'85 Ranger Restomod

[Sharky]

remove or cut down the baffles

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

remove or cut down the baffles

Baffles bolt in, not sure my engine is tight enough to go baffleless.

The ones I want, the mid 80's "Power by Ford" covers would fit my build perfectly for being period correct. Not NOS, but like these:

Powered By Ford NOS Pair Mustang Aluminum Valve Covers 1982 83 84 85 E2ZZ-6582-B for sale online | eBay

Although the boring stamped Ford oval truck ones have a nice oil fill tube...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Limited slip started chattering so I treated it to new oil. Oil was dark but smelled good and showed no signs of water.



I have been needing to rotate tires, I skipped it last year so its been awhile. My lug nuts have been a thorn in my side as well, they take a 13/16" socket which not only puts socket tight with the center cap but also doesn't match the lug nuts for the spare (which won't fit with the nuts on the truck) or the factory lug wrench. I got the ones that are on it when I did the rear axle so around 2012, they were getting pretty beat up and were starting to lose their caps (just end cap, the actual nut was all one piece)

Gotta love how they package these lug nuts like the are H&H .416 Rigby rounds or something fancy like that...





Before:



After:



I had lost four caps so far which has irritated me more and more as they keep coming off.



These could grow on me...



Its kinda sad how hard they got ran into the ground though. Back in the day I think that style was like "the wheel" to have, or at least the real modular ones. Ford stuck them on everything for decades though and kinda too the pizazz out of them.

 

[Terrys87]

Lugnuts are a small fortune, but it does make a difference when needing to remove wheel. Back in the day it was quite common to replace stock wheels with something different just to make the truck stand out. I still like some aftermarket wheels but putting to modern of a wheel on an older truck doesn't always seem right to me. The wheels grew on me, and it is period correct. I think you will eventually like them. How people get them so shiny is beyond me. Hope nothing is wrong with your diff.

 

[Jazzer]

What brand lugs did you buy? The Dormans haven’t held up for me considering all the repairs and rotations I do. Thx.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Lugnuts are a small fortune, but it does make a difference when needing to remove wheel. Back in the day it was quite common to replace stock wheels with something different just to make the truck stand out. I still like some aftermarket wheels but putting to modern of a wheel on an older truck doesn't always seem right to me. The wheels grew on me, and it is period correct. I think you will eventually like them. How people get them so shiny is beyond me. Hope nothing is wrong with your diff.

I was just using my spare as a crutch while I rotated tires.

Axle is fine, I think the oil was tired. Limited slip was doing the same thing back in 2019 after Ohio. I did the more aggressive clutch setup too.

What brand lugs did you buy? The Dormans haven’t held up for me considering all the repairs and rotations I do. Thx.

Amazon.com

 

[Jazzer]

Thanks!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Playing with throttle cables tonight.

F-150 (application unknown) top
2.3 carbed center
2.8 bottom



I cut the end off the long cable and put the cable into the 2.8 cable housing. The spring and guide fit perfectly.



It has more travel than the carb does too so that should help, about an inch more than the 2.3 cable.

I was measuring things up and the wind blew my pack of ferrels off my table into my gravel driveway. I had my back to it when it blew away and so far I have only found the double ferrels that I don't need... so I need to get more tomorrow if I can't find them in the daylight.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Throttle cable is rebuilt.



And I can now command full afterburner from the cockpit.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Took it for a drive last night... huge difference.

To throw off the butt dyno immensely the pedal sits a lot higher so right off the bat I get the placebo effect of the zip tie throttle cable mod. But when I drop the hammer it has much, much farther to fall... and thus much much more happens. Pedal travel is also much easier without that long cable looped all around everything which doesn't really help much lol.

There is a show and shine Thursday so I washed it last night, really liking the non rusty lugnuts that are not missing caps.

 

[Terrys87]

Wheel shined up nice. It takes a lot of effort to get them there. I am eventually going to try the zip tie fix. Great job!!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Wheel shined up nice. It takes a lot of effort to get them there. I am eventually going to try the zip tie fix. Great job!!

I just sponged them, they need polished but that's a lot of commitment for a gravel traveller

 

[scotts90ranger]

Wheel shined up nice. It takes a lot of effort to get them there. I am eventually going to try the zip tie fix. Great job!!

My '97 felt kinda funny so I tried the zip tie mod and I kinda regret it since it just pushed the pedal more to the level of the brake pedal... that was like 3 years ago at this point so I'm used to it but when I get a wild hair I'm going to cut them out...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I was exercising the limited slip by turning in circles in my barn lot and glanced down... thing was at 220*. Sneaked it up by the garage and shut it down. Fuse had popped for the fans again.

That happened on the way to Kentucky too... so changes are coming to that.

While I am in there I also need to put a switch on the grounds to kill the fans on the go for water crossings.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I did order my lower deflector assembly today at work.

I was all set to start a big electrical overhaul on my truck tonight, I was in the house looking for a fusebox quick and a gust front blew down a tree branch that pulled electrical off the house... so now I have even more wiring to fuss over.