Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and - Joined
- Jan 6, 2008
- Messages
- 275
- Age
- 48
- City
- Armagh, PA
- Vehicle Year
- 1985
- Engine
- Transmission
- Automatic
I call her the "crossbreed."
This is the 3rd generation of the truck that started life as a 1984 2wd, 4cyl, auto Ranger. Got it in a two-truck deal and kept this for a possible future project. After getting a 1976 LTD2 donor car, I had the parts to start a 351W swap. After three months of building I ended up spending a total of $1300 for the initial conversion....gen 1. The driveline consisted of a REALLY tired 2bbl 351W, FMX tranny, Mopar 8.75" rear loaded w/ 3.91 SureGrip (narrowed 15"), and S-10 rear springs. It sits on 15x10" rear wheels and can hardly be noticed.
Gen 2 consisted up swapping the FMX for a C4 loaded with all kinds of goodies and building the motor w/ WP 2.02/1.60 heads, .030 over KB slugs, Edelbrock intake, Crane roller goodies and Carter AFB 625. Also swapped out the 3.91's for 3.23's which made it MUCH nicer to cruise. That all took place in about 4 weeks.
Gen 3 started four years ago...kid and house came along so all progress stopped. In Sept I started and finished this phase. Stripped the chassis over most everything, deactivated any rust, three coats of black epoxy and two coats of gloss black then started to reinstall everything! Upgraded the cam to a .512 lift Crane, fuel cell, batt reloc'd to the bed, Holley Red pump, bigger fuel lines and swapped on a 1985 cab and bed from a MD truck that is in excellent shape. My 1984 tin was getting rough. Added solid mtor mounts. I also narrowed then boxed the frame from the spring towers back about 2' to make room for the Hooker Super Comps...which were still no where close to fitting. So it's still through the mani's and 2" pipes which is really slowing it down. With 27.5" radials and 3.23's I made one pass less than 12hr's after completing the build and went 13.9@99mph. That's .3 faster than the gen 2 configuration. After that I let the kid who helped me race it...he was bad...nuff said. I went back to racing the 2000 Bandit 1200S! With headers, tuning, Air Gap intake and better carb it will rock! also plan on swapping to 3.55's and 26" ET Streets...both of which are in the garage just waiting to get installed.
This is the 3rd generation of the truck that started life as a 1984 2wd, 4cyl, auto Ranger. Got it in a two-truck deal and kept this for a possible future project. After getting a 1976 LTD2 donor car, I had the parts to start a 351W swap. After three months of building I ended up spending a total of $1300 for the initial conversion....gen 1. The driveline consisted of a REALLY tired 2bbl 351W, FMX tranny, Mopar 8.75" rear loaded w/ 3.91 SureGrip (narrowed 15"), and S-10 rear springs. It sits on 15x10" rear wheels and can hardly be noticed.
Gen 2 consisted up swapping the FMX for a C4 loaded with all kinds of goodies and building the motor w/ WP 2.02/1.60 heads, .030 over KB slugs, Edelbrock intake, Crane roller goodies and Carter AFB 625. Also swapped out the 3.91's for 3.23's which made it MUCH nicer to cruise. That all took place in about 4 weeks.
Gen 3 started four years ago...kid and house came along so all progress stopped. In Sept I started and finished this phase. Stripped the chassis over most everything, deactivated any rust, three coats of black epoxy and two coats of gloss black then started to reinstall everything! Upgraded the cam to a .512 lift Crane, fuel cell, batt reloc'd to the bed, Holley Red pump, bigger fuel lines and swapped on a 1985 cab and bed from a MD truck that is in excellent shape. My 1984 tin was getting rough. Added solid mtor mounts. I also narrowed then boxed the frame from the spring towers back about 2' to make room for the Hooker Super Comps...which were still no where close to fitting. So it's still through the mani's and 2" pipes which is really slowing it down. With 27.5" radials and 3.23's I made one pass less than 12hr's after completing the build and went 13.9@99mph. That's .3 faster than the gen 2 configuration. After that I let the kid who helped me race it...he was bad...nuff said. I went back to racing the 2000 Bandit 1200S! With headers, tuning, Air Gap intake and better carb it will rock! also plan on swapping to 3.55's and 26" ET Streets...both of which are in the garage just waiting to get installed.
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nice ride.......
