Newb gave up on his chevy

[s10 warrior]

hey guys , my name is matt. im 21. live in hawaii. was in the army for 4 years. about to move back to florida. got a 4 year old son waiting for me ,and planning to get married. all the toys gotta go now
ive been heavily addicted to the S10 4x4's. because of this move ,my s10 project will not be finished. gonna take a serious hit when i sell it, because i now im not even gonna get what the tires are worth! oh well, itll be enough for a ring, or a 4 door family car!

http://www.s10forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4384
link to my s10 build. im the type of guy who see's something in a serious pile of crap! my build thread shows that! lol

while here in hawaii, ive owned lots of pos vehicles, i found that im a 4x4 guy.
ive owned F150 4x4's, a few s10 4x4's,ford rangers, ford explorers,jeep cherokee 4x4's,chevy nova, camaro ,mustang,ram charger, ughh the list goes on. the chevy projects never went as planned,well the s10 4x4 project was going as planned, but since my exgirl friend wants to make things work,and raise her our son together, im chosing them. besides, im kinda getting sick of chevy.been day dreaming about a ford ranger & ford explorer for the last 2 years.

when i get to florida, i want to get a 91-93 ford explorer, 4x4, 4.0v6,automatic , 4 door. i think they are good reliable family vehicles,yet a toy i can play with too. for my week end toy ,id like to get a 83-88? ford ranger 4x4, 2.8v6. id like to a 4.0v6 swap, lift it 6in ,run 33x15.5x15 ,chrome alcoa rims,paint it that light ford ranger blue i basically want to try and build the truck that i couldnt finish, but if i can find a extended cab ranger, thatd be great. ill post pics of my old ranger below.

 

[s10 warrior]

this is it when i first got it. lots of rust, cracked windshield,2.8 had no compression.i think it was a 83 or 84.

i found a 88 ranger 2wd,long bed. took the cab from it. was gonna take the 2.8v6 from it and put it in the 4x4. sadly this parts truck was junked before i could get the motor out.

took off the rusted 4x4 cab,pulled the junk motor.

took the cab from the parts truck.

it was real fun putting the new cab on. did it by myself, so many people said i couldnt do it because it was lifted.. ha ha took the tires off and used 2x4's and wedged that cab up on to the frame!!

New cab mounted on the frame.

 

[s10 warrior]

was pretty nice i think

and thats where i had to stop. i had replaced the cab,pulled the junk motor.
i used the original doors, hood and fenders.
all i had to do was redo the interior (all i had was 2 seats and the dash!,the rest was in the back of the truck!) and get a new motor installed.

i literally had to give the truck away, my friend got in trouble for having too many unregistered vehicles in the lot,and it had to go. i had no wear to store it, no money to tow it.the time i was working on it, i was scavanging for gas money to go work on it. my friend had a 91 ranger, complete and running, just no steering wheel. he said it was 4.0v6..he said i could have it ,but i didnt have the time for a 4.0 swap,nor the money to buy parts..if it was a 2.9v6, i woulda swapped the motor and the whole wiring harness in a day or two.. so i ended up getting a sound system for my truck in trade for this truck.it was that ,or get nothing for it. 2 weeks later , i was looking at my friends ranger he said he had that he'd give me, turns out it was a 2.9v6 boy was i mad. i coulda swapped that motor out and had it running , id have it till this day!!! but hey, you live and learn rite? next time ill check before i take anyones word.. that mistake cost me a cool truck!

 

[organic]

Welcome to TRS! Great site, good people and lots of good info. Rust? I guess in Hawaii my truck would be considered "not road worthy"

 

[s10 warrior]

id like for the family vehicle to be a ford explorer 4x4,or a 4 door jeep cherokee 4x4.

and then my toy will be a ford ranger 4x4.if i could find a extended cab 4x4 ranger, that would be cool. my old ranger originally had 35's, but ill settle for 33's. gotta have the alcoa rims. plan is to lift it , swap in a 4.0v6, paint it blue ,tinker on it and drive it

pretty much just gonna hang out, check out other builds,read up on stuff and take notes, make a list of all the crap im gonna need. ill probably be moving to the orlando area , and if we do move to illinios, ill be in the Canton or elpaso area. when i do move, ill be on the hunt for some RBV stuff!

 

[shane96ranger]

Welcome to TRS. Grab a chair and enjoy your stay. That's a fine looking truck you've posted. My buddy just bought a Cherokee, and I never realized them thing is a unibody, so my vote would be Explorer as your family vehicle if you are asking for opinions.

 

[Grey_04]

welcome to trs, and x2 on the Explorer as your family vehicle.

 

[Ranger Dave (B25)]

Welcome to the site, Matt.

Where in HI are you? Guessing as you were Army, probably Schofield Barracks area. I lived on Hickam, absolutely LOVED living in HI. Wish I'd stayed instead of moving back to the mainland.

 

[baddis]

and if we do move to illinios, ill be in the Canton or elpaso area. when i do move, ill be on the hunt for some RBV stuff!

there are a few of us that are a stones throw from canton.

 

[s10 warrior]

yeah i was on wheeler AAF, i now live in Waipahu. canton is my home town.

so i was in the junk yard today looking for a strut to put on my girl friends buick skylark (too much to get from deal ship,no part stores carry it)
didnt find a strut,but i found a 96 s10 blazer 4x4 with a 5/6in trailmaster lift kit. they want $100 for it. i wont be able to take it off by hand, so they are gonna charge another $150 to take it off. i was gonna sell my lift kit from my 83 s10 4x4 , but the guy didnt want to buy it cuz it came off a round body (s10 frames are the same ,itll fit!) but he passed it up. so im gonna spend $250 , and re sell the lift kit for $1500 or i might just save it and ship it home, give it to my little brother.

as i was looking around a saw a ranger glanced at it and got back to inspecting the blazer lift. i thought to myself " ya know that ranger was kinda sitting high" so i walk up to it, and sure enough its got a 5 or 6 in lift kit on it same exact lift kit as my old blue ranger above. im gonna take the lift from it,grille,dash board pards,guages,mirrors. box them babies up and ship it home

cost $100 for that lift kit , and another $150 to pull it off too. so that will be the start of my ranger project. ill get some pics later. cant wait to get back in to the ranger scene

 

[ranger_mclaren]

Welcome to the forums you've got some skills, love seeing build threads and tons of pics. I think you are the first hawaiian we had on here. I say get the explorer and I can't wait to see you build it up. Again Welcome!!

 

[bumblebee]

hey matt im travis and i would like to start off by saying welcome to the ranger station. these guys are tons of help they will help with just about anything u need. secondly i would like to say that i love that ranger its to bad you had to lose it it was sick. third id like to say srry for u loseing your s10 i just read all 189 post on your fourms and you made that truck have a completly diffrent life then what it was when u started it. it sucks to here that u had to let it go man im srry it brought tears to my eyes just hearing the story that u posted about it. you really are a great guy for not letting that truck go to the junk yard and trying to give it a 2cnd life alota poeple would have sadly let a truck like that be crushed. if u do end up doing a 4.o swap pm me i would be glad to give u any advice i can i am doing one now and they are cheap to do if u have the complete vehicle.

 

[GoodOld85BlueBalls]

Welcome to TRS!

I remember one of my favorite parts of going on vacation in Hawaii and Kawaii was all the awsome 4x4 trucks I saw over there.

 

[s10 warrior]

hey matt im travis and i would like to start off by saying welcome to the ranger station. these guys are tons of help they will help with just about anything u need. secondly i would like to say that i love that ranger its to bad you had to lose it it was sick. third id like to say srry for u loseing your s10 i just read all 189 post on your fourms and you made that truck have a completly diffrent life then what it was when u started it. it sucks to here that u had to let it go man im srry it brought tears to my eyes just hearing the story that u posted about it. you really are a great guy for not letting that truck go to the junk yard and trying to give it a 2cnd life alota poeple would have sadly let a truck like that be crushed. if u do end up doing a 4.o swap pm me i would be glad to give u any advice i can i am doing one now and they are cheap to do if u have the complete vehicle.

Thanks man.ill deffinatly need some help when i do the 4.0swap.
im a little rusty on my ford knowledge.soon as i got in to the s10 scene i was gone.now looking a ranger 4x4's , my mouth just waters .especailly blue lifted rangers.i like my s10,but theres just some thing about a early ford ranger.idk.

im gonna end up throwing together my s10 4x4, theres a chance that i might get some help with shipping it and all my belongings home..so imma slam it together just in case things work out.. since i dont have furniture i want to bring home, i guess i can ship parts in place of furniture.

ill be shipping home the ranger lift kit,ranger fenders,grille and small parts,ranger rock crawler rims, s10 4x4 lift kit,my radio control car collection and clothes,of course my crappy collection of tools
if my stuff can be shipped,id be happy.. i can then sell my mini van and pocket that money to buy a family vehicle when i do get home.

trying to make things rite,get home to my family,and yet hold on to all my stuff is a challenge.

just hoping for the best.

any way, the lift kit in the junk yard, i was checking it out today, i guess its a 4 in lift kit, i think its about a inch smaller than the lift on the truck above.
i also noticed it was missing the driver side torsion bar mount drop bracket,, but im sure i can find one some where else,or make one.
the rear has lift blocks, i might not get them ,i can get lift blocks with u bolts new for $30.

 

[bumblebee]

ya i would personally just spend the 30 bucks and get the new u bolts and blocks. and i know what u mean about the early ford rangers. i personally am a chevy guy but my grandma and grandpa gave me an 1989 ford ranger for my first vehicle and it has yet to have over 10 miles on the pavement haveing to do something to it. this truck has got me hocked on rangers i will nvr get rid of my truck i love it it is a peice of me and my family lol