Corey and Elise's 1983 V8 Ranger build - aka - Project Interceptor

[CoreyTilton]

i knooooowww. hahaha. its starting to be Drive around with the windows down -weather.

and quite a bit.
i pulled the hole dash, made a custom sheet metal face, and am doing a custom gauge cluster with new AutoMeter gauges.
i yanked out the steering column and stripped it down, so everything that was on there column is getting transferred to a QuickCar ignition Panel and a handful of other free floating QuickCar Toggles. I already put a new fuse box under the hood that im going to start transferring everything over too. already have that hooked up with the battery relocation in the bed. all my main positive and negative leads done.
but still need to wire up the gauges, the ignition panel (turning on switched power, fuel pump, fan, starter), plus horn, wipers, directionals, headlights, all that fun stuff.

- corey

 

[CoreyTilton]

did a little body filler work and primer on my patch welds on the roof corners and gutters, started raining today so pardon the wet pictures. the paint does NOT look that smooth dry hahahaha.

while waiting for stuff to dry i filled in the badge holes on the fenders, and then as a Rash Impulse decision decided i wanted to sand down and fill in the Side Marker Lights on the fender too.
these fenders are beat bad, so i'll probably replace them at some point down the road (looks like i can buy replacement fenders for around $80-$110 each), but i wanted to see how this looked and how long they hold up like this without cracking. kind of dig the clean fender look. again, it was raining when i took these photos. sorry

- corey

 

[prymetime1]

Pics not working cuzo but good progress. Keep at it. Looking fwd to finished product!

 

[CoreyTilton]

really? are they working now? i can see them.
and thanks.

just when i thought spring was here and some actual progress could be made, we're getting Snow here in Boston

 

[prymetime1]

Pics are working now bud. Yeah, we getting some shitty weather here in nj too, can't wait for spring to really be here.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Your roof patch looks good, it looks like you might need to redo the epoxy in your door gutters. They are a common area to leak and take out floor pans with water.

 

[CoreyTilton]

Thanks! I bought a cheap Fluxcore welder last summer, and have been doing the odd exhaust system and fender patch on my 4x4 here and there. I've told it's really not the right tool for this route of work, but I'm making due.
Anyway, what are the four gutters exactly? The channels on the roof above each window?
Are they supposed to be filled with epoxy?
ALOT of the channel trim had rotted away, so I sculpted the missing ends out of weld and a grinder. Then I used bondo Gold to fill in my flubs.
I've already done some serious floor repairs in this thing. Looked like most the water was coming in those holes in the wiper cowl Chanel. Sealed those all up. I THINK this thing should be pretty water tight. We will see.

- Corey

 

[CoreyTilton]

ended up giving the cab, doors, and hood a rough backyard paint job. ive been looking to replace a bunch of the door hardware (drivers window didnt roll up, drivers inside door handle didnt work, only 1 mirror had glass, i didnt have keys to either locks) and i figured if i was going to have them apart, might as well paint them.
used Duplicolor Perfect Match Flat Black.
looks good, great from 20ft back, which is all im going for. im simply sanding the primer that is on there down with 600 grit. not taking it down to bare metal. not going crazy trying to fix blemishes. just trying to get it looking ok.

ordered door hardware from LMC truck and a few misc parts off ebay.
mirrors, interior ad exterior door handles, interior door panel, handle bezel, window crank, locks, arms rests, lock pins, window seals and runners.

 

[CoreyTilton]

started swapping out the radiator.
i thought i had read on here somewhere people say you can drop the 87-93 mustang radiator in these trucks.
and looking at pictures of mustang 5.0 radiators, it looked like what was in here when i got it. (it definitely wasnt a stock ranger radiator)
well, it also wasnt a foxbody mustang radiator.
i bought a tripple core aluminum foxbody 5.0 radiator, and it doesnt even come close to fitting without doing some SERIOUS hackery.
so ive started the Hack process, and pretty much have it in there i think.
the previous owner had hacked up and re-welded angle iron onto alot of the radiator supports and cross members, moved the hood latch, bondoed junk, all kinds of stuff, so i really didnt feel bad about cutting and welding even more.

as you can see in the pictures, i cut aLOT of metal out. the top radiator support is pretty much just a piece of angle iron welded in, with a few jogs and chunks taken out and added. the radiator sits pretty much on the frame. the radiator is 29" wide, inorder to fit between the frame it would have to be 24". which wasnt going to happen.
so, here it is.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Anyway, what are the four gutters exactly? The channels on the roof above each window?
Are they supposed to be filled with epoxy?
ALOT of the channel trim had rotted away, so I sculpted the missing ends out of weld and a grinder. Then I used bondo Gold to fill in my flubs.
I've already done some serious floor repairs in this thing. Looked like most the water was coming in those holes in the wiper cowl Chanel. Sealed those all up. I THINK this thing should be pretty water tight. We will see.

- Corey

Sorry I didn't get back to you, anyway yes to all.

 

[CoreyTilton]

weather has been really nice in MA so ive been trying to get after doing stuff on this thing.

so like i said in the last post, the tripple core aluminum radiator for an 89 mustang gt was not even close to fitting. it was hitting EVERYWHERE. i spent pretty much an entire saturday with a cutoff wheel, welder, grinder, and some angle iron just having at it, and having at all the mounting tabs on the radiator. but, god damn it its in. and now that its all painted, it actually looks ok.
you kinda have to lean on the hood now to get the hood pins in, but i think its more secure than the one that was in there previously.

the radiator essentially slides into a channel that i made, then a piece of angle aluminum i cut to just shy of the width of the grill, gets bolted in behind the radiator and sandwiches it in place.
like so

i used automotive weather stripping on the bottom, front, and sides of the channel, and on the angle aluminum where it sandwiches the radiator.
no metal on metal anywhere, doesn't wiggle or move at all. i'm pretty please.
and now painted, it looks allot less haggard than i was expecting.

i also took some time and smoothed out the front fenders a hair, tried my best to straighten the front bumper (still not perfect, but i looks like the bumper mount might not be straight either, so this is going to be good enough) sanded it all down, and gave it a coat of paint. again, with duplicolor perfect match automotive Flat Black.

starting to look kinda mean if i do say so myself.


custom made some clear directionals by taking stock amber ranger directionals, dremeling off the amber face, and buying clear 70s f250 directionals and dremeling off those clear faces and epoxying them onto the ranger housings, and dremeling the edges smooth(ish) then hitting them with VHT lens black.
it seems LMC Truck no longer carries the clear directionals.
it seems NOBODY carries the clear directionals anymore. ive tried everywhere.
very frustrating.

all my gauges have finally arrived, so I'm going to start throwing all those in

and i took this past saturday, and started tracing out ALL of the nolonger connected wiring, IDing it, cutting it, and yanking it.
previous owner did some crazy hackery between the 2 different wiring harnesses, and some crazy other jerry rigged stuff.
i cant stand crazy messy dead ended wiring, so i Really went to town.
im going to be rewiring all the lights and switches and gauges and stuff myself, so i know everything is, where everything is, and that it doesnt have 8 different splices over to 5 different colors.

lastly,
i'll be posting pictures of this soon for those of you who make the mistake out there that i did, but some people on this forum i thought had told me the electric fan units out of the Sables and Tauruses would fit in here, so i bought a nice expensive brand new OEM electric fan out for a 90s Turbo SHO.
not even close to fitting.
i have about 3.6 maybe 3.7 inches of clearance before hitting my water pump pulley, and the shroud alone on this thing was about 4.5 inches deep, 5.5 inches where the back of the fan actually sits.

kind of a bummer.
so i ordered a new 16" Flexalite LOblow electric fan for it. supposed to be 3.25 inches deep.


fingers crossed.

 

[1qaz]

Looking real good! You should not have to worry about any overheating. You've really transformed this truck.

 

[CoreyTilton]

Thanks 1qaz!
Yeah I've had over heating problems with my 82 4x4 Econoline before, before doing a "what's the biggest radiator I can force into this thing?" overhaul. Overheating is no fun. It's always when you're stuck in traffic or somewhere that you can't pull over or do anything and it's super nerve racking. I'm not trying to avoid that whole situation.

The 16" flexalite loblo doesn't take up the whole width of this radiator, so if I do have any issues at low speeds I might put an auxiliary "pusher" flexlite fan in front off to the side that isn't really covered by the loblo puller.

Time will tell.

And thanks.
Allot of people were giving me shit about thing. Saying it's a junker, too far gone, eye sore, might as well start from scratch. Here in new England, especially Massachusetts, you need to be able to look past the rust and rot and see cars for what they really are underneath. But maybe that's just the Vanner in me.

- Corey

Looking real good! You should not have to worry about any overheating. You've really transformed this truck.

 

[Angie]

Looking good.

The old rad that you took out, was it over heating at all before? and what size was it? and what type of fan did you have running there?

thanks

 

[CoreyTilton]

so we've never actually driven this truck down the street.
bought it in the fall without a functioning fuel system. when we bought it we sprayed it full of ether, rolled it down a hill, and drop started and it ran for a little bit.
i still dont have fuel lines plumed from the cell and the new pump installed yet.
that being said, when i got it home, it had one of those cheapo Chinese ebay fans hanging on by 2 tie wraps. it looked like it had been smashed with hammer a few times. so i planned on replacing that. noticed the radiator looked like a giant pile of crap. had rusty water stains all over and around it, looked like it probably exploded once. figured that should be replaced from pictures, it looked like a stock foxbody mustang radiator. it definitely wasnt a stock ranger radiator. had the same foxbody diagonal filler cap location. the engine, rear end/axle, transmission, wheels, and a bunch of other stuff are out of the same donor mustang, so it made sense to me the radiator was too. so i ordered a big aluminum foxbody radiator, and when it showed up it is about 10 inches wider than the one that was in the truck.
so i really have no clue what it was that was originally in there.
ive also discovered both radiator hoses were pretty much trashed inside, so replaced those, along with every other hose i can find in there, and all water related fittings with nice Brass fittings.

Looking good.

The old rad that you took out, was it over heating at all before? and what size was it? and what type of fan did you have running there?

thanks