ForOffRoadDriving's 94 Ranger Build

[Andres629]

Wow, somehow I missed that... ^^^
I agree, I'd kill to have a 4.0 again!

 

[dpip4x4]

holy super bowl sunday batman!!! I think this is the first time I have EVER taken the time to read all the way through an entire post. Props on the truck and the workmanship. Mad props.
As for the 3-4L question. The best one ever is the ohc 4L. Beter than a 5.0L swap pound for pound. My first ranger had a 2.9 than went to v8, now my "new" one has the ohc. No comparison. With your attention to detail you should have no problem swappint to the 4L you have though.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

thanks guys, i appreciate all of your feed back. i will have more pictures soon as i have got my second amp now, i have all the wiring i need to set it up (except the 15' and 3' RCA cables i need), and i have the weekend off. i still have to finish my dads ranger tonight; replace shifter bushings and flush trans, replace previously replaced rear brake line, and fix the filler neck so it doesnt leak when being filled. i also have a front brake job to do on a focus on saturday, but it should be a quick in and out so ill be able to get to my truck and start digging in.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

i didnt get a chance to do any work on my truck this weekend as my dads truck took up all my time and we had to leave it on jackstands while we wait on parts.
we found that the the rear diff fluid had never been changed as it was dark black and foamy ( im thinking lots of water exposure?) and the trans needed to be flushed with about 3 qts before i got it to come out clean (it was used motor oil brown) without any trace of blue bushings or metal flakes, and we got the gas tank down to do the rear brake line and found the filler neck leak (it was slpit right where it slips over the nipple on the tank) but the gas tank staps were destroyed from michigans salty winters. hopefully tonight we can put the new filler neck in and replace the tank straps and get this truck on its own wheels again.
i did manage to add a little bit of camoflage to my amps. hopefully this will help them blend in better with the interior and keep wandering eyes at bay.

as always, let me know what you guys think becuase it is always nice to have more opinions and experience to move forward with.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

well it looks like im going to have to put the stereo system upgrade on hold for a while longer as my gas gauge has been acting up lately and its pretty important for that to work properly. luckily i used antiseize on all the bed bolts and i integrated a disconnect to my roll bar lights so ill be able to unplug everything and then lift the bed off, easy as pie. im hoping that its just a sending unit problem as the unit is still under warranty, but im sure something will throw a road block in front of me once or twice along the way.

 

[Andres629]

Dang, that sucks man! Wouldn't it almost be easier to just drop the tank?

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

it might be, but i know when my dad and i tried to drop the tank on his 93 we couldnt get it down far enough to remove the lock ring due to the rear of the tank hitting the axle before the front was off from the cross member. i put mine in with the bed off so im not really sure if mine will turn into the same thing. i drove it around yesterday after kicking the tank and i got it to drop below the 1/4 tank mark so maybe it was just sticking or hung up on some sediment on the sender? i dont know whats up with it so ill just keep resetting the tripometer and keep an eye on things that was since i know i can safely get 250miles out of a full tank. on another note im getting ready to bring home a mile marker PEC8 8,000lb winch that im going to make a reciever mount for, so i can put it on the front or rear and remove it when its not needed. i left my camera at home so ill take pics later.

 

[Andres629]

Ahh, well that's odd! I've never run into that problem. I guess I've never owned a third gen... well, best of luck at any rate!

And sweet about the winch, I want one.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

yeah the 2nd gen is a straight forward drop down, but on the third gen the front of the tank rests on the trans x member so you have to be able to remove the straps and slide it back far enough to get the nose off the x member before it will drop out all the way. i dont have a rear sway bar and my dad does so that might have been our dilema, and he may also have a bigger gas tank than mine?

 

[Andres629]

Well, I know my fuel tank rests on the transfer case skid plate and so I have to slide it out and down. But I'll assume you know your truck better than I do because you did the whole frame off resto! Haha. Either way, too bad about the sending unit.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

how do you like the lift on your truck andres, is it still stable during daily use? im going to have to check up on your build thread and see if you have re-covered any other interior pieces with plaid!

 

[Andres629]

Well, it's awesome on there! I love the Chevy leaves back there, but the only complaint I have is the shop I got to do t he re-arching did a shoddy job. They re-arched without putting an add-a-leaf in so it sacked out in two wheeling trips. Sagged down about 5" in two weekends, so that sucks. But other than that, I'm happy. Now the crappy front end has to be addressed, but that's on the agenda for when I get some money... Being a student blows huge balls. But I removed the sway bars (front and back) and barely noticed a difference on the highway, but sure noticed a difference off-road! Haven't covered any more of the interior in plaid... yet. That's to come when I get the Explorer OHC in there, and fix my power steering which exploded on me last night. =P

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

i think im going to pull the bed tomorrow, this shit is driving me nuts! its not like i cant drive it the way it is, i just cant stand the fact that it doesnt work right, especially with my ability and ambition to fix things. i just keep dreading having to take the 6 80lb bags of sand out and then brushing the foot of snow out of the bed (dont want to use a shovel, i might lose some bedliner that way) and then trying to rig up the bed to the engine hoist with tie down straps and get it to roll in the driveway all the mean while being by myself. what ever, ill get it done and take some pictures for you guys (and me too) and hopefully i can then move on to installing the sound system!

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

i finally had the motivation and the time today to take care of that fuel gauge issue i was having. it turned out to be the sending unit as i had suspected, and now everything seems to be back to normal. i took pictures of the bed removal process to show you how my one man operation went down (and so next time i have to do this ill know which straps to use and where to put them).
first i had to unload the bags of sand and all the snow from my bed

then it was time to get the straps out and hook up the engine hoist

heres what i found after i pulled the pump and sender, a nice brownish tint to the circuit board of the sender

im checking the resistance through the full range of motion and noticed that the values on the old unit reached 500 at full and 16 empty, while the new unit read 165 full and 16 empty.

heres a comparison picture, you can see that the contact on the old pump turned black while the contact on the new one is nice clean copper.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

took some pictures of my truck this morning (and terra's sport trac) while i was waiting for it to get up to temp before i left for work, kind of random but yeah........