Shaved & Bagged '88 Super Cab

[insaneranger]

Added a set of PIAA 40 series driving lights a while back. These have been sitting in a Rubbermaid container since I bought them new in 2005. It's funny what gets lost & forgotten when projects get put on hold.

 

[bobbywalter]

Classic all around. Digging this ride.

 

[insaneranger]

The rubber battery strap I bought just a few months ago is already dry rotted and cracked so yesterday I picked up a piece of 1" x 48" aluminum to make a better looking battery hold down.

Cut & shaped with a jigsaw & dremel...

Hand polished to a mirror finish with some Mother's...

It's not the fanciest, but it's a start. I'll replace the wing nuts with something a little nicer soon, too.

Tomorrow I'll start installing 20 feet of 1/0 Streetwires power wire to feed two Air Zenith OB2 compressors in the bed. Nitrogen's fun, but gets pricey if you play with the suspension a lot & can strand you if it runs out at the wrong time. I'll never run out of air with compressors on board. Pictures on the way soon.

 

[Rodango]

“Where is my motor?
It was eaten by snakes!”

from the song Flakes
by Frank Zappa

 

[insaneranger]

The '92 door panels fit my '88 perfectly. The only mod you have to do to add '89-'92 panels to '83-'88 rangers is add the armrest "L" bracket which is a breeze. I reused the original '88 window crank handles. The driver side panel is as clean as the passenger side. It's just a little dull looking in the picture because I had been working under the hood and handled it with dirty hands. Next comes dynamat door kits.

 

[insaneranger]

I finally got around to adding a gauge pillar pod. It was originally black so I ordered some colorbond dark red LVP interior paint. This stuff is great! It's a match for my ranger's factory interior. The dash has darkened from dirt and age & could really use refinishing too, but the rest of the trim & door panels blend perfectly.

 

[insaneranger]

It's always something...

A few days ago I couldn't get my truck to start. The O'Reilly's battery I bought just three months ago was acting sluggish so I took it out to be tested. It had a bad cell so they swapped it, but my truck still wouldn't fire up so next I changed all the plugs. Some were fouled, but still no fire with all new plugs. Next, I turned to YouTube for help. Thank goodness for YouTube mechanics. It turned out that the distributor had slipped & the timing was way off. While adjusting the distributor & checking out online engine photos, I realized that the mechanic that rebuilt the engine used a hold down designed for older FE big blocks. I adjusted the timing & she fired right up. I immediately went online & ordered a new billet aluminum hold down clamp from fleabay. It arrived in the mail today & took about five minutes to swap out. The new clamp is a much better fit & hopefully isn't going anywhere. I like the look of billet aluminum too.

Seeing these photos also made me realize that I really need to clean my engine. ?

Old big block hold down...

Here's the new billet hold down clamp...

 

[insaneranger]

Here's my ebay power steering pump ready to install. It was black as coal when I bought it so I decided to clean it up. I don't have access to a bench grinder/buffer so I filed, sanded, & used a ton of Mother's aluminum polish. Then I removed the pulley & painted it with Ford blue engine enamel & put it through three heat cycles in the oven to harden it. The crap you do when you get bored...

 

[insaneranger]

It's not much to look at, but I finally got my truck back today & it has power steering again. The difference is amazing. Manual steering may feel great while on the road, but it's a real pain to park.

I also had the front rod ends on the ladder bar suspension replaced with ends that have hard polyurethane inserts for street use. This should give a smoother, quieter ride & will increase rear end flexibility.

No pics of the ladder bars, but here are the rod ends I'm using...

 

[insaneranger]

It never ends!! I had to contact a lawyer today.

My transmission was leaking badly & needed a new front pump seal & intermediate shaft seal replaced. That went fine, but instead of using type f fluid, (I had a whole case of B&M Trick Shift sitting in the front seat) the shop owner added four quarts of mercon to mix with the type f that was already in my transmission. When I confronted him about it he told me that fluid type was "overrated" & any stuff would work. The worst part was, instead of unbolting the custom radius arm crossmember, the SOB took a grinder & cut it into three pieces to get to the transmission. Then he tack welded it back in place & never told me about it. I didn't find out until I got home. The weld had cracked & the crossmember was moving around. I gently drove it to a local four wheel shop (luckily only a mile from my house) & they repaired it by sleeving the bar with heavy gauge tubing & doing a full radius weld. Next they're going to drain all the fluid out & put in the "blue stuff".

Here's the damage done by the idiot at the trans. shop...

 

[sgtsandman]

What is that thing on the side of the pan? A drain plug?

As far as the fluid and the bar, a suit for the costs of repairs seems to be in order. That and flood the area with negative reviews on that guy. With a work ethic like that, he needs to be run out of business.

 

[insaneranger]

What is that thing on the side of the pan? A drain plug?

As far as the fluid and the bar, a suit for the costs of repairs seems to be in order. That and flood the area with negative reviews on that guy. With a work ethic like that, he needs to be run out of business.

It's a sending unit for a temperature gauge.

UPS is bringing me another gallon Trick Shift today. When I take my truck to have the fluid changed out I'm going to take more pictures & the mechanic that did the repairs is going to fill out papers as a witness to the damages. The repairs were not expensive, but that bar he cut could have caused serious problems if it broke at highway speeds.

 

[rjaaaaaa2]

nice looking ride, looks like you started with some work already done. Good bones help alot don't they