"The Trash Boat" 1994 2.3L 5spd xcab

[STPL]

Welcome to my newest project! I picked this ranger up in December from a friend who used to drive it in high school, but as soon as the truck began to have starting problems, he ditched it and bought something else. This ranger hasn't been started or moved in 5-6 years and has no title/registration/anything. He gave it to me for free and I've always wanted to restore a truck and give it off road capabilities so here we go!

Here she is, fresh off the tow truck!

And this is why its dubbed "The Trash Boat"


Needs a a powerwash ASAP

Overall the engine is in decent shape externally, who knows what lies inside.

Frame is in decent shape with no rot on first look through. The rear fenders need some cleaning up though.

The first step is to get rid of all the trash and give it a once over with the hose to see what were working with. Right now it wont even crank over, just one click when I turn the key. I'm going to throw a starter at it and start to diagnose what could be wrong. Ill update this when I get some more work done. Thanks for looking!

 

[STPL]

New starter didn't produce any different results so it must be something with the electrical system. I found a few threads talking about jumping the solenoid on the fender wall and viola! Check it out, this trick can come in handy. Just put the key in the 'on' position and jump the solenoid terminals.


That was very exciting progress! Unfortunatly it wasnt long until i found the next problem. Once started I pressed the break to put it in gear and an audible "PSHTTTTT" came from the passenger side wheel well as my foot went to the floor. No pressure in the break lines at all because of a rather large leak. Since it was sitting for so long it probably would be safer to run all new break lines, I'll have to inspect them once I can get all four wheels up in the air. I was able to drive it in first and second gear around the block using the engine and parking break to come to a stop. All in all everything feels great so far. I decided to so some cleaning, hosing everything down, removing some stickers on the dash etc. Shes not looking half bad! I definitely need some new wheels and tires in the near future though.

 

[RayInStl]

Sounds like a fun new project! But your pictures aren't working. At least not for me. *Edit* looks like you posted them from Dropbox. Check to make sure they are set to be public.