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Street Rod Ranger


I stand corrected haha. Very nice bikes though. I got my KDX for free off my cousin, its a little beat and the front fender is faded, really needs sprockets and chain and a rebuilt mono shock, other than that it runs awesome and goes like hell. Don't know what kind it is but it has an after market silencer on it too so it's nice and loud. Ah hell, here's a picture. Bout as good as it's gunna get from a shitty cell phone.
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It's no show bike, but it's a lot of fun and thats all I care about.:icon_cheers:

Thread jack over...:icon_thumby:
 
I've got nothing against a good thread jacking if it has to do with motorcycles. They're my vice in life. Don't drink, smoke, gamble, and can't find a girlfriend, so I figured I might as well surround myself with ~25 motorcycles.
 
I've got nothing against a good thread jacking if it has to do with motorcycles. They're my vice in life. Don't drink, smoke, gamble, and can't find a girlfriend, so I figured I might as well surround myself with ~25 motorcycles.

Nothin wrong with that my friend.
 
It actually doesn't look all that much different than it did two weeks ago, but there has actually been a lot of work done. There were a lot of things just mocked up before, that are actually installed now.

Here's a shot of the picture window in the garage on Christmas eve morning. That was a cold night! I parked my snow covered F150 inside which melted off and really got the humidity up. I figured it looked kinda pretty.
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First plan of attack was to get the rear brakes finished up completely. First step was to run the e-brake cables, and then I could install the brakes. I've done a lot of drum brakes before, but this was the first time using all new parts. Almost seemed like a shame to cover up all the shiny multicolored bits with drums.
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Then I ran the hydraulic lines for the brakes. Like everything else in this project it seems, the stock ones did not fit. The traction bars totally got in the way. I was able to bend up some lines though... just killed time.
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Next I did the throttle cable and pedal. And mounted the valve cover breather.
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And made an aluminum plate to mount the MSD box.
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While into fabbing aluminum, I made the surround for the shifter, and mounted the shifter boot. This also took way longer than I expected. You can see the throttle pedal here as well.
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And then... I took the cab off again. I pulled off the intake manifold to replace the gaskets, since I needed to use gaskets with larger ports tp match the heads and intake. I also primed the oil pump, running it up to about 45psi oil pressure on the gauge. I figured I should turn the motor over by hand while oiling, just to make sure it oils all the way around the journals. So, I pulled out the plugs to find that the domed pistons interfere heavily with the spark plugs. I guess I'll need to run short reach plugs.

Water temp sender was easy to mount, it actually came with all the adapters I needed.
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Oil pressure sender was a PITA. Spend about a day finding all the little fittings, elbows and adapters I needed to get this thing mounted. I finally settled on 1/4NPT brass union, 1/4NPT 45 degree elbow, which I had to massage to clear the block to install, then a 1/8NPT adapter and short pipe into the sender.
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I also did a final install of headers with gaskets at this point, as well as buttoned up the valve covers, with gaskets this time too. For once the engine was actually together, not just sitting there looking like an engine.

Then I did the fuel system. I was stunned how quick and easy braided hose makes the job. I did the whole thing in one evening.
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I also did the electronic speedometer sender, and transmission cooler lines while I had the cab off, but neglected to snap any photos. And I ran the brake hardlines back to the master cylinder.

So, on went the cab, for hopefully the final time. I actually used the bolts and body mounts this time, so I am hoping it is here to stay.

Here is the rear mount. These were able to reuse the stock hardware. It is a Energy Suspension kit, intended for 83-88 Rangers. I have a 1992, which they do not make it for, and is slightly different, so I had to improvise for the core support mounts.
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Here's the front mount, using some improvised hardware. It came out nice and solid.
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And here's the truck swung back into it's resting place. Looking pretty much the same to the untrained eye. It's actually much much close to being running and driving though. I see no reason I can't put in the radiator, trans dipstick, and do some makeshift wiring and drive this thing around in this level of completion. I hope to be doing so by spring. Oh yeah, to please the big rim haters, I reinstalled my Mach1 wheels.
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sitting a little high ain't it?

truck is lookin great!
 
There's still another 1000lbs+ of parts to go back on. I am sure that will settle the suspension some. But, lowering the truck is cheap and easy once it is built. I'll deal with getting the ride height where I want it after it is built.
 
It's coming along great! The only thing I would have done different would be the oil lines. I used the ones that came with my adapter until the engine came back out. I had NAPA make some hydraulic lines to replace them.
 
Any Updates?
I'm thinking Big and littles with the White Wall Pie Crust on the back would be epic,

FrankBoss
 
I've actually got an update!

First off, I will explain what a doofus I am. I didn't know a SBF needed a block plate. It wasn't until I was searching to a bellhousing dust cover that I discovered they even existed.This block plate ended up uncovering a whole bunch of stuff that I am very glad I caught.

When I bought the transmission, it had a 157T bellhousing, but it was cracked. The transmission shop said they had another one, so when the transmission was built they stuck it on. At that time, I was not fully trained in what exactly was different between a 157T and 164T. Unfortunately, I had been sold a 164T and didn't know it. My torque and flexplate were bought for a 157. There's actually two differences. The start location is slightly more outboard, but worse is that the bellhousing depth is 3/8in deeper. So when I tightened my converter bolts, it was actually pulling the converter out of the transmission. Thank goodness I never tried to fire this thing, or who knows what damage would have happened.

So, I was on the hunt for a new bellhousing... discovered on boxing day. I knew from the first time I looked, that these are a pain to find, so I just wanted to buy new. I ended up ordering a JW Ultra Bell from Jeg's. I figured I would never get it in the week between Christmas and New Years, but I had it in my hands 2 days after ordering. And this is being delivered to Assiniboia. Within 11hrs of ordering it had went from Columbus, Ohio to Calgary. I was pretty impressed with the service.

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Here is the two bellhousings together.
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After getting it, I had it back together in no time at all.
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The bellhousing moved the starter location though, so I ended up having to re-clock the mini-starter to clear my headers. It's tight, and I now have terrible access to the terminals on the starter, but... whatever.

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While I had easy access, I also mounted the Dakota Digital gear indicator sender. It was just generic universal stuff, so it took a little bit of time to get it working right with my Lokar shifter, but it came out nice. The sender itself is on a little bent aluminum bracket bolted to the servo cover, with a linkage going to the shifter. Apparently it needs about 1/3 of its range of motion for the computer to calibrate properly, and I am using over 1/2 so it ought to work. I haven't gone through the programming ritual for it yet.

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This is a little backwards chronologically, because I worked on this while I was waiting for the bellhousing. I had been trying to figure out how to do the guages since the beginning of the project, and just didn't know what route to take. I actually had a couple different attempts that didn't turn out how I liked. I actually wrecked 2 dashes trying things. Luckily Ranger parts are cheap and easy to find at wreckers! I finally did something I was happy with here. I removed the clear plastic from the stock cluster, removed the guages, gutted the whole thing so that there was room for a 3/16 aluminum plate between the main housing and the curved bezel, and then cut the aluminum down to size. It now bolts in exactly like a set of factory guages, and the contour fits the dash properly. I polished the plate before cutting the holes for the guages. I'm 50/50 whether I like the polished or not. I still might do it engine turned.

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The downside to having the guages sunken into the stock location is that I didn't have enough room for all the guages. If I had the gauges mounted out flush with the dash like I had initially tried, I could put them all in one cluster, but it looked like shit. So, I decided to lose the radio. I may or may not add something in glovebox, but I'm not sure if I would miss tunes in this truck anyways. I've got other vehicles for that.

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I'm now jumping back to having the transmission installed, and the cab back on the chassis. I figured I would see how the gauges look inside the truck. The main dash still needs work, so don't think it is staying that color. I still need to tear it all apart. I might go two-tone white and blue on it.

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The dash was really just for killing time. With the transmission back together, I could work towards making it run.

I needed to do the transmission dipstick, and for that I needed to finish the heater box, because that's where I intended to mount to. I guess I should have snapped some pictures along the way. A couple years ago I cut the corner out for valve cover clearance, but it was still kinda ugly. I spent an evening with some bondo and plastic dye making it look presentable, and detailed the fan. I installed all the ductwork inside the cab, along with a new heater core as well. Cleaning the in-cab stuff was nasty. Even though it is hidden, I wanted it clean. You could eat off the inside of the ducts/ heater box now.

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Here's some "before" pics.
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To finish with transmission stuff, I mounted the transmission cooler. which also required doing the radiator and electric fan.
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And that's about where she sits now. To make it run I still need to: time the distributor roughly, connect heater hoses, find suitable lower rad hose, and then just roughly wire the ignition, starter, and electric fuel pump. I want to make sure everything is right mechanically before putting much more together.
 

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