Picked up a first Gen STX

[LonesomeSTX]

I love these trucks. I have been wanting one for a while and accidently found this one. I would prefer a five speed with bucket seats. But this one will do nicely. It appears to have low mileage on it judging by the interior and general condition of everything else. It runs rough but I am tracking those issues now. I pulled the air plenum off to clean it. While I am it I will tune it up and adjust the valves. The previous owner threw a bunch of money at it. Yet he did not address the way it ran. He thought it was suppose to run like that. My plan right now is to fix what it needs so I can have a dependable truck while my other build is going on. Then, when I complete that I will address this Ranger. Other than faded paint and new tires I do not see many issues at that point.

 

[97RangerXLT]

Nice find! Any mods or plans once you work the bugs out of it?

AJ

 

[Mark_88]

Cool...and automatic 4x4...never seen one before...but it looks similar to what I had originally...except the 4x4...

I dumped the auto and 2.9 thinking I could build a power monster 2.3...still working on that...

 

[LonesomeSTX]

I plan to keep it mostly stock. At some point I will pull the engine and tranny to rebuild them. Any mods would be done then. This one I do not plan to lift, but I do want to upgrade the suspension.

 

[LonesomeSTX]

Chasing oil leaks. The previous owner paid a shop to replace the valve cover gaskets; they did a real crappy job. Bolts were missing and the ones they did reinstall were loose. The port the EGR bolts to was so clogged I had to use a ½ drill bit to get it all out. Most people get angry when they find more problems. I am happy. The more issues I find like the less likely I have internal engine problems. I was afraid the rough idle meant something was wrong inside.

 

[ianyboy]

Nice buy! Truck looks mint!

 

[jhammel85]

Sounds like you've the right attitude! The truck looks great. Have you thought about buffing the dull paint it to bring the paint back?

 

[LonesomeSTX]

If it were not for the peeling decals I would try that. I love the STX decals, but in this case, they make the truck look worse than it is. When I repaint the truck I will paint them one.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Really nice score. Are those the original seats?
You say you're going to do the suspension. You're truck looks the same as the stx hi-rider I used for parts [rusted too bad to fix]. The early stx hi-rider had from factory a 2" lift. You may want to consider that if you're planning any lift.

 

[LonesomeSTX]

Everything is original. Even the cracked and falling apart spare tire is original.

 

[LonesomeSTX]

The ranger sat untouched because I went out of town for a week. Today I spent most of my time addressing details. A lot of the wire loom was brittle and all of the electrical tape on the harness was degraded. As I reinstalled the harnesses I wrapped new loom and retaped them. I also stuck a bunch of zip ties in there to keep it all neat. I addressed any missing bolts. It looks like someone has done work in there before and just did not feel like bolting everything back down. Of course all the vacuum lines are from 1987 so I replaced most of them. Right now I am dealing with the EGR valve and everything that bolts to it.

 

[Mark_88]

Mine were similar and after a while things started going south rapidly...but thanks to another member on here who sent me the 10 wire clip for the lights et al I was able to splice it in and restored my faith in electricality...or whatever it's called...

 

[LonesomeSTX]

It looks like this truck was on the edge of going south. The seller did not know anything about how to maintain his vehicles and to him this was just an old truck. He threw a bunch of money at it but did not address the obvious stuff.

 

[LonesomeSTX]

Just took it for a test drive and it runs waaaaaaaaaaaaay better. It needs timing and I think I hear a vacuum leak and I have what sounds like a top end tic.