94 Ranger STX Longbed

[BeefStew42791]

well as I sit here waiting on a paycheck and the helicoil kit I ordered I made a very enlightening discovery and I put it to good use....

Its such a simple mod..all I had to do was tap into the dome light wiring and then button everything back up together and presto!
And just to prove I didn't screw anything up!

TADA!

 

[BeefStew42791]

k, got the helicoil kit saturday in the mail..and sunday I got it all tweaked up. So now no more broken bolt problem in the differential yoke..YAYYYY!!!! still no headers though-_-

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

trucks looking good man, keep it up! breaking bolts sucks, breaking easy outs in broken bolts sucks more, but breaking a tap off in the hole that you just extracted a broken easy out from a broken bolt is the worst because now you have to do it all over again! i feel for you but trust me, the skills and knowledge youve learned on this endeavor will pay off later in life and youll have the satisfaction of knowing that you basically built a truck that no one could just go out and buy.

 

[BeefStew42791]

trucks looking good man, keep it up! breaking bolts sucks, breaking easy outs in broken bolts sucks more, but breaking a tap off in the hole that you just extracted a broken easy out from a broken bolt is the worst because now you have to do it all over again! i feel for you but trust me, the skills and knowledge youve learned on this endeavor will pay off later in life and youll have the satisfaction of knowing that you basically built a truck that no one could just go out and buy.

oh yea, I can definitely relate to that. Probably the one blessing that came out of the whole exhaust bolt problem was that the engine was out so I had a good amount of room to work with it. I shutter to think what bull I would have had to mess with if it happened with the engine in the truck. And thanks man I'm hoping thats how everything turns out with this. Its ALMOST driveable, exhaust work is coming soon so stay tuned

 

[BeefStew42791]

Ello evrybody! Check out what Brown did for me after screwing it up yesterday

Nothin special I spose, they're the Hedman's from summitracing.com. Ordering and all that was quick and painless and I even found a promo code online for an extra 10% off so actually I paid less then 250 for em..including shipping This afternoon I test fitted them (after inspecting for any defects and all of course) and it fit snug as a bug..thanks to the 3" body lift I didn't even need to remove the front driveshaft. Now whenever the paint stripper I ordered comes in and the paint goes on and gets baked then they'll be installed for good.

Oh speaking of paint, here's what I'll be using

One question though..for those of you who have gone this route what have you used to plug the egr valve opening? I don't even see why they put one on there because the 93-94's as far as I know didn't even come with egr's..so just fishin for ideas I guess to fill that hole up so nothing leaks.

Excited, I am

 

[tjdeerslayer37]

i know this is a little late but next time you breaker a bolt off inside somehwere take a welder and being careful not to weld the bolt it, make the arc at the end of the broke off bolt and leave a drop of metal there. wait until the drop turns back to metal color instead of red and grab it with some vice grips and it should come right out. the welding does two things, it gives you something to grab onto with the pliers and it also heats the bolt up enough to make it swell then when it cooks it shrinks a bit and makes the bolt looser.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

I have 2 1994 3.0ls, 1 came with an egr setup, the other had an aluminum block off plate on the intake in place of the valve and i put a pipe plug in the manifold where the EGR tube went in.

 

[BeefStew42791]

i know this is a little late but next time you breaker a bolt off inside somehwere take a welder and being careful not to weld the bolt it, make the arc at the end of the broke off bolt and leave a drop of metal there. wait until the drop turns back to metal color instead of red and grab it with some vice grips and it should come right out. the welding does two things, it gives you something to grab onto with the pliers and it also heats the bolt up enough to make it swell then when it cooks it shrinks a bit and makes the bolt looser.

yes I had heard of that being a very easy fix, and I would have (BELIEVE me) but not everyone has a welder readily available Aland can attestify to how difficult it would be to make one available to my location without me pushing the bill on one, lol.

I have 2 1994 3.0ls, 1 came with an egr setup, the other had an aluminum block off plate on the intake in place of the valve and i put a pipe plug in the manifold where the EGR tube went in.

Awesome, I was hoping it'd be as simple as a good ole pipe plug. Thanks man, I appreciate it.

Today I tried the stripping, it worked pretty decently. I need to order another can though, it needs a heavier coat then I was anticipating. But once you get it thick enough it works really well, I took paper towels to it and it wiped off like brand newly sprayed paint.

 

[BeefStew42791]

And for the big moment we've all been waiting for, here's a video clip I took this afternoon that has been a long time in coming:





















Or at least thats what would be there, if things had gone according to plan stupid me thought that the local yocal hole in the wall napa would actually stock plugs for the egr port I don't need..ya know, since its just about the same as an 18mm spark plug hole anyway...but instead, they don't. SO nothings getting started today. Tomorrow I'm gonna try the real napa store on the other side of town, and if they don't have it then I know of a couple other places I can try.

I did finally put some coolant/antifreeze in it though finally..since I thought it was getting started today.

And I also got the header work done. Here's pics:

this is the last one to be stripped

everything stripped and ready for coating

finished primering the headers, y-pipe to come another day

and final coat on the headers, they've turned out pretty good so far. It actually kinda looks like real aluminum.

SO the plan is to get the plug I need and then put em in, tighten em down, and start her up!!

 

[BeefStew42791]

ok now I'm really getting pissed..

When I test fitted these I wasn't too concerned about getting everything straight so I only put the bolts in enough to support their own weight. NOW though that they actually are going in I get to find out that the header-to-head bolts are not the right size!!! What Hedman sent isn't even a metric size!!! It turns out they sent bolts with a 5/16 - 18 thread count..far from the 8mm x 1.25 that is necessary. I just got off the phone with them and if I can find a fax machine to get them a copy of the reciept then they'll send me out (hopefully) the right stuff.

GAH I can't believe this!!

 

[BeefStew42791]

ITS ALLIIIVVVVE!!!

The mess with hedman worked out fine. They even sent locking washers with the correct bolts. The o2 sensor I ordered came in on late monday, and so that got bolted into the y-pipe along with the one I was able to salvage from the explorer (the other one I stripped royally cuz it was so heatsunk into its socket). So I put my copper based antisieze on all my bolts and everything and got them in the truck tuesday, but yesterday midafternoon was technically its first startup because of how early it gets dark around here still.
Its first startup was actually rather scary because the dang thing shook vehemontly. I don't mean just a lil vibration I mean shake as in epileptic siezure shake. And the knocking was pretty bad too..but I was already too cold and tired to do anything more then hope it just needed to circulate the oil some more, get some good gas in it, and warm itself up (I had to use the gas that had already been in it, cuz yesterday we were in the middle of a snowstorm, haha). So today I went and got about 5 gallons, brought it home and into the truck, hooked up some jumpers and it fired up really nicely AND the shaking and rattling was nowhere near as bad as it was yesterday. There still was a bit though for the longest time, and so I got nervous that maybe I was gonna throw a rod or bust a valve. Well..me being me, decided ya know what, I'd rather it happen now then on the freeway some day so I gently gave it some gas up to 1200 rpm..and it didn't break, so I went a lil higher to 1500..things doin good, so I go up to 1700, and its getting a little worse, but between 1700 and 2000 it faded away and now no matter what the rev is its not there at all!! I couldn't help but do dances in the snow lol. I'm thinking it was probably just a stuck lifter or resistant valve or something for sitting so long so it just needed a bit of persuasion to jog it loose. Anyways though I finished up my hot-tight on everything and so its good to go. No cel's either
The next on the list is a replacement alternator though, cuz mine's gone dead. And no its not just a dead battery, it can't keep itself running once the jumpers are disconnected. Plus its got the lil vibration and the squeal and the whine so thats the best verdict I think. I'm not sure if I wanna go with a brand spankin new one though..but we'll see. maybe refurbished will cut it, who knows. Right now the bottom line is this one doesn't work anymore.

 

[BeefStew42791]

k, got paid today so new alternator is comin soon, and I also ordered a new body mount bracket off of ebay..apparently ford junked up the ranger's design for the rear cab mount brackets, cuz this seems like a pretty common thing thankfully. Anyways so the bracket's ordered and all I need for that is some warmer weather so I can get out there and drill out the rivets on the stock unit.

PLUS today I discovered that I have no use of my brakes!! The lines don't look too bad up front so I'm hoping the rears don't have holes either, maybe its something in the drums, maybe I just need to bleed it, who knows...well, I know for a fact that I need to bleed the system but hopefully thats the extent of it all.

Till next time!

 

[BeefStew42791]

Check it out!!

straight from tirerack, #2 in its class and the second to lowest price!! I'm stoked, I think I'm gonna wait to get them mounted till sometime near the end of the fall thats coming next, hard to say when though since I have yet to see how well the current ones will work..
SIZE:

Its funny, I got these with the regular bare bottom shipping option, but they got here practically overnight, from Delaware.

In other news, new alternator is in. I not only replaced it though, I also upgraded to 130amps. Now however I need a new battery lol, mine swelled up pretty nice..apparently its rather cold..

I also got my bracket, pretty quick shipment as well. Painted and all, here it sits:

but alas..thanks to the snow, thats not on either yet. Hopefully the weather channel's right about the flurry's ending by tuesday..I won't be able to contain myself if it doesn't

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

This build/ rebuild is coming along nice. Makes me happy to see such a decent body and frame get put back to use.

PLUS today I discovered that I have no use of my brakes!! The lines don't look too bad up front so I'm hoping the rears don't have holes either, maybe its something in the drums, maybe I just need to bleed it, who knows...well, I know for a fact that I need to bleed the system but hopefully thats the extent of it all.

Just a lil FYI,
I never messed with none of the braking system when I stripped her guts, and it did have brakes the day we loaded it on the trailer.
So it's probably just a rusted hard line.

Keep it up, she's comin along nicely!

 

[BeefStew42791]

Just a lil FYI,
I never messed with none of the braking system when I stripped her guts, and it did have brakes the day we loaded it on the trailer.
So it's probably just a rusted hard line.

oo, k thanks thats good to know. Not quite the answer I was hoping for lol but at least it gives me a direction to go in, thanks again!