what can i do to my ranger?

[vroomvroom]

hey guys i have a ford ranger not to sure on the year i gotta check, ill show you guys a quick pic on google of my truck until i grab a pic of mine it just got painted by my nef black, it looks pretty nice .

before i start i like em all, got some silly questions im pretty new, but cut this kid a break that would be great start here .

anyways a while back i was living in town and my uncle knew a guy that lived down the road who had a ranger as well, months went by and it started looking cooler and cooler paint got nicer, he put some nicer wheels on with fats on back smaller on front, see him drive by again it was tilted foward,

lil while went by of him working i guess and last time i saw him with it he had the ranger tottaly looking like a hot rod, motor was popping out of the top and had a 5.0 motor in it i think, i was told you would have to weld some stuff to get that motor in a ranger that year?.

anyways im looking to upgrade my truck, the motor and things like that of course

i was wondering a few quick pointers to get me started if you guys dont mind

1) the guy had the truck sitting foward for proformence right? weight of truck has to be right as well, anyways how do they lean it foward like that?.

2) what kinda motor selection can i put into my ford ranger(i will get exact year & all that soon).

3) when buying parts, i seen this http://www.speedwaymotors.com/1960-1...lled,1881.html
it made me wonder, this motor is probly like a 4cyl but i was just wondering could i buy things like that for this? that stuff is just like a dress up right?.

5)im buying new wheels soon, do i have a big selection? the wheels on the custom ranger i saw where normal nice looking hubs but he was able to get huge fats tires on same rims on back.

6)when rebuilding a motor for a bike u can have it all apart in the motor frame,can you do that with a truck/car as well, i see my uncles tools looks like lots of motor holders or stuff to drop motor in, iunno just some silly questions i was wondering bored today if anyone has the time to help plz do so , pretty noob as you can see, im gonna be reading around on this site alot,

i was gonna change grill , and get some better tires maybe put some carpet in? i would have to take seats out probly , hehe this was fun be back soon...

pics of custom looking rangers would be cool, hot rods etc - anything/anything, different kinds of wheels, bumpers, anything to do with motor, braided lines? & cooling systems, i would love to somehow get a K&N filter in my ranger lol & all that braided line shit looks awesome just sorta confusing to me just yet..(no youtube vids i probly seen them and they dont teach me much)

i even wanted to start wipeing down top of motor under hood, i thought try and get some crazy gunk outta there, but ima need a cleaner or something to even get started, man i would love a brand new motor for my baby..

ill get pics of my ranger today but until then heres an idea, smaller wheels but ya pretty close pic of what it looks like...picture it with nice black paint

 

[vroomvroom]

i even like the wheels he has on that truck , first thing im gonna buy is new wheels to give it that spark for me to continue seeing it nice as a hotrod or a newer looking truck at least to my taste

id like to get some semi fats on back, then normal on front, but nice new wheels and rims, i would even do black tires and rims iunno...

ill be back later tonight, noobs welcome here!!!!

later guys

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

welcome to TRS
u got there a 83-89 ranger
for "leaning it forward"
u can add a leaf on the leaf spring packs or add a 4x4 lift block, u can easily gain 2"of rear lift that way.

check the tech library and engine sections for engine swap issues.
as for rims, u do have a really good big selection
the bolt pattern is 5x4.5 iirc, check the wheel section to get the exact fact

theres a lot of info here, take a look, do some reading and ull find what style u wanna go with your truck.
check the showoff section and rbvs under construction to see how members are building their trucks
u ca find engine swaps, lowriders, off road trucks, everything that can be done on a Ranger.

 

[master hec0]

your truck is 1st generation ranger so it is from 1983-1988 not 89 since that was 1st year of 2nd gen ranger
if it has a 2.8L v6 carbbed it is from 1983-1985 and if it has the 2.9L v6 it is from 1985-1988

 

[Original_Ranger84]

Welcome to TRS.

lets see... lol

1. The guy probably has it raised in the back for the hot rod look more then performance. (As I don't see what raising the back end does otherwise)

You can achieve this by lowering the front, changing the springs in the rear, Getting belltech shackles, 4x4 blocks, or just generally getting a larger tire size for the back then the front.

2. As for the motor selection... any motor will fit with enough fabrication, guys stuffing cummins diesels to 460 big blocks in these things but depending on what motor you have I think you'll be looking at more of a direct swap.

The motors for 83 -88 rangers were off the top of my head, the 2.3L, 2.8L, and 2.9L, they also had a 2.0L and a 2.2L in the earlier years but i believe those were diesels. You can swap in a 3.0L (probably not a good swap in motor), the 4.0L (most chosen because of the power), or from other vehicles the most common swaps are 5.0L swaps from mustangs and f150's, the 351w, and 2.3T from mustangs or turbo coupes.

3. The link wasn't working but I assume you are talking about chrome alternators, stainless steel brake lines/ radiator hoses, valve covers ect.? Yes you can find parts for your truck that will work, and yes usually they are just for show.

4. is missing... lol

5. Yes there is a fairly good selection of wheels, if you have a 2wd there is almost no limit to what you can use. anything from mustang rims to explorer rims, jeep rims, some dodge rims work, as long as its 5 on 4.5" or 5 on 114.5mm it will fit.

you are probably going to want to look at centerline, weld racing, crager, mickey thompson and american racing for custom rims though, as they have both off road and street/strip rims so you can get the really fat rims in the back and skinny ones up front in the same rim design. I'd say if your looking for the lifted back end go for some 15x10 rims in the back and 15x5 or 15x6rims in the front. the tires are up to you.

6. As for rebuilding an engine still in the truck, I suppose its possible but I think its going to be a heck of alot easier to remove it and put it on a stand, besides if your going to do an engine swap with an engine already out of the truck just do it then.

Good luck

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

lol didnt noticed that 4. is missing

 

[Hopman]

I dunno if this might work or not, but you could swap in a 4.0 V6 (if you have a transmission that'll bolt up). You'd need to find a doner truck and grab the ECU and all that wireing junk along with it.

 

[vroomvroom]

welcome to TRS
u got there a 83-89 ranger
for "leaning it forward"
u can add a leaf on the leaf spring packs or add a 4x4 lift block, u can easily gain 2"of rear lift that way.

check the tech library and engine sections for engine swap issues.
as for rims, u do have a really good big selection
the bolt pattern is 5x4.5 iirc, check the wheel section to get the exact fact

theres a lot of info here, take a look, do some reading and ull find what style u wanna go with your truck.
check the showoff section and rbvs under construction to see how members are building their trucks
u ca find engine swaps, lowriders, off road trucks, everything that can be done on a Ranger.

alright thanks for the heads up how hard is adding a leaf onto the spring that sounds a bit easier than the other method u said..

good wheel selection thats great!..

as i watch channel 48 when guy is replacing shocks and stuff he shows some pretty cool ways to do things, would i be able to do stuff like that, seems like most of the time stuff clamps onto stuff already there, sometimes he welds (i have a welder next door to me) how hard is it to do that sort of thing shocks/ the lift a few inchs ur talking about...

 

[vroomvroom]

Welcome to TRS.

lets see... lol

1. The guy probably has it raised in the back for the hot rod look more then performance. (As I don't see what raising the back end does otherwise)

You can achieve this by lowering the front, changing the springs in the rear, Getting belltech shackles, 4x4 blocks, or just generally getting a larger tire size for the back then the front.

2. As for the motor selection... any motor will fit with enough fabrication, guys stuffing cummins diesels to 460 big blocks in these things but depending on what motor you have I think you'll be looking at more of a direct swap.

The motors for 83 -88 rangers were off the top of my head, the 2.3L, 2.8L, and 2.9L, they also had a 2.0L and a 2.2L in the earlier years but i believe those were diesels. You can swap in a 3.0L (probably not a good swap in motor), the 4.0L (most chosen because of the power), or from other vehicles the most common swaps are 5.0L swaps from mustangs and f150's, the 351w, and 2.3T from mustangs or turbo coupes.

3. The link wasn't working but I assume you are talking about chrome alternators, stainless steel brake lines/ radiator hoses, valve covers ect.? Yes you can find parts for your truck that will work, and yes usually they are just for show.

4. is missing... lol

5. Yes there is a fairly good selection of wheels, if you have a 2wd there is almost no limit to what you can use. anything from mustang rims to explorer rims, jeep rims, some dodge rims work, as long as its 5 on 4.5" or 5 on 114.5mm it will fit.

you are probably going to want to look at centerline, weld racing, crager, mickey thompson and american racing for custom rims though, as they have both off road and street/strip rims so you can get the really fat rims in the back and skinny ones up front in the same rim design. I'd say if your looking for the lifted back end go for some 15x10 rims in the back and 15x5 or 15x6rims in the front. the tires are up to you.

6. As for rebuilding an engine still in the truck, I suppose its possible but I think its going to be a heck of alot easier to remove it and put it on a stand, besides if your going to do an engine swap with an engine already out of the truck just do it then.

Good luck

1) ahh ic how hard is that to do, is it take off wheels and put a new shock on or what?(sorry noob question), u named quite a few options i didnt wanna weld but i would (wellmynef would), whats gonna look how can i say this "real" a nice look , i dont mind replacing stuff if it aint to hard right just dont wanna get stuck heh.. belltech shackles, 4x4 blocks whats that stuff? iv probly seen it just need to see it on a ranger lol..

bigger tire on back, yeah true that would give the look im going for quite a bit i think.

2) alright ima grab some pics now of it show you guys my ranger danger ill snap one of the motor to..

3) ya like dressings iunno on a bike for example like a clutch cover, but with carbon fib would be the update instead of grey factory lol, like on my ranger its a black top, the 2 long blocks we'll say , probly close to top of pistons there, i saw some different ones that are chrome, is it screw off and on , no way?!?!?!?! i gotta grab a pic of my ranger

4) lol im not gonna edit that late night for me last night

5)great

6) i see well this motor being pretty damn old, what could u do from the top like that? that ones for fun hehe thanks for replys man!!!! keep it up

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

not that hard
rear lift blocks would be easier(at least for me) and u still can keep a good ride comfort
adding a leaf makes the ride a bit too hard

 

[vroomvroom]

heres some eye candy , Lol take a look guys! ill show pics of paint next

shit thats just insane i gotta fix that

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

wow holly big pictures batman!!!
thats a 4 cyl engine man, prolly a 2.3

 

[Bronco_Chuck]

heres some eye candy , Lol take a look guys! ill show pics of paint next

shit thats just insane i gotta fix that

im not seeing these pics.
lifting the rear would be easiest with lift blocks for the simple reason of the shackle bolts being a pain most of the time. i just did the lift blocks on my B2 only took me about an hour or so if you want i can get some pics for reference if you need them.

 

[vroomvroom]

yea sure lets c wat u had to do

elec

 

[vroomvroom]

there we go!!!

i see lots of parts on the motor where it looks like i could put a nice shiney chrome pz lol, the part i was talking about was where the yellow writing is by the oil plug

anyways, air boxs,alternator,top basic covers, braided lines.. what else is there that i dont see that could be tinkerd with?i wanna buy a k&n filter for this baby lol...

look wise for now...

picture of paint soon... here we goooooooo