sup guys, ive been into hondas pretty much as long as ive been driving (almost 8 years) and finally decided due to a few things i need to do in the coming year that a truck will better suit my needs.

I like rangers / b2300's because they are reasonable priced and look good.

Anyways, heres what im looking at currently

97 b2300 xcab 2.3l 4cyl 5spd 2wd (gas mileage is priority #1)
138k miles, new clutch, ac, heat, bedliner,
138,600 miles

homie wants $2850 obo for it .... blue book in "good" condition is $3300 on kbb

anyways a few questions

1) what sorts of problems should i look for in general
2) im under the impression that these have a timing belt. Being a honda guy all my life, the timing belts on those are changed every 90k and you have to pull out the engine to do it ... how often should they be changed on these and how labor intensive is it?
3) how easy is it to acquire parts to lower it and what does it generally cost. From what i understand these suck to lower in comparison to s10s due to suspension design, but no way im getting an s10 cause the 4cyl is weak as hell
4) do they make aftermarket clear lenses / grills for the front? Never been a huge fan of the 97 older mazda front end, but this truck is a very good deal because finding an xcab is hard around here, and finding one with a/c harder.
5) if not how hard is it and what is required to convert to a 98+ front ... ive seen pictures of some other dudes b3000 that put an 05 ranger front on it.

if anyone has other suggestions let me know, and hopefully im not being too noobish to the board. Im also considering getting a nissan frontier cause those arent bad either ... but not really a s10 or tacoma guy cause like i said earlier the s10 is gutless, and the tacomas are generally out of my price range.

 

oh and how much of a pain in the *** is it to wire up an amp and subs in the back of the xcab ... im assuming theres some sort of removable grommet in the floorboard by the firewall like theres been in every honda ive ever had ... ive seen rangers with systems so it cant be that bad

 

welcome to RF

 

That my friend depends on you.. How complicated you go with the wiring.. IE how clean you want it to look. If you want it to look stock, etc.. its not that hard though.. if you know what you are doing, its not any harder than putting in any other system

 

aight coo thanks for the tip ... yea i just wanna run the power wire to the amp and ill prob put a blanket over the whole thing so even with the 5% tint i plan to get the theives wont see my system unless im slappin it hella loud near where i decide to park

 

welcome to R-F, Melt!

 

well that mazda got sold before i could swoop it up ... called about a 94 i found today and it had no ac so thats a no go (i live in californias central valley where its 105 all summer)

 

Welcome to the forum.

2.3L and 2.5L Lima engines have a timing belt, but replacement is simple. There is a lot of room in the front of the engine compartment and you will not have to remove the engine. If you can replace the timing belt in a Honda, you can do it in a Ranger/B-Series. The Lima engines are also non-interference, so if the belt does break, it isn't a big deal. Just put a new one on.

Rangers have less aftermarket support than the S-10, but they are still pretty popular to modify. There are lowering kits, grilles, lights, etc... With the B-Series, things are a bit more difficult. Things like lowering kits will interchange of course, but cosmetic things like grilles and lights are another matter. The B-Series just doesn't have as much aftermarket support.

As for common problems...the slave cylinder on manual transmission trucks isn't the greatest. Replacing it requires removal of the transmission. The part is around $40 though if I remember right. The Twin-I-Beam suspension on 1997 and older trucks is not the easiest to align. If the truck needs to be aligned, take it too a good shop and not just the cheapest shop. Other issues would be water leaking from the center high mount stop light (3rd brake light), sticking dome light switches, and bad cruise control switches (there is a recall for them). If you look through the How To section, there is a fix for the majority of issues you could run into with these trucks. Overall, the design is really solid. Rangers and 94+ B-Series trucks tend to be very tough and reliable.

 

Easy to maintain easy to work on and great on gas, if your wanting to lower it the kits run price wise very reasonable. If you pick a truck up let us know what you end up with and where you plan to take it everyone on this site has a ton of info all you gotta do is ask man.

Welcome to RF

 

welcome

 

Howdy! Welcome to the site. It's not to much of a pain to wire up a sub and amp in the truck.

 

update, im the proud new owner of a 99 mazda b2500 se xcab 4cyl 5spd with 90k miles, an alarm, and working ac. Drove 270 miles round trip to get it, cause everything i looked at locally had a ridicilous price, high miles, or no ac.

maybe more pics later, heres the one from the homies ad

 

nice find.

the 4cly ranger/mazda is super easy to work on, you will love it the first time you have to repair a part.

btw theres a rubber grommet that the hood latch goes through, i have a 2g wire running through that for my amps and power inverter.
its located to the left of the brake pedal on the firewall, the carpet might go over it on the newer rangers but im not 100% sure.

 

already has a sub in it so i dont even have to worry about it ... i am gonna put my subs in there though, i got more bass haha.

i do want to take the front plate off .... do i just drill out the rivers holding the holder to the bumper cause i didnt feel any bolt heads behind there

 

more pics and a new thread

https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...ad.php?t=63639