'85 Ranger Restomod

[Uncle Gump]

I don't see Jim's truck up there.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I don't see Jim's truck up there.

What are you implying??

 

[Uncle Gump]

Ummm...

That Oliver thinks you have a cool truck...

And that his daddy doesn't even know what end of the truck you put a receiver hitch.

 

[Mrs. Eighty Five]

Ummm...

That Oliver thinks you have a cool truck...

And that his daddy doesn't even know what end of the truck you put a receiver hitch.

He is failing to mention that Oliver’s Valentine’s Day box was mom’s creativity with a box he brought home from work. I don’t remember Oliver asking for the box to look like daddy’s truck

 

[Uncle Gump]

Well you're a good mom. My mom gave me an empty tissue box covered in tin foil.

I also don't remember ever getting a candy haul like that either... or a Bronco... or a Coleman Lantern. He's a lucky kid..

 

[sgtsandman]

What you have done on the front receiver looks good. Are you going to go with angle again for the brace or tube stock?

The boy making you move the draw bar was hilarious. I want a video when you hook a trailer up to the front for parking purposes or whatever. He's going to be up on you like a spider monkey!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

What you have done on the front receiver looks good. Are you going to go with angle again for the brace or tube stock?

Not tube.

I dug the angle I had found out of the back of the iron pile and it isn't near heavy enough, I don't know if it is even 1/8".

I might just get a chunk of bar stock if I have to get something so it isn't more stuff hanging out the bottom of the truck.

Anyway today I started out with "The pedestrian right-of-way discourager 2000"



Just add plate:



Trimmed the tube...





Trim for width



Time to start sticking stuff together for real.









And thats as far as I got. I need to clean it up a little, strip the crappy paint and paint it yet.

 

[Curious Hound]

Looks like a good place for Oliver to stand while he's adjusting the carb.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Looks like a good place for Oliver to stand while he's adjusting the carb.

I have thought I could stick one of those hitch carrier things up there if I wanted to... but he is adamant I need a winch.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Getting close to official...





Just set the winch in there for giggles.





Not functional with my current grille guard, the clutch lever has to be unlocked for it to sit there. I can't get it to the locked position, it turns 90* and hits the bottom tube of my grille guard.

I am thinking I might try to mount it anyway this weekend. I can still use it to mock up my final grille guard.

 

[Blmpkn]

Looking good!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Little guy has been bonkers about me needing a winch. Possibly too much Matts Offroad Recovery at night... Anyway it has been in the barn for two years so I don't know if he really knew I even had one.

So today I loaded him up and took us to dad's shop to put the winch on it for his first project.



Pretty excited about this!



Test fit.



Got the book out, I see there is wiring on the bottom of the motor so I can't just add it later. So I might as well put the wiring on it when I put it in. Which means mounting the controller which is just as well because it is going to have to go on the top and that would be nice to have mounted while I do mock up. Which of course means me current grille guard has got to go too.



Ol' Lightning had tire problems... I thought he had that worked out but I guess not.



Then we had tire issues of a different sort.



Ready to go.











Then it was deemed naptime. Ruined little guy's day. His clothes made mom's day. Luckily neither of us caught too much flack for it. I did get a dirty look when he told his mother we need the winch to pull the Bronco out...



Found his incomplete project. He called the extensions his ratchet and miscellaneous screws he found around the shop and he was playing behind my jerrycan doing something.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

With little fingers gone time to break out the boxcutter and do some cardboard aided designing.



It will go higher, easy to set that after the bottom gets dialed in.



Grabbed a chunk of exhaust pipe from the scrap bin to see how things will clear. It has to be ahead of the control box (check) and above the clutch lever (check)

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Fired up my rapid prototype machine:



It did take a couple tries to get dialed in, mainly how it fit around the bumper.



So now onto the lower tube placement, I want to get it as low, and rearward as I can...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Anyway... gotta get this thing ready for camping season and beyond so the winch/grille guard goes to the back burner.

Yanked the battery and inner fender.



Which gives me beautiful access to remove the PS header.



Then out comes the radiator and shroud



And fan.



Tomorrow I am hoping to get the other inner fender out and start picking on the top of the engine. Carb, coil, dizzy, alternator, maybe intake depending on how things go. DS has the dipstick interwoven in a manifold never intended to have a dipstick in the block and PS has A/C which I forsee being my two biggest snags.

Yes, the great E6 head swap is happening for real. Really hopes it comes out a gain with oil burn and maybe a bump in low end power. With the touched up valves maybe a bump everywhere I dunno.

For those just tuning in it does go thru more oil than I like on our road trips but it only really ever smokes when I downshift, some hot starts and when it is left to idle for longer periods of time. Screams valve seals. But the valve seals were new in 2012 and only have a couple thousand miles on them, they shouldn't be wore out... unless the guides are wore out. I don't remember if/how I checked them before I put the heads on. So I went thru the E6 heads that are original to this engine, touched up the valves and seats, trick flow head set (new springs and valve seals) and checked the guides for wear. Everything came out good.