Project Life Support.

[koda6966]

Well looks like dreams do come true.

A few days ago I sold the Mazda B2600i that I replaced this truck with, and decided to check craigslist to see if any Rangers had popped up for sale. I see a listing titled "1993 Ford Ranger 2x4 V6 Auto" for Endwell NY, and click it. The fact that I sold my truck to a person from Endwell peaked my intrest. At first, the truck with foglights didn't click in my head, until the side view photo showed the scrape that the previous owner (before me) put on the truck. I was in pure shock and called/emailed him right away. I was set to buy it back from him, and then that night he texted me saying it was sold to another buyer.

The next morning, I asked him if the deal went through, and he said "F the other guy, come get the truck, your the origional owner anyway."

I drove there as fast as I could cash in hand and bought it. Never been happier with a purchase in my life.

This is the list of new stuff, the stuff in bold is what I either did previously, everything else is what he added.
Air filter, spark plugs, wires, and distributor cap replaced.
Brake lines replaced
Seafoam treatment
Transmission lines replaced
Battery (Optima Red Top)
Exhaust welded and fixed
Oil pressure sensor replaced
Front bumper replaced.
Fog light valance added.
Fod lights added
Alternator replaced
Thermostat replaced - old was not broken - this was preventative
All cooling hoses replaced
Radiator cap replaced with OEM 16 PSI Motorcraft cap
Transmission fluid and filter changed
Tires replaced (BFGOODRICH All-Terrain T/A KO) - $800
Alignment corrected
RABS wheel speed sensor replaced
PCV valve replaced
Transmission mounts replaced
Oil pan and gasket replaced.

I uh.. didn't do any of that. Haha. Well I did the first one, but he redid it.

All in all it cost me a few hundred miles, a little bit of rust, and 700 dollars more than I sold it for. Not a bad deal if you ask me. I bought it back for $1400.

Here's how the truck looks now.

The rust. It looks like he poked it out with a screwdriver or something and painted it black.

First time I've had tires with tread. Right after I bought it origionally I picked up a used set of wrangler RT/S tires for 50 bucks and used them for 3 years.

Interior is exactly the same. Minus a steering wheel cover.

First thing to do, is change this back to normal. This is the crappy one I threw in for the sale.

Under the hood looks the same, except an optima battery has been added and it has a different rad cap.

Noticed this.. Anything important? It will be capped ASAP if not. I don't remember where it went.

The plans so far are to put my Pioneer stereo back in it, add my privacy cover I have laying around, rear hitch, cap, and possibly a toolbox for when the cap is not in use. Probably a 4.10 geared rear end if I can find one. Damn crappy gears are boggin me down on the hills.

I'm also considering fiberglass front fenders and a front reciever, but that's only a consideration. Money needs to be saved for those.

I also have to figure out what's causing the shake at idle, and stop the power steering leak.

Oh, by the way, she drives beautifuly.

 

[RangerFabWorks]

nice koda.


did the oil and tranny leaks ever get fixed?




give it a couple months and you will own the mazda again.

 

[Boggin]

AWESOME!! that stx bumper/valance/fogs look sweet

 

[koda6966]

nice koda.
did the oil and tranny leaks ever get fixed?
give it a couple months and you will own the mazda again.

It's still in my driveway.. guy hasn't come to pick it up and I haven't heard from him lately. He bought it sunday morning. Anyway, I'll probably never see that again. It's going to be about 4 hours away.

AWESOME!! that stx bumper/valance/fogs look sweet

I love it. It's the bumper I searched for 3 years at the local JY, he found it there in the first few months. Haha.

The only thing I don't like is the fogs don't fill the holes well. I remember a member on here that found some fogs at like tractor supply or HF or something that fit perfect. I'm gonna look into them. These look like cheap $20 walmart lights, and aren't aimed well.

 

[koda6966]

90 second swap before work today. Awesome. I forgot how good this truck sounds with a decent radio in it.

 

[koda6966]

Now that I look at it I see how dirty it is! Need to clean that.. haha.

 

[koda6966]

Ordered a pair of cathodes since my girlfriend busted one out in the Zx2. I'm going to use my existing one for a spare (wires are spliced) and put the transformer up in the Ranger.

I'm also going to remove my auxilary fuse block (mini ATC) from the zx2 and try it out in the Ranger. It had a habit of blowing fuses. Should work until I can get a fullsize fuseblock in there.

I'm also trying out Oznium's 9" tri-chip LED tubes. I have heard that they are bright as hell, although I am using the red LED's which have roughly 1/3 of the lumens that the white LED's have. We'll see how they work out, even if they don't live up to the reputation they will be a hell of alot more durable up front than the Cathodes. I've broke 3 of those babys so far. Too fragile.

I need to drill out another hole in the dash for the switch, and pick up two more of those. I need one for the fogs, one for the lighting, and one for my alarm thing. Also need to pick up some more fuses, and some wire. Probably should get some connectors too. I'm going to try to solder and shrink wrap it, but that depends on how cold it is out. If it's cold I'll just use heat shrink butt connectors. They've worked fine in the past.

Also, I'm going to binghamton next week so I suppose I'll stop in at the JY and try to get a plate holder. I also want to get another 2wd (or 4wd) vent panel, the one that the 4x4 pushbuttons usually are on. I have an idea that uses the fake vent, basically it's going to be a piece of flat black plastic molded on for a switch panel, although the spot I have them on now works fine.

 

[ranger_mclaren]

Ignore my commit on facebook now that I see this thread it makes since now. Awesome you got her back any chance the name stich is going to make a reapperance. LOL! Looks like the guy cleaned it up well less work of you. You got a good deal, total win on the optima red top.

 

[NJRanger94]

That hose coming off the airbox is fords hot air intake their was a heat sheld on the header take that vacume line off though it controls the valve on the tube to suck in the hot air.

 

[koda6966]

So basically pointless?

 

[koda6966]

Picked up some more wire, some connectors I didn't have in my stock, and a few other things today. I have a switch in the Zx2 I can cannibalize so I don't need anything there.

This is what the LED's look like. Hopefully they fit where I want them to go.

I'm getting the red ones.

And this is what the blue and yellow look like in a guy's stereo equipment. He had to use an AC converter in order to install it in his house, as the tri chips are set up for DC applications.

 

[koda6966]

Added a diamond plate toolbox. With locking gullwing doors.

 

[jhammel85]

It's so cool you got it back..It's almost like you paid someone to do all that work for you.

I'd love to have back one of my old cars...Oh well. That's why the Ranger never, ever, EVER leaves.

 

[koda6966]

Rear gas tank strap failed, ended up wiring it up until I can fix it right. Huge snow storm going on right now.

I also picked up a new brake line and adapter for the rear, since my truck uses two different sizes on the same line for unknown reasons.

Gotta add crossmember repair to the list of issues. Not too happy about that one, but it will be easy to do once the bed comes off to fix the gas tank. It will also make it easier to swap rear ends.

 

[koda6966]

I was browsing decals online and came across these batman brake light vinyls, since I love batman I decided to try them out.

They come in a sheet of three, with three different sizes.

The one for my Ranger was the medium sized one. It fit almost perfectly vertically.

Took my brake light off, you can do this on the truck but it was easier (but still a pain in the a**) to do on the table. Make sure you clean it good.

I then put the vinyl on. It was a PAIN. For one, it's a very thin material and stretches/tears easily. It is also very easy (as you can see) to get creases that only get worse as you try to fix them.

The end result was what I had wanted..

..but of course, doesn't look too good close up. Only way you see the imperfections though is if your in my truck bed.

On the way is a metal mulisha decal. Should be here tomorrow or the next day. The guy I order from is pretty good about being timely.

Tomorrow I'm fixing my brakes, and hopefully installing my front LED's in my interior. The cathodes are waiting until I get my cargo cover installed (keep getting hung up on time, since I have to unbolt the seatbelts and everything.. surprisingly.) so they're shelved for now. I do need the torque specs for the top seatbelt bolts if anyone knows them. I'm not even sure if they need to be torqued..