The Gambling Ranger build
 

first post (beside the member into b.s.) building a gambler out of a 1991 ranger that I picked up last weekend for $240, it runs and drives and other than the right fender and some rust, is really clean... kind of sad I'm going to cut it up. I have a few minor things to fix to make it road worthy such as one of the brake calipers is sticky and on the way home I warped a rotor, so I will have to replace both of those. I am going to keep this build super duper cheap and if I do a lift (its 2WD btw) it will most likely be a spring swap and or a body lift most likely home made. I am open to suggestions, if anyone has thought of doing something that's awesome but didn't want to do it due to it being impractical or something let me know! just remember the super cheap thing as fore-mentioned.
anyway here's some before pics

stay tuned this could be fun :laughing:

Update
 

so I found some 31x10.50 tires that are not in the pic, I'm going to add wheel spacers before I install them and just keep small tires on it for ease of working on it. I cut the hell of the fenders and removed a bunch of the crap I don't need on it including the roof. Next step is clean up the cut areas and replace the bumpers. I still have some interior I need to remove and then add a roll bar with support struts to the windshield. I am not adding a lift because I want to try and keep the center of gravity low, spacing the tires out should also help that.
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Looks like I m going to add the pic tomorrow
 

stupid iPhone doesn't want to let me post it

here is the updated pic
 

Ha! Not bad lol but my brain is confused looking at that.

so, clean up of the area i sawsalled ended up being a bit barbaric. the process went in some kind of rotation of cutting, snipping, hammering, bending and duct taping. this was my first convertible truck conversion so I knew it wasnt going to be perfect. I'm not mad but yes this part is difficult to make it look like it was an adult that did it.
I left some of the cut areas exposed on the top edges of the windshield to accommodate a roll bar incorporation to that part of the truck. I also stripped the carpet behind the seats and pulled the drain plugs out which is conveniently located straight on top of the frame so that makes it easy to figure out where I need to cut to weld the roll bar on.

update 8/28/17
 

So i worked a bit more on the ranger over the weekend and accomplished a few things. I purchased a china light bar 42" on amazon for $32 bucks and couldn't wait to install it so I did... prematurely. now I'm going to have to mask it during the paint job or remove it, probably just mask it. next I installed the new "bumper" and added the front license plate, last I removed the ugly af pin-striping with a sharp chisel and a steady hand. note: DO NOT USE A CHISEL TO REMOVE STICKERS ON A VEHICLE YOU CARE ABOUT!!!!! with that being said I added a pic of this process so you all can cringe. :sgrin: then I scuffed the clear coat down to 150 grit in order to help the krylon stick to the paint. gave it a wash and I'm done for the weekend.

Update 9/5/17
 

So I know that paint should be the last thing that happens however I had to paint outside and since I live in western WA I was kind of forced to paint now or make a paint booth in my barn, obviously I decided to paint now. if I was doing something that had more value I would have done this whole process completely differently but this is a gambler.
I used rattle can for the green and had some equipment paint mixed for Seahawk blue which i sprayed one coat, this covered pretty well so I just left it at that. I also removed the spare tire carrier under the bed and replaced the right front brake caliper. I threw liability coverage on her and drove it to work this morning. so far total investment $420 including the new wheels and tires that are not installed.
next step is wheel spacers, put on my 31 x 10.50's and build a roll bar.

if you all want to know what I'm building this for look at https://gambler500.com/

Ah, okay. Makes more sense now! Actually, that looks to be a potential blast! :)


EDIT: I commented on your paint job in another thread. Based on knowing your plans for this truck, makes me wonder why you even chose to paint it! LOL

well, I wanted it to look cool, I spent $40 on a gallon of equipment paint and only used half of it so I can use the rest on future projects, i have $8 into spray paint and another $10 into tape and stuff. so for about $40 I can really make this thing cool instead of methmobile.

Update 9/18/17
 

whelp I'm getting relatively close to being finished with the major mods. Last weekend I ended up building the roll cage, I had the main hoop bent at a muffler shop and bent the rear bars with a cutting torch. That's not even close to the best way to do it but whatever, it should keep me alive in the case of a roll-over. I'm not super proud of this cage and its not my first one either but two of the three I have done were kits in cars so there's that I guess.
The things I have left are exhaust, touch up paint (numbers and decals also) and install the wheels and tires.

I want your shop... :)

Update 9/21/17
 

put my 2" wheel spacers on today and my 31x10.50 tires I picked up with the wheels for $40 on offerup. I also set my stack in but this was mostly to start figuring out how I'm going to put it in. I left it there for "dramatic effect" I also put most of my tools etc in the bed and zip tied the shovels and stuff to the roll bars so I can figure out how to make mounting brackets for them. I still need to put some more decals on it and a few small things then I am on to adding the electronics.
I don't know how much longer I will be able to call this a Ranger....

nearly done
 

Well I was being badgered to go in the winter wonderland gambler 500 this year so I decided to add some sort of weather protection. it is probably more of a true " redneck AF" convertible now, I had a cargo cover for an older explorer that I had removed then forgot about and then sold the explorer. This fit perfectly so I built a wooden frame to set on the roll cage and installed it with plumbers tape then I put some wind blockers behind the seats so I wont freeze to death.
The stack is now removed again and I am waiting on the custom 2"-5" reducer my friend is building me. I also finished the paint job with krylon, pretty much the only things I have left is weld up the spider gears and do some exhaust work and it will be done.

update 10/3/17
 

so there has been some problems with the motor (reason #1 and #2 that I bought it for $240) and the previous owner who had bought it new in 1991 had some issues with over heating and believed that there was a blown head gasket or something. they had replaced a ton of parts including the radiator. Now while I was driving, it was running cold. I just assumed that they removed the thermostat, I was wrong. there was a thermostat in there which I changed then I started the truck and the problem was not resolved.
After a quick search on the internet apparently when A water pump goes bad in the 3.0 it does not actually read hot due to the water not circulating correctly, also the heater wont get enough water pressure to be able to circulate correctly and you will only get luke warm-cool air while blasting the heat.
I picked up a water pump for $17 at the local O'Reillys and plan on installing soon. I will let you guys know if this solved the problem.

at least I have a spare water pump now
 

I installed the new water pump (and left the shroud out because f*** the rules) and it did not solve the problem. It still reads that the water temp is just barely in the normal range. The heater was not working still so I decided to flush the water and check the heater return line since it looked as if no one had ever taken it off. Upon inspection I noticed that there was a bunch of gunk in the line so I decided to add air to the system and try to blow out the heater core. this worked beautifully... well horribly messy and gross but it blew out a bunch of gunk and shit from the heater core. After I replaced the water in the system the heater worked perfectly.
since the heater is working and there is a new water pump and a new thermostat I have decided that the issue is the temperature sensor is reading low and I'm okay with that.
I also fount out that three of the fan clutch holes are stripped out so the fan is literally hanging on by a thread. A new fan clutch was $37 and a 14" electric fan was $30 on amazon and removing the fan adds roughly 10 hp so that was an easy decision.
Next step exhaust.

Just curious; about how much air pressure did you use blowing the heater core out? I would have bet money that you would have blown the heater core apart since you basically used air over water, creating a hydraulic ram. Effective, but dangerous for your heater core! :)

about 110 psi, seems to be just fine. :biggthump

Awesome! Would have never thought you could get away with that much pressure! LOL

right before I did it I thought it might blow it up but the heater wasn't working anyway and if it was to blow the core I was going to just loop the heater hose and disconnect it completely.

Yeah, at that point, you really couldn't hurt anything... unless you decided to make it your daily driver! LOL

I'm calling it done... kind of...
 

As with any project I will always have more stuff I want to do to it, that is where I am at for this project but I am at a point where if I don't officially declare "finished" I never will and will continue to do little things until it finally dies. I declare this project finished, I still have some little stuff to do but I am okay with being done with the base build and repair.
I added a new temperature sender unit and an electric fan, put a cherry bomb in (reducer for the stack wont be done for a while and I am going on a run in 32 days) and topped her off with a hula girl for the dash.

these are the before and after pics

total investment $670

Nice job! You're gonna have a lot of fun with that rig! Um, where's the hula girl pic? :)

if you zoom in on the windshield you can see her right next to my boys big ass head