ranger refit/build thread

[Boggin]

awesome bronco,, i got a 79 myself lol

 

[gwaii]

ya,it was.i really liked those tires,too

as for the topaz,it wouldnt start one time and i got pissed off.

note the fenders got pulled out more to cover the 40s,and a second winch was added to the bed.

 

[WoodyB2]

is this a pic of the future tires to your awesome rig?

or you buy others?

 

[gwaii]

also,when i had everything apart for the engine swap,i could see the floors were in pretty sad shape.so i made this.

this made things much cleaner.at the same time i traded a 60-40 ranger seat to a freind for a pair of prelude buckets.he wanted to be able to sit closer to his new girlfreind,and couldn't with the buckets.a week later he broke up with her and asked if i would trade back.i just laughed.

 

[gwaii]

is this a pic of the future tires to your awesome rig?

or you buy others?

no,i got other ones.

but the red one beside it donated it's tires.

 

[gwaii]

so,long story short,i was fairly happy with the 302 for power.it burned a lot of gas(i was commuting over 110 km a day with it)but durability was still an issue.the first one i put in spit out the #1 rod bearing in a mud hole,leaving it knocking away.still got me home,though.though it had good oil pressure before this,and it ran well,i figured it was because it was an old motor.
so i broke the bank and built a new one.turned the crank,rebore,high volume oil pump,cam,etc.....it was in this hole that the bottom end let go:

i was pissed.sure,i was over revving it.
ya,it was pretty hot.
the hammer was down...the button pushed.
if it cant take that,it's not tough enough for me.

 

[gwaii]

i'd been talking to some of the guys at the mudhole about how cool a mid engine truck would be....better balance,and just plain cool.

they said'you can't do that'

i replied...'no,YOU can't do that.i can do whatever i want to do'

they laughed.



so,anyway,i had this 4.6/4r7ow that was to go into a different project collecting dust.why not put it(and the sawzall)to use.

i spent a few minutes figureing out the layout on this thing...i knew i didn't want to point it backwards,and flip the diffs.i knew that a 205 was strong enough to run all the power through the front output....so that was it.bolt up a 205,run a shaft forward to another 205 facing backwards,and use the front output of the second one to drive the rear,and vice versa.
that second t-case would look pretty lonely out there in the middle of the truck,and i already had a combo tranny hooked to a 205,so why not just use the whole thing as a unit.
this would mean doing something else with the shifters,as one trans would be right under the driver's seat.not the best spot to have a shifter sticking out.
the second trans would be too far back for a regular shifter,too,so i figured if i just hooked a lever to each of the shift rails,i would be able to run them where i needed them,and get good control of the trannys.

 

[gwaii]

the gas tank had to be moved to the back of the box,and a rad was mounted over the trans with a couple of electric fans.

 

[gwaii]

it was during this period that i was also doing the ramp contest thing a lot,and found that the ttb was holding me back on the flex.i couldn't afford a good solid diff(d60)and already had a working one on the truck,so,why not use that?

it took only a couple of hours to fab up some brackets to tie the sides together,and put on a trac bar.while i still had a lot of things to figure out before i had killer flex,i was on the right track.

 

[gwaii]

first test run of the new era,proof of concept.

theres still a lot of work to do before i can go beat on it,but at least i know it works.
it seems off kilter in the pic because that's how much it torqued up when the peddle was put down.

this was going to be fun.

 

[gwaii]

so,i built a fancy aluminum cover for the motor,got all the other bits in place and took it out to see what would happen.i also moved the front axle 6" forward to improve the approach angle.
the lines behind the rear tire were from me contemplating bobbing it,i drew it on this pic to see how it would look.
glad i didn't do it.

 

[gwaii]

those following this thread may have realised by now that this truck was not really built-it actually evolved.

i never sat down at the start and said 'i want a truck with a 460 in the back,44 boggers and three transmissions'.

it just sort of worked out that way.

 

[grumpyguy]

Good 'ole Stave Lake testing grounds.

 

[RangerSVT]

You definitely have frankenstein looking like a pin the tail on the donkey!!! I like it...
SVT

 

[gwaii]

Good 'ole Stave Lake testing grounds.

ya,it'll find the weak spot in anything.