'99 Explorer 5.0 - '99 Ranger

[Jim Oaks]

That's great! Let's see some photos and a video.

 

[fastpakr]

I'll get to that soon. Probably next week honestly. Still wrapping up a few small things like rear shocks, wiring in an amp, and reassembling the interior. Had a momentary scare on Monday morning when I discovered coolant pooling on top of the lower intake and dripping onto the passenger side manifold. Thankfully it turned out to be a hose clamp that wasn't properly seated. One of my new pulleys is chirping, and the fan blade is cracked a bit. Lots of little things to drive me crazy for a bit. If all the small stuff can be tidied up this weekend, I'll drop it by a shop to have the A/C vacuumed and charged next week (unless I have time to do it myself first).

 

[Jim Oaks]

Maybe I missed it....

What transfer case are you using?

 

[fastpakr]

It's a manual shift Borg Warner 4406 out of an F150.

 

[Jim Oaks]

That's the setup I'd like to have in my next truck.

 

[Ranger850]

Congratulations.

 

[Craig0320]

 

[fastpakr]

I should be excited about it running and driving. For the moment I'm frustrated by little things...
1) My headlights are -way- too low. No big deal, right? Never realized how annoying it is to use those adjusters. Broke down and ordered a cheap wrench for the purpose to make it easier.
2) I replaced the air conditioning compressor (locked up on the donor) and the tensioner and idler pullleys. One of them is chirping now and it's making me crazy.
3) The floor is still unfinished from cutting it for the transfer case linkage. Makes for a ton of cab noise.
4) Small exhaust tick. Probably just need to retighten the manifold bolts.
5) My bluetooth radio has decided it doesn't want to be one anymore. For no apparent reason, it only pairs with the phone about one time in ten. I was planning on replacing it anyway, but not until the project budget builds back up a bit.
6) The transmission wants to start in 2nd and is very hesitant to drop down unless I go close to full throttle. There's plenty of power available when I do, but at part throttle it makes it feel slow. Not a huge deal - probably a combination of aging accumulators and solenoids. Just need to make a shopping list and drop the pan to go over it. I shouldn't complain since the transmission was only $150 and I had no way to test it when I bought it almost two years ago. Other than that, it shifts smooth and runs great with no slippage.

It's all small stuff. Just annoyed at the moment.

 

[Craig0320]

It's not the cam synchro chirping is it. All the little things do eat up some time. I still have not wired up the lights for my transfer case yet I need to put the rear end in my truck. It's to the point I can't milk it anymore. I wish I was close enough to help you being we pretty much did this swap at the same time.

 

[fastpakr]

No - I assumed that it was the synchronizer last Fall when dealing with the cam debacle and installed a brand new one over the weekend when throwing the top end back together. The chirp continues...

 

[fastpakr]

This thing is determined to make me crazy.

On Friday, I swapped the Bilsteins in on the rear. On Saturday, I ran the amplifier wiring into the cab and wired in a quick connect on the back of the radio so I could swap the speakers between the radio and the amp. Got the wiring laid out enough that I could fire the system up. Sounds great other than some alternator whine that I'll have to deal with later.

Once the amp was ready, I took off on a 200 mile round trip to Charlottesville. Things went fairly well on the way out aside from desperately needing to get the wheels on a good balancer. My bubble balance got them close enough to run on the interstate, but they're definitely vibrating.

On the way back, my oil pressure gauge lost its mind. The needle just started flying all over the place on the gauge with no correlation to RPM or anything else that I could make sense of. No associated engine noise at all. This happened once about halfway back just as I was pulling in for gas. When I restarted, the problem went away and never recurred until I was pulling back into Roanoke. Happened again as I was coming through town. I'm going to try carefully reseating the connector to the sender. I'm pretty convinced that the issue is electrical, but would hate to be wrong.

 

[Craig0320]

If the oil pump was failing you would know. If it runs good and no engine noises after that ride I'd say electrical also. Of course it never hurts to put a mechanical gauge on it to be sure.

 

[fastpakr]

That's exactly where I'm at. Logically it's not a mechanical issue, but it's still stressful until I confirm. Somewhere in the garage there's a new gauge I intended to install and hadn't gotten to yet. That just got bumped up the list a few notches.

 

[Craig0320]

I feel ya bruh. All my pep is gone out of the ranger again after I installed the new fuel pump. Lasted about two weeks and feels like I'm dragging a boat anchor again. I'm gonna put the fuel tester on it tomorrow. It never ends.

 

[fastpakr]

Are you going to be able to make the gathering in the Fall? Would be great to get the two trucks side by side for comparison.