A Young Kid and His Old Truck

[Chuck "Classic Ford" JR.]

What's up everyone? My name is Charles; I've been called that, Charlie, Junior, Dirty Dog (nickname I picked up at school; refers to my being a die-hard Georgia Bulldogs fan), Chuck, Ford man; I've heard it all before. I'm from Columbus, GA, and I'm going to school in Bessemer, AL training to be a service technician for Ford. I've always believed that Ford produces a much better quality of product than Chevy or Dodge, and I've been underneath the hoods of countless vehicles since I was 8 years old. My one and only daily driver is a 1986 Ford Ranger Base with the Cologne 2.9L V6 engine; as most of you may know, the 1986 year models were the first to introduce the 2.9L, and although we've all heard the stories about the heads and leaking valve covers and crappy TFI module, but none the less I love my truck to death. Next to my fiance, it's my baby, and I'd do anything to improve it both mechanically and cosmetically. In fact, I just had to replace my TFI module a week ago, and I still have to put on a set of valve cover gaskets. Let's just hope my heads don't decide to finish up the "Curse of the Cologne 2.9" lol.

I've found that TheRangerStation.com is perhaps the most extensive collection of Ranger knowledge, especially for my beloved 1st Generation trucks. I've found some very helpful information both in the forums and in the tech-articles, and I've already ordered the K&N air filter for the mod I saw for the 2.9L to attach it directly to the intake. I'm curious to see if it really does improve airflow and gain me possibly a couple extra horses or MPGs.

Well, that's all I can think of for now. Once again, I love the older Ford pickups, but I'm down with the modern trucks as well. Hope I'll fit in pretty well here on TRS.com!

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Welcome to TRS.
I like the first gen as well and still have my 86, it's just waiting in the weeds for me to fix a frost plug.
Hint....we all like pictures!

Richard

 

[Chuck "Classic Ford" JR.]

I can't seem to get them to post right. I used two of them from my Facebook but they wouldn't show up.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Use photobucket or the like to upload the pics and then link them here.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Edit; Kim beat me to it while I was writing.

The way I do it is to upload my pics to a photo hosting website such as imageshack or photobucket. Then copy and paste the "img" file into your post.
I removed a few brackets in the link so you can see what the link looks like;

URL=http://s734.photobucket.com/user/mrich1962/media/alwaysFlOoReDs%20stx%20race%20truck/worktruck818.jpg.html]http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww342/mrich1962/alwaysFlOoReDs%20stx%20race%20truck/worktruck818.jpg[/IMG[/URL

And now the same link with the brackets restored;

[URL="http://s734.photobucket.com/user/mrich1962/media/alwaysFlOoReDs%20stx%20race%20truck/worktruck818.jpg.html"][IMG]http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww342/mrich1962/alwaysFlOoReDs%20stx%20race%20truck/worktruck818.jpg[/URL]

The truck has been fixed since this pic was taken.


Richard

 

[Mark_88]

Welcome Chuck...what's that Cologne your truck is wearing...smells nice!

Eau De Ford...ah, burning oil...nothing like it to attract the chicks...I have about twenty of them around my truck every morning...they will soon be chickens, but that's another story...eh!

J/K...I have been in a passionate pursuit of the ultimate Ford most of my life and can honestly say...there is nothing like the one you have that you've worked on and got yourself into a frenzie over trying to make it right...but you're right...this is a great site for information...sometimes it comes just after you finish something you thought you had right but that is a matter of timing and posting the right questions...

Hope you fix what you need and always have the wind at your back for those steep hills...an old Irish saying...I think~

 

[Chuck "Classic Ford" JR.]

Okay, hopefully this works. The first photo is the most recent I have of it, you can just barely see my Georgia Bulldogs flags hanging off the sides. The last photo is a good body shot, the only changes being my flags and the addition of the chrome grille as seen in the first photo.

In the last photo, you may notice a weird streak at the top of the bed, that's where I bought some spray in bedliner and thought I could make a straight line with a spray can. Alas, I was sadly mistaken, but those lines will be cleaned up as soon as it's warm enough to paint it again.

 

[Chuck "Classic Ford" JR.]

AAAAND it didn't work -__-

 

[Chuck "Classic Ford" JR.]

http://[URL=http://s1158.photobucket.com/user/CharlieVP/media/20131021_110337.jpg.html]

[/URL]

Nevermind, I figured it out

 

[Chuck "Classic Ford" JR.]

 

[03RedRanger4x4]

Is it gonna get a restoration or are you just gonna drive your til it falls apart like me?

 

[Chuck "Classic Ford" JR.]

Ehh, it's going to get what I like to call the "redneck restoration". Basically, it's a really low-budget resto-mod. I want to have a professional paint job done to it, as well as some new rims and tires. I don't want to change the overall size of the wheels, but the factory steelies I'm rolling on now are badly rusted out on the inside and they're actually spray painted; the previous owner spray painted them silver - they used to be black, in fact when I originally saw the truck on craigslist the rims were still black in the photos. I'm going to try out the K&N air filter mod for the 2.9L I found in the tech articles here on TRS.com. I've ordered my filter and it should arrive by Tuesday. I also want to install a brush guard if I can ever find one.

BTW, has anyone else tries that K&N air filter mod on their 2.9L? If so, did it improve your HP or MPG any?