Ranger44's build: Project FAZDA

[CHKNFKR]

Say what? Coming home? Let me know dates man.

i said for a couple weeks, its just leave man. still have 4 or 5 months till i'm home for real.

 

[Explorin94]

Damn. Already scheduled to work.

Well we have a couple of places around here where we go. We usually got to Cliffs Insane Terrain and spend a Sunday up there. The time change is coming up and there will be longer days. I'll let ya know when we go as we meet in Pontiac and convoy there. Don't know if you really want to travel that far to go wheeling or not. Might have to check with Bray to see when some of his mud runs are happening too.

 

[Ranger44]

i said for a couple weeks, its just leave man. still have 4 or 5 months till i'm home for real.

Yeah, I caught that. But still, I was under the assumption you were over there for the full time......that's why I'm surprised. I might take you up on that offer.....It's been a LONG time since I've had good reliable help on FAZDA. Too long.....Just let me know when you're coming, that way I can plan, and the sooner the better......then I can maybe request off a little work (I need the vacation anyway)


Ryan

 

[Ranger44]

Cruise control.....

 

[CHKNFKR]

Audiovox CS-100 cruise control

again, you could save yourself a lot of time and money with a locking hand throttle to achieve the same result, plus it would provide a faster means of heating up your truck on a winter morning. it may not be the right answer, but it certainly is the most cost effective and versatile.

Then I can look into my OTHER neat project: Dual Tanks......

you can always gank the tank off of the red truck, i'm not gonna be using it.

 

[fastpakr]

A hand throttle doesn't have anything on a real cruise system. Unfortunately, that Audiovox unit is out of production and getting extremely hard to find (at least for a reasonable price). The only place I know of off the top of my head that still has it is CarParts.com.

 

[Ranger44]

Bah....I already got it. The cruise that is. Lets say I was able to pick up on it cheap and it's easy as pie to install.

 

[Ranger44]

Oh god not more big lights....

oh yeah.

the alignment was about normal price wise...but i would bet discussing ahead of time the fact it was all lubed and loose would have kept the bill down to 120 or so.


as to your mpg's...did you calibrate the speedo before and after the gear swap so you knew what the real mpg was?

Oh! I DID discuss with them that I had that suspension apart within the past week, and that everything should be easy to get to.

It's the fact that I was very SPECIFIC about what kind of suspension that I had, what truck, and what was involved with aligning it. What they told me, is that it'd be the price of the alignment ($70), and the price of the alignment bushings. So the fact that they inflated the alignment bushings from 11.49, and 13.59 to $24 and $25, then charged me an hour labor rate to install them. Then held my truck in the bay........they knew they were bending me over and hoping I wouldn't know any better. Btw, after talking. This shop already has a bad reputation of screwing people over.

Thanks to 2 years of an automotive program(almost wrapping up an associates) and an Ford MLR cert under my belt, I know what's involved and know what I'm talking about.

But you're right bobbywalter, it only should have been $110-120. NOT $190ish.

With the speedo...... I think the 3.73 gear is about right, I may need to change it though. Also, when I passed a radar/sign thingy, you know "you speed is", it read me at 70mph, and I was maybe a .5mph under that. BUT, if I'm doing the math correctly, 3.73's and 235's are about the same as 4.10's and 31's.......by that note, I notice my gas disappearing ALOT less faster. 5-8 mpg is noticeable.

 

[Ranger44]

I will mention this, the ONE thing that pisses me off more than laziness or stupidity, is when somebody tries to screw me, or somebody I know out of hard earned cash.

Ryan

 

[Ranger44]

Working on a Chevy Metro today. Needs a new exhaust from the catalytic converter back. I quoted it at $15/hr and at 4 hrs tops. Easy cash, and a fair price, IMO. Icky Chevy.

Then I think I might open up the extra t-case I have laying around. Just to get a feel for things and steal what parts I may need.

 

[Ranger44]

Worked out well, Metro was done in just under 3 hrs. That's from jacking it up, to clean up and test drive. She even had a loose heat shield that rattled and sounded awful under acceleration, someone forgot to put a bolt back in. Found a spare bolt and voila! Nice and quiet.

Now, I KNOW if it were my vehicle, it would have taken ALL day. But that's just the way it is, isn't it?

 

[Ranger44]

Dual Tanks

you can always gank the tank off of the red truck, i'm not gonna be using it.

I need a tank that will fit where the spare tire went. A tank from a dually F350 will work nicely. It's plastic and the skid will bolt to the ranger frame with minimal effort.

I actually need to find a skid for my tank now (need one from a supercab). The old one was trash, and rotted. Or make one......

 

[Ranger44]

T-case/speedo/etc

Looking over the symptoms again:

1). Speedo jump at high speeds. (60 and over)
2). A little play at flange.
3). Shudder as I accelerate.

I played with the u-joint, it seemed a little stiff and rough one way.

The speedo gear on the cable is chewed up, but the drive gear inside is perfect.

And once I took the d-shaft off the flange......I couldn't really get the flange to move.

I'm thinking there is a combination of things working together now.

What I NEED to do is find a single piece d-shaft and swap the sucker in. LOL

 

[Ranger44]

Front Drive Shaft

So, I swapped in that hybrid diff, and the regular D35 shaft is too short by and inch to an inch and a half. Don't they make offset u-joints for situations like this?

EDIT*- I found some 1310's at Tom Woods, but $60 a pop? Ouch....

I actually measured and the regular D35 IS 1.5" longer than the D28/35.

 

[CHKNFKR]

gonna have to hit up robin for some parts by the sound of it, unless he's still being less than cooperative. And its about time you get a proper front drive shaft!