My Interior Upgrades

[jasongind]

First off I have to thank Oh2Ranger and Jim Oaks for the insperation and info they provided.

Basically all I did was got the silver and white cluster, silver cluster bezel, silver climate contol unit, and silver radio bezel out of an '02 Sprortrac. I also got the OHC and varitey mirror from an '00 Explorer. Since I knew I was going to have the headliner out I went to Joanns Fabric and got 120"x44" of a fabric to wrap it in. The headliner is wider than 44" so I took it to a tailer and had her cut it in half then match the pattern and sew the two pieces side by side, making a piece 60"x88". Once the headliner was out I layed the fabric in place, then with the help of my wonderful girlfriend we both pulled half of it back, I sprayed it with 3M Spray Adhesive, and both layed it down and smoothed it out. It wasnt hard at all.

Here is a close up of it. I really like the way it came out.

This wasnt a plug and play like i thought it was going to be. I should have just cut the plugs and taken them to use. Not all the connectors were the same and the hot/cold on the '02 is electronic controlled and the '01 is wire controlled. so I had to swap those, the wire one doesnt fit so well on the '02 due to the location of the lights on the 02. So I tood a dremel tool to the connector until it would fit. I'm glad I went to the extra trouble, I think it looks a lot nicer with the silver then the black controls.

The cluster was pretty easy. I just swapped my odometer into the new one. When doing this per the instruction in the tech library I learned it is important to take the extra five mins and calibrate it. I didnt so when I put the cluster back in and started it, the speedo jumped up to 20mph even though I wasnt moving. After some messing with it I was able to get it right on. To do so I drove it and noticed what the speed was inrealtion to my rpms. I noted what it was reading went home. pulled it out, manually turned the needle to the difference in speed between what it was reading and what it should read per my memory, then pulled the needle and replaced it at the 0 mark. This worked great. I double checked it with my gps and I am 1.7 mph off now, thats better then the factory 10% error.

Here is the OHC and vanity mirrors all hooked up and working. It was easy, just teadious wiring.

All in all the whole project was easy. It took time but that was to be expected. I love the way it livens up the plain stock interior and I was able to put a little "me" flavor to it as well. Next I will put the Explorer leather/powered/heated seats and center console in, as soon as I can find some. Once those are in I'm doing a full power conversiton as mine is all manuel right now. I'm also going to use the same fabric I did the headliner in and wrap those little grey "pillow" thing on the door panels and the arm rest on the console. Those pics will come as I do them. For now enjoy these.

*sorry for the not so great pics, they were taken with my Palm Pre. I lost my digital camera.

 

[frankserrano]

beautiful job.

 

[triumphrider-1]

How hard was it to put the 12V outlet into the power window slot?

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

awesome!!!! told u the cluster was worth it!!

 

[RangerFabWorks]

 

[jasongind]

How hard was it to put the 12V outlet into the power window slot?

That was a little tricky actually. It is easy to take out but then there is a bunch of plastic in the bottome sitll. No problem, dremel it out and slide the 12v socket it, or so I thought. The pw hole is smaller so I used a pair of dikes and pinched the lip on the socket so it would fit into the whole, then I had to put some JB Weld in to hold it since there is no lip at the base of the whole to stop it from being pushed all the way through. Besides that it was cake.

awesome!!!! told u the cluster was worth it!!

Good call my friend, it is definitely worth it.

What is hilarious? I must have missed something.

 

[RangerFabWorks]

That was a little tricky actually. It is easy to take out but then there is a bunch of plastic in the bottome sitll. No problem, dremel it out and slide the 12v socket it, or so I thought. The pw hole is smaller so I used a pair of dikes and pinched the lip on the socket so it would fit into the whole, then I had to put some JB Weld in to hold it since there is no lip at the base of the whole to stop it from being pushed all the way through. Besides that it was cake.


Good call my friend, it is definitely worth it.


What is hilarious? I must have missed something.

the granade shifter nearly busted my gut open.

those things are so ricer looking.

but nothing against you jason, i just thing those things are so gay.

but the interior is awesome bro. good job.

and if you want, ill mail ya a new shift knob LOL

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

the granade shifter nearly busted my gut open.

those things are so ricer looking.

but nothing against you jason, i just thing those things are so gay.

but the interior is awesome bro. good job.

and if you want, ill mail ya a new shift knob LOL

yeah a chevy one with obamas face

 

[sean9721]

Which article in the Tech Library did you use? When you put your odometer into the new cluster, did you have to remove the speedometer needle?

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

Which article in the Tech Library did you use? When you put your odometer into the new cluster, did you have to remove the speedometer needle?

yeah u need to remove the needle and to recalibrate the speed o once u put it back

 

[jasongind]

the granade shifter nearly busted my gut open.

those things are so ricer looking.

but nothing against you jason, i just thing those things are so gay.

but the interior is awesome bro. good job.

and if you want, ill mail ya a new shift knob LOL

Oh ok, I feel you on that. I dont like it either. I was on my way home the other day and the plastic sleeve between the knob and stick broke in the middle of a shift and the knob came off in my hand, definitely missed that shift lol. So I stop by Schucks and it was the only one they had. The dealer wants almost $60 for one and the salvage yard is cleaned out also. So I'm stuck with this for now. It is soooo cold in the morning since its metal I have to wear a glove, rediculous.

yeah a chevy one with obamas face

haha, I got some gasoline and a match waiting on that one

Which article in the Tech Library did you use? When you put your odometer into the new cluster, did you have to remove the speedometer needle?

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45192

yeah u need to remove the needle and to recalibrate the speed o once u put it back

You do remove the needle but first you calibrate, remove the needle then recalibrat to get it back in the same spot. Believe me, DO IT like the article says. I need to mess with mine a little more. The batteries in my gps were bad so I wasnt getting an accurate reading. I'm actually 8.3mph off at 60 mph. Which is pretty signifigant.

Thanks for the compliments so far.

 

[RangerFabWorks]

yeah a pontiac one with obamas face filled with piss

fixed it for ya champ.

 

[jasongind]

God damn why are some Explorer seats so hard to find? I've gone to a few different salvage yards up here and no luck. One yard I go to most of the time has some nice ones if it wasnt for doors being left open or windows busted out and rain destroying them. Also, heat is a difficult option to find, I did find one set in a '98 Eddie Baure Edition but they were tan and I'm looking for grey. I dont like the Limited seats at all, they have such a flat profile as oppose to bucket. Guess I'll just wait for something nice to come around.

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

Originally Posted by ranger sport honduras View Post
yeah a pontiac one with obamas face filled with piss

let that be a full box of matches and 2gallons of premium gas

hope u find the seats u want man!, seems like its gonna be bad a$$ when its done

 

[jasongind]

let that be a full box of matches and 2gallons of premium gas

hope u find the seats u want man!, seems like its gonna be bad a$$ when its done

thanks, so do i. bad ass is the plan lol. I just made a led light for the map light. it was my first time go at led, resistors, breadboards and soldering so the back side isnt that pretty but it works. So im going to do all the map lights and dome lights led, then work on converting the tail light, blinkers. stop light, and third break light to colored led as well. I want to do a 5.0 swap this summer but im not to comfortable with electrical yet.