Redrock

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

Texas sounds pretty good! The only problem with Texas is there's not much public land. I like to hunt and it's hard to find places to hunt.

 

[rockin86ranger]

Well I have a brother and sister that live there and there mom has a bunch of land, plus my sister in laws family has a bunch of land so it wouldn't be an issue for me to find some place to hunt. I will be about 30-40minutes from The Gulf and about 10minutes from the LA border. Not my ideal location but a location I could deffinately live with, beach less than an hour away and crazy cajun cooking less than 20 minutes.

This is what we got hit with, the picture of the Corning Airport is the one that was about 1.5miles from the shop. It was a very brief touchdown, a friend of mine has a video from in town of it touching down and lifting back up. It pretty much targeted the airport, it took down an old barn at a house across the street that belongs to a girl I went to college with and sucked the windows out of a couple other houses. Unfortunately from the sounds of it the airport needs almost everything rebuilt at it. I haven't been out there to check it out since I wanted to let emergency crews in and out as easily as possible.

http://www.kait8.com/story/19437156/severe-weather-rolls-through-region-8-leaves-behind-damage

(I don't think that Air Tractor had hardly any hours on it if any at all. which is worth anywhere from $500,000 for an old one to about $1,300,000 for a newer one) There was also another air tractor in that hanger and a cessna, and a military helicopter that was getting a full paint job. In another picture I have you can see a smaller plane laying on its top with the wings missing but the tail stabilizers are still on it.

 

[rockin86ranger]

To the left of the picture you can see what appears to be a small plane without its wings

The remains of 2 Air Tractors, and under the yellow wing in the center of the photo you can see the remains of a Cessna

Remains of the front hanger with 2 Air Tractors and a Cessna. (The back hanger appears to be untouched until you the other side, picture of it under this)

Other side of the back hanger, crazy how it did this on one side left the other wall untouched and then DESTROYED the hanger on the other side of it

Grainbin that got relocated by the tornado

 

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

Damn that's impressive and scarey!

 

[rockin86ranger]

And expensive! I am still guessing that the airport alone has well over $2million in damages, if they can fix the Air Tractors cheaply.

 

[rockin86ranger]

Does anyone know why none of my pictures are showing up, They are all red "X"s on photobucket too. I haven't adjusted anything it is really making me mad. I don't have back ups for some of those pictures yet.

Apparently photobucket has a server down.

Well I found out the red thing in one of the pictures is a Fanboat, you can see the trailer it goes on in the picture with the plane out in the grass.

On the bright side I got my flip kit in today, All I am lacking to really get the truck going is fabricating a throttle cable bracket and getting a choke cable run and hooked up.

 

[rockin86ranger]

So the house is actually in Louisiana about 6 miles from the Texas border the way I understand it.

Quick question, does anyone have a picture of the actual floorpan replacement panel bronco graveyard sells. I have some rot issues in my floor and am trying to figure out if the replacement panels will cover me or if I am going to have to fabricate some panels.

I know progress is slow, I am VERY close to getting it running though, I could start it tommorow with no issues. I was just hoping to have the throttle cable in place when I started it but I might start it anyways to get it broke in a little. I got the choke cable to day, it is a heavier duty cable than what was on it because the longer heavier duty cable was $8 and the shorter thinner one was almost $11. Should have almost everything done tommorow, I have to install the main fuel line, block off a couple more vaccum ports, run a vaccum line or two, siphon the old gas out of the tank, make a manual choke setup, and hopefully get most of the stuff done for the throttle cable.

 

[rockin86ranger]

Well I got the throttle cable and bracket done (I was able to make the originals work), I the vaccum line, fuel line, and radiator overflow hoses run, I got the old choke cable out and the new one is installed in the cab just needs to be trimmed in the engine bay and hooked up. I got all the extra vaccum ports blocked off except one (was waiting to make a decision and now I have made it) going to block it off and block off the PCV valve at the crankcase and just get one in the oil cap. That will save me from having to reroute the pvc lines and what not. Also a friend of mine FINALLY ordered the stuff to get the shifter done, I am excited to see how it turns out since I have never seen one done how I am planning on doing mine.

But as long as the rain holds back tommorow I should have a video of it running and driving tommorow night. I am getting excited, I need to get it broke in good before I pack it full of crap and drive it 10hrs to Louisiana.

 

[rockin86ranger]

Well this truck should have been running but had some bad luck. Tried to fire it up and wasn't getting feel, poured some gas in the carb got her to stumble. Thought I might have mixed the lines up so I took one off and cranked it to see if it was blowing or sucking, it was doing both. Didn't have much luck breaking things loose enough to get it working right. Ordered a new one $20, not bad, it was suppose to come in today. Well last night dad decided he wanted to take a load to Louisiana tommorow which isn't a big deal. I agreed to go if I get all my college work take care of. The storms last night knocked out the internet, not big deal happens all the time. I decide I can just go to a friends house and do the homework then pick up the fuel pump and install it. I woke up today with the WORST stomach bug I have ever had. Went and picked up the fuel pump hoping I would start to feel better, then went to do the homework. I just managed to finish the homework before I took a turn for the worse. So i headed home and didn't get to work on the truck at all today. I have spent the rest of the day trying to sleep it off or on the toilet with a bowl in my hands, when decides to do one it usually does both. It totally sucks, but mom and dad had it and they got over it in about 2 days so maybe monday i will be able to get the old gal fired up.

 

[rockin86ranger]

Well got over the stomach bug for the most part, went to put the new fuel pump in and it was the wrong pump. So naturally they had to order it, it should be in tommorow. The fuel pump is for a 1984 Mustang with a 2.3l, the one for a 1984 Ranger is build upside down and demands to be in the same location as the distributor. I guess I have a mustang motor but not sure why they would be different. But hopefully tommorow I will have it done

 

[rockin86ranger]

Finally broke down and got an electric fuel pump, got it installed today. Put insurance and renewed the plates on it. I have a few things i need to work out. I need to adjust the float, it likes to flood sometimes. It also acts like it not getting enough fuel going down the road, at certain rpms it bucks like a bad fuel pump does. I need to put a new exhaust manifold gasket on it, partch the floors, finish the shifter, put new wipers on, swap out tires, put the camper on it, find a new dipstick and tube ......

The big thing though is that for the first time in a year I was able to drive it drove it about 20 miles so far.

 

[rockin86ranger]

Well we closed the doors at the shop yesterday and we had 2 brand new 14" tires that somebody ordered but couldn't pay for, so they went on the ranger. The front tires are 4-5+ years old but this makes the first vehicle I have ever had that had new tires on it. I also got a tire for the taurus. Got a few issues lined out with the truck but still needs some fine tuning here and there. Going to be busy over the next few days, going to put some temporary patches in the floor on the Ranger, have to pack the house and the shop, and I have to make some arrangements as far as sleeping on my roadtrip, all while keeping up with my school work.

 

[rockin86ranger]

Good thing I didn't lower the truck yet. A friend of mine got a 1989 Mustang GT for a parts car and he had it parked on a trailer at his house. I went over to check it out (thinking about buying it but it has a lot of rust) and he wanted to move it around the yard to unload it. The sensible option would have been to use one of the two fullaize trucks that were available to us (a 96 Chevy 1500 or an 88 F150), Instead we put the it behind the Ranger. The trailer had a blowout on the highway and they couldn't get a replacement tire so it only had 3 wheels, the Ranger's suspension did not appreciate the load, but the truck pulled it around really good. I was suprised because with the old motor I would have been lucky to get the truck to move through that yard empty, let alone with a heavy car trailer and complete car.