87 ranger build

[danger88ranger]

Thanks for the lead on the speedo cable, i ordered it yesterday. As for the red gear i'm not sure on how many teeth are on the gear, but ill find out and give you a number on it

 

[danger88ranger]

Updates on the rig, got the donor rig to the shop and started to tear into it. I replaced the valve cover gaskets and painted them while they were off. Since my old truck was 2wd the center caps i had needed cut off at the end to let the hubs through, got those cut, and now i just have to get the donor rig apart. I found some rust under the dash and by the kick panels that needs fixed. Once thats done im going to seal the cab and herculine the floor and firewall. When i lift the cab off the frame im going to clean up the engine side firewall and give it a shot of paint. Heres some pics of the progress.

 

[Natedog]

..... when i got the truck the transfer case had just been replaced and the speedo is not hooked up. However, when i looked at where the speedo should go it looked like a speed sensor there. It was a seperate harness that ran up toward the motor. How should I go about getting this thing hooked up and what should i do with the speed sensor?

The plug and wires are for cruise control. If you don't have it, just leave it as is.

I always run my front wheels without the stupid center caps because they just make it difficult to service the hubs and hold dirt, mud, roadsalt, etc around the hubs making it even worse.

Lookin good so far, anymore updates?

 

[danger88ranger]

What should i do about the speedo cable then?

 

[ZMan]

man your cowl/interior rust is way better than mine was thats for sure.

 

[ZMan]

the speedo cable goes into that sensor and is held in with a metal clip, might want to try just going to the junkyard and grabbing the clip for it. Any truck 83-97 will have that same speed sensor with the clip you need.

I'm not sure on your particular transmission, but I do know that the red gear is for 3.73 trucks with the M5OD-R1. But every speedo gear has a different rearend ratio depending on the transmission.

 

[kunar]

What should i do about the speedo cable then?

use the cable from napa, along with the black thing that goes in the transmission. yes there is a clip you need, if you dont have it you need to buy one. i bought mine at murrays but i had to bend it a little to make it fit. do you know what dears and what stock tires your truck had?

 

[danger88ranger]

It has 235s stock, i'm not really sure about what gearing i have. I need to find the axle tag and figure out the ratio i have

 

[danger88ranger]

Well i got the cab off the 88 today, i put it on a trailer that i can move it around. I'm going to repair the rust on the firewall and mount it on the 87 chassis. I also picked up 2 more tires, their gumbo mudders, overall diameter of 30 inches. My swampers are 29" overall so they will make 2 nice spares. No pics till tomorrow, i left my camera at home.

 

[danger88ranger]

Updates: Working on the cowl/firewall rust before i put the cab on the 4wd chassis. I made up some new plates for the firewall, i just have to weld them in now. When thats done i'm going to seal the windshield and firewall and give the firewall on both sides some paint. Then it will be time to drop the cab on the frame. I also started putting together a snorkel. I bought an ARB filter element and used 3 PVC for the rest. I'm hoping to have the cab sealed and painted and ready to go by tuesday. BTW, if anyone does a swap like me from a 2.0 to a 2.9, the pedal assemblies are different. The 2.9 has some electrical stuff (i think a neutral saftey switch) on the pedal that you need to have. Luckly for me i already had the truck apart so i just swapped pedal assemblies.

the 2.0 pedal assembly is on the left, 2.9 on the right

 

[danger88ranger]

I finally finished fixing the cowl/firewall rust. I put in the 2.9 pedal assembly and sealed the windshield and firewall. I gave the firewall on the engine side a coat of primer, and it will get some black paint soon. I'm hoping i can drop this cab on the frame within the next few days. Hopefully the windshield quits leaking, I don't want to fix that again. I was looking at the holes in the floor for the shifter and noticed theirs yet another difference where the holes are. On the 2wd the hole for the shifter is closer to the firewall while the 4wd cab has the hole for the shifter and transfer case cut further back. I'm going to get a sheet of diamond plate to fix this problem.

2wd cab

4wd cab

 

[danger88ranger]

Cabs on the frame finally

 

[danger88ranger]

Some more updates:e-fan and thermostat are on and wired up, interior harness is all plugged in, the dash with exception to some trim pieces are in, the seats are in but not bolted just yet, the transfer case shifter is on, i'm still on the lookout for a shifter bushing for the 145, but i'm most likely going to just make one,most of the stuff in the engine compartment save the intake and heater hoses is together. I need to find a stock airbox for a 2.9 and a shifter bushing for the fm145 so if anyone on here has either of them let me know. I'm getting new heater hoses tomorrow and hopefully i can start it up and here this b**ch run.

 

[danger88ranger]

Well i got mostly everything together on it, i'm picking up an airbox next week and ill get my snorkel finished up. I put the interior all in and everything in the engine compartment together. Went to start it up and it wouldn't start. So i looked around a bit and had some problems with my main power going to the fusebox. Got that all straightened out and it still wouldn't run. I realized i didn't have any fuel pressure, i asked around on the site and was lead to check out the inertia switch and the grounds. I unhooked the inertia switch, direct connected it and went over my grounds and it still wouldn't run. Then i figured out their was no power going to either fuel pumps. Since it had ran last fall before i tore it apart i knew what had came off so i once again checked the grounds. After double checking those i took the fuel pump relay apart to figure out that it was bad. Direct connected that and it started right up. I just got it running today so im going to get my brakes finished up, put my bed back on, and get the bugs worked out of it in the next week. If all goes well it will be on the road within the few weeks here. I can't wait, i miss the sounds of my swampers hummin' down the road.

Heres the pics of the relay switch

 

[danger88ranger]

Well i've managed to get a few things done over the past few days. I got my airbox installed that i got from Destroyer000x. I took out the thermostat for the e-fan because it kicks on way too late for my liking and replaced it with a switch. The snorkel is almost done other than i need a flex pipe to hook up to the airbox. I replaced the brake lines from the master back due to excessive rust. Interior is done other than the herculiner i've yet to lay on the floor. I'll do that when i get more time. I also noticed my intertia switch is bad, so i direct wired it and am still able to unplug it to discourage any theft.