Fyre82's Ranger refit

[fyre82]

Now it was time to start on the interior, installing dash, carpet and the relined headliner. The shifters fit nicely.

The wife and daughter did a great job relining the headliner and cleaning interior parts, thanks gang!

Along with that was new wiring for the electric lumbar on the BII seats.

Then seats. The slider for the seatbelt required replacement to the stock xcab sliders. The BII belt slider fits at an angle on the BII hump, the xcab is flat to the floor.

 

[fyre82]

It now will move on it's own power. Was a great day when I pulled it out of the garage. Everything works, A/C, heat, lumbar, radio/CD player, 4x4.

Finishing touches are in progress, tube grille.

Auxiliary power for driving lights, back up lights and electric lumbar. Plenty of extra power for anything else that I might want to wire up.

Still a little wiring clean up to do.

 

[fyre82]

The best hood I have was on the brown STX so it's getting a coat of paint to match. A bit of clear is all that is left for this before installation.

All that is left is to install the hood, bed, bumper and hitch.
I need to work out the computer. The one running the truck now is labeled 3.0 Taurus/Sable only but it works with some check engine light flashing, probably due to it missing some auto trans stuff.

The truck starts and runs well but has the quirks that you have to push in the clutch and have the trans in neutral to start.

Other things I ran into was having to install the longest drive shafts I had, but they both fit perfectly.

I'm really looking forward to getting this on the road and seeing how it rides and handles.

 

[nuclassic]

really clean work so far, keep up the pictures

 

[fyre82]

Some details that I had to deal with were getting the system to allow start with the key. I followed some of the suggestions from the tech library on trans swaps, http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111270

When I got the neutral switch figured out I could start the engine with the trans in neutral. All I did was read the diagram and wire in the FM145 neutral switch on top of the trans into the old auto loom after cutting off the round connector. This allowed me to use the starter and key to start the engine. Later I hooked up the clutch switch under the dash to the existing plug in the loom.

The instructions in the writeup are correct, don't loose that plug if you want to either activate the clutch interlock or not. I plugged in the interlock and now it requires the trans in neutral and the clutch in.
I have reversed this operation a couple of times by replacing the plug back into the loom. So far I have not been able to get the truck to start with just the clutch interlock hooked up, it has required that neutral switch. This is probably due to an automatic transmission computer installed.

I have a new backup light switch coming to see if I can get the bu lights working. I figured the wiring but the switch was bad.
This operation simply relies on finding the hot wire in the old loom, splicing it into the switch and the return wire to activate the bu lights.
I tested the circuit and the BU's work, hopefully the new switch and connector fit that bill and the strange wiring issues will be done.

I have a flashing 'check engine' light issue to trace down and codes to pull, but I have been waiting to get everyting else up to operation before I go troubleshooting something that may be incomplete.

I have to test the ECM that was in the vehicle as I'm running the one out of the donor that says "3.0 Taurus/Sable only" on it. There is one more in the '86 that I haven't pulled and looked at yet. That one was already refit for manual so it will be interesting to see what is in there and if I can resolve all of the engine light and operation issues before I take it for smog certification.

The builder is also an early '88 model with EGR. I am hoping I can retrofit the ECM to allow for removal of that PITA.

More stuff after the weekend. I hope to have the bed back on and most of the emission stuff square by next week so I can take it in for inspection lisence and registration.

 

[jovibuilt]

I always wondered what tan interior would look like in a white truck.Looks great keep the pictures coming.

 

[fyre82]

Thanks for the great comments guys.

This has become the answer to a thing I've wanted to do for a long time. I know that there isn't marvelous fab work involved, but I am learning what can be done with common tools and stock parts to make a truck what it is you want.

Having my own private junkyard has been great fun. Need a screw, handle, some off the wall detail piece? I get to go here:

Fortunately the neighbors aren't complaining, but I will need to get some of this stuff gone this summer.



Rich

 

[ZMan]

cool build, I would like to do something like that for a daily driver myself but its impossible to find anything that nice around here.

Where did you get that auxiliary power outlet thing? I could use that for some stuff.

 

[chvlfrk]

Auxiliary power for driving lights, back up lights and electric lumbar. Plenty of extra power for anything else that I might want to wire up.

Still a little wiring clean up to do.

================================
Ditto on where ya got this ^^^^^ auxilary power box?

NICE build!!!

 

[fyre82]

I found that fuse box either at O'Reily's, WalMart or Ace hardware.
I'll have to look to see if the package went out yet to get the manufacturer. It was cheap, only 6 or 7$. I have seen them at 50, 60 and up for almost the same thing so I snatched it up!

Edit:
I couldn't find the package but that unit has BUSS on it. Made by the fuse guys.



Rich

 

[Chazman]

Changed the fluids in the 8.8, rebuilt both drive shafts with new joints and installed the rear tires to see if it really worked.

That looks more like a 7.5 rear, not the 8.8. What is written on that metal tag bolted to the diff. cover?

 

[fyre82]

The weekend was very productive, body back together.

Cleaned up the wiring for the extra fuse block and ran the wiring for driving lights.

One cool item that I found amongst the stuff was this stock battery hold down. I had never seen one before in all of the Rangers I'd poked around.

 

[fyre82]

Since it was the holiday we decided that we should take a maiden voyage to see how far up the mountain we could get and shake out any issues that I might not have found as yet.

There's more snow in them thar hills that I thought. We needed several things to proceed beyond this point; a shovel, a winch, more beer and several friends with shovels, winches and beer.

Needless to say, some favorite spots are still inaccessible on the 4th of July.

 

[country0001]

Very clean. I'd like to find a nice ext cab one day.

 

[fyre82]

That looks more like a 7.5 rear, not the 8.8. What is written on that metal tag bolted to the diff. cover?

It's an 8.8 with 4:10's, limited slip, 10" brakes and the fiberglass cover.
In another pic you'll see the speed sensor on top.

The tag says:

313B
4L10 AT35623

At least that is what I make out from the pic I have at hand.