great progress

 

Most people woulda crushed that beast. Good on ya for giving her another life..

I'm surprised no one has said it yet, what's up with that yoke for the rear u-joints being cracked?


GB :)

 

thats how i got both of my 1st gens......my 87 was being put on a trailer to go to the scrapper as i drove by and i offered to buy it

i bought this one out from under a couple a guys who were gonna scrap it.....they didn't have the money when they came to look at it....i did


the yoke is another story....it appears to have had bad u-joints before and they weren't fixed soon enough and the yoke got slapped around
.....i already found another one to replace it so its all good

 

time for an update:

the end is in sight!

i've got the driver seat in place after some custom fabbed brackets

majority of the electrical work is done...just a few switches to mount

all thats left is the sending unit for my new fuel gauge.....i'm using one for a boat
i got it at bass pro for a lot less that replacing the factory one...lol

and i've got to slap on some exhaust of some sort

those 2 things are all thats left....i'm soo excited

on to PICS!!!!


my LED modded dash









the finished exterior

 

man looks great cant wait to see some lift and tires

 

You make me miss my '86 so much. I never should have sold it. I like what you've done with it.

 

Looks awesome, I might have to drive up and see it in person

 

What a nice transformation, you prolly have one of the best Gen1's on here. I'd like to find one like that 5spd, 4x4 but an ext cab. Keep up the good work.

 

always amazing what a couple rattle cans can do to a beater. rollin single bucket ftw haha

 

wow im really impressed!!!! love the led dash swap! truck is looking killer

 

got bored....

finished up the dash tonight


Repainted the faded needles....

before...





after....





fabbed up a switch panel....




riveted and ready to go

 

yup....not too bad

the body is still rough if you look close but i don't care, i didn't build it to be pretty

and yeah...single bucket for now, the GF is not gonna ride in it for a while.....shes hated it since i brought it home anyways
but i do have the passenger seat....i just need to fab up some more brackets

 

when i bought my 89 it came with no interior beyond the dash and a bubble gum welded in bucket. ended up finding a prime bench in the same sick gradma blue at pick ur part and swaping it in. love for the square bodys fersher though she may say she hates it now but she'll admit to liking it.

 

got the dash wired up

half the switches don't do anything but turn on relays....gotta get some lights

 

sweet build makes me wanna go work on my 84

 

been driving the truck for 2 days now...

on the way home from work today, i decided to grab something to eat....
sitting at a stop light...minding my own business....my head involuntarily smacks the back window

i've just been rear ended

i think to myself..."are you effing serious?"

get out to check the damage expecting to see a mangled bumper....
there was one....but it wasn't mine






truck walked away with a few scratches
can't even tell in the pic




i got all of the kids (16 y/o) info
debating what to do with it....i'm gonna sleep on it for now and think it over

my freshly rubber coated bumper will need recoating...

any opinions or advice will be appreciated

 

"My neck, my back! My neck and my back!!"





Gb :)

 

dangit!!! lol.

i've been rear ended twice(both times people were staring at my quad haha) first one put a small hole in the bumper(replaced) but the guys element was fubared!!!

second one was a civic-he hit DEAD square on my hitch hahaha. folded his hood up and all i had was a scuff on my reciever cover.

seeing as you only need to recoat the thing tell the kid $250 haha :)

 

called the kid today...

told him $100 cash to cover the re-painting and my labor

i figured that was more than fair

he said i'd have it by next weekend

 

sounds good

 

any updates

 

hahahahahaha glad to hear it's all good

 

no good updates really.....

been to cold to do anything these past few weeks

my fan clutch did seize up a month or so ago and i hard wired in an E-fan
and i finally re-timed it with a timing light and set the carb with a vac gauge to get everything just right...

she runs like new and i average about 17 mpgs

i plan on pullin the motor completely when the weather gets warmer and shes getting all new gaskets and seals.....she leaks a little bit of everything from everywhere
and since i've got a spare set of heads, they're gonna get a little bit of work done.....

i can honestly say that with the 20"+ of snow we got here in the midwest....i had ZERO troubles getting around....even pulled a few fullsize trucks out
08 f150 2wd
97 2500 dodge 4x4 (he didn't think i could pull him out and he almost told me to leave)
and i rescued a minivan and a handfull of sedans (a taurus and a malibu)

i only got stuck once when my dad and i were messing around in the snow but thats to be expected when goofing off

 

Love this build thread, makes me want my 89 back :(

 

im new to rangers... are the older rangers more durable or something? or are rangers in general just going to **** up any small car that rear ends it?