I bought a High Rider...

[Uncle Gump]

Gonna be a nice rig...

I'll say it again... you have all the coolest stuff.

Hope the finger healed. I know from experience... those hurt for a long while... and you kinda forget how to use it.

 

[Shran]

Thanks! Yeah, it has mostly healed up. It just feels weird now, like I can feel vibration deep into it that I couldn't feel before. Could have been worse, I'd have lost an inch of it had I not had heavy leather gloves on.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Exactly what I was talking about... I still have a bump on my left index finger from at least 10 years ago. It will probably be back to normal in a year or two for you.

Depends on what I'm doing... but most times I'm wearing mechanics gloves...

 

[Shran]

I had the day off yesterday and got quite a bit done. Originally I had planned on using a 1991 Explorer dash and harness since 1991 and 1992 have the clutch switch wiring included in the dash harness, and this specific donor also had an electric shift t-case. I was going to use that as well with the factory 1988 4x4 buttons but it became apparent that there was going to be a lot of work involved with wiring the 4x4 shift module in, as well as the other mods to the Explorer harness for the fuel pump and tail lights. Thus, I opted to use a 1992 Ranger harness that I had been saving... it will be a lot less work to use a Ranger harness in a Ranger (however that donor truck had a manual t-case so I'll have to go that route.)

The dash, column, and most of the under hood wiring is in place. I need to button up a few things there and figure out how the power windows and locks are wired... or turn up a set of doors I can rob parts off of. I'm hoping I can eventually find a set of good door panels too, the ones I have now are awful.

 

[Shran]

I dropped the engine in about two weeks ago and was waiting on a new flywheel to come in. I almost half assed it with a used flywheel and a new-ish clutch but decided to just pony up and replace the flywheel... it was $47 shipped versus $40 to have the old one turned, and it needed to be turned for sure.

I spent a day over Christmas break and most of today working on wiring - I haven't found a set of crank window, manual lock doors to donate parts so I decided to make the power windows and locks work for now. It was really pretty easy - there's a section of the original 1988 headlight harness that plugs into two big plugs that come in from each fender. I cut out all the headlight, marker light and horn stuff from that and found that if I connect the lock relays to power and splice one other wire to ignition hot, both the PW and PL work perfectly. Most of my time today was spent repairing pins in those two big plugs that had corroded off. I also cut all the loom and tape off the trans harness, engine harness, and parts of the power distribution harness and retaped & put new loom on them. The wiring is in good shape for the most part but the loom was just crumbling off - it needed to be done.

I still have a few things to button up on the wiring under the hood but I should be stabbing the trans and t-case back into the truck fairly soon after that. There are a lot of very tedious, time consuming things to do and I'm trying to focus on finishing certain areas of the truck before moving on to others... I know I'm gonna end up with a bolt I forgot to tighten somewhere.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

As far as forgetting bolts, get a paint marker pen and put a dab on one edge of the bolt head and another dab beside it. That way you can see that it has been tightened and also see if it has loosened off.

I dropped the engine in about two weeks ago and was waiting on a new flywheel to come in. I almost half assed it with a used flywheel and a new-ish clutch but decided to just pony up and replace the flywheel... it was $47 shipped versus $40 to have the old one turned, and it needed to be turned for sure.

I spent a day over Christmas break and most of today working on wiring - I haven't found a set of crank window, manual lock doors to donate parts so I decided to make the power windows and locks work for now. It was really pretty easy - there's a section of the original 1988 headlight harness that plugs into two big plugs that come in from each fender. I cut out all the headlight, marker light and horn stuff from that and found that if I connect the lock relays to power and splice one other wire to ignition hot, both the PW and PL work perfectly. Most of my time today was spent repairing pins in those two big plugs that had corroded off. I also cut all the loom and tape off the trans harness, engine harness, and parts of the power distribution harness and retaped & put new loom on them. The wiring is in good shape for the most part but the loom was just crumbling off - it needed to be done.

I still have a few things to button up on the wiring under the hood but I should be stabbing the trans and t-case back into the truck fairly soon after that. There are a lot of very tedious, time consuming things to do and I'm trying to focus on finishing certain areas of the truck before moving on to others... I know I'm gonna end up with a bolt I forgot to tighten somewhere.

 

[Shran]

That's a great trick. I may do that in certain areas that I want to go back and check later... steering/suspension/etc. Part of the problem with this truck is that I have literally removed every fastener since I combined at least four trucks to build this one... I just have to be extra diligent about checking everything.

I got a little bit more done over the weekend. I hooked up some more wiring here and there, power steering is connected and somewhat bled, minor things left.

Also connected a battery to start testing components for power - all is well, lights and stuff are functional for the most part and nothing caught on fire. Hopefully will have a free day or two in the near future to work on it a bit more.

 

[Shran]

I had part of the Saturday free to dink around with this truck some more. I got the trans, t-case, fan/shroud/radiator hoses installed and the interior lights are working with the 1992 interior harness. I also found some clutch master cylinder parts that I think I can use, and a couple other small things. I think one more full day of work and I can start it... the main things standing in my way of that are gas tank, starter, battery cables, and filling fluids. Getting closer.

 

[Shran]

It runs!

Still needs a lot of things finished but I got the starter and gas tank in yesterday. Big step in the right direction!

 

[Shran]

Here's my list of things to finish... quite a few little things. I am 8.8 swapping this truck with the rear axle out of my Explorer so I need to do the axle swap on that before I can continue on with a lot of this. The clutch deal is the most pressing right now, it could be at least moved on its own power in front wheel drive if I had that working.

And the obligatory pic with the hood and grill back on and not so much junk stacked on top of it:

 

[RobbieD]

Looking good!

 

[r1ch999999]

Here's my list of things to finish... quite a few little things. I am 8.8 swapping this truck with the rear axle out of my Explorer so I need to do the axle swap on that before I can continue on with a lot of this. The clutch deal is the most pressing right now, it could be at least moved on its own power in front wheel drive if I had that working.

And the obligatory pic with the hood and grill back on and not so much junk stacked on top of it:

That is the dream truck I never got.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Judging by the empty beer cartons stacked in front of the truck... you also need more beer!

 

[Shran]

Judging by the empty beer cartons stacked in front of the truck... you also need more beer!

Nope, that was from right after filling the house fridge and the shop fridge. I'm good for a few days. ??

 

[Shran]

Interior is back together...ish... I need floor covering and everything needs a wipe down. It'll have to come apart again for final cleaning and assembly but at least I don't have a big pile of trim to step on and break.

Wiper motor is kinda fixed (89+ plug is different, had to swap motors) but I broke that stupid ass clip that holds the arms on and it's like the one piece I don't have a spare of. I can't think of a better design but that deal is horrible. Would have almost been better off cutting the plug off the new one and soldering it to the older motor. Oh well.

I may have part of Saturday to mess with stuff so I am planning on shortening some gas tank straps and starting to build exhaust.