Thanks for having me! These are my Rangers!

[Paint.The.Garage.Red]

Howdy everyone, my name is Valerie.
About a month ago I bought my lovely red 1989 Ford Ranger Custom 2.3L 5speed but it unfortunately had a bad oil leak through the rear main and its engine is toast, I didn’t even get to drive it! A week ago I bought my blue 1988 Ford Ranger XLT 2.3L 5speed “donor truck” because even though it has no brakes, fuel pump wiring issues, and bad suspension it has a good running lima.

We’ve already had to make a few changes such as adding the crankshaft sensor to the 1988 block and going distributorless, we also added power steering into the 1989 from the 1988 so that was a plus. We’re currently trying to do this without swapping the heads, we took a week vacation to do this. We currently have everything put together but the intake. Really hoping to get this done this weekend.

My great grandfather had a 1993 F150 and ever since he passed away and that truck was sold I’ve wanted an older truck myself and the Ranger is perfect. I love everything about it. We currently also have a 1996 Ranger 2.3L 5 speed but that one is my husband’s and perfectly fine haha. Just want one of my own.

Anyways here are my trucks, thank you for having me here!

 

[rumblecloud]

Hey Val!
Welcome to TRS.

Thanks for posting pics. Please keep us posted on your progress and if you run into any issues the peeps here are very knowledgeable and always willing to help.

 

[pentode]

Wow, new member jumps in with 3 Rangers! Welcome
That truck is super sweet. Have fun perfecting it! #jealous

 

[superj]

Welcome!!

 

[Paint.The.Garage.Red]

Thank you so much! I greatly appreciate any and all advice, as I’ve done a bit of research on the limas but I haven’t seen many people swap an older lima from a double plug without swapping the heads. If I need to put the ‘89 head on the ‘88 block I may be able to as long as my 89’s head isn’t damaged. It’ll take a bit of fiddling but we’re hoping we can make the 88’s block, intake, and head work with the 89’s throttle body. We’d also apparently be deleting a sensor up there too, yikes

I’ll definitely keep y’all nice folks updated!

Hey Val!
Welcome to TRS.

Thanks for posting pics. Please keep us posted on your progress and if you run into any issues the peeps here are very knowledgeable and always willing to help.

 

[Paint.The.Garage.Red]

Thank you much! Happy to be here for sure.

Welcome!!

 

[Paint.The.Garage.Red]

Currently jealous of anyone with a running Ranger haha! I feel like I have the worst luck with all the things I really want, just needed something to go smoothly and was so excited to buy my first truck. Thank you! A good detailing is first on the list once she’s running.

Wow, new member jumps in with 3 Rangers! Welcome
That truck is super sweet. Have fun perfecting it! #jealous

 

[pentode]

Currently jealous of anyone with a running Ranger haha! I feel like I have the worst luck with all the things I really want, just needed something to go smoothly and was so excited to buy my first truck. Thank you! A good detailing is first on the list once she’s running.

Rangers are great. Projects are great too.
She'll be up and running before you know it.

 

[Jazzer]

That ‘88 looks just like my ‘87.
Good luck with your project and look in the Tech section on the top menu bar to see if there’s any info there useful to you.

Good Luck and Welcome!

-Jazzer

 

[RobbieD]

Welcome!

 

[Paint.The.Garage.Red]

Thank you so much! That is greatly appreciated. I’m sure I definitely could find that section quite useful! Happy to be here!

That ‘88 looks just like my ‘87.
Good luck with your project and look in the Tech section on the top menu bar to see if there’s any info there useful to you.

Good Luck and Welcome!

-Jazzer

 

[Paint.The.Garage.Red]

Thank you much Robbie, happy to be here!

Welcome!

 

[MaicoDoug]

...going distributorless ?? That could catch on. Welcome, and what a great way to dive in. WTG Val!

What a sweet RED interior HA! What were "you all" (inside joke) saying about red interiors hummm??? Crazy nice truck gurl.

Now I'm gonna have to go wash the yellow sub.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Now I'm gonna have to go wash the yellow sub.

Agreed... that Lil red number makes both my trucks look like boogers.

Hell... us rust belt folks are in awww of the parts truck.

Welcome to TRS...

 

[Paint.The.Garage.Red]

Thank you so much! Already made a lot of progress these past couple of days, got the 1988/1989 frankenstein engine put back together, had to change the throttle body up a bit. Added the coil pack and its bracket. Kept the distributor and cap on for no reason, it got banged up when adding the power steering and alternator so it was just an extra cushion of protection from our big orange mallet haha. Won’t be long before I can wash ole red! Just gotta pick up new motor mounts, drop ‘er in and hook everything back up!

...going distributorless ?? That could catch on. Welcome, and what a great way to dive in. WTG Val!

What a sweet RED interior HA! What were "you all" (inside joke) saying about red interiors hummm??? Crazy nice truck gurl.

Now I'm gonna have to go wash the yellow sub.