My backyard build (56K warning)

[JD22]

wow that's sexy.

 

[dude772]

SON OF A BITCH!!! Took it off the lot onto the road for the first time. The first time its gone over 2km/h and the god damn son of a bitch didn't shift out of first!!!!!! Went to the corner to put $50 in the tank and it didn't come out of freakin 1st gear! Today i WAS going to have some exhaust pipes made up for it, but seeings how it cant go more than 5km/h i cant get the damn thing to the exhaust shop. So i spent the rest of the day messing around with the T.V cable and linkages and such, checking line pressures all that horse shit. And THEN the side tank on the rad blew apart, i knew it had leaks so i ordered a new one, but it never showed up. So now i have a trans that goesn't shift and a rad that doesn't hold fluid.


BAH!!!!! bad freaking day. This junk is all supposed to just work, we had the trans apart and had the ford dealer transmission specialist build the trans with me, its supposed to just work! damnit!

This was supposed to be on the trails next week, but unless everything is figured out and done by the end of monday, its just not going to happen.

 

[venom97]

looks bad ass! damn trans issues! im fighting em too! lol keep it up,its looking like a fun ride!

 

[dude772]

looks bad ass! damn trans issues! im fighting em too! lol keep it up,its looking like a fun ride!

It better be fun, cause im pissed at it. Im going to take a look at the gov today because ive beat the tv linkage to death and the way its setup should give me some kind of shifting. we have tried everything with the tv linkage, theres nothing left to try but the gov.

 

[DRIFTGOD187]

sorry to hear that, good luck.

 

[big91explorer]

Hey, I completely restored a 91 Trand Am, and the damn thing did the same thing. Have you tried running it through the gears manually? Sometimes that will work.

Dont get frustrated and sell it like I did, 'cause now I really regret it. That's a bad ass truck.

 

[dude772]

Yea, i've tried going threw gears manualy, and its not the gov. I guess this things just flat out not going anywhere this week. Monday I'm going to bring it over to get the exhaust made and leave it with them while im away with the explorers.

Basically all i got done was put the rad in. I took the t-case out and the tail housing to check the gov, found nothing wrong with it at all. So I'm going to try using the proper 5.0L T.V setup. I called a guy today about getting the bits i need off a mustang, left a message with him.

And from my rather short drive, I have a feeling that i may need to mess around with the front shocks some more, play around with the mounting locations. Bah, I just want to drive it! haha

 

[dude772]

I've been neglecting my build thread. I've gotten it to shift, not nicely, but it went up to third gear. I picked up a spare trans from a 3.8 thunderbird, took the tv cable and lever swapped to my truck. Took it to the exhaust shop. Had them make some front pipes and put my cats on.

I put a factory cd player in from a thunderbird with a facotory amp. Got another set of wheels for the truck, they aren't nice at all, but good for a couple spare tires. My uncle bought 31s for his truck and the rims came with them, im not going to turn down free wheels!

Hooked up the speedo with the speed sensor from the thunderbird trans. I re-wired the alternator harness to accept an explorer style alternator, because im cheap and had one sitting around.

im not sure what ive gotten done haha. All i know is that the tv cable still needs adjusting before i can drive the bastard.

 

[Downey]

sweet build man but how the hell did you work with a shop like that i would go nuts

 

[dude772]

Well I've made a little noticeable progress in the past 2 days. I bought up some more steel, a 2x4 with round a quarter inch wall, and some 1.5inch square tube.

Made use of the explorer swaybar bushing mount location, and welded in a nice beefy crossmember.

The shocks are for a 4x4 f250 with highrider package if i remember correctly. Not sure, I bought the shocks 3 or 4 years ago. All i remember was that i bought them on sale and ordered the biggest ones i could think of.

Maybe tomorrow i will work on setting up the e-brake, and trac bar bolt. I accedently stripped the 30 year old nut, oh well.


And for the record I bought a new daily driver. 2005 Escape Hybrid 4x4. I've gone threw 5 vehicles building this turd! haha. No pictures of it yet, but i will soon.

 

[dude772]

Im really slackin on this. Recent updates are installed and fabricated brackets for the ebrake cables. I used the front cable from the ranger and the rear cables adjuster/equalizer from the 91 f-150. Worked out great. The brackets are made from Escape lower control arms that I replace all the time at work and had some in the scrap bin. Figured they are beefy enough and cheap(FREE!).

The exhaust is done, but i havn't gotten pictures of it all yet, only the front portion. Yes I put cats on it, I want to make sure this trucks legal WHEN i get pulled over, its not a matter of if, its when im not going to try and fool myself. Its nice and quiet at idle and its got a little rumbble when i give it a bit of throttle. Its exactly how i wanted it. 2.5" all the way back. No cross-over pipe. I will get more pictures later but for now...

Next is the power windows that were installed on the truck quite a while before it came off the road. They were never actually wired up, i left the wires exposed under the dash near the center. When i needed a window up or down i stuck the wires in the cigatrette lighter. But for the first time they are fully functional.

 

[dude772]

For another update. The Alignement was set. When I narrowed the front axle 6" i tack welded the passengers side inner "C". Enough that i knew it would hold together enough for temporary slow speed driving but not too much to grind off. This was so that i could measure the caster on the alignement machine.

I set the caster angle according to the 4x4 ranger factory specs. The caster i had it at was only 1 hammer swing away from the spec. It was in specs, but not close enough. Then tac it back on with the shop welder untill i can use my buddys big welder to make it solid.


After setting the alignement, I decided it was time for a maiden voyage! I needed to transport the truck to my buddys place to do some welding on the axles and frame. No better time than the present! Threw a dealer plate on the back and took it for 10 - 15km drive. Good news is that it drives better than it did when I drove it last(3 years ago!). Bad news, throttle cable still needs adjustment, wont get into 4th, and forced upshifts. But it is driveable!

That mean I WIN! For everyone who ever doubted me and said that " cant to that". I showed them that I can! I tore this thing apart, and completely rebuilt it and made it go down the road again! I gave it new life!

Next step is transfer it into my name from my dads(when i purchased it at 17 we licenced it under my dads name), new plates and call the insurance company.

 

[dude772]

Passengers side inner "C" welded on solid, rear spring perches welded on solid, and trac bar welded on solid. Now i feel safe going over some roughness. Still waiting for the Ballistic front diff cover i ordered a month ago, not too pleased about that.

 

[dude772]

i promised pics of the rest of the exhaust.

ANd to get pictures of the exhaust this is what i did.

 

[dude772]

Found that the brake pedal feels a little funny on the truck, seems to me that its either the brake booster is fooked, or the solenoid for the RABS. Seeings how its going to cost around $100 for a booster and god knows how much for that solenoid deal. I decided to buy the parts stores retired 90 reg cab long box ranger thats got 440 000 kms.

Brought it home today, and going to tear it apart tomorrow after work. Any concevable part i may need in the future im pulling off this thing then bringing it in for scrap and get most of my money back. And this way, I can get the few parts I cant seem to find to finish things off.