- Joined
- May 15, 2020
- Messages
- 4,944
- Points
- 601
- Age
- 71
- City
- Atlanta
- State - Country
- GA - USA
- Other
- Manufacturers factory tour, maybe big dealership tour
- Vehicle Year
- 1997 1987
- Vehicle
- Ford Ranger
- Engine
- 4.0 V6
- Transmission
- Manual
- Total Lift
- 97 stock, 3” on 87
- Total Drop
- N/A
- Tire Size
- 235/75-15
- My credo
- Never put off ‘til tomorrow what you can put off indefinitely
When I was up at the Carlisle Ford nationals, I got some unexpected interest in the way I’ve set up the controls around the driver and the stick shift. So I thought I’d post a couple pictures here.
Above:
Top left are the trailer strobe controls (little flashers up and down the sides and the trailer), but I’ve never connected them properly to the trailer because I ran some crappy wire that has to be replaced
Underneath that, very hard to see, is the on off switch for the traffic advisor bar, with the little button that changes the flash patterns. It was one of the bars that plugs in a cigarette lighter with the switches on top of that plug. I took it apart and mounted the switch in my control panel up there. More on this later.
On the bottom below next to that are some more intense strobes that are only around the the truck. Front, front side, backside of the cab, top of the headache rack, and on the tail.
Then the top row switches are 20 amp and the lower row are 30 amp. I have backward facing floods that are tied into my reverse lights as well, front facing floods, the rotating beacons, and I can’t remember what else, but when I put that switch panel together and put it in, I ran ignition power, battery power, and maybe a half a dozen extra wires from that panel down to the engine compartment for future expansion. The bottom right switch is for my new halogen fog/driving lamps. Once I put the valance together and put them in, it took a whopping 15 minutes to wire up the switch in the relay.
Hard to see, but on the left side of the CB there’s one of those chains that holds the pen to the counter in a bank. I made up a little lever over a micro switch at the top of the chain, and use the pad that sticks to the counter to stick it to the windshield. Air horns..
1997 period-correct Cobra 29 LTD. And now I have the antenna’s working, it worked great going to Pennsylvania.
Below:
Driver side: the bottom of the stick shift is the original oblong shift boot assembly with a cupholder on each side. I took a piece of diamond plate about 6“ x 12“, and folded up one of the short ends about 30°. I wedged that underneath that shift boot assembly, so it is solid in place, but the part that sticks up at a 30° angle of vertical actually flops around a little bit. It will fold forward and fold back as I move the seat forward and back.
That diamond plate holds my brake controller on top. I’ve done similar things before mounted to the front of the seat, but I like this much better. When I’m driving with the stick shift, I can just slide my hand an inch or two and be on the trailer brakes. I never liked having to reach around under the dashboard for them in the past. Obviously I like that immediate access if something exciting is happening in front of me, but I also like it cause I can flash the brake lights at a tail gater, which lights up Scary Baby’s eyes for the curious.
On the bottom side of that aluminum panel is my holy Grail TRS 465 single side band CB, the only SSB RadioShack ever made. It works off the passenger side antenna, and the Covra works off the driver side antenna. Obviously, I only use one at a time. I like having a back up, and when I’m driving late at night and talking to stay awake, it’s easier to have conversations on the upper or lower side band because you don’t lose people over mountains and such.
On the driver side of that brake/CB set up, I have a round black tube that holds a good pepper spray. Since I can’t fight and I can’t run anymore, I like having that at my fingertips in the world we live in. And attached to the bottom of that is a little bottle and a little piece of tubing that serve as holders for my nasal spray and my Chapstick. I have a chronic problem with my nose where it will close up fairly suddenly from dust or pollen or who knows what. I mix a custom mix of 80% saline solution and 20% nasal spray, and I keep one in my pocket and in various places around the house at shop all the times. But that’s hard to pull out when you drive a stick shift at 70 miles an hour, so now I have one at my fingertips. When my nose starts to plug up, I’m breathing through my mouth and my lips go dry, so ditto on the Chapstick.
And I keep my breath mints/chicklets in the driver side drink holder
Passenger side:
The soul light of a lot of people commented on was the push pole switch that I have mounted on the stick shift stick. That is an on off switch in parallel to the on off switch for the traffic advisor bar. I keep the strobe pattern on a bright fest, alternate flashing pattern. I’ve been rear-ended twice very badly, and I’m a little paranoid of people behind me. I’ve gotten in the habit of flashing that light bar when everything starts to back up in front of me and you can see everybody’s take their foot off the gas and slow down a little bit when I do it. I don’t do it casually, I only do it when the traffic is backing up, and the switch up by the CB above was just a little too hard to find and flip, especially when you’re stepping on the brakes. And I obviously also did it because it looks like a splitter for the rear end in the theme of the Road Ranger. I did that the day before I went to Carlisle, and I have to just break it loose and turn it about 10 or 15° counterclockwise and it will be perfect.
Starting at the CB, when I pull my seat up that whole assembly is resting on the front of the seat. I let the mic cord lay across the front of the radio, and just let the mic hang down on the passenger side. If I’m talking on it, it’s in my lap.
The white cup is screwed to a piece of aluminum that also slides under the shift boot assembly. It’s flat with a little slight fold up tab that I filed down a little bit, so it’s easy to take in and out for cleaning. Who knows what can end up in the bottom of that thing, but usually I have another cup sitting in it as I do in the picture, which is Lincoln‘s water. To the bottom left is a little medicine bottle. I use to hold a pen/pencil. And to the right of all of that is the passenger side drink holder, which I actually use as - wait for it - a drink holder.
And before you comment, I know, I know, I know, I’m still trying to figure out the best place to put a few toothpicks. I use the ones with the flossy loop on one end. I may figure that out today just to get everybody off my back.
Behind the seat:
The crate that looks like a milk crate is actually one of the throwaway crates they use for delivering fresh vegetables to the grocery store stores and restaurants. They try to recycle them, but you could pick them up for nothing all the time in several different sizes, and they’re stackable. The F250 and this truck are both the extended cab, and they are equally a pain in the ass at trying to get in and out of the back or trying to have any organization back there that you could actually utilize easily if you’re driving or even when you stop.
If you look at the bottom left of this crate, I cut the corner out of another crate and made a leg, so it sits on that leg and on the rise under the rear window level. I have a couple zip ties on the back and side of the crate on pins so it’s easy to take it in and out. I already put one divider in it for things I would want to reach from the driver seat, but I’m going to put a few other dividers in it for things I would want to pick out easily. If you look below it, there’s an Aluminum case kind of the size of a gun case for a pistol that I picked up at Goodwill. I just did that because it would fit there and I want to be able to utilize every square inch. I haven’t figured what I’ll put down there; permanently, but it would be a good place for valuables. My plan is to have the whole thing modular and removable.
I have the original cargo net that goes across under the back window. I also took a piece of three-quarter inch PVC, and just sliced the ends at the angle that matches the top of the side panels, and then cut a slot at the same angle on each end. I can slide it over those two vinyl side panels and have a closet rod for when I’m traveling. I use a zip tie about 10 inches from the driver side to put a little tiny angle on it so when I hang clothes behind me, they stay there and don’t slide into the rearview mirror view.
I haven’t finished the crate up yet, and I’m probably adding another one on the driver side, and I’m also going to make some kind of cubbyhole storage behind the armrest, etc, etc, I just haven’t gotten that far yet.
Hope it helps if anybody’s interested
Above:
Top left are the trailer strobe controls (little flashers up and down the sides and the trailer), but I’ve never connected them properly to the trailer because I ran some crappy wire that has to be replaced
Underneath that, very hard to see, is the on off switch for the traffic advisor bar, with the little button that changes the flash patterns. It was one of the bars that plugs in a cigarette lighter with the switches on top of that plug. I took it apart and mounted the switch in my control panel up there. More on this later.
On the bottom below next to that are some more intense strobes that are only around the the truck. Front, front side, backside of the cab, top of the headache rack, and on the tail.
Then the top row switches are 20 amp and the lower row are 30 amp. I have backward facing floods that are tied into my reverse lights as well, front facing floods, the rotating beacons, and I can’t remember what else, but when I put that switch panel together and put it in, I ran ignition power, battery power, and maybe a half a dozen extra wires from that panel down to the engine compartment for future expansion. The bottom right switch is for my new halogen fog/driving lamps. Once I put the valance together and put them in, it took a whopping 15 minutes to wire up the switch in the relay.
Hard to see, but on the left side of the CB there’s one of those chains that holds the pen to the counter in a bank. I made up a little lever over a micro switch at the top of the chain, and use the pad that sticks to the counter to stick it to the windshield. Air horns..
1997 period-correct Cobra 29 LTD. And now I have the antenna’s working, it worked great going to Pennsylvania.
Below:
Driver side: the bottom of the stick shift is the original oblong shift boot assembly with a cupholder on each side. I took a piece of diamond plate about 6“ x 12“, and folded up one of the short ends about 30°. I wedged that underneath that shift boot assembly, so it is solid in place, but the part that sticks up at a 30° angle of vertical actually flops around a little bit. It will fold forward and fold back as I move the seat forward and back.
That diamond plate holds my brake controller on top. I’ve done similar things before mounted to the front of the seat, but I like this much better. When I’m driving with the stick shift, I can just slide my hand an inch or two and be on the trailer brakes. I never liked having to reach around under the dashboard for them in the past. Obviously I like that immediate access if something exciting is happening in front of me, but I also like it cause I can flash the brake lights at a tail gater, which lights up Scary Baby’s eyes for the curious.
On the bottom side of that aluminum panel is my holy Grail TRS 465 single side band CB, the only SSB RadioShack ever made. It works off the passenger side antenna, and the Covra works off the driver side antenna. Obviously, I only use one at a time. I like having a back up, and when I’m driving late at night and talking to stay awake, it’s easier to have conversations on the upper or lower side band because you don’t lose people over mountains and such.
On the driver side of that brake/CB set up, I have a round black tube that holds a good pepper spray. Since I can’t fight and I can’t run anymore, I like having that at my fingertips in the world we live in. And attached to the bottom of that is a little bottle and a little piece of tubing that serve as holders for my nasal spray and my Chapstick. I have a chronic problem with my nose where it will close up fairly suddenly from dust or pollen or who knows what. I mix a custom mix of 80% saline solution and 20% nasal spray, and I keep one in my pocket and in various places around the house at shop all the times. But that’s hard to pull out when you drive a stick shift at 70 miles an hour, so now I have one at my fingertips. When my nose starts to plug up, I’m breathing through my mouth and my lips go dry, so ditto on the Chapstick.
And I keep my breath mints/chicklets in the driver side drink holder
Passenger side:
The soul light of a lot of people commented on was the push pole switch that I have mounted on the stick shift stick. That is an on off switch in parallel to the on off switch for the traffic advisor bar. I keep the strobe pattern on a bright fest, alternate flashing pattern. I’ve been rear-ended twice very badly, and I’m a little paranoid of people behind me. I’ve gotten in the habit of flashing that light bar when everything starts to back up in front of me and you can see everybody’s take their foot off the gas and slow down a little bit when I do it. I don’t do it casually, I only do it when the traffic is backing up, and the switch up by the CB above was just a little too hard to find and flip, especially when you’re stepping on the brakes. And I obviously also did it because it looks like a splitter for the rear end in the theme of the Road Ranger. I did that the day before I went to Carlisle, and I have to just break it loose and turn it about 10 or 15° counterclockwise and it will be perfect.
Starting at the CB, when I pull my seat up that whole assembly is resting on the front of the seat. I let the mic cord lay across the front of the radio, and just let the mic hang down on the passenger side. If I’m talking on it, it’s in my lap.
The white cup is screwed to a piece of aluminum that also slides under the shift boot assembly. It’s flat with a little slight fold up tab that I filed down a little bit, so it’s easy to take in and out for cleaning. Who knows what can end up in the bottom of that thing, but usually I have another cup sitting in it as I do in the picture, which is Lincoln‘s water. To the bottom left is a little medicine bottle. I use to hold a pen/pencil. And to the right of all of that is the passenger side drink holder, which I actually use as - wait for it - a drink holder.
And before you comment, I know, I know, I know, I’m still trying to figure out the best place to put a few toothpicks. I use the ones with the flossy loop on one end. I may figure that out today just to get everybody off my back.
Behind the seat:
The crate that looks like a milk crate is actually one of the throwaway crates they use for delivering fresh vegetables to the grocery store stores and restaurants. They try to recycle them, but you could pick them up for nothing all the time in several different sizes, and they’re stackable. The F250 and this truck are both the extended cab, and they are equally a pain in the ass at trying to get in and out of the back or trying to have any organization back there that you could actually utilize easily if you’re driving or even when you stop.
If you look at the bottom left of this crate, I cut the corner out of another crate and made a leg, so it sits on that leg and on the rise under the rear window level. I have a couple zip ties on the back and side of the crate on pins so it’s easy to take it in and out. I already put one divider in it for things I would want to reach from the driver seat, but I’m going to put a few other dividers in it for things I would want to pick out easily. If you look below it, there’s an Aluminum case kind of the size of a gun case for a pistol that I picked up at Goodwill. I just did that because it would fit there and I want to be able to utilize every square inch. I haven’t figured what I’ll put down there; permanently, but it would be a good place for valuables. My plan is to have the whole thing modular and removable.
I have the original cargo net that goes across under the back window. I also took a piece of three-quarter inch PVC, and just sliced the ends at the angle that matches the top of the side panels, and then cut a slot at the same angle on each end. I can slide it over those two vinyl side panels and have a closet rod for when I’m traveling. I use a zip tie about 10 inches from the driver side to put a little tiny angle on it so when I hang clothes behind me, they stay there and don’t slide into the rearview mirror view.
I haven’t finished the crate up yet, and I’m probably adding another one on the driver side, and I’m also going to make some kind of cubbyhole storage behind the armrest, etc, etc, I just haven’t gotten that far yet.
Hope it helps if anybody’s interested
