Project Guinea Pig

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[prerunner]

Not really an update. More of a situation report as it were.
Managed to get the Bronco II over to my bros place on Vancouver Island where it can be stored indefinitely for free
Was coughing pretty bad on the trip so the gf told me to see a Dr.
I have Bronchitis. (Only I could get bronchitis moving a Bronco, I swear.) Its cost me a couple weeks of work.
Anyways, my lovely gf wants her garage back now so I gotta do something with the guinea pig before it goes under a tarp or similar for winter.
The Sploder is still doing dd duty and I've been doing research on it as a project. I want to set it up as a bug out vehicle but kind of stealth. It hasn't changed much recently either, really.

Sorry guys, my enthusiasm level goes down bad when I'm poor.

 

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

How ya feeling? You kick that hiv cough yet?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[prerunner]

How ya feeling? You kick that hiv cough yet?

Hey buddy. I still have the bronchial cough but less frequently now. My lung capacity is still weak though. Any real amount of effort has me wheezing.

But the gf is leaving for the Philippines for a most of December so I'm still procrastinating getting the Ranger out of her garage. I want the shelter for it while shes gone to hopefully make progress on one of the changes I wanna make. She doesn't need her car in the garage while shes halfways around the globe for a month.
The truck is getting her share of my money for a month too. lol

How about you, Rowdy? I see you're making plans for the Ranger for early next year too. What about the Jeep?

Edit: The gf's mother is in hospital and their trip is looking doubtful at this point. Damn.

 

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

Oh I see, well I hope you can get more than you plan done!
Well we're still remodeling the place we're gonna rent. Today I'm cutting wood, tomorrow I've gotta go pick up my last paycheck for the year and then I've got jury duty. After that is a fire fighter 2 academy and installing cabinets, installing the wood floor and then moving in.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

So that's gonna take up the rest of the year. The jeep will get started after I finish the current to do list on the ranger. It'll get finished a lot faster than the ranger did, I think.
I'm gonna knock out the dents, replace the floors then have it sand blasted. I'll prime it, Herculine the bottom of the floor boards, paint it then install the glass, insulation, wiring and seats. Then I'll get the motor set in the frame, build all my mounts, do the suspension swap, sand blast it, paint it and put it all back together to make a truck.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[prerunner]

The gf's mother is in hospital and their trip is looking doubtful at this point. Damn.

Their trip has been pushed back to the 10th as of tonight but if their mom can't go with them it might be cancelled outright. I'm concerned about their mom and have confidence that she will survive but she might not be permitted to travel because of her medical condition.
So, if they do travel, I'll have 17 days at best to make changes.
Stay tuned.


Edit: Mama-san is out of hospital. Their trip should still be on. I'm not going but its sort of a vacation from them for me. I'm dirt poor right now so it won't be all hookers and blow. Hoping to make some changes on my junk.

 

[prerunner]

I've been putting more info into my other page ("the daily demo car" Exploder) lately but I've picked up a HP Dana 44 with radius arms, track bar and bracket, even springs (Dana BOM # 610067-2. 1979 F150 3.50 ratio std carrier) but its missing everything from the inner C's out except the outer axle shafts (included.) Has one radius arm frame mount bracket too.
This is going under the Ranger by Christmas. Staying full width to save time and hassle. Mr N has a parts list to mix & match Chebby and Ferd outers together into something workable. http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/Mr.N44.htm#Hardware . The pricing is from last century but should otherwise work out well.
Just got it home tonight. Its still in the car. I'll snap pix tomorrow.

 

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

Atta boy!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[prerunner]

79 Dana 44 HP. Missing outers from the inner C except the stub axle (PO probably should have saved these to put them on his EB. Oh well.)

I've decided to go to 8 bolt outers on this even if it takes longer to do. I have 15x10 wheels for a 5 on 5.5 (stored @ my bros) and two sets of 8 on 6.5. Its getting 8 bolts eventually so what the...

 

[prerunner]

One more pic. (I dunno why I took a picture of snow before this.)

And yeah, theres almost a foot of snow here. Most I've seen in a few years.

Edit: BTW, this was $225. It'll cost more for the outers but I'm not locked in to using the 79 Ford 1/2 ton brake setup just because it was there. I can use the cheap Chebby 8 bolt outers this way. A not very creative way to get a radius arm 3/4 ton setup under this train wreck.

 

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

You'll like the coil sprung ride. I used early bronco coils and they rife great!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[prerunner]

You'll like the coil sprung ride. I used early bronco coils and they rife great!!!

Thats the consensus. The EB springs work well for the SAS RBV. Ride nice and flex well.
I'll be pricing springs this week. Probably be a crap brand just to get it suspended cheaply. This has been a sudden change in direction since finding the axle.
I want to start using this truck. The D60 sounds great but isn't very practical to mount on the cheap. When I go this direction again I want it to not feel like I need to reinvent the wheel getting it in there.
Theres a simple formula to get the 44 under there. The only twist I'm planning are the 8 bolt outers.

If anybody has a spare right radius arm bracket I'd like to hear from ya.

 

[87RichieRanger]

I've gone back and read the first 30 or 40 something pages of this thread and I like the way you think! I to am a tinkerer and had big plans for an '88 2.9L ranger 4×4 conversion. I had sourced a 351 Windsor and Tammy from an '85 LTD Crown Vic, and the front and rear 4.58 axles from a '99 gas burner F-250 I was planning on putting in it. I started in late 2014 by pulling the third A4LD tranny I had put in it (blown flue in radiator to tranny cooler) and motor which still ran strong. I had acquired all the parts aside from drive shafts which I was planning on having custom made, and had to put the project on the back burner for a little while. Then had to sell off everything due to large family (8 total) and small income ($0weekly) from a jealous assistant manager. I was heart broken behind that loss. My truck had two very small dents in the passenger side, and other than that and very minor surface rust in two spots it was in perfect condition. I hope to see pics of your mini beast rolling soon. I love it when a dream comes to fruition for a person, and it makes it so much better when it is close to my dreams. Thank you so much for sharing this with us, and good luck with it all. Keep up the good work.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[87RichieRanger]

I've gone back and read the first 30 or 40 something pages of this thread and I like the way you think! I to am a tinkerer and had big plans for an '88 2.9L ranger 4×4 conversion. I had sourced a 351 Windsor and Tammy from an '85 LTD Crown Vic, and the front and rear 4.58 axles from a '99 gas burner F-250 I was planning on putting in it. I started in late 2014 by pulling the third A4LD tranny I had put in it (blown flue in radiator to tranny cooler) and motor which still ran strong. I had acquired all the parts aside from drive shafts which I was planning on having custom made, and had to put the project on the back burner for a little while. Then had to sell off everything due to large family (8 total) and small income ($0weekly) from a jealous assistant manager. I was heart broken behind that loss. My truck had two very small dents in the passenger side, and other than that and very minor surface rust in two spots it was in perfect condition. I hope to see pics of your mini beast rolling soon. I love it when a dream comes to fruition for a person, and it makes it so much better when it is close to my dreams. Thank you so much for sharing this with us, and good luck with it all. Keep up the good work.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Correction it was an '87 not '88!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk