Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and kishy
Well-Known Member
Build thread? Build thread.
Hello, and welcome to the party. The insanity's cooking on the back burner at the moment, but rest assured, it should be fully realized soon enough.
This is a 1989 Ranger XLT Super Cab with 87k miles. It was built with a 2.9L V6, a manual transmission, and is RWD. It has a 7.5" 3.45:1 open diff, same as my current 1985. It has come to me without an engine or transmission installed. Story is, this was a daily driver, but the rad let go and it overheated. A new rad was put in, but it became apparent that there was a cylinder head issue as a result of the overheat, so it was parked. A 2.9 auto 4x4 regular cab short box parts truck was purchased, but when they tore into it, they discovered it also had a cracked head(s), which resulted in both trucks just sitting for a while. They were listed for sale but had no bites, other than someone who wanted the disassembled 2.9 plus trans out of this truck, which is how it ended up with no powertrain. A substantial handful of parts from the parts truck came with this one - fenders, doors, front bumper, and front bumper filler panel.
This truck is intended to be the replacement for my 1985 Ranger, which is rusty beyond the point of salvation. The 1985 remains on duty presently and will for some time, however, the 1989 requires extensive work to get to the point of being a useful vehicle, so I'll document all of that here in this thread. I am loosely targeting mid-2025 for the cutover from 1985 to 1989, but we'll see.
The 1985 has a short, but detailed thread here: https://www.therangerstation.com/forums/index.php?threads/re-introducing-my-85-ranger.200789/
For how unmodified it seems, it is surprisingly far from stock in ways that would have a seasoned Ranger wrench-turner fairly confused if they had to work on it without me being around to comment on it. My goal is for the 1989 to be just as confusing.
This truck spent its life in places where the roads aren't covered in a crusty layer of salt for a third of the year, so despite some cosmetic problems, it is astonishingly clean underneath - at least by my standards.
The list of items on the 1985 that I intend to bring forward into the 1989 is as follows:
As you can see, a fairly involved project, to get a fairly "nothing special" vehicle out of it at the end. But it'll be fun, and that's what matters.
Hello, and welcome to the party. The insanity's cooking on the back burner at the moment, but rest assured, it should be fully realized soon enough.
This is a 1989 Ranger XLT Super Cab with 87k miles. It was built with a 2.9L V6, a manual transmission, and is RWD. It has a 7.5" 3.45:1 open diff, same as my current 1985. It has come to me without an engine or transmission installed. Story is, this was a daily driver, but the rad let go and it overheated. A new rad was put in, but it became apparent that there was a cylinder head issue as a result of the overheat, so it was parked. A 2.9 auto 4x4 regular cab short box parts truck was purchased, but when they tore into it, they discovered it also had a cracked head(s), which resulted in both trucks just sitting for a while. They were listed for sale but had no bites, other than someone who wanted the disassembled 2.9 plus trans out of this truck, which is how it ended up with no powertrain. A substantial handful of parts from the parts truck came with this one - fenders, doors, front bumper, and front bumper filler panel.
This truck is intended to be the replacement for my 1985 Ranger, which is rusty beyond the point of salvation. The 1985 remains on duty presently and will for some time, however, the 1989 requires extensive work to get to the point of being a useful vehicle, so I'll document all of that here in this thread. I am loosely targeting mid-2025 for the cutover from 1985 to 1989, but we'll see.
The 1985 has a short, but detailed thread here: https://www.therangerstation.com/forums/index.php?threads/re-introducing-my-85-ranger.200789/
For how unmodified it seems, it is surprisingly far from stock in ways that would have a seasoned Ranger wrench-turner fairly confused if they had to work on it without me being around to comment on it. My goal is for the 1989 to be just as confusing.
This truck spent its life in places where the roads aren't covered in a crusty layer of salt for a third of the year, so despite some cosmetic problems, it is astonishingly clean underneath - at least by my standards.
The list of items on the 1985 that I intend to bring forward into the 1989 is as follows:
- Engine: 1995+ish 2.3
(or it might be a 2.5, I never did figure that out. oil pump on the front driven by the belt, no distributor hole, and it sorta rips which is not what people usually say about a 2.3)- The engine harness is a modified 1993 harness, with body wiring removed. I think my best course of action with the 1989 is to remove the engine wiring from the body harness and then just have two distinct harnesses in the truck, but this will result in (yet again) the PCM being in the wrong place for the body.
- The PCM is out of a 1993 Ranger 2.3 manual.
- The flywheel and clutch on this engine were new in the time I've had the 1985 truck, and were carried over from the 2.0 to the 2.3. Probably wise to get the flywheel machined and consider a new clutch disc while I'm in there anyway.
- The fuel system is going to require some investigation. Quite frankly I don't know much yet about how the 1989 is set up. I did a single in-tank pump on the 85 when it got the EFI engine to begin with, and the easy button at the time was a 1988 fuel pump hanger (but with a high pressure pump instead of a lift pump) and the 1993 plastic fuel line assembly. I know the 89 is a totally new tank design and I believe is already a single in-tank pump setup, so it might just be a few fuel lines and done. If the 93 plastic fuel lines can come forward into the 89 that'd be great but I suspect they won't be long enough due to the extended cab - on the other hand, there has always been a fair bit of excess length that I had to tie up under the truck so maybe it will fit perfectly.
- Exhaust
- 93 manifold (more of a header actually) on current engine
- Reuse current downpipe and universal cat - opportunity to fix a couple leaks while I'm in there though.
- Would like to bring the much newer 2005ish (or whatever it is) 4.0L truck catback exhaust off the 85 onto the 89, however I'm sure it won't be long enough, so we'll have to see how that ends up looking.
- Transmission: 1985-original TK5
- Was rebuilt fairly recently with new bearings. In hindsight, I should've done the synchros too, but it works well enough.
- Has been swapped to the 83-84 external slave cylinder setup. I dunno, I like it. Will need to do some part cross-referencing to figure out the right master cylinder to use (RE: throw distance, amount of fluid displaced). I'll probably end up having to do a custom clutch hose.
- It appears the shifter hole in the floor for an M5OD-series trans and a TK-series trans are in different locations. My hope is that the metal panel around the shifter hole in the 1985 can just be swapped into the 1989 and the hole ends up in the right spot, but we'll see.
- Will need to explore if the current slip yoke matches the U-joint size on the 2-piece Super Cab driveshaft. Will replace U-joints with new, and a new carrier bearing, while it's all apart. Also need to verify driveshaft length vs where the extension housing of a TK5 ends up...might involve a spacer or custom driveshaft if things are too far apart
- Brake stuff
- Pretty sure the 89 already has the brake setup (e.g. delete the combo valve on the frame and use a newer master) that I already did on the 85, but if not, I'll be replicating that.
- If the new truck has badly grooved backing plates for the drum brakes, the 85 got new ones not too long ago, so those can come over too. But at that point, might as well just swap the axle housing.
- Towing/cargo handling enhancements
- U-Haul branded Curt round-tube 2" Class III which I put on a few years ago.
I'll gladly leave the ball in the bumper for light towing, but I want the square receiver for things like a bike rack. - Tekonsha trailer light wiring module.
- Air-Lift helper bags.
- 85 seems to sit higher: maybe swap the leaf springs?
- Rear sway bar (this will be its third truck to be mounted on); the 89 already has a front bar
- U-Haul branded Curt round-tube 2" Class III which I put on a few years ago.
- Body stuff
- Tail lights. The ones on the 85 are quite recently new and the ones on the 89 aren't.
- Maybe the tailgate from the 85, but it needs some love first. Surface rust only, but there's a fair bit of it. Not loving the holes in the 88-92 gates for the trim panel they came with. Also have a clean 87- tailgate hanging around in storage somewhere too.
- Vent windows, door glass to match, and associated weatherstrip items. All the rubber was new a few years ago so I believe it will probably come off intact. Haven't quite wrapped my head around the differences with the 1989 having actual interior door cards that go to the top of the door vs the bare steel on the 1985, but I'll get there. The 89's rubber stuff is all absolutely destroyed so if I need to touch it anyway, I might as well make it be how I want.
- I really want to bring the swingaway mirrors from the 1985 but I don't really want to drill holes in my non-rusty doors. We'll see I guess. The 85 didn't have them originally either and I drilled the holes in those doors, and nothing's gone wrong as a result so far.
- Maybe the 85 rear bumper. It's beefier, and would be a better match to the black bumper off the parts truck (vs the chrome on this 89) if I choose to swap that.
- Not requiring parts off the 85, but still to consider: straighten some of the front end bodywork a little, as it had a fender bender at some point and doesn't all fit together quite right. Not interested in wasting unrusty parts so the bent stuff will likely remain and just get somewhat less bent to fit better.
- This seems to have an aftermarket power sliding rear window, but I have no idea where the switch has been hidden, so probably some minor wiring to mess around with.
- Other Thoughts
- Would like a cap/topper/camper shell. Can't reuse the one off the 85 as it's a long box. They're 40-50 bucks at nearby junkyards so I'll keep my eyes open and see what I come up with.
- Remote start: have more new ones in box on the shelf somewhere, but would just as soon chop the existing one out of the 85.
- A long time ago I actually bought the same seats this 89 has, except in 60/40 split bench format, and put them in storage thinking I'd eventually put them in the 85. The Super Cab vs reg cab seat rail problem is what got in my way. I'm giving some serious thought to deleting the console and making this be a front split bench truck, since I have the seats anyway.
- I'd like to do power steering with the Volvo electric pump, but most likely that is out of scope for the initial batch of "get it on the road" type work. Since a provincial safety inspection will be required, and power steering "if equipped" must be functional, I'm probably swapping the manual box off the 85.
- One of the jump seats is not operating correctly and can't be put in the stowed position, nor actually used as a seat, as a result. Need to take that apart and figure out what's gone wrong with it.
As you can see, a fairly involved project, to get a fairly "nothing special" vehicle out of it at the end. But it'll be fun, and that's what matters.
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