the rustbucket rat

[90longbed]

yea most of the first and second gen rangers I see where I live are beat to death or stock....I also did alot to the 88 reg cab I had...I agree with your statement... anybody else would have just drove the wheels off of it or used it for a beater work truck....

 

[90longbed]

turned out really good .... almost looks like a new truck aside from some wear and a tear in the seat and a tear on the rubber floormat

 

[Robert_1967]

your little 90 Ranger is in a lot better condition then what my 88 Ranger super cab is in that I'm rebuilding.

I had to replace the whole driver side floor pan.

your little truck is turning out nice.


Robert



posted with a casket and a mound of dirt.

 

[90longbed]

mine has cancer in a few spots... the core support, pass side door pillar and found some on the drivers side floor pan where the sill plate bolts down..... found it out the hard way, some of the screws were hard to get out... gave one a good tap with a hammer on the end of my screw driver and ended up putting the scewdriver through the floor

 

[Robert_1967]

Check your cab mounts, I just checked mine, and so far both driver side cab mounts brackets are rusted out.

I had to go to Pull-A-Part to get a new rad core for mine, the whole bottom was rusted out.
here is a link to my build, and also check the old build thread link, that one shows the rad and floor.

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142512



Robert



posted with a failed Lottery ticket and a ice cream cone.

 

[90longbed]

was a nice day today and had nothing to do, so I painted the jack crank handle silver (didnt have any black) and used the last of the red on the hood prop


also painted the jack and lug wrench.... silver for the lug wrench and 2 tone blue for the jack

 

[90longbed]

did some more painting parts today.... the fan motor and the brake booster had some surface rust on them so I sanded them and painted them.... also cleaned off all the dirt on the fan itself



also found the bracket broken off the oil dipdtick tube and the PO put it back together with zipties... I removed the bracket, drilled a small hole in it and put a rubberized holddown for plastic conduit around the dipstick tube and attached the bracket with a screw, had the stuff laying around so it didnt cost me anything


I also had a short in the licence lights... had to cut out 3 of the original solder connections because if you fiddled with them the lights would stop working...now they work fine after repairs

 

[90longbed]

made a seat cover.....found this fabric at a thrift store for $2

 

[90longbed]

bought these driving lights to put on the back of my k5 blazer as back up lights and ended up going another way , so I decided to put them on the ranger


mounted the toggle switch on the empty spot on the left side of the dash below the headlight switch.... also used a relay which I mounted near the underhood fuse and relay center

 

[90longbed]

 

[90longbed]

not much new to report on the rustbucket rat....just been fixing small issues as they come up, like the overflow hose leaking at the radiator(hose clamp fixed it) for the most part it has been a really good truck so far.... had it for 7 months and really no issues other than the muffler and the windshield leaking (needs to be replaced anyway) plus if it sits for several days the clutch or trans makes a squeeking noise the first 3 or 4 times you let out the clutch and goes away after that.... still driving around with an inop fuel gauge..lol...... most of my tinkering lately has been on my k5 blazer...now that I am just about done with that its time to do a little more tinkering on the ranger

 

[90longbed]

as some of you may know the rustbucket rat was in a fender bender with a lowered s10


so I took off the air deflector and the broken driving lights and pulled the bumper off and beat the bumper back into shape the best I could


lost one of the hubcaps, so I took them off


bumper still didnt look right, so loosened it and put flat washers on the upper mounting bolts between the bumper and frame... much better


still need to get some driving lights and a few other odds n ends

 

[90longbed]

my spare tire carrier fell apart due to rust the other day...few areas were really rusty and thats where it broke..... with a few good pieces of it I am gonna make a bed mounted carrier.... I neglected to take any pics before I started cutting.... will post a pic of the finished product

 

[90longbed]

not the prettiest thing but it works and it was free to make

 

[simpler=better]

Awesome truck! I like the bed mounted spare, I hate crawling around under the truck in the rain for a flat tire. They always go flat during bad weather...

How's the 2.3 treating you?