle could have been bigger. The font is a tad heavier, should make it easier to read. I also got the install kit (a spray bottle a small 3M squeegie and a razor blade) and the florescent orange needle paint.

Paint is kind of a specific thing, this stuff grabs light very well. Judging by the unfaded areas of needles in the gauges and pictures in my brochure this stuff matches very well. I did it on the living room side of the kitchen, it is freaky how well they light up with the kitchen light off just catching light from the living room... it may also find its way onto front rifle sights. The brush in the cap is really really stiff, I used a fine Tester's brush instead.

Big needles are painted:

Threw some Testers flat black on the three screws that hold the tach face on the cluster.

Note how the red range doesn't quite go past the 7 like original, the whole range is more squished, not sure why they did that when they knocked it out of the park everywhere else.

Pretty much done, going to replace the 194 bulbs while it is out too.

 

[1qaz]

Looks good. Painting that tach would have been painful. Those overlays look clean and fresh.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Looks good. Painting that tach would have been painful. Those overlays look clean and fresh.

Thanks!

It came out really good. Crazy I have been looking at it for 16 years and never noticed the line at 55mph was supposed to be a different color.

Anyway I emailed Baker and might have reminded them they had my module, it was done but apparently they had lost track of where to send it... I don't know what happened but it is due to be delivered this Friday. Can't wait to get this thing back together.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Kinda cool.

I got an email from whitefacegauges asking how I liked their product and if I had any issues.

So I told them they could make the hole a little bigger and the red range on the tach was different than original. Didn't pitch a fit or anything just said you might check into it for future orders. They sent me a pic of the gauge they went off of and sure enough it was like the decal I got. Both my '88 clusters look the same. So they are designing a new one and are going to send me one.

Well you pointed out something that we didn't know. Looks like you have a slightly different version then the scan that we have, see attached picture. I just checked and see that we have a version of your tachometer in one of the clusters we have so if it is okay with you I will push this through and get a correct version out to you. If you dont want to worry about it please let us know but getting a revised version out in the next couple of days is not a problem.

So beware I guess, there are different styles of tach faces floating around out there. I wouldn't have done anything but I can see the lines under the overlay.