Just me and my diesel.

[Mr. Apathy Cream]

I've been lurking on this forum for a couple months while I've been working on my recently acquired 83 XLT Diesel. Figured I should finally make an account as I'm starting to gather a bit of knowledge on this 2.2L Mazda/Perkins drive-train and how rare they seem to be. I've already overhauled a few of the mechanical gremlins it had and am now looking to make it a car show discussion piece.

Just due to how stupid hard it is to find fellow 83/84 diesel owners I also ran a Marti Report on this one to learn it is one of about 8,392 ever made that year. If anyone with a diesel ran a Marti on a 84 I'd love to see your numbers so we can finally know how many of these were actually produced.

A few other FAQs I get on this thing:
-Yes it does have dual fuel tanks. I'm still working out if the front tank is viable... for now it lives off the rear tank. If both are working it'd have insane range as the little Perkins gets about 35mpg and both tanks full is 37gal.
-There is no cat or other exhaust controls. This came factory without it.
-It was painted at some point. I really want to bring the two tone red/white back though.
-AC was deleted, but I'm looking to add it back. I've yet to find drawings / schematics on how the stock system was setup, but one way or another I'm adding some dad-gum AC into this hotbox.
-Future plans are to bring it back to pure stock as possible.

Edit:
-Yes those god awful Amazon LEDs are being changed out with stock sealed beams.

 

[JoshT]

-Yes it does have dual fuel tanks. I'm still working out if the front tank is viable... for now it lives off the rear tank. If both are working it'd have insane range as the little Perkins gets about 35mpg and both tanks full is 37gal.

I'd say you came out lucky on that. If not an exact match you can get a suitable replacement for the main tank. The Aux tanks are unobtanium. So, if had to pick between the two for a good tank, I'd much rather it be the aux.

Im interested to take a.look at your pics once I'm at a bigger screen.

 

[RobbieD]

Welcome!

Nice example of a rare truck. I'm glad that you appreciate it for what it is.

Stay on top of keeping that rear tank healthy; they are hard to find. The lower body molding is also not common, in such good original condition.

Besides going back to original paint scheme, the only other thing I'd change is getting some period-correct wheels

That's a survivor; just keep giving that truck plenty of love!

 

[JoshT]

Finally another Ranger with those fuel doors. Nothing important, I just a minor detail that I like. My 84 had the flat fuel door, while nearly every other Ranger I've come across has had the finger notch. I'l like to find a couple more of those doors. A pair for my 85 and one to graft into the bedside on my F-100. Be nice to narrow it down to a particular production range eventually, not that it wil help in the search.

 

[Mr. Apathy Cream]

I'd say you came out lucky on that. If not an exact match you can get a suitable replacement for the main tank. The Aux tanks are unobtanium. So, if had to pick between the two for a good tank, I'd much rather it be the aux.

Im interested to take a.look at your pics once I'm at a bigger screen.

Both tanks are actually in great shape. The sender is shot on the front one and I'm not 100% sure the selector switch works correctly either. I'm going to drop it all and go through the system one day, for now I'll just leave it alone.

Finally another Ranger with those fuel doors. Nothing important, I just a minor detail that I like. My 84 had the flat fuel door, while nearly every other Ranger I've come across has had the finger notch. I'l like to find a couple more of those doors. A pair for my 85 and one to graft into the bedside on my F-100. Be nice to narrow it down to a particular production range eventually, not that it wil help in the search.

I'm also certain they're only on the few model years. Maybe up to 86 is the last time I've seen those. Sometime around there a light refresh happened that went to the notch.

On the rare occasion I do need to fill up I always get someone asking questions about it. I guess something about seeing two doors open with both caps popped.

 

[JoshT]

Good tanks is a great starting point. Worst case get the in tank lift (low pressure) pump working (if it isn't) fill both tanks and run the front empty before switching to the rear for the reading.

The selector and valve will probably be your biggest headache. If it's like the gas dual tank trucks, the selector valve is obsolete and not reproduced. It kind of doubled as a reservior or sump for the in line high pressure pump.

If the valve is bad you will probably have do either adapt something meant for the full size trucks, or rig up something custom. Ideas for getting dual tanks working has been floated on the forum in the past. I can't link you to them, but I have been involved is some in prep for getting my 85 (2.3L gas) back on the road with functioning dual tanks. My plan on the 85 was probably to replace the low pressure in tank pumps with high pressure pumps, remove the inline pump, and wire in a electrical switching valve. Like I said this has been discussed around the forums in the past.

The 86 parts truck I have and this 85 both have the notch. I want to say that I've seen pictures of other 83 and 84 models that have the notch, but who knows what's been changed on them by this point.

 

[Mr. Apathy Cream]

Welcome!

Nice example of a rare truck. I'm glad that you appreciate it for what it is.

Stay on top of keeping that rear tank healthy; they are hard to find. The lower body molding is also not common, in such good original condition.

Besides going back to original paint scheme, the only other thing I'd change is getting some period-correct wheels

That's a survivor; just keep giving that truck plenty of love!

I didn't even notice the wheels until you mentioned it. Looks like those were snatched off a 97 or later. Any suggestions for sourcing some stock year wheels? Looking at the brochure for the first year this would have been the options outside of steelies. Not sure which ones I'd want to go with, but honestly finding a set of these in good condition is probably like winning the lottery.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

If you want factory it would probably be option L since your truck shipped with 14" tires

Realistically your truck is pretty fancy, XLT with the Chrome package so if it was me I would be shopping for 15's. That base steel wheel came in 15" later on.

 

[RobbieD]

I didn't even notice the wheels until you mentioned it. Looks like those were snatched off a 97 or later. Any suggestions for sourcing some stock year wheels? Looking at the brochure for the first year this would have been the options outside of steelies. Not sure which ones I'd want to go with, but honestly finding a set of these in good condition is probably like winning the lottery.

View attachment 112298

I run the later "deer print" wheels on my own '84 Ranger, but correct period wheels on your first-year Diesel would be the bomb.

In the brochure picture you posted "K" and "L" are actually steel wheels and "J" was the cast aluminum choice. Oddly, the 5-spoke "star" cast wheel is seen a lot in photos of trucks in the '83, '84 and '85 sales brochures, while not being specifically shown in the "wheels" paragraph in the brochures until the '86 model year.

It's odd that the Safety Compliance Label in your Marti report doesn't include the original tire size. You may want to check the label on your driver's door to see if you can still make out what your truck's original tire size was. The label on the truck had to be complete.

In a nutshell, 14" tires are harder to find than 15" tires these days, so it's smart to go with the larger wheel. But, if it were me with an early diesel, I'd be looking to run close to the same overall diameter tire as original, to avoid affecting the speedometer and the drivability performance (since the diesel was relatively slow anyway; taller tires = even slower). I'd also run a "skinnier" tire to keep the MPG's as high as possible (the diesel's reason for existence, and it's claim to fame). If you want a skinnier tire, the narrower 5' and 5.5" wheel widths would be preferable, versus the 6" (and later 7" Explorer) wheels. Again, that would be my approach, if I had a truck like yours, in that good of a condition. You may want "meatier" tires, so a wider wheel would be better.

I did a chart a while back for my own use which cross-references all of the brochure info with spec book info, with the tire height (i.e.- diameter) plugged in from a tire website. The '83 through '87 part of this chart is below in this post, in case it's helpful to you.

I don't have a "hot source" for early wheels, sorry. One tip, is look at Bronco II's, as they all had 15" wheels. Explorers, too, and some early Explorers had 15x6; the steelies (my "Type 1") that were still available in 1991 and 1992, but not used much, and the cast wheels were later-year styles.

 

[JoshT]

@RobbieD not sure where your chart info was sourced from. The 1983 brochures found here on the site only list 14" wheels for 1983, no 15 inch wheels. Didn't look at the other years. Both steel and aluminum options were 14" that year. Also I just scrolled through all the brochures for the 83 earlier out of curiosity on the options that Apathy's truck could have come with, and didn't see that type 4 in it anywhere. I don't recall seeing them in the 84 or 85 brochures when I was browsing these a few weeks ago either, but it was a few weeks ago and I wasn't looking for them.

I would agree that likely had type 1 wheels. The other two appeared to optional for all packages, and that would likely have been listed on the Marti report.

OP, I'd agree with these guys suggesting to stay with the 15" wheels. 90% of people looking at your truck wouldn;t know that it didn;t come with 15s and there is a larger and better tire selection available for them. That type 1 wheel was basically the same up into the 90s, but stepped up to a 15" wheel at some point. As for a source. I don't have any or know where to get them, but one of our members has as fixation on that style IIRC and may have a pile around his "shed of miracles". Not saying that he has any or enough to share, but heseems to have a habbit of sniffing them out. I think I have a set in 14", but not in a position where I can let them go right now.

 

[RobbieD]

@RobbieD not sure where your chart info was sourced from. The 1983 brochures found here on the site only list 14" wheels for 1983, no 15 inch wheels. Didn't look at the other years. Both steel and aluminum options were 14" that year. Also I just scrolled through all the brochures for the 83 earlier out of curiosity on the options that Apathy's truck could have come with, and didn't see that type 4 in it anywhere. I don't recall seeing them in the 84 or 85 brochures when I was browsing these a few weeks ago either, but it was a few weeks ago and I wasn't looking for them.

I would agree that likely had type 1 wheels. The other two appeared to optional for all packages, and that would likely have been listed on the Marti report.

OP, I'd agree with these guys suggesting to stay with the 15" wheels. 90% of people looking at your truck wouldn;t know that it didn;t come with 15s and there is a larger and better tire selection available for them. That type 1 wheel was basically the same up into the 90s, but stepped up to a 15" wheel at some point. As for a source. I don't have any or know where to get them, but one of our members has as fixation on that style IIRC and may have a pile around his "shed of miracles". Not saying that he has any or enough to share, but heseems to have a habbit of sniffing them out. I think I have a set in 14", but not in a position where I can let them go right now.

Here's the footnote I have that didn't get posted:
" 1) Early 1983 Ranger sales brochure (1/82) lists only 14" wheels; later sales brochure (8/82) adds 15" wheels for 4X4 models. "

The 1983 models had a much longer than normal production and sales period, and being a new platform there were a lot of running changes and running additions (such as 4WD and a V6 weren't available at launch, but both were phased in sometime afterward). And as such, there are several versions of the 1983 sales brochure.

For source material I used the Ford sales brochures, and Ford's Light Truck Specifications Book for each year, 1983 to 1994. That's the years I run, and I got tired of looking up the same stuff over and over again in different books, so I made up the chart for my own use.

I can't say that it's 100% accurate, but the info itself is straight from Ford literature.