'85 Ranger Restomod

[85_Ranger4x4]

This is what I am talking about:

I got it stuck in last night and tested it and had nothing, these things had came loose before but I tried supergluing them down, didn't work at all

Stuck my spare cluster in and all is well.

So since the plastic thing on the back of the spare is perfect I swap all the guts and new light bulbs out of the pretty one with the one that actually has a working power grid:

I love the look of it though.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Been trying to start the ol' girl when the weather allows and let her warm up. Been about every two weeks to a month she has been hibernating at a time. The last two times I have tried the battery has been down and has needed charged. If I charge it and start it regularly it doesn't bother... been wondering if the battery is giving up. 5.5 years old... pretty plausible.

Went out today and she rolled over half a turn. Pulled the battery out to throw on the big charger at work and test with the tester. The rear passenger side tire was also flat.

So I pulled said tire off to have it fixed Monday.

 

[dangerranger83]

Man I haven't seen this thread forever but ever since I got a new phone it likes to do power save and after so many days it quits giving me notifications on here so I guess I'm that the manually get on here and look every once in awhile.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Man I haven't seen this thread forever but ever since I got a new phone it likes to do power save and after so many days it quits giving me notifications on here so I guess I'm that the manually get on here and look every once in awhile.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

Its been a slow swirl of not much going on with the poor truck. Need parts for the D35 yet and it has been too cold to do much to it anyway. I did drop the tire off this morning though.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Tire needed a valve stem. Kinda suspected it because its slow leak would go away for months at a time and then it would go down after a few days... and then be fine again for awhile.

Battery: charged it up, let it sit overnight and showed 92% charged the next morning. Threw the big resister tester at it and it went into the yellow... so it is on the way out. Going to continue to beat on it to get through the winter though. Not doing bad for a 5.5 year old $40 Econo Interstate battery though.

Gonna be a bad year for batteries, this thing and two tractors need new ones.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

D35 wheel bearings and seals are in hand, rotors are due this Wednesday.

Weather was kind of nice so I hit a few junkyards over the weekend, made out pretty good I think.

Been looking for a replacement battery tray. First gens are usually not much better than what I have now, second gens are much thicker material and hold up much better... but mount differently and sit at a slight angle. They also only have provisions for the wedge type battery hold down. I did some poking around and a bricknose (87-90ish) fullsize mounts similar to a first gen but rather than welded in they bolt in (but mount in a similar fashion), again much thicker/more durable material and they have provisions both J-hooks and the wedge retainer. Couldn't find a bad one in either yard, so I grabbed an easy to get to one of those.

I also found a factory 302 CC throttle cable bracket (last one I found was homemade) out of an '83 F-150 with a 302, a CC servo bracket out of a 91-93 Explorer that turns the servo to sit like it does in a F-150 (may or may be viable, not sure) pointing at the engine rather than the firewall, battery hold down brackets and a cover that goes over the electrical connectors on the DS inner fender out of an '84 Ranger, a nice factory lug nut wrench to go with my jack and a t-case position switch out of a 1354M (that I hope will work in my 1350M) They are kind of a pain to get at and the t-case was laying on the ground... pretty hard to not give it a shot.

All for about $15

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I had a beautiful night to work in the garage tonight so I got my tire changing tools mounted behind the seat:

The top two tabs that held my head unit it broke so the rear has been sagging. When I nabbed the BII dash one of the things I noticed was it has a shelf with a bracket to support the back of the radio. Well I finally picked up a new install kit and put the shelf/bracket in the truck. I had to use both sets of shims but it sits in there beautifully.

So then I put it all back together and started cleaning off my workbench, got to my cruise control harness/module and decided "heck, I might as well put it in too"

So I tear it all back apart again.

Harness is in under the dash and thru the firewall, module is mounted in place, module power and ground is hooked up, horn contact switch and a lot of the horn wiring harness is installed. I need to run wires to the horns (never had them for as long as I have had the truck ) and run wires between wherever they go to from the VSS and the connector in the fender. And mount the servo, and all the vacuum stuff. And install fuse #6 and shoot power to the whole thing.

Anyway its coming and now it will be harder to loose parts or forget what goes to where.

EDIT: Checked EVTM and poked around more, harness that goes thru the firewall for the horns was there and merely needed plugged in to the harness I added. Horns work.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Worked on putting the rest of my cruise control parts on the truck last night.

I had to remove the overflow/washer jug, I might have to go back to the original one, this one doesn't fit that well with the servo bracket.

Swapped out throttle cable brackets too.

While working it into position I broke the hard white part of the cable that goes in the metal sleeve... so I need a new cable. Also need to run the vacuum stuff, get the bumper that goes on the brake pedal for the dump valve and run wiring down the VSS. Then it will be complete anyway.

 

[BlackBII]

Looks good man.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Looks good man.

Thanks!

I threw the old overflow jug back in it. It fits much better... looks really weird though. It is so little...

I forgot I picked these up on ebay last week. They were on sale, combined with free freight it was about the same cost as just the shop manual from everyone else.

Shop manual is fantastic, blows away a Haynes/Chilton... for twice as much money.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I picked up a cable out of a '83 F-150 over the weekend, put it on last night (without breaking it) and it fit perfect (the first one I hadwas out of an '84)

Went to install the PS horn and the clip nut in the radiator support was stripped out so that was put on hold.

Then I decided to rip out the battery tray.

Dad made the plate after the battery fell out to the front when the original tray broke in half roughly 15 years ago (I was in high school)

I ripped most of it out by hand, had to use vice grips for the little bit on the brace. I need to get a spot weld cutter for what little remains on the inner fender.

'87-89 F-150 tray set in place (will move away from engine slightly when I get the rest of the old tray out) Both the Ranger radiator support tray and the F-150 tray braces will work.

Main mounting bracket lines up decently. Can see it is sitting on top of the old tray yet.

Can see the difference in material between the two trays. Not only is the fullsize one thicker it was also galvanized (I am going to sandblast and paint it though)

Then I decided to rip out the plastic inner fender so I could bolt the new tray on the steel in fender. I just had it off a few years ago so it was no big deal (bolts were never seized, SS screws for fender trim)

I rather like the view...

[

IMG]

Truck is a mess, but it is progressing...

Also noticed my radiator support is aging (surprise surprise) It will need a good going over to see if it will need replaced before I paint the truck (which I am nowhere close to doing) I was also reminded I need a PS spring bucket... which probably should be done when I do the axle swap... so that may be put off until next year with all the wedding stuff going on this year. We are redoing our barn for the reception and with the honeymoon cutting into funding it just may not be able to happen this year...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It was a fight, I got the remains of the old tray ripped out with vice grips, a prybar and a chisel.

Test fit for real now.

I think it is going to look ok.

Need to remove the alternator so I can clean up the brace and grind off the rest of the spot welds and then paint all that. And clean up/paint the tray, drill another hole and I might trim off the unused hole.

Current battery isn't wide enough to use the wedge clamp of course...

 

[RangerFabWorks]

Battery acid is a b***h

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Battery acid is a b***h

It is.

Still haven't figured out what I want to paint/coat the new tray with.

 

[RangerFabWorks]

A good 2 part epoxy paint would hold up the best. If not. I'd use a good engine paint. It will withstand the acid the best.