Ok you guys, the time has come for me to have a build thread here. I have done a lot and will probably skip a lot. I also have lost a few pictures along the way, but ic you have any questions about what I have done so far or what is in the plans, go ahead and ask!

The truck:
(bought 6/18/2015)
2003 Sonic Blue Ranger EDGE. Standard cab, manual doors, locks, and transmission. No cruise, or tilt steering. She's a dream right? A 3.0 2x4 torsion bar having beauty!

First thing I did was replace the seats with 2006 XL seats, get a new battery, and put in a new 3rd brake light (one with a decal from my 06) as the old one had the leak.

Since then, I have put on lots of badges and decals, both factory and not, put on color matched 06+ mirrors (whole mirror, not a cap), taken off my hard cover and gotten a bedliner/toolbox, got a silver HVAC, mustang dome, Blue LED conversion for dash lights, white cluster #1, white cluster #2, and on my desk now silver cluster #1 heavily modded and going in tomorrow.

I have lots of mods in mind, and lots I have done that I have forgot. If you want to know more, feel free to ask, I love talking about her, and love taking pics, so if there is something you want to see, ask!

 

As she sits today:

 

Now that's a sweet looking cluster! Now you need a mustang dome light in that interior.

 

The true mustang one is on my desk with my cluster, I may or may not be putting that in as well

 

So this happened...

Needless to say, I am in love all over again with my truck, my favorite mod to date.

 

I really like the sonic blue cool looking truck.

 

Thanks man! This is My favorite color of anything, so I really enjoy having to see it every day!

 

Decided to do a walkaround and get more pics of my truck for you guys.

Interior:













Exterior:



















Yes I know she's dirty, that is what happens when you use as truck as a truck!

 

Right... I have a build thread I should update...

Got a dashcam



Put a thin coat of paint over the rust on my bumpers



Parked "illegally"



Parked next to my dad's truck





Started a new squad?

 

Lookin' good, Kealel! Now all you need is my rust-free bumper I've got laying around! I wonder where I put that....

 

I am looking forward to the day I pick that up! This rust is killing me!

And don't worry, you have time to find it

 

Me too. One less thing to move around. Make sure to bring some rope or something along those lines, too. I'll be throwing this silver powerdome at you, too. Even if you just turn right around and sell it, still gets it out of my shed. Hoods take up a lot more space than you might think!

 

Time for a bit of an update...

Got Buggman Badge LEDs:





A chrome multifunction:



And rims!

 

Very nice!

 

Update time

Got new rims



Got new tails

 

I'm glad you finally ditched those ugly Jeep wheels.

 

A nice step forward there, dude. The wheels and tails really work for you.

 

Thanks guys, I'm really loving how she's coming together!

I actually had a thought on my drive home from work that all I'm really missing to have all the 06+ features are a steering wheel, header panel, and gauge cluster. A steering wheel is in the plans once I figure out the safe how, might not do a header panel as I have to cut up my powerdome or swap for a new one, and at the moment I am fine with my cluster!

 

To install an 04+ cluster, you'll pretty much have to rewire the truck to accept it. For the 04+ front, a new hood is ideal. Besides, why do that front end swap when you can do an expo swap? I have the perfect bumper for it!

 

I spent a year studying 04+ clusters, I know what's involved! If I ever decide to, I would just buy a donor truck (but I have more plans than what will fit into my truck, so one day I'll get a second Ranger)

Sure a new hood is ideal for a 06 swap, but I'm cheap and I mich prefer the newer bumpers to Expo ones but I like mine the best!

 

I guess it's been a while since I've updated...

Got 31" BFG KO2s and Level 2 tow hooks







And a future mod in the making.

 

Curious: what year/model Lincoln did you get your chrome multifunction from and what did you have to do to make it work? Looking to do this to mine this spring along with the matching shift lever. Your truck is coming along nicely, btw! :)

 

For the one I got, it came from a 1990-1994 Town Car/Crown Vic/Grand Marquis, but another style you can use comes from a 1995-1997 Town Car/Crown Vic/Grand Marquis.

I personally like the look of the latter version better but ultimately went with the older style for a few reasons.

1. It did not stoop down as far. The big reason I am doing this swap is because my knee loves to hit my turn signal out of place. If you notice, yours actually curves downward, and in my 2006, the switch is actually inches higher than where ours is placed and is a much better feel. Sadly, I have messed with that style but there is no way to make it work with our trucks.

2. The one I went with has a chrome tip on the end, which (if I don't paint the chrome black) would look pretty cool.

3. I liked how the wiper part turned better.

There is a how to for the chrome swap here

In the how to, it stares swapping the switch by plugging it in works on older trucks. For ours, we will need to swap essentially the guts of the switch.
What I am doing is combining 4 switches into 1 and using the least worn parts of each switch. The only Lincoln part I kept was the chrome stalk.
In my first spare Ranger switch, the resistor disk (a small disk with resistors on it at the tip of the stalk for the wipers) was broken but the internals were in much better error shape than the Lincoln switch.
In my second spare switch, the disk was in perfect condition but the lower internals were corroded. That would have been fine as I only needed the disk but because the how to was so vague for our trucks, I connected some wires at the wrong spot making it impossible to put the switch back together.
What I messed up was how I connedlcted the resistor disk. There are 3 wires that go from the disc to the guts in the "main block" that run in a tube inside the stalk. (The same tube that I ran copper wire into to push out the resistor disk without damaging anything). Because the Ranger disk and Lincoln disk connect differently, you need to put in the Ranger wires to clip into the Ranger disk (in mine, the Lincoln disk was soldered in and the Ranger one had a clip connector). Where I messed up is I soldered these 3 wires back together at the bottom of the stalk thinking I could shove them into the stalk but I didn't realize there is not actually any room to do so. After further investigation I noticed there is more room at the tip of the stalk to do this behind the disk and so I had to go and get my final (fingers crossed) Ranger parts switch.

I have not yet finished this preject as I went on vacation but I plan to finish when I get back.

Some tips:

~Just in case you mess up something, don't do anything to the stock switch in your truck. You know that one works, and if the one you make doesn't, you can replace it with the original while you trouble shoot.

~The bottom connector on the Lincoln and Ranger switches for the resistor disk are the same, so cut the wires on the Lincoln one as close to the disk as you can and on the Ranger one as close to the big plug as you can just to maximize how much wire you have to work with.

Sorry I rambled on so much, I'm not sure how clear that will be to you and I can't take pictures without having it in front of me, so if you have more questions just ask!

 

Love the gauge cluster. The not shiny rims. Those tires looked perfect. Your paint job is spotless right on. The new wheel gives a fresh look to it. The rear third light is cool. Don't know what to do about my third light. The Ranger emblem that lights up. Very cool. Did you ever think about attaching it to your blinker to make it a side blinker? That front grill is nice and clean. Adding the Ranger below the Ford emblem is clean and fresh there. You are doing a very good job on your project.

I hate to be critical. 2X4 is making fun of a 4X2. I see you take pride in what you created. I just felt bad when I saw you call your great work a 2X4. A 2X4 is a size of wood.

Keep up the good work.
Jim
Happy New Year.

 

I love the cluster too! When I first set out making it, I thought for sure it would look terrible. My plans for it are not even close to done, as I have plans for backlighting hat I've never seen in any Ranger (or anything else for that matter) and possibly some front lights on it too.

I'm also going to paint my interior black one day, which will really make it stand out.

I don't miss my old black rims at all (but my dad is loving them on his truck), these split spoke rims are way better in my eyes, and the tires give it an overall great look. By far the best tire and rim setup I've ever had.

That 3rd brake light decal is the first mod I've ever done. That light is originally off of my 2006 Ranger and I kept it after we parted ways. I used to have a regular 921 bulb in there but replaced it with a higher output LED, so now cars behind me can actually read it instead of thinking I blacked out the whole thing.

My side Ranger emblems actually have 2 brightness levels... low (which is what is in pictures) and high, which is activated with turn signals or hazards. I might do a walk around of my whOle truck on video to show it all off.

I really hate my front grill... you can see in my first pictures how crappy it looked, and while I cleaned it up I still hate it... I am planning on one day swapping it out with a Honeycomb grill and having lights behind it (the one I have now is too thick for lights to show).

I do have a lot of pride for my truck, my friends say I may have too much! And as for the 2x4 and 4x2, I've never really given it too much thought, I just threw in a 2 and a 4!

Anyways, thanks for checking out my build and have a very Happy New Year Jim!