Stay Tuned Guys and Gals, OBDIII is around the corner, and some of the imports already has done this, you'll need a key just to access the engine bay peroid. 2010 is the projected date for all of this. And after viewing a few wiring diagrams in an automotive school, I don't envy anybody fixing a wiring problem nowadays at all. Around 70+ CPU's is the average car or truck. Some of the Imports have over a 100+ CPU's (mercedes benz). Give me the simplicity of a carb or an early styled fuel injection system anyday.

 

I guess alot of us is going to become "old school" before we even know and realize it.

 

damb, i knew it. i had people tell me the newer cars are easier to work on because the modules are smaller and they have very few vacuum lines, i look under the hood of my 87 and i can fit a good size tool box on the driver side and even the passenger side has more space than my 07. so what are they going to do, make it illegal to work on your car? i dont think people would like that too much, this whole thing is kind of sad.

anybody got a supercab like my 87 ranger in good shape?

 

www.lmctruck.com or www.usbody.com . Those guys that pushed it should be shot in the head. Don't they know that alot of technology and other stuff they use at one point was "custom made". you're right about that. Those guys are idiots that said that. I asked an "old school" mechanic this once and he said he'd rather work on an old model than the newer ones because things were so much easier and simpler to work on than today.

 

Yeah, I remember my '85 2.slow that I got from my Dad. Blew the motor and had some Mexican kid cut me off and wound the front fender a little. We sold it and I got a four-door car instead since I was going to college at the time. If it'd had a/c and a topper (and I knew then what I new now) I would've kept that thing and pulled an engine swap or something. Simple and easy to work on by today's standards.

I may start looking for a cheap pre-90 ranger or Bronco 2 that I can turn electric or something. Anything would beat the 4.0 for gas mileage. Oh well, maybe another day...

-Chance

 

heres my 87 when i first started driving it, the outside doesnt look this good anymore. cardomain.com/id/tonon

basicly id want that truck in good condition but supercab. im not a big fan of the little bed on an already small truck, but it'll do, i have an idea for a fold out bed extender.

 

i know the feeling. even though my first ranger was a 2000, i still miss it. it had 80k with no problems whatsoever and i traded it on a rx-8 that gave me hell from day 1. got rid of it and went back to something more reliable.

 

i dont know if i mentioned it before but my new truck has also been damaged, it appears to be a jealousy magnet. first my sister had some jerks over the house when my parents were gone and wasnt suppost to. my sistergot sick of the so went in the house with her friends and locked them out. they they broke things, threw broken glass in our pool and one of the who my sister wont tell me the name of because "they are bad people and you dont want to mess with them" (bull****) KEYED MY TAILGATE on the way out! then on the 4th of july i had my windows down with my truck parked on the side of the road at my aunts house. i get in my truck that night and it was covered with what looked like soda, all over the driver side and the interior. i walked back down to the party and yelled like i was going to cut someones throat. i dont live in a bad town, but we have a few trouble makers. what the hell is wrong with people.

 

well i dont know what kind of truck you got but mine is great. i would give it a quality rating of 8. no issues with quality here.

 

i mean compared to to all the vehicles out there, maybe i underated it though. you have to keep the ugo and geos in mind as well as the lambergenies and porches. no, the ford ranger is a good vehicle, its defidentally not bad, but its not the best either.

 

I like that Ranger in your avitar photo .I have the same style ,just nowhere near as nice. I have owned two 94's and a 92 & a 90 and I never liked any Ranger newer than 93 .I love that square body style.

 

i dont think your crazy at all man, i had a 97 ranger, that i had to screw with and mess the engine up, and i had to buy a new truck. dont get me wrong i like my new truck, but i love my ranger. i dont know if it was because it was first or what but i cant wait to get it running on the road again

 

yea, i know what you mean too. i would love to get my truck or a truck like mine with a supercab in really nice shape, i actually have parts that i collected over the years to fix it up, its just the work to do it. my old ranger has a leak on the driverside from the cowl area, i already fixed the passenger side, but i cant seem to stop the leak on the driver side, i guess the old rangers were kind of know to leak through the cowl area after a while. it would be nice to redesign it better, but the top of the cowl is spot welded and it goes under the windshield. then i though just cut a rectangular opening in the top where the grooves/ holes are and to fix it just screw a piece of stainless steel with holes in it on there with some kind of rubber gasket, but i think i want to keep my eyes open for a good supercab.

 

Here's something you guys should know about. The GMC Canyon and Chevy Colorado trucks are junk. I test drove a new Canyon and the damn thing didn't have enough power to get out of it's own way. The Colorado I was planning on driving didn't even get out of the parking lot. I went to close the door gently and both door handles flew off and hit me in the head and I said a few choice words and climbed out through the window. The salesman wouldn't give up and he tried every trick in the book to get me to trade in my Ranger. He even followed me to my truck to try to change my mind. I told him I don't buy sh*t and both of those vehicles if you can call them that are sh*t. He was extremely stupid, arrogant, idiotic *****. And GM wonders why they can't sell a small truck to save their lives. Above all else they wanted 38K for the colorado and 25K with no radio or nothing for the canyon. Those trucks aint worth that price at all. Give me a Ford Ranger damn near fully loaded for around 15K and has more power than both those vehicles any day of the week, twice on sunday. If GM was smart (which they aint) they would've kept the dimer and made it affordable and would've pushed more options on it than they did, they'd be doing extremely well to this day, instead of begging for sales like they do today.

 

That phrase "They don't make 'em like they use too" really is true. On my project 70 Firebird, I can fix anything, well almost, cause the setup of the motor and everything else is quite... well simple. When I look at my Ranger (Don't get me wrong, I love my truck just as much as my Bird) everything is confusing. Theres wires everywhere, things are all over which all are monitored by an ECU. Ive gone through so much idle valve controls this year, its not even funny how all of em were faulty. The truck has already gone through 3 clutches and I know how to drive a standard, except for the one where I first got the truck and thought it would be badass to drop the clutch numerous times in the school parking lot lol whoo $1000 later and no more peeling out! If gas wasn't so expensive, i'd be dropping in an old school 289, 302 or even a straight 6 with a carburetor! Plus I was just pricing out new rangers... WHHOAAA!!! the one I wanted was like $30,000!!! I think ill just be keeping mine with 137,593 miles :) by the way I myself drove a colorado and didn't like it at all, and I know I'd rather spend 5k more on that fully decked out Ranger than that gutted out colorado, ya even get one more cylinder too!

 

I agree myself. It's extremely cluttered under the hood and you just about need a friggin cpu degree to even reprogram one much less work on it. I guess we're just getting old. In fact a kid today called me an old man today. I looked at him and said better to be older and wiser than the yound and dumb saying. These kids out there today don't know that we older folks know how to have a good time. The 289 will drop in there very easily and Carb Technology is getting better and better. Demon Carbs now have a Carb specificly made for Turbocharging now. You can find it at www.jegs.com .

 

i love my 03 ranger but...........

i'd buy a mint 78 bronco with a 4.9 straight six over another one of these lil *****-mobiles any day of the week.

 

i like my new ranger, but i would probably brake something trying to change the air filter, lol. not only are new vehicles harder to work on, but the parts are cheaper.

im still thinking about an older ranger, maybe ill find a good one someday.

 

Tell me about it plastic Intake manifolds and gaskets. I heard of wanting to make a profit but jesus christ that's too far and low. And they keep getting worse each and every year. What's next I don't even want to know.

 

i heard a few years ago they were working on building plastic engine blocks. now im not saying it cant be done but how will the quality be.

my 87 ranger had its cheap parts but not as much.

 

The quality of todays cars really has gone downhill ! But manufacturers have figured out todays young buyer is only interested in flashy chrome rims , all sorts of digital/bluetooth crap obsolete in a year technology . That gentlemen , is the future of the automobile . Remember when people bought a car & made it their own ? Now people want a "custom " car right from the factory . It's sad most cars today are marketed to a dumbed down generation of kids with short attention spans, with cars being hawked by Rappers, T.V. stars , and anyone else who will make you feel "cool" for buying your "pimped out" ride. Cars used to be sold on a reputation for quality and/or performance. I'm sorry for such a long rant, but it's sad when you go to test drive a $35,000 dollar car and know that it probably will not even last the length of the car loan!

 

They are working on making ceramic block engines with ceramic internals that would not require a cooling system.

 

Oh no! well pontiac exp'ed with plastic headers and manifolds on the sunfire. It was a Monster of a failure to say the least. The reason I canceled my V8 swap was this: For the amount of money they wanted me to spend ($35K +) I could get a Factory Five Roadster and still have at least $10,000 left and that is everything period. Engine and all. and for a couple of grand extra, I can send it to the 3 day build school at Mott Community College to have it assembled. The basic kit starts at $12,990, but if you spend around $27,000 you get the full kit and assembly.

 

I test drove one yesterday with a stock 302 engine. It was awesome. 0 to 60 in 3.4 seconds. I talked to them about different engines and they basicly said I can use what ever I wanted. The reason that roadster is so fast is due to the extremely low weight. The owner of it put it on a Cat scale to see how much it weighs and I was shocked. 2,100 Lbs with a full tank of gas. The MPG's were off the page. He got better gas milage than I could ever dream of. And these guys are doing a 1933 Ford Model A pickup truck next.