'85 Ranger Restomod

[Uncle Gump]

Well, no matter what I do I can't get a good brake pedal on the thing. I can get it feeling decentish with the engine off, as soon as i start it the thing will about go to the floor. Sooo I think I need to upsize the master cylinder... yee haw.

You still running rear drum brakes?

If yes... I would be looking at the rear brakes and giving them a proper adjustment.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

You still running rear drum brakes?

If yes... I would be looking at the rear brakes and giving them a proper adjustment.

'96 Explorer 8.8 with disks.

Also found I had a leaking brake line going to the master.

Between the Explorer disks and dual piston fronts I imagine my stock master would have been coming up short anyway.

 

[Uncle Gump]

There is a very good chance of that...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

New master cylinder is painted:

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Crap, I need to bleed it... got to run to town for stuff to do that. This comes on the radio, the irony isn't lost on me (Imagine Dragons)



Kind of a fun thing to do really.

[

Old master off:



New master on:



Brake lines bent at the bottom:



4 trips to town later I got the right adapter fitting.



One of the wrong ones, apparently I need a brake adapter fitting not a break adapter fitting.



What saved the weekend:



Now I have hard friction when I turn left:



And friction when I turn right and hit a bump:



Gosh dang it, I gotta see how it goes down the road though! So we rumbled into town, got gas and cleaned the windshield.



Still investigating the best course of action on the unwanted friction though...

 

[Bird76Mojo]

Or lift it..

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Shim the rad arm forward for left turn. Live with it for right.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Formulated a plan of attack.

Check the body location, make sure I can't move the cab back more on the frame. For some reason the left wheel isn't centered in the wheel arch now and looking back at pics it wasn't before either. It is hard to gauge that stuff in my tiny garage and it hasn't been outside much. Everything cleared before the swap so I am guessing the increased track width caught me. From when we were welding the floorpan (having a photo record is really nice)



Two years ago before I did bodymounts it looked a lot better:



I also want to pull a wheel off and measure my offset, I want to end up with FX4 Alcoas maybe they would be the magic fix if my offset isn't right. It doesn't look like mine stick out much though.

If that doesn't work, trim.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Played with the toe some more, it was toed out too much which was sucking the front of the truck down.

Camber isn't perfect but it drives nice and only rubs occasionally, I am going to reserve final judgement until I get the thing aligned for real.

Dang the overdrive is addictive.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Ever see the NHL body lift kit??

Hockey pucks.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Ever see the NHL body lift kit??

Hockey pucks.

I already have a 3" bodylift, I don't think I should probably go more.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

I already have a 3" bodylift, I don't think I should probably go more.

GO ALL OF IT..

 

[Bird76Mojo]

Overdrive is addictive? lolwut?

I always found the first 3 gears to be the most thrill inducing and addictive..

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Overdrive is addictive? lolwut?

I always found the first 3 gears to be the most thrill inducing and addictive..

When cruising on the highway the first three (or four) gears get kind of old after awhile. That is why I started this whole debacle of switching from a 3 speed auto to a 5 speed manual. No more cruising at 2800rpm.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Been fighting terrible heat soak after ditching the 1/2 carb spacer for just a gasket to see if I could get by lowering the air filter housing that way.

I found a thinner Edelbrock spacer and threw it on this morning before it got hot. I thought it would be a quicky thing...

Of course the gasket had to stick to the carb so I had to pull it all the way off to clean the bottom gasket surface:





And everything still fits!



And I threw one of these on an order last week for the big trip, very nice kit. Much nicer than my "Slime" kit I have been using on lawnmower tires. Being designed in Australia hopefully it is good for more than spider/snake and crock bites...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I got to test my 12V air compressor on a trailer tire, lots of reach and it seemed to work pretty good. It worked a lot better when I figured out the hose screws on the valve stem.





Went for a drive, realized the hood wasn't latched so I pulled over to do that. It was a decent photo op so I went for it.