My 1990 ranger “ first build”

[Thatbrokeranger]

I had originally bought it for my wife after her 85s trans let her down. But she didn’t like how it drove and hated how it looked… I couldn’t blame her it was awful to look at.

 

[Thatbrokeranger]

I had started with the basic upgrades as it was already a 4.0 v6 with lower miles. Did a 130a alternator and 3g swap right off the start I tossed the ugly American racing wheels for some Alcoas and better winter tires…. This proved to be both a good and bad move as it started eating bearings bad. I replaced the spindles and that helped for a while but it became a regular occurrence until I swapped setups

 

[Thatbrokeranger]

I’ve been around fords all my life…. I knew rangers weren’t any better so I fitted a aftermarket sensor for better temp read outs and a vacuum gauge to make leaks easy to spot early on which …. Shocker a smoke test showed it had many small leaks to a full intake gasket kit was done. Leaving the shop that night I was able to actually raise 70mph…. Until a big Doe had other plans…. A semi was coming head on with high beams / LEDS and I SAW THE LIGHT… then a deer head went flying everything got dark and I popped it in neutral shut it off and coated down the road to the fast station in total darkness… I had hit her so hard it blew the bulbs out of ever single socket but luckily no radiator damage

 

[Thatbrokeranger]

After this with my wife’s permission we decided to get her into a jeep Tj for now and her old 85 became a doner truck

 

[Thatbrokeranger]

little did I l know what this would kickstart…. I’ve had tons of obs fords over the years but none that I enjoyed like I do this little shitbox… I drilled and swapped the rad support changed the radiator, upgraded everything I could and kept fixing anything could

 

[Thatbrokeranger]

I sold the Alcoas for 400$ and picked up decent 32x11.50 bfgs and 15x10 American racing wheels and it changed the whole feel of the truck! Despite the tach confirming the 4.10s…. And door jamb saying I had 4.10s I’d later find I infact had 3.54s

 

[Thatbrokeranger]

I’d decided I needed to do something about all the clear coat and mix matched paint… so the body work and sanding begin! I’d also picked up a 50$ short bed off a friend of mine and that saved me hours of body work.

 

[Thatbrokeranger]

Still chasing primer and more body work I stumbled on N.O.S bushwhacker flares for 225$ once again saving hours in body work

 

[Thatbrokeranger]

I had a color picked out from day one but the wife hated it… she learned to trust my judgement though after rolling it out of the shop for the first time rustoleum “ gloss sand “ single stage I actually prefer single stage paints these days for home builds lol I greatly dislike two and 3 stage paints these days t jobs.

 

[Thatbrokeranger]

I had to track down the tailgate clear up in Niagara New York but it was worth the drive. Sadly I didn’t get to enjoy it for long

 

[Thatbrokeranger]

The 4.0 wouldn’t stop overheating on my commute… replaced cooling system. Then ran a test and sure enough the head gaskets failed… I’d pulled the heads thinking I’d just replace gaskets and found several cracks. So I began looking for another 4.0

 

[Thatbrokeranger]

my old man offered up his 302. Always ran great but pulled it after dealing with starter and trans issues…. I later found the crank had over an inch of in/out play in it. Bearings were smoked. Crank smoked. Cylinders??? You guessed it. Needed a full rebuild so that got sold to a friend cheap who did just that for his truck since it had a cam kit and rebuilt heads. I then bought a doner truck to replace the 4.0

 

[Thatbrokeranger]

Doner truck ended up being a 1992 but I just needed the 4.0 so I scrapped and parted the rest… worst shape ranger I’d ever had in my shop

 

[Thatbrokeranger]

Went through the 4.0 and everything was looking good. No leaks and no odd finds. Considered it a good runner! Finished running my wiring and I’ll admit… not clean work

 

[Thatbrokeranger]

The plastic intake failed the smoke test and the fiber truck didn’t have one..: so we fab! I retained the pcv Valve and just built what I could from 3” steel. Even added a nice bracket