[QUOTE=mhoward;2119075]Been a busy weekend...

New brake rotors, drums, pads, shoes. Cleanup and painted calipers. New American Racing AR172 Baja wheels (15X8) with new Cooper Cobra GT Radials. Gave it a bath just as a typical spring thunderstorm rolled in. Finished washing it anyway, so Mother Nature can do a spot-free rinse!

The last 3 pics are the chrome Lincoln lever mods I did earlier in the week.


Looks really good. Like the chrome touches. What year and model Lincoln did you get the parts from?

 

I didn't do anything to the Ranger, but I did buy it an upgrade. This fall it will be getting all the wiring and V8 motor from a 2001 Explorer Limited. I hope to be able to transfer all the wiring, full power seats, power/heated side mirrors, on board computer, and climate controls. The only thing I can't swap is the power moon roof. I want to do it all now, but its just me and I don't think I could get it done before the weather starts getting into to upper 90s and higher. I just got a regular 2 car garage, so there's not much room to work with the door closed.

 

H P Freak's Fog Light Mod:
https://www.ranger-forums.com/interi...ght-mod-78699/

Works great!

Makanak

 

What did I do to my Ranger today? Well nothing big like some of you are doing, just finally got around to fixing the bad connection in my driver side door speaker. For awhile now it's been going on and off every time I opened and shut the door.

So I removed the door panel and traced the bad connection back up to where the speaker wires enter the door at the rubber strain relief grommet. Why on earth did they practically weld the wires into the grommet? Wound up breaking the wires off back a couple inches from where they would have entered the door which means I had very little wire to work with to make a new connection.

Finally managed to get press on connectors onto the wires and hook everything back to the speaker. Speaker working fine now to that grommet. In order to reuse it had to drill the center out to about a 1/4" hole and slice one side open with a razor knife to get the wires inside it then refit it back into the door.

Reconnected every thing and put door panel and all back on and everything works fine.

Friday before last I put on new front rotors, calipers and ceramic brake pads. Nest friday the rear wheels get all new everything, wheel cylinders, spring kit and shoes, the works.

 

[QUOTE=stunner67;2119114]Thank you! The ones I used were from a 1997 Town Car. 1995-1997 are the same as mine. 1990-1994 can also be used, but I liked the feel of the later model switch. :)

 

About 1,1/2 years ago,I had upper@lower ball joints replaced.They did the alignment.So i have my new 30x9.5x15 tires mounted.
Went back to the same shop,to see if it needs realignment.He said ,does it pull left or right? I said NO,does it ride well? I said YES.He said don't waste your money,you are fine.
That made my day,and gave me some peace of mind. Also I cleaned my MAF senser today.She purrs like a kitten!!!
see ya,old retired guy

 

i Installed some puddle lights for my 08 ranger turned out bettter than i expected...

check it on IG outdoorsy33

 

I did this last week, but whatever. Snagged an EVAP solenoid off a 99 four-banger and installed it on my '99 3.0. Part numbers match up, they look the same, and now my CEL is gone. 5 bucks at a junkyard sure beats 50 bucks brand new.

 

Finished my EATC install today. Have spent the last couple of weeks doing testing and pre-work as time permitted. I think I am going to love this mod. :)

 

Quarterly oil and filter change, and installed a receiving trailer hitch to the ol' baby.

 

throttle cable mod and power window conversion

 

Not today but the other day when it wasn't raining for a change, I wired up directional signals in my third brake light.

 

I like that idea. Tried to talk my dad into it but he wasn't feeling the idea. If I didn't have cargo lights, I'd probably do that.

 

Those are looking factory brand new.
Good job.

Ron

 

I'm still learning about my , new to me, 2004 Ranger .
The seat belt connector on the driver side was a total bitch to get the thing to latch.
I used a little WD40 and it's working like a charm. I was so afraid it was broke.

I also sprayed a tiny bit into the gear selector on the column because it's a little bit rough getting it into the proper gear selection. I'm also learning what it feels like when it is in the right gear... D .... R..... etc. .

I disabled the seat belt warning ding thing, using a system I read about here in the forum It's also in the owner's manual too.

It's a shame this didn't come with a full console and I'm not too crazy about the 60/40 seats.

The driver's seat has the outer edge ripped and the foam looks like it's being shaped with a sander or something. I have a feeling putting a seat cover on it is going to be a total bitch.
These seats are so hard to sit on. I don't know what they felt like new but it's like sitting on a wooden bench now.

Ron

 

Today I replaced the passenger airbag switch with a dash panel from a '97 Ranger.
I wasn't sure if the panels would interchange but they fit just fine on my 2004. This one even has an ashtray to replace the panel that had only an empty space.
Now the airbag warning light is off and not flashing the 2-7 code it was before.

I've also been sanding and painting on a tailgate I found in a junk yard.
The truck came with a full commercial camper shell on it with double doors and when I sold it and took it off, of course I had to find a tailgate to put in it's place.

I have been having a hell of a time with rattle can paint.
Either they are not full or they spit and spray drops and spittle in stead of spraying like they should.

But it's getting there.


Ron

 

I took the rear drums off to look for the source of a noise (scraping/dragging sound when in motion, which has been drum brake issues for me before. We had 2 Dodge Neons at one point, and I had to rebuild the drum brakes a total of three times due to shoe linings falling off and seizing (twice) or a spring breaking and the fragment rupturing the wheel cylinder (once)).

On the bright side, the brakes look like they were recently serviced, so I went ahead and cleaned & painted the drums.

Waiting for those to dry, I cleaned the air filter (PO installed a K&N, which is nice--I already had the cleaning/oiling kit for the filter on our van). I also wanted to check the spark plugs. I figured I'd just pull the most accessible plug (pass. side, cylinder 3, looked easy enough). Well, the wire boot ripped right off the connector, which was seized on the plug.

Long story short, I replaced all 8 plugs and all 8 plug wires. It was actually considerably easier than I thought it would be, even with wrangling the plugs/wires in and out between the manifold on the driver's side.

The old plugs might have been original (Motorcraft, and they were quite rusted). The stranger thing was the gap. They were all pretty much consistent, but the gaps are spec'ed for .040-.046, and these were probably TWICE that big. Maybe that means they were replaced at some point, and the new plugs were not gapped before installation?

Anyway, it's running just fine (didn't notice a problem before, but I'm just glad it started up!).

This evening, I jacked the rear end up again to check wheel bearings. I think that's the source of my mystery noise. The rear, pass. side wheel has a little bit of play with a little of that "knocking" sound when you rock it back and forth. I guess that'll be my next task!

 

My ranger had been having issues with the tranny (again), engine(again), shot up codes full of misfires, something bouncing around the front differential, nothing fun. I got a little tired of fixing it. So I bought another one. 1999 Mazda B4000 4.0L v6 4WD Troy Lee Designs. I'll put up some pictures at a later time.

 

I finally got my parking brake working. After replacing all the cables it still wasn't working then I discovered I ordered a center cable that was for a longer wheel base. Didn't feel like ordering a new cable, so I cut the long one and put a turnbuckle in the middle of it. Now I have a parking brake that can be manually adjusted if needed. Works great!

 

Bought it.

Siphoned out excess power steering fluid.

Vacuumed out sycamore seeds from engine head and fusebox area (i mention because of how many there were! i've got a couple of inches deep in the bottom of a shop vac!)

Fixed leak on head tank pipe connection (jubilee clip)

Removed some kind of rodent nest from the air box, apparently made from the firewall heat guard.

Removed venturi pipe from airbox as well as the piece by the headlight. (Now i need a short pipe to extend the airbox into the headlight area (wider venturi pipe would do)

Sprinkled baking soda through interior to try and remove the smell of the product being used to cover the smell of the tobacco use.....

Ordered oil & filter.

Ordering coolant (needs drain/flush) rad is low, header tank seems to be mostly water and over filled.

 

Went a little different 70-90's route with the truck. Clinton64xl had purchased a window louver for the rear window and when he posted pictures up I loved it. I guess part of me is some what country.

Anyways I ordered the same one and then test fit it on the truck. Nothing is physically attached yet. Comes with two brackets up top and two brackets on the bottom. The top brackets allow you to swing the entire thing up so you can clean the window if you want.

I dig it and I don't think it looks too shabby on the single cab steppy...hahah

As it sits by default it sits about the rear window trim. I am thinking about slowly trimming/sanding all the way around the louver edge so that I can place it inside the window trim for a better look.

Also put on a go rhino exhaust tip to make the walker exhaust somewhat more pleasing to look at..lol

-Nigel

 

Ran the rubber glove test on the radiator (pass :) )

Cleaned dealer gunk off one tyre - two shallow indented lines in it.

Wipes down interior plastics with a disinfectant wipes in an attempt to remove smoke smell.

 

Well, I didn't take any pictures I scooted it over to the nearest repair shop. The shift lever stopped working, I thought that the cable was broken. Turns out that the housing for the shift lever, connects lever to the cable had sheared off a bolt. 100 dollars later I was rolling out of the shop.

//EDIT

So I also just went ahead and gave her an oil change, and damn was the old **** nasty.

 

Used 303 Protectant on the external plastics, including the grill, which, i have no idea what the original colour was.

Literally poured coffee (raw) on the seats and in the back foot wells, let's hope it helps remove the smoke odour.

Put another Jubilee clip on the radiator overflow hose (rad neck end this time), both ends were lose enough to remove by hand, without much resistance - i know that the cooling system will not work properly like that.

 

Finished disinfectant wiping out the rear cabin area and vacuumed out all the baking soda and coffee......

Discovered i don't have a jack or brace :(

Put a Biocide Auto Shocker on the floor and locked it up.




Coolant and oil tomorrow night.....