Barney and L’il Bit

[Heather’s94]

Barney is the burgundy 94. L’il Bit is the red 97. Both are rcsb 2.3/5spd rwd beaters. 246k+ on Barney. 288k+ on L’il Bit.

Barney is mine. L’il Bit belongs to my “work niece, farm daughter” Shelby, who dailies an 07 version of L’il Bit, but with a haunted 4spd automatic.

Barney is going “Faux Street”, good tires, decent(ish) alloys, every suspension enhancement I can make to a stock ride height 2wd.

L’il Bit is just getting cleaned up and made a runner again. It tried to eat a deer. Both died…

 

[Heather’s94]

Yes, Barney was the paint stand for a set of aircooled VW ARE 8 spokes. 1972 Super Beetle project for my wife. She’ll end up with Barney, she’s 5’5”, Shelby is 5’2”, they fit in standard cab minis better than I do.

My “minitruck” is a 108” wheelbase 1949 Dodge that is getting a 92 Ranger 5spd and newer Ranger 8.8” rear axle.

 

[Heather’s94]

Both slated for this front end treatment.

The dark purple is being used across our fleet of pickups: 1949 Dodge, 1969 Dodge, 1985 C10 swb lowrider, 94 Ranger, 99 K3500 dually.

The deep red is what I’m leaning towards for L’il Bit. I really do treat her owner as my daughter…

 

[Jazzer]

G2 Redfire? Nice

 

[Heather’s94]

G2 Redfire? Nice

It should do quite nicely. The body is in great shape other than the hood/grille. Have clean used in the barn. Truck does need to come down a bit, as Shelby is 5’2”.

 

[Heather’s94]

The 2007 and its occupants… Yes, those are in fact antler tines on her hat. Both red trucks are her’s. Yes, that’s a Merle Pittie, no, he does not bite.

This is the haunted/cursed truck. 2.3 Duratec, slushomatic that failed hard enough to replace instead of rebuild, efi/ignition gremlins.

 

[Heather’s94]

I might rethink the fiberglass monoleaf conversion on Barney. Door label info:
F/R tires: P225/70r14SL on 14x6.0J alloys.
F coils: 2150 lbs, 975 kg
R leaves: 2384 lbs, 1081 kg
GVWR: 4220 lbs, 1914 kg
Built 08/94 USA

Paint code 23
Body code ER
Axle code 84 (3.45)

Not too shabby for a pocket sized truck.

 

[Heather’s94]

Only actual front end damage? Grille center crack, some peeling VMD “chrome”… 2 spots of airdam bolt pull through. And the hood paint looks like ancient lacquer.

 

[Heather’s94]

1977 Dodge L’il Red Express take off, Lt235/75r15 load range C all terrain. Fits like it was made for the Ranger. I should have push through caps and correct 70s chrome dome lugnuts. “Really” want these wheels on my 1940s truck though, but I like them here too. Damned shame they need to be rechromed, could have straight swapped 2 years ago for same size cast aluminum version.

 

[Heather’s94]

And going through the garage this afternoon, found enough 6’ oak tongue and groove to build a “ show deck” for whichever project turns out nicer. Probably L’il Bit, since it has a fancy leather interior and better sound system. It does however have those absolutely “hidjiss” deer track alloys with pop on center caps… Although, adding the spare deer tracks to a matching trailer “might” tie it all together.