Project ST- yet another V8 swap....

[shane96ranger]

Thats the one that came with the pump when I bought it years ago...

SVT

I realize that no water is supposed to go in that middle chamber (or whatever you'd call it), but I had a pump leak out of the bottom right there once.... with my several battles with Autozone pumps. My Edelbrock gasket was much nicer.

 

[RangerSVT]

Hmm, I'll keep that in mind. I've never ran this pump, I bought it new to replace the damaged one I had, but that was after I pulled the motor from my mustang awaiting its new home...

SVT

 

[Josh40601]

I'm diggin it brother! Interested in what you come up with for the adapter plate!

 

[RangerSVT]

Ok, so as some of you know, Thursday I had a deer run into the side of my Trac coming home, and I figured now is as good a time as ever to do my 02 ranger front clip swap. I was hoping I could get by with using the stock trac hood with the 01-03 swap so I didn't have to get a hood, which is why I didn't go with the 04+ ranger clip. Anyways, here is what the deer did to my driver fender....

Here I am pulling the front end apart. I had to pull the grille, headlights/corner lights, header panel, bumper support, and the factory tow hooks...

For the time being until I fab my custom bumper, I'll be using the bumper off my lowrider from my 00 explorer front end conversion. To use this, I had to enlarge the outer mounting holes for the bumper....

After I bolted the bumper in place, I checked for tire clearance and it rubs when I turn. Also after I got the new header panel mocked in place I will have to reposition the bumper higher and push it out about an inch or so. Here is the bumper mounted...

I just mocked the header panel with the grille and lights in place to check for fitment...

It doesn't look like I did much today, but there is a ton of measurements that need to be made before I start cutting the fenders. Because of the shape of the original fender, a straight cut wont make it. There are some complex cuts that will need to be made for it to look right. The fender needs to be extended forward as the sport trac is more rounded than the ranger. For now I will use the Trac hood, but I will need a ranger hood for it to look right. Here is how it looks at the close of today....

Tomorrow I will start the cutting and fitting the parts into place. I also will be mounting my dual oil filter kit tomorrow. Stay tuned....

SVT

 

[adsm08]

Dude, oil filter is in the wrong place.

Also, you need tires.

 

[Robert_1967]

did you at least get to save any deer meat from the encounter???



Robert



posted using a 52" TV and a can of worms.

 

[RangerSVT]

Dude, oil filter is in the wrong place.

Also, you need tires.

Thats my external trans filter. My dual oil filter housing is going next to it, I'll also be turning the single filter housing vertical. The tires are actually about 35% even though they don't look it. Next set will likely be 35's....

did you at least get to save any deer meat from the encounter???


Robert



posted using a 52" TV and a can of worms.

I was actually trying to avoid hitting him altogether and turned into the emergency lane, hitting my brakes. If I would have known I was going to hit him no matter my response, I would have went left and ran her over, and pulled over for the meat. The deer did stumble to her feet and run off with no major damage, so at least she survived...


SVT

 

[Josh40601]

Looking good buddy! Sorry I wasn't around yesterday. I was running electric to my garage all day.

 

[Thed]

(with motor mounts of course- you offered some kid $25 for the plates in another thread)

 

[RangerSVT]

$25, and I had to add $5 for shipping. Trust me, I'm barely breaking even. I'm not trying to make $$$ on these, just helping out fellow TRS brothers. BTW, if you can post up pics of the ones you got from me, that'd be great. There's another thread that someone was curious what they look like and I don't have any pics...

SVT

 

[RangerSVT]

Ok, so after this morning of feeling someone dropped a truck on me and then injesting box of 2 year old rat poison, I finally got out this afternoon to do more work. With all the measuring I did, it wasn't enough, and as you will see, I'll need to do more metal work. I started by pulling the fender off and knocking most of the dents out from the deer's handy work...

As you can see, I also cut the front of the fenders off. Cause of the flare that the fender has, I had to cut it on an angle like you see...

Here the replacement piece is mocked into place..

Here is the two panels being paired together. I started at the top, aligning the heighth, horizontal plane, and the forward angle/pitch of the nose. Took a little manuvering, but finally got it in place. Then, I aligned the panels and tacked them in place so the two panels would match, you can also see one of my measurements where I was off...

After its tacked into place, then its welded into place using care not to put too much heat in one place to prevent warpage...

This is about as far as I got today. I had to stop early as I had other tasks I had to do. You can see by the difference in the panels at the bottom that I need to extend the fender side further down, but this will take quite a bit of fabwork as there is multiple compound bends and contours where the flare is. I'm thinking of getting a set of SuperDuty pocket style flares as they will cover the imperfection. For now I'm thinking of just angling the front to the fender. Most likely the custom bumper will hide this section, which will end up getting cut off anyways...


SVT

 

[Kyle M.]

Are you switching hoods?

 

[RangerSVT]

For now I'll be using the stock hood, but I'll be swapping it out as soon as I find one. You can see just how much more square the ranger front end is compared to the trac...


SVT

 

[Kyle M.]

Yeah, I see. I was just wondering if it would be easier to mod the fenders after you put on the new hood so you know its all good.

 

[RangerSVT]

If I have to mod the fenders when I change the hood, it'll be easier, as I can make a straight cut and just add a filler piece, but I think I'm pretty close and might not have to mod them again...

SVT