ForOffRoadDriving's 94 Ranger Build

[TheTopher]

That enclosure looks badass, mate. VERY clean looking.




Edit: I still want your front bumper.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

thanks topher, im glad you like it.... im thinking about doing the other one now if i can find another mtx amp to match.
Edit: I still want a back bumper too.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

i got my door handles in today, they are much heavier duty than the cross-canada knock offs i bought before. i should have them installed tomorrow along with more pictures to please your eyes.

i was also lucky enough to find a matching amplifier so hopefully it gets here soon and i can hook this stuff up! (EDIT: i won the bid, $31.00 what a steal!)

 

[Andres629]

Holy dang! That's so awesome, I love that enclosure. So.. so... I don't even know. Ingenious!

 

[DisturbedMXer8]

Dude, it took me two days probably 6 hours worth of reading to go through your whole build... but this is by far the best one here man, worth every second of my time. This is the exact kind of thing I want to do with my 88 2.9. It makes me so jealous, haha. Once I get the time, money, and space, I'll be following your lead. Thanks for all the pics man, I look forward to seeing more =].

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

im glad you guys like it, i was almost positive i was going to get flamed for not building a box and sticking a 10" or bigger sub in it. (EDIT: I DID GET FLAMED ONE THE AUDIO FORUM i guess for not using the kitchen cupboard and cutting a big hole in it for a speaker thats worth more than my truck?) ive always been into car audio, im just not a basshead so 1 or 2 8"s are plenty for me. as promised, i installed the new door handles today and also soldered my speaker wire connections in the door (i had to refer to our very own tech library to make sure i had my positive and negative connections right http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/radio_wiring_diagrams.html).

(these ones are for you andres... they should help you understand how the lock is held in)

once i was done with the handles and speakers i moved on to the pedals and got them mocked up and drilled, then painted them with duplicolor spray on bed liner.

Before i headed up to work to paint them i went through my ranger wheel stock and found a perfect spare for my winter tires with the same size wheel and tire. my plan was to clean it up and then touch up the black paint that was on there so i put it in the sprayoff and when it came out it was silver! luckily i brought some self etching primer with me for the pedals so i sprayed the rim down good and thick and ill shoot some black on it tomorrow.

The day was not all good though, as one of my audio components suffered a casualty while being reinstalled. i had left a screw in one of the bottom speaker mounting holes and i had already hooked up the wires to the speaker so i thought 'ill just stick the magnet to the door and then unscrew the screw', just as i reached for the screw with the screwdriver the speaker fell off the door (damn gravity) and hit the ground, busting off the tweeter and tearing the woofer where the tweeter wires went through. oh well, now i have a good reason to upgrade to some MTX speakers! (ive got these coming next week http://www.mtx.com/caraudio/products/flash/speakXT_slideshow.cfm)

my dad tried to band aid them before i told him i was buying new ones, so when the glue dries ill run this one until the new ones show up.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

yesterday i upgraded my battery terminals on the aux battery and replacd the ground cable with a higher quality one (the insulation on the old one was melting from being close to the exhaust manifold). i then put my repaired door speaker back in, installed my pedals and then mounted the other sub in the passenger side jump seat. i also snapped a picture of the spare tire, just because. it was cold as balls (15*) but i worked on it for most of the day after i split wood for a good hour or two.

i drew up a diagram at work of how i was going to run my wiring for the amps and subs so that i can make measurements and get exact lengths of wire without buying too much extra. i also bought an inline fuse for the amp power cable so soon i should have everything to set the system up with.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

yesterday was also a special day because we added another member to the RBV family, i shiny 1993 2wd ext cab 5spd with a 4.0l with 80,000mi and a new set of cooper discoverers. this will be my dads DD as the safari is on its last leg and its a GM, so good riddance!

 

[Andres629]

4.0!!!

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

yeah, 4.0! i wish mine had a 4.0 after driving this thing....... it hauls! the clutch pedal was hard as a rock and not disengaging well when i was driving it home, but then about 1/2 way home it started working fine and then all i noticed was the sloppy shifter (disintegrated shifter bushings im betting). i got a list of parts together today and its going to be around $120 to get it smoothly operating. not too bad for $1600, not to bad at all!

 

[Andres629]

Yeah, I had 4.0 Explorers before, and my cousin just bought a '90 4.0 5 speed... spinnin' some tires in 2nd on dry pavement!

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

well i dont have any updates on my truck since im still waiting on my audio stuff to arrive, but my dad and i have been busting our asses working on his truck to get it the way he wants it. so far we have replaced the spark plugs, wires, air filter, fuel filter, battery (the one in the pictures is also new but is the wrong one), positive and negative battery cables with military style clamps (they cut the original cables shorter when they put the replacement ends on the cables so that they wouldnt be too long with the wrong battery they installed), engine to body ground strap, battery hold down bolt (classic rusted / broken off bolt), welded exhaust back together and into shape, installed xenon head light bulbs and polished the lenses, replaced the busted grille and broken turn signal lens, scrubbed the interior for about 4 hours after removing the seats and center console and then found a few other things we need to address. we still have a little bit more cleaning and repairing to do, but the big stuff is out of the way. the previous owner ran new brakeline to the rear brakes, but ran them on the outside of the frame rail and used a compression fitting to join them and then zip tied them to the leaf spring and the e-brake cable, so that has to be fixed before it goes anywhere. replacing the heater hose with the copper pipe splice and replacing the shifter bushings are on the list for as well as a full set of shocks, and the filler neck leaks when being filled so ill need to drop the tank to investigate that, at which time ill run the new brake line the proper way. enough of the text, lets see some pics!

im excited to drive it once things are all in there place as i think it will be a much different ride than when i drove it home from the sellers house.

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

cool idea for the subs man!!!
and good luck with the new RBV member!

 

[84stealthranger]

wow i clicked on page 11 cuz i read this thread before haha and there it was a comment from me from where i last read it nice work u have a tonnnnn of time and money in that truck. love the pics. that sub fits perfect there now u just neeed to box it in on the back side.

 

[ozziemo27]

All in all I would still take my 3L over a 4L.

This man is nuts.