When I bought my truck it was in pretty bad shape. Its my dailly driver so having it perfect isnt a concern of mine but once i started with it my OCD took over. Over the last two month I have taken care of all of the issues she had along with a couple mods along the way. Here is a list of all the stuff that I have done.

Replaced Battery, Spark Plugs, Coolant Temp Sensor, Coolant, 02 Sensor, Spark Plug Wires, Thermostat & O-Ring, Serpentine Belt, Windshield Wipers, Fuel Pump, Fuel Hat Gasket, Fuel Filter, Clock Spring & Repaired the Broken Harness, Front Sway Bar Bushing & End Links, Front Brake Job, Repacked Bearings & Replaced Inner Seals. Also Cleaned the MAF & Throttle Body
Removed & Resealed Leaking Rear Window & 3rd Brake Light Also Swapped Harness From a F250(3 Bulb) & Installed LEDs
Swapped Dome, Glove Box, Reverse & License Plate Bulbs with LEDs
Repainted The Peeling Roof & Grill
Installed HD style “Dynamat” Through Out The Cab & Doors Along With New Flooring Padding
Replaced All The Burnt Out Bulbs On The Exterior & Interior
Repaired 5 Leaking Vacuum Lines Causing The A/C To Blow Out The Defrost & Idle To Surge
Repaired Headlight Reflectors That Where Bouncing Around The Housing
Rewired Rear Speakers(The right was left and the left was right)
Cleaned Seats & Interior
Installed A Tow Hitch From A 2011 Ranger
2006+ Ranger Side Mirrors
Wrapped The Rear Bumper(Not perfect but looks much better, will paint when i paint the front bumper)
Installed A USB Port On Radio Bezel since the back side of the bezel was broken causing the left cig lighter port to fall into the dash.
Started Detailing Paint

Now onto the pictures

This is how it looked when I bought it!




Painted the roof.





Fixing the leaking window & 3rd brake light. Removing the old Butyl Tape or whatever it was, was a complete MFer, but after plenty of shop rags and a lot of elbow grease I got it clean and ready for reinstalling the window.





When I was removing the interior pieces to allow me to get the rear window out I came across some water under the carpet so I decided to pull the entire interior to clean, dry and to lay down some Home Depot style “Dynamat”. While doing this I found the reason the rear window was leaking. It had been busted out at one point(all kinds of glass under the carpet) and the person that installed it must have not installed it correctly causing it to leak.





The padding on the flooring was soaking wet do to the rear window and 3rd brake light leaking as well as the heater core leaking. After being in the sun all day the padding still wasnt dry so I said screw it and removed all the padding from the flooring and used some padded headliner material I had in the attic as padding. Sooner or later i plan to install some new carpet to replace the plastic flooring.




Here is the USB Port i installed.



06+ Mirrors Installed!



Wrapped The Rear Bumper & Tow Receiver Hitch Installed. The wrap wasnt as easy as i expected it to be. I have a new found respect for people or wrap vehicles for a living. Its far from perfect but looks much better than the chrome bumper if you ask me.


Hard to tell in the picture but here is a before and after picture of the hood being detailed. I compounded and polished the hood. It started raining before I had a chance to finish polishing it or wax it.




Amazing what some 0000 steel wool and a couple minutes will do.


Finally gave her a bath. I still need to perform a full detail on the exterior but the transformation that has happened over the last 2 months i think is huge.



Plans in the near future are to replace the UCAs, LCAs, Outer tie rod ends along with installing some Maxtrac 2” lift coils & new shocks. Replace all the bushings on the leaf springs and install new shocks. After that, if I can find someone to buy the rims and tires that are on the truck right now I will order a set of tires for the set of oem cobra wheels my buddy hooked me up with for FREE!


I also plan to swap out the tail lights to 06+ and i may retrofit a set of projectors in a new set of headlights.

What yall think?

Wayne

 

Looks much bether now, great job!

 

I'm kinda curious on why you would lift it and put it on Mustang wheels versus keeping the Cragars which are often used on trucks that are lifted.

 

Awesome job, dude! Love your wheels that are on the truck! Curious, how much is that dynamat stuff?

 

Just personal taste that's all. I have always loved the cobra wheels, had a set on my 91 fox body. And a big bonus is that a friend gave them to me. If I can get a could hundred for the Cragers id be happy. Only lifting 2"ish and going with a tire a little less than 1 inch taller.

Thanks! For one roll which is the amount you see laid out on the truck it's like $17. It's not actually dynamat. It's stuff they use to water proof the wood studs before they install Windows.

Wayne

 

Just swapped out the cluster bulbs this evening to LEDs.

Wayne

 

Sweet! Looks nice!

 

I order a Energy Suspension bushing kit for the leafs this morning. Its the start of me collecting parts to redo all the suspension and steering on the truck. While i have everything apart to change the tie rod ends, UCAs& LCAs, i plan to install a 1-2" block in the rear and a set of Maxtrac 2" lift spring in the front along with a new set of shocks and a pair of Traction bars. If i can find a rear sway bar at a decent price ill install that too.

Wayne

 

Wow that's a good amount of work that you have done. Truck is looking good!

 

Good looking truck there. Seems like she's in good hands now, nice work.

 

Looks great !

Makes me want to get the 00 I have rotting away in my drive into the garage and start work. Mine sat too long and isn't pumping fuel now.

 

You did an awesome job cleaning that baby up. I'm just curious, did that Protecto wrap make things quieter in the cab?
Those Cragers are nice wheels, I bet you sold those fast.

 

I havnt tried selling them yet but if anybody is local to New Orleans let me know.

Detailed it last weekend.

Here's a reflection pic!

 

Another Pic

 

Another One

 

Yes I think the wrap helped but since I didn't reuse the factory padding from the flooring and put headliner material I think it will be even better once I replace the plastic flooring with carpet with new padding.

Wayne

 

Some before and after pics of the wheels.

Wayne

 

What a difference! What kind of polish did you use on them?

 

I used the 0000 steel wool and that did 99.99999% of the work the polish I only used it for a protectant more than anything. It was Meguiars Ultimate Polish.

Wayne

 

Today I replaced the antenna base, the base cap and the antenna. I shortened the OEM antenna, reinstalled the cap and painted. I also replaced the heater core. I won't do another unless I get paid to do it. Took right at 3hrs! Was a lot more than I expected. On top of all of that I replaced both door lock cylinders and ignition switch so everything is keyed the same.





Wayne

 

Dang that's alot of stuff to take apart in one day. Looks good & you'll be glad you put that heater core in the first time you need to use it. I personally wouldn't have bothered with the locks & ign. cylinder though, I would have just cut a new key where one side is the doors & the other the ign. Still, nice work.

 

I sure was thankful that i finally changed the core out this morning. Fall weather has finally started to make its way to South Louisiana this morning it was high 60s which isnt cold by any means but it allows the A/C to work even that much better and even on the lowest isnt setting it was still freezing, all i had to do is turn the thermostat up a little bit and it was perfect.

I thought about just getting keys made to have extras but its just so much nicer to have one key for everything plus that one less key i need to keep on my key chain.

Thanks for the kind words, it sure has been fun fixing and building the little truck!

Wayne

 

This past weekend I swapped in some 06+ style tail lights with some TRS XB LED Reverse Bulbs and I also greased up the hinges on the tailgate and gave her another good washing!

Wayne

 

Nice. Brought it back from the brink of death.

 

I have to say, that is one of the nicest truck transformations I have ever seen. Great, great job so far (I'm pretty sure you aren't finished). Looks great and I am confident you will continue to improve this nice ride. I particularly loved the reflection photo, btw... damn, that has straight sheet metal!